Archive → December, 2009

Holland and the limits of tolerance

31 December, 22:47, by admin Tags:
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The Dutch are going through an identity crisis. There is a growing view that liberty to choose has become a licence to do as you please, a free-for-all in which the baleful consequences include a rise in drug-related crime and the trafficking of prostitutes from eastern Europe.

Once among the most strait-laced of northern European nations, Holland has for the past 40 years been a byword for post-1960s tolerance. It embraced the permissiveness of that era with an enthusiasm born less of a desire for excess than of a strong belief in personal freedom. There was a laudable absence of hypocrisy in Dutch attitudes. As any visitor to Amsterdam can testify, the consequences of this latitude were in full view, with prostitutes in windows and cannabis smokers openly using designated cafés. Holland’s laws on euthanasia, unique in the world, tap into the same philosophical seam that has a direct line back to the 18th-century Enlightenment and also to its mercantilist history.

However, the Dutch are now going through an identity crisis. There is a growing view that liberty to choose has become a licence to do as you please, a free-for-all in which the baleful consequences include a rise in drug-related crime and the trafficking of prostitutes from eastern Europe.

The immigration of large numbers of Muslims, who object to the perceived degeneracy, has triggered a debate among the Dutch over what sort of society they wish to be. There are moves to clean up the more tawdry manifestations of past permissiveness, with Amsterdam planning fewer prostitution windows and fewer cannabis shops. Other cities will get rid of them entirely. Political parties in Holland are all responding to the public mood and edging away from the moral leniency of the past. One Dutch academic said: “There is a feeling that our tolerance is the principal cause of many of the problems we experience now. The debate is about where liberty and tolerance should end and where order should begin.”

Such a discussion is commendable. It would be nice to think it could take place here.

Snoop Dogg on Weed(s)

31 December, 22:28, by admin Tags:
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Cannabis is stronger, but users smoke less

31 December, 09:43, by admin Tags: , ,
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A more potent “skunk” form of cannabis now accounts for 70-80% of the British market for the drug, but many users are cutting down and only smoking enough to get high, the initial results of a Home Office study show.

A special meeting of the government’s expert committee on drugs which is looking again at the legal status of cannabis was told by Dr Les King that the rise in the use of “homegrown skunk” – which accounted for 15% of the market in 2002 against 70% now – had been driven by the growth of “cannabis factories” run by organised crime gangs, who were often Vietnamese.

He said British-grown skunk had almost squeezed traditional imported herbal cannabis out of the market with cannabis resin mostly from Morocco still holding about 20% of British sales.

King, a technical adviser to the Home Office scientific development branch, said the skunk has an average THC content – the active ingredient in a joint – of about 12% to 14%, two and a half times that of traditional cannabis resin. He compared it to the difference in strength between beer and wine and said the amount smoked was as important as strength.

He was supported in his claim that users were moderating their intake of the more powerful cannabis by Dr Mike White from the Forensic Science Service who said it was rare for a smoker to get through an entire joint in one go. He also suggested that the potency of British skunk had actually fallen by 10% in the past two years as growers substituted quantity for quality in the face of an expanding market.

King said media reports were wrong to claim that a new “superskunk” form of cannabis 10 to 20 times stronger than traditional types was now sweeping the British market.

The two-day meeting of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs opened with its chairman, Sir Michael Rawlins, saying he had accepted a written assurance from the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, that the government still had an open mind over regrading cannabis from class C back to class B, which would again make possession punishable with a jail sentence.

Ipsos Mori polling evidence published last night exploded the myth that the downgrading of the drug’s status by David Blunkett in 2004 had led to confusion about its status, with over 80% of those polled correctly saying the drug was still illegal. British Crime Survey data shows that cannabis consumption has fallen since the change.

The two-day meeting also heard evidence from the government’s mental health tsar, Professor Louis Appleby, that a link between cannabis and mental illness was not yet proven. But he backed reclassification, saying there was now sufficient evidence that cannabis was a harmful drug that could contribute to a pattern of relapse and risk in mental health patients.

Appleby said he felt that many health professionals had been guilty of complacency on the issue and that reclassification would reinforce the public health message. However he had reservations about further criminalising mental health patients for using cannabis.

The scientific experts also heard calls for regrading from the Association of Chief Police Officers, which argued that the emergence of British cannabis farms and confusion over its legal status on the streets justified tightening the law.

The Home Office study now under way is the first time that there has been a concerted attempt to find out what strength and type of cannabis is actually available on the street. Police forces across the country have been asked to send up to 1,000 samples of cannabis confiscated in stop and search operations to the Home Office for analysis. King, who is the technical adviser to the six-week study, said the initial findings were based on “several hundred” samples.

The Home Office-funded study is to report to the advisory council and the home secretary in March before the government decides whether or not to regrade cannabis in April.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Smoking Weed

30 December, 22:27, by admin Tags:
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Inside Holland’s “Half Baked” Pot Policy

30 December, 20:45, by admin Tags: , ,
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When it comes to the debate over legalizing marijuana, even the president of the United States has a hard time keeping a straight face.

After legalization questions got high ratings in an online town hall in March, Mr. Obama couldn’t suppress a grin and a joke about what the popularity of the topic “says about the online audience.” To the disappointment, if not the surprise, of marijuana advocates, he went on to say that he doesn’t think legalizing and taxing marijuana “is a good strategy to grow our economy.”

Yet there are many Americans – and public officials – who are taking the issue more seriously. In a CBS News poll released Monday, 41 percent of Americans said they favor marijuana legalization. Other polls put that figure as high as 52 percent.

Meanwhile, Reps. Barney Frank and Ron Paul co-authored a bill to end federal penalties for possession of small amounts of pot. Sen. Jim Webb has put forth legislation to create a commission examining drug policy and problems in the criminal justice system.

In California, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced a bill to legalize recreational use of the drug in order to generate desperately-needed tax revenue – and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he is open to a debate over doing just that.

These are significant steps for American politicians, who have long been loath to take on drug legalization for fear of being labeled soft on crime. But they mark little more than an early effort to prompt discussion around the issue.

For a more substantive look at how politicians are grappling with decriminalization, one must cross the Atlantic and take a look at Holland, where casual marijuana use has been de facto legal since 1976.

Where Pot Is Both Legal And Illegal:

Despite what the typical backpack-toting college student might think, pot exists in something of a legal netherworld even in Amsterdam. While coffee shops in some areas of the country can sell marijuana without risk of punishment, proprietors cannot legally obtain the product for sale. And possession and production are technically misdemeanors that can prompt a fine.

“The Dutch model is a little half baked,” quips Tim Boekhout van Solinge, a drug policy expert at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. “The supply side is still illegal, the production is illegal.”

Experts on both sides of the issue lament the ambiguity of marijuana policy not just in Holland but also in places like California, where there are not clear rules about the distribution of medical marijuana.

Dutch drug policy is grounded in the separation of soft drugs like marijuana from harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. “The policy has evolved slowly over time,” said Craig Reinerman, a sociology professor and drug policy expect at the University of California Santa Cruz. “At first they had a national commission, much like the Nixon administration had. And their national commission said, ‘look, all drugs have risks, even legal ones. Some are acceptable, and some are just too high.’”

Because history suggested people would use marijuana regardless of the limits imposed by the government, the Dutch tried to manage use as part of an attempt to keep transactions as safe as possible. (They have a similar philosophy when it comes to prostitution).

Dutch law enforcement will not go after coffee shops that sell small amounts of marijuana (up to five grams) to people over the age of 18, though the coffee shops can only operate if the local municipality allows it. The coffee shops can only keep 500 grams of marijuana onsite at any one time, can’t advertize, can’t sell alcohol or hard drugs and can be shut down if they become a nuisance to the neighborhood. Customers are permitted to consume the drug on the premises or at their home.

WATCH: Dutch Doctor Frederick Polak talks to CBSNews.com about the relationship between repression and use.

WATCH: An American cannabis tour guide talks to CBSNews.com about drug tourism in Amsterdam.

In addition, if not for international treaties designed to restrict supply, the Dutch may well have crafted a policy in which the supply side is (at the very least) de facto legal as well, according to Boekhout van Solinge. In the current system the state can only generate tax revenue indirectly, via the incomes of those who run the coffee shops. And many proprietors have little choice but to engage in somewhat shadowy transactions in order to secure the product.

“The fact that production and supply are still left in the underground certainly creates some problems,” said Bruce Mirken at the Marijuana Policy Project.

Over the years, Dutch policy has prompted serious grousing from neighbors. In the 1990s, French president Jacques Chirac suggested the country’s position was weakening Europe-wide efforts to combat drug use. One of his allies in the legislature went so far as to dub Holland a “narco-state.” Holland has long fought illegal drug trafficking, yet remains a significant producer of a number of drugs and a key entry point for narcotics into Europe.

Yet as defenders of the Dutch policy are all too happy to point out, the Dutch actually smoke less pot than many of their neighbors – the French included. According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 22.6 percent of Dutch citizens between ages 15 and 64 reported having used cannabis in their lifetime. In France, the percentage in that age group who reported using the drug was nearly four points higher – 26.2 percent.

Among Spaniards the lifetime usage rate for this age group is even higher – 28.6 percent – while among Italians it sits at a relatively robust 29.3 percent. In the United Kingdom, where the sample included 16 through 59 year olds, the percentage who said they had used cannabis was above 30 percent.

For the record, the country with the most liberal drug policy in Europe is actually Portugal – which happens to have the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in the entire European Union. (But that’s a different story.)

In the United States, meanwhile, more than 40 percent of people 18 and older have used marijuana or hashish. America boasts one of the highest pot usage rates in the world.

“If you look at the data, it really dispels any notion that allowing adults to possess marijuana creates a nation of potheads,” Merkin said.
Dutch public opinion over the nation’s drug policy has long been split, with polls usually suggesting that a slim majority favor the coffee shop-based system. In recent years, however, the country has moved to become more restrictive, thanks in large part to resentment over the impact of so-called “drug tourists,” whose partying has long angered locals.

In 2007, the Netherlands banned the use of psychedelic mushrooms (which had essentially been treated as soft drugs) after a drug-related suicide, and several municipalities have moved to close coffee shops to discourage crime and drug tourism. The U.S. Department Of Justice says that 81 percent of the country’s municipalities did not allow coffee shops as far back as 2000. One Dutch professor predicts there will be no more coffee shops in Holland by 2010, thanks in large part to anger over drug tourists.

One of the key debates around pot policy in Holland, the U.S. and elsewhere centers on the question of destigmatization – whether or not giving the drug the imprimatur of legality will drive up usage rates. Joel W. Hay, a Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Economics & Policy at the University Of Southern California and an opponent of marijuana legalization, says yes.

“A lot of people are now getting the clear social signal that pot is not that great because it is illegal” in the United States, he said. “It certainly doesn’t deter use, but it probably deters a substantial amount, and that’s for the good.”

But Reinerman argues that destigmatization is a “tricky question.”

“I interviewed a Dutch parent once and asked about this, and he told me, ‘my son will smoke a little pot now and then, but mostly it doesn’t occur to him to do that. There’s no allure of the forbidden fruit,’” he said.

Reinerman allows that “in the first six months or a year or two [after legalization] there might be an increase” in marijuana use, but says the destigmitization that would come with legalization ultimately works both ways. “Availability is not destiny,” he argues.

Peter Reuter, a University of Maryland professor of criminology, believes that any increase in usage rates if marijuana were decriminalized would be modest. He points to the fact that Dutch marijuana users tend to give up the drug at the same time as Americans do – in their 20s.

“I’m reasonably confident that if we followed the Dutch model we would not see a big uptick in usage,” he said.

That could depend, however, on whether the United States could successfully follow one aspect of the Dutch policy that both legalization advocates and opponents laud: its ban on advertising. Hay notes that under a legalization policy business interests would be incentivized to try to drive up demand.

In the United States, he argues, a policy that bans advertising on legal marijuana would raise questions of Constitutionality. (Congress and the Obama administration did recently pass legislation more strictly limiting tobacco advertising.)

“I think it would be tightly contested whether restrictions could be put on it, because the adverse health effects are not that great,” said Reuter. “Potential producers could bring suit.”

These sorts of complex questions are being seriously considered in some American circles for the first time since the 1970s. The federal government, however, is not exactly joining the conversation. Though new drug czar Gil Kerlikowske has been lauded for his emphasis of treatment over incarceration – and for abandoning the phrase “war on drugs” – he recently told Rolling Stone that legalization is not something worth considering “under any circumstances.”

Hay believes there is simply no good reason to abandon the status quo and emulate the Dutch policy, let alone move to full legalization.

“We have a philosophical question if potheads should be able to [use marijuana], and they sort of already can,” he said. “It’s not really that illegal right now. And I think having society saying this is something you shouldn’t do, but we don’t throw the book at you when you do it, is sort of a socially optimal policy.”

But while medical marijuana use has been decriminalized in some areas of the country, police still arrest between 750,000 and 900,000 people per year on marijuana-related charges, the vast majority for possession.

“It just should be accepted that cannabis is consumed by hundreds of millions of people around the world,” said Boekhout van Solinge. “When governments arrest people, it hasn’t stopped people from consuming cannabis.”

Obama Deflects Question on Legalizing Drugs, Prostitution

30 December, 12:41, by admin Tags:
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When President Obama told attendees at his economic town hall today that he only had time to take three questions, he probably did not expect the first question to be about legalizing drugs and prostitution.

He ultimately responded to four questions from the crowd at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, Penn. but took his time to steer the initial inquiry from a discussion about drugs to the future of the U.S. economy, emphasizing that manufacturing will play a less significant role in the nation. The town hall was part of Mr. Obama’s tour of cities around the country in which he will discuss the economy.

“I appreciate the boldness of your question,” Mr. Obama said to laughter after a young man asked him if he would consider legalizing drugs, prostitution, gambling or nonviolent crimes. “That will not be my job strategy.”

“First of all, part of what you’re supposed to do in college is question conventional wisdom,” the president continued. “You’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing.”

CBSNews.com Special Report: Marijuana Nation

The rest of the nation, Mr. Obama went on to say, will have to rethink the shape of the nation’s economy.

“Manufacturing will never be as high of a percentage [of the economy] as it was in the 1950s,” he said, but the capacity for states to cash in on new sectors is “enormous.”

He called investments in clean energy technology a “triple win situation.”

“We can clean up our environment, we can free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil… and we can put people to work right now,” Mr. Obama said. “Those jobs can’t be shipped out. Those are jobs that have to be done right here in the United States of America.”

He added, as an example, “There’s no reason we shouldn’t have the corner on wind turbine technology.”

Obama Takes Jobs Message to Allentown
W.H. Declines to Say Which Obama Family Member Is Unemployed
At Town Hall, Obama Seeks to Stay on Message
Photo: President Obama in Allentown

The president also disputed that the ongoing health care debate has distracted his administration from working on rebuilding the economy. Small business owners cannot afford to see health care premiums continue to rise at the current rate, he said.

“We’ve been working on jobs the whole time,” he said. “Health care is part in parcel with where we need to be in the economy.”

Mr. Obama also said the government could assist in refurbishing the U.S. economy by increasing exports to regions like Asia and ratcheting up the focus on education to match the educational fervor of productive nations like South Korea.

He also said his administration hopes to pass financial regulation reforms by the beginning of next year and that he hopes to meet with bankers sometime this month on the issue of loosening up credit.

After kicking off the town hall with an unexpected question, Mr. Obama ended with a very personal question: A discharged soldier asked if the president could help him get the benefits he is owed by the Veterans Administration.

“You went straight to the top,” Mr. Obama said. “I suspsect somebody will be calling you on your cell phone in about two seconds.”

He said the government has a “solemn obligation” to take care of its soldiers and that veterans should be able to apply for benefits online.

Is Cutting-Edge Marijuana Lab the Future of Legitimate Pot?

30 December, 09:38, by admin Tags: , , ,
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At downtown Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, the hairy green buds have numbers. The new nomenclature beckons viewers from within seven gleaming glass display cases. Antiseptic white placards boast authoritative black digits. Each stands erect next to a Petri dish of high-octane “White Rhino” or “Afgooey Super Melt.” They read: 7 percent, 11 percent, 18 percent, or 21 percent. Even 80 percent.

“80 percent THC?” asks a potential customer. He’s referring to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol — the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

“That’s a concentrate,” reminds Stephen DeAngelo, proud owner of the three-year-old collective. DeAngelo’s facility boasts 20,000 members and grossed more than $10 million last year. Even amid the recession, lines are a constant phenomenon and DeAngelo is looking to double his space. Hundreds of new customers sign up monthly, attracted partly by the immaculate facility: its savvy, well-paid “budtenders” and $40, eighth-ounce pot dosages. But part of the appeal is the new placards — the result of a disruptive new service by Harborside’s partners at the Analytical Laboratory Project.

“For the first time in the 3,000-year history of human cannabis consumption, consumers will be provided a scientific assessment of the safety and potency of products prior to ingesting them,” DeAngelo announced in December.

In the months since, DeAngelo’s patrons have enjoyed mankind’s most detailed product information thanks to the country’s first commercial marijuana lab. Arrest and jail remain a constant worry for him and the lab’s two owners. But they believe that if pot is truly medicine, it needs quality assurance and dosage information. The Analytical Laboratory Project wants to be the source of that information. The lab’s ultimate goal is to provide testing for half of the 300 dispensaries in California.

Behind DeAngelo, a cross section of the East Bay shuffles in and out of the pot club’s well-lit main floor. They buy briskly and nonchalantly, as though it’s a bank or a pharmacy. Powerful, normative forces have begun to transform the $65 billion domestic black market in ganja. DeAngelo and his partners want to be the custodians of that transformation.

Indeed, positive hits for pathogenic mold are already changing grower operations. “You smoke ten random samples of cannabis and you’ve most likely smoked aspergillus [mold],” said Dave, one of the lab’s two founders. “It’s in there, often at unacceptable levels. Now it’s up to the industry to respond. We also are not in a position where we want to make enemies and piss people off. We want to see it happen in the best way for the movement and the industry to kind of just naturally evolve.”

While the distributed nature of California’s cannabis supply network obviously benefits mom-and-pop growers, it doesn’t encourage quality assurance. Consequently, Dave and his peers believe that some pot consumers are in danger.

“It’s expensive to test every single thing that comes through the door — that’s the price you pay with a decentralized supply system,” Dave said. “But that’s what you’ve got. You’ve got five pounds coming from here and two from there and one individual. I mean, a dog walks in the grow room, and wags its tail — anything can be coming off that dog’s tail. It’s gross. Fertilizers with E. coli. Compost teas that they don’t make right, anaerobic tea that has elevated levels of E. coli and salmonella. It has to come. There’s no way that this is sustainable. All it takes is one story of immune-compromised people dying from aspergillus infection. The myth that cannabis hasn’t killed a single person in 3,000 years is allowed to go on. Well, it’s not cannabis that kills people, it’s all the shit that’s in it.”

Talk about a buzz kill.

——————————————————————————–

Backstage in the bowels of Harborside, the air is thick with terpenoids — the pungent, unmistakable odor molecules of cannabis. Rick Pfrommer, Harborside’s hefty linebacker of a pot buyer, mans the “intake” room where the collective’s 400 growers wholesale to the club in eye-popping one-, two-, or five-pound bags. Everyone from mom-and-pop operators with their dogs to professional growers from Oakland warehouses wait daily in an antechamber before being ushered in one at a time.

It is here, surrounded by file cabinets, computers, and posters featuring holographic closeups of buds, that the medicine begins its long road to the sales counter. It starts with paperwork and a small plastic-bagged test sample. Analytical Laboratory Project cofounders and operators Dave and Addison usually show up in the afternoon to pick up the day’s new samples to test. Both are in their early thirties, and dressed casually. They have a mentor-student relationship with DeAngelo, who is sort of a legend in these parts.

“He’s older and he’s this personality,” Dave said. “We take a lot of guidance from him.”

DeAngelo is in his fifties and wears a long-sleeve shirt, tie, and corduroy pants with two gray ponytails peaking out from underneath a little fedora. The Washington, DC-born drug reformer and charter member of Americans for Safe Access moved out West in 2000 after founding and selling the industrial hemp company Ecolution in the ’90s. After the passage of Prop. 215, which legalized medical marijuana in California, DeAngelo grew medical cannabis but was shocked at the thugs running dispensaries.

“They seemed to have more in common with buying drugs down an alley in a bad city than it did with going into a medical facility and getting medicine,” he recalled. So after Oakland cracked down on such facilities, DeAngelo decided to lead by example. “I couldn’t think of anything more important to advance the cause than to provide a model of safe, affordable cannabis distribution that would be respectful not only of the patients but also of the neighbors and the community as a whole.”

In 2005, DeAngelo began the process of complying with Oakland’s rigorous new permitting process. He spent $400,000 over eleven months and received one of only four coveted permits. Harborside opened on October 3, 2006, the very day the federal Drug Enforcement Agency was raiding pot clubs in San Francisco. “I always expected I might face that moment of truth, but I didn’t expect it five minutes after we opened,” he said.

However, the cops never came to Harborside, and DeAngelo’s facility thrived. The place was well on its way to doubling in size and scope when DeAngelo met Addison and Dave at a National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) conference in Los Angeles in October 2007. Addison was a young grower, dispensary operator, and activist with a wife, two kids, and a rap sheet. Dave grew up in New York, went to Columbia University, dropped out to trade stocks and bought land in Northern California. Jaded on hedge funds by 2001, Dave took a vision quest to Alaska and ended up in Eugene, Oregon before being lured south by medical cannabis. Both consider themselves black sheep of their families. “Nothing surprises them from me anymore,” Dave said.

The two friends wanted to make a living by making a difference. DeAngelo wanted to give his patients better information, start self-regulating medical cannabis, and break new ground in research.

“We were entrepreneurs looking for a good idea and something that’s not totally fucked,” said Dave, who concedes no formal training as a chemist. “This seemed like a really good fit.”

But the work is still highly illegal, despite the Obama administration’s recent announcement that it will not raid cannabis clubs in states that have legalized medical marijuana. Law enforcement raids continue on the West Coast and publicity could draw unwanted attention. But DeAngelo, Dave, and Addison believe in their mission and say they have nothing to hide. They want to make a bold statement and gain customers, even though the lab’s two operators are only willing to provide their first names at this time.

“The attorneys that I’ve spoken to have expressed a level of concern about the safety of the lab and strongly advised us to keep it very hidden,” DeAngelo said. “Simply the process of collecting samples and taking that to the lab and analyzing them — there’s several federal charges that could be placed against somebody. The feds might very well, if they find out the location of our lab, come and raid it, close it down. In order to stick it in the gas chromatograph you have to handle the cannabis itself. And handling cannabis whether or not it’s in a medical form or not is illegal under federal law. They also consider, if you publicize the potency of a particular controlled substance, they consider it a marketing effort for the controlled substance. Then you’re aiding and abetting the distribution of an illegal substance.”

Addison and Dave wanted to go though with it anyway. “I’ve lived the last ten years on the tip of the spear,” Dave said. “This is a different flavor.”

DeAngelo sees it as a crime of necessity. “If cannabis is going to become an accepted mainstream medicine, this is a necessary type of step,” he said. “It has to happen. When the three of us met, it was kind of a fortuitous meeting. And I agreed to do everything that I could, and everything Harborside could, to help facilitate the project. My belief is that cannabis is not only going to be an extremely important medicine but a source of other extremely important medicines. I think that this is going to change everything from the way dispensaries intake medicine from people. It’s going to change the way that we sell medicine to people, it’s going to change the way that patients evaluate and make their purchases. It’s going to change the way that scientists look at this substance.”

After all, it’s already changing the way that growers look at it.

“Most are happy to hear about it,” buyer Pfrommer said. “I’ve had to refuse to take from current batches of stuff until people could clean their room and go through a new run, and we got a couple of people in that process now. The THC ratings are big, but it’s already a big competition amongst vendors to get their medicine in here. For those of us that have been doing this for four decades, this is extremely exciting. We’ve moved past the Cheech and Chong era of being treated a certain way to recognizing the economic and scientific impact of cannabis.”

——————————————————————————–

DeAngelo recently arranged for a tour of the small, garage-size facility today as it ran gas chromatography, flame ionization, and mass spectrometry tests on local pot.

Addison and Dave packed up little samples in a Tupperware container and talk about getting a coffee on the way to the lab for the night’s work. While Addison weaved his rusted ’80s minivan through Oakland’s surface streets amid heavy afternoon traffic, Dave details the history, methodology development, and hurdles of opening a pot lab. They spent a year boning up on organic chemistry, talking to Ph.D potheads in the medical underground, buying gear, and practicing.

“Everyone was talking about, ‘Oh, you can’t do it’, or, ‘We’ve been thinking about that forever’,” Addison recalled. “But no one had done it!”

Harborside provided the test medicine to calibrate the pair’s off-the-shelf lab equipment. First they had to learn how to set up the equipment and run it. After a friend mentioned problems with contamination in tobacco, they also added a test for mold. The duo did not borrow any methodology from government labs, because cannabis research tends to be locked away. “None of this came out of the literature,” Dave noted.

The East Bay’s first pot lab looks like a bachelor pad with a locked room in the back. The building is of recent construction with high ceilings and stained carpets, mismatched furniture, and a congenial guard dog, belonging to Addison.

It’s a little cooler in the locked back room. The place hums like the inside of a busy copy store. The lab’s centerpiece — the gas chromatograph — squats on a work bench in the back studded with yellow samples in a carousel feeding into an auto-sampler. Inside the device, a flame ion detector and mass spectrometer offer two different snapshots of the prepared samples. Underneath, an $80,000 hydrogen generator hums a steady supply into the chromatograph. Tanks of oxygen and air also feed the device. Off to one side, a monitor flicks line graphs. Books from Agilent Tech, Sigma Life Sciences, and Aldrich Chemistry line the bookshelf.

Dave runs through the process of documenting and preparing the sample. The gas chromatograph needs just a microliter-size sample to test; less than a rain drop. So the lab’s main methodology turns the sample packets of green bud into a diluted liquid extraction. First, the lab tech does the paperwork, and dons gloves and gear. Addison chops up a half-gram under a sterile hood and places the sample in a vial, then adds a controlled amount of Hexane — a special-use solvent.

The mix goes into a sonicator, an ultra-sonic jeweler’s tool. It vibrates at a high enough frequency to rupture the cell membranes of the plant. The liquid is then diluted to just hundredths of a percent and an extraction is loaded into a little test vial.

Rows and rows of vials are then fed into the gas chromatograph on a timer. Inside the machine it’s like CSI — but for ganja.

“A gas chromatograph is not a detector — it’s only used for separating compounds,” Dave said. “The way it separates compounds is it uses heat.” The finely controlled oven can increase its temperature by just a single degree Celsius over the course of fifteen minutes, which makes it possible to measure the exact temperature at which a compound degrades. Different compounds vaporize at different temperatures, where they can be detected by the flame ionization detector and mass spectrometer.

The mass spectrometer is way more sensitive and expensive, requiring a library that you buy from a chemistry supply company to even decode the results. This step took the longest, Dave said. “It wasn’t too difficult, you just have to socially engineer your way through a chemical company,” he said. “And it’s hard to open any new chemical accounts after 9-11.”

The run takes ten minutes while agar plate cultures for mold will take at least 48 hours. The whole process costs $100 per sample and the nightly work of preparing samples and cleaning proves tedious. Lab tech positions start at $15 per hour. “Mass spectrometers do not like to smoke pot,” Dave said. “They don’t. They can, but it takes a lot of maintenance.”

Back in the front room with Addison’s dog, wall maps of California are marked with dispensary locations. The two have big plans for their lab — the first of which is to move it. But their process has several flaws: cleanliness, trust, scalability, industry acceptance, and scientific validity.

First off, Addison’s dog cannot be on the premises, especially if they are going to tut-tut growers about allowing dogs in their grow rooms. The lab also has carpeting, which can be a vector for mold. Someone from the canonical Journal of the American Medical Association might rip their methodology to shreds, starting with the sterility of the intake at Harborside. Addison and his peers say that about 5 percent of the supply is contaminated with mold. But getting people to believe their findings and change their ways at the cannabis sales counter will be an uphill battle.

“We need a new lab space,” Dave conceded. “We need more lab coats. We need equipment that will make our methodology bulletproof. And that all costs money.”

Dave says that a respected yet anonymous chemist at Lawrence Livermore Labs — “a triple Ph.D” — validated their methodology and process three different ways. “It all came in very, very accurate. Commercial labs operate with — believe it or not — a 30 percent variance. We’ve gotten ours down to 5 percent, plus or minus, and it’s appropriate for medical applications.”

Like most forensics, it gets the job done but it’s not canonical science.

“Ultimately we need accreditation,” Dave said. “We can only do it to the best of our ability. We don’t have literature to really stand on. It’s all an exploration and the best you can do. Generally, the THC results can vary but not that much. Top-tier stuff doesn’t come up in the bottom tier.

“We’re sort of like whistleblowers a little bit. Even though we’re friends and work with all of the other people, we don’t know where that’s going to lead us. The industry itself is having an identity crisis. Competitive forces are going to drive it to being an industry. But that’s going to drive it toward regulation, control, making sure that the products are safe especially since they are being distributed under medical auspices. And there’s a lot of concerns.”

——————————————————————————–

Back at Harborside, in the fading twilight, supplies are running low but the lines remain strong. Customers of every age, race, class, and creed buy, peer at the data in bound notebooks, and sign racks of petitions at the activism station. Others write letters to imprisoned drug felons — aka “POWs” — or members of Congress. Free yoga and acupuncture classes are beginning in a few minutes.

Elan, the dispensary floor director who asks to be identified by his first name only, said most people choosing a strain of pot ask, “What’s the best?” He typically replies that it depends on what your needs are medicinally, economically, and preferentially. Anxiety? Chronic pain? How much do you have to spend? Concentrate or bud? The lab results have become yet another tool for consumer choice.

“This is the sharpest tool in the workbox now and this is all alpha phase,” Elan said. “This isn’t even beta. This is first draft all the way around.”

Elan said patients are using the new information to get less high and more mellow, drawing correlations between the main psychoactive ingredient THC and other non-psychoactive cannabinoids cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN).

“We’re finding out CBD has an extremely medical effect but a non-psychoactive effect, and a lot of people really want that,” Elan said. “A forty-year-old businessman doesn’t want to get high. He needs the pain relief. They’re able to do that with the books behind the bar.”

Will, an East Bay resident in the advertising industry, said he met the lab’s results with a skepticism that’s been conquered by time. “I have more faith in this place than I do in peanuts right now, and I’m becoming less of a pothead.”

The 32-year-old Will is a closeted toker who came in a year ago for migraines and because he liked pot. He found Harborside clean and less pricey than many thugged-out places in Los Angeles. “I thought, literally, ‘I’m in Entourage. This is the cleanest pharmacy I’ve ever been in. It’s nice, clean, safe, and well-lit.”

But trial and error with some of Harborside’s wares left Will super-baked at inopportune moments. So when the numbers showed up, “I was like, ‘Oh, what’s this? Really cool. Is this for real? Are these real percentages? How did you get these percentages?’ And it helped me quickly pick my price range. A lot of times you want a lower-price medicinal marijuana that has a higher THC. I was questioning it for a little bit but as I kept coming back and saw the numbers kind of stay legit and not shift and things like this, I thought, ‘Oh, this is really nice.’ I felt comfortable. It makes it easy. You have such a selection that you want to look at it all and smell it all and it helps you narrow it down.”

“Ford,” a longtime local grower, patient, and activist who was writing letters to men and women in jail at the activism station, said the lab is changing people’s habits. He’s growing a strain of pot known as OG Kush and shows off pictures of his “babies.”

“I’m thinking about bringing in my next batch for testing, ’cause I’m curious.”

Ford said there is a lot of the marijuana equivalent of bathtub gin out there. He believes that testing will cause growers to take more care. “I’ve been involved and dropped out of bad operations,” he said. “You can’t have your dog near the plant, man. Dogs and plants don’t mix.”

In the final analysis, it’s hard to think of any system more antithetical to the closed US drug-development system than contemporary US cannabis production. Bringing the two in line means the annihilation of one culture or the other. Which will win?

“Those two worlds are going to come together,” Dave said. “The DEA has to accept it, and we as an industry have to go to a model that is more acceptable, more palatable for mainstream society.”

The Analytical Laboratory Project is in the process of writing custom software for a lab management system. “Ultimately, this stuff will end up getting published, I think,” DeAngelo said. “People are dying because of a lack of research.”

Within the next month or so, Dave said the lab intends to branch out to thirteen Bay Area clubs. “If I had ten customers like Harborside, I’d be a rich man,” Dave said with a laugh. “We know them all, and they want to do it.” After that, he said, the lab will seek a special license from the City of Oakland.

An independent certification system consisting of specific labels and stickers is being developed for participating customers. Participants will also have to consent to undergo occasional audits, in which an undercover shopper obtains samples so that the lab can ensure that its labels haven’t been copied or swapped.

Dig it: Analytical Labs wants to drug test pot clubs.

“If you want to be part of the testing program, that’s what you have to do,” DeAngelo said. “Because it’s not just a marketing thing, it is about collecting this research. So the research has to be valid, we have to take these steps to make it valid.”

Within a few years, the goal is to have tens of thousands of potential research subjects reporting coded results on surveys, the testing of tinctures and edibles, pesticides tests, and strain profiles correlated to effect and illness.

The Center and the lab fit into broader plans for legal change. The nonprofit Harborside Health Center gives thousands of dollars each year to activist groups like NORML. A fraction of every lazy, pothead dollar is being funneled into an engine for legislative reform.

“If every dispensary in the state of California would give the proportion of the money that they take in to the movement as Harborside does: the job would be done by now,” DeAngelo said. “I want to see the law requiring cannabis to match the reality of what this plant is.”

Ultimately, DeAngelo and his partners seek to fundamentally alter the consciousness of cannabis use in America.

“No commercial research is allowed on cannabis before it can be considered a safe/effective medicine but then the government will not allow that door to open,” DeAngelo said. “So we’re just going to do an end run around them. We’ve got the cannabis, we’ve got the patients, and now we’ve got the scientific expertise. This is too important.”

Digg.com vote presses Schwarzenegger on legalizing marijuana

29 December, 22:37, by admin Tags: , , , ,
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As more government officials choose to publicly answer questions submitted by Internet users, they’re encountering a new phenomenon: marijuana activists intent on forcing answers to the would-you-legalize-pot question.

In March, President Obama’s first virtual town hall took a detour when questions about legalizing marijuana were voted to the top of the “financial stability,” “jobs,” “budget,” and (of course) “green jobs” polls on WhiteHouse.gov

On Wednesday, it was California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, who was put on the spot. Digg.com users propelled a legalize-marijuana question to the No. 2 position (behind one asking about what he was thinking when photographed grimacing at President George W. Bush).

Earlier this month, Schwarzenegger said “it’s time for debate” about legalizing marijuana. Read on for an excerpt from the CNN interview.

Q: What is your stance on the legalization, cultivation, and regulation of marijuana in the state of California?

A: I like the law that we have in place. And I don’t believe in legalizing marijuana, but I’m always open for the debate because there are people that feel differently. And I said I’m always interested in debating any of these issues because there’s always different ways of looking at it. And I think it would be interesting to see the information that is available, if there’s any information available, of how well countries are doing that have legalized marijuana. But I don’t think that information is available, and I’d want us to see that.

But I believe in the law, the way the law is right now, and I think it’s worked very well for the state of California. And I think it would be a mistake to just go and legalize something that we don’t believe in just because it would produce an extra billion dollars in revenues. And I think we just have to learn how to live within our means rather than trying to do things we really don’t want to do.

Q: New polls actually show that more than half of Californians support legalizing marijuana. So would that sway your stance on it whatsoever in this open debate that you’re calling for? Would it sway your opinion?

A: Well, it could very well go on an initiative one day, where they ask the voters directly, that could very well be. And if the voters make that decision, that’s fine. But I think it is very important for us to make certain decisions not just because they would bring in some extra money, and I think this is why people have been talking about that in California, to go in that direction, and to start debating that issue. Because it would produce, as they say, $1.3 billion, $1.4 billion extra revenues.

Thanks to a 1996 ballot measure, medical marijuana is already legal under California law, though local officials have substantial discretion. Although that conflicts with federal law, the Obama administration has chosen not to target California medical marijuana dispensaries.

State legislator Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat, introduced a bill in February to legalize recreational marijuana. Bill AB 390 would license “commercial cultivators of marijuana” and establish a complicated web of regulations and tax rules they and retailers must follow.

It could raise over $1.2 billion a year in new tax revenues, assuming a $50-an-ounce tax, according to an analysis by California NORML, an organization working to reform the state’s marijuana laws.

A Field poll released on April 30 found that 56 percent of the state’s registered voters support legalizing marijuana and taxing its sale.

“…Marijuana Legalization: the time is now” Gov: Arnold Schwarzenegger

29 December, 22:25, by admin Tags: , , , ,
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Cannabis ‘may’ guard against osteoporosis

29 December, 13:36, by admin Tags: ,
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CANNABIS could protect bones from weakening in later life, scientists said today.
A study on mice showed that while properties of the plant can reduce strength in the young, it may guard against osteoporosis.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh said a molecule in the body, which can be activated by cannabis, is “key” to the development of the bone disease.

It was not previously known whether the results would be positive or negative.

The study on mice showed that compounds similar to those found in cannabis decreased bone loss in older mice and prevented the accumulation of fat in bones.

The same study showed an increase in the rate bone tissue was destroyed in young mice.

The university said bone disease affects up to 30% of women and 12% of men at some point in life.

Stuart Ralston, the Arthritis Research Campaign professor of rheumatology at the university, said: “This is an exciting step forward, but we must recognise that these are early results and more tests are needed on the effects of cannabis in humans to determine how the effects differ with age in people.

“We plan to conduct further trials soon and hope the results will help to deliver new treatments that will be of value in the fight against osteoporosis.”

Prof Ralston said that smoking cannabis with tobacco is “bad at any age” for bones.

He said the “psychotropic effects” of the drug “might increase the risk of falls” for an older person – which could also lead to broken bones.
He added: “The ideal way forward would be to develop a cannabis-type drug that did not go to the brain but was targeted to the periphery

Cannabis smoking Wiki (from WikiPedia)

29 December, 12:24, by admin Tags: ,
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

A narrow screened single-toke midwakh (shown here) or kiseru provides low-temperature 25 mg servings, avoiding the health risk of hot-burning cigarette papers.Cannabis smoking refers to the process of inhaling the vapors released by the combustion of the flowers and subtending leafs and stems of the pistillate Cannabis plants, known as marijuana. Alternatively, the cannabis plant flowers when sifted releasing trichomes, which contain high amounts of THC and other cannabinoids, which are then pressed and baked, known as hashish. Cannabis is consumed recreationally to produce a feeling of relaxation or euphoria or for medical reasons (such as to relieve stress or suppress nausea).

Smoking releases the main psychoactive chemical in cannabis, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is absorbed into the bloodstream via the lungs. It then mostly targets the brain, where it binds to cannabinoid receptors. The immune system also contains cannabinoid receptors and may negatively impact its function.[1] The cannabinoid receptors receive the THC and other cannabinoids, setting off a chain reaction, leading to the feeling of a mental “high,” which varies strongly by person. Studies have also found that the heating of cannabis (which can be achieved without combustion by means of a vaporizer) results in the production of additional THC from the decarboxylation of the non-psychoactive Δ9-tetrahydrocanabinoid acid (THCa)[2].

While cannabis can be consumed orally, the bioavailability characteristics and effects of this method are different from smoking. The effect takes longer to begin, is typically longer-lasting, and can sometimes result in a more powerful psychoactive effect.[3]

Cannabis can be smoked in a variety of pipe-like implements, including bowls, bongs, chillums and one-hitters, or by rolling it into a cigarette-like “joint” or cigar-like “blunt”.[4]

Smoking pipes, sometimes called pieces or bowls, can be made of blown glass, wood, ceramic, broscillate, stone, or metal. Blown-glass pipes and bongs are often intricately and colorfully designed, and can contain materials that change color or become more vivid with repeated use. A screen is added to prevent drawing small particles (“shooters”) down to clog the channel.

[edit] Bong
Main article: Bong

A hand-blown glass bongA bong is a pipe with a small water-chamber known as a “bubbler” [5] through which the cannabis smoke passes prior to inhalation. Users fill the bong with water in order to cool the smoke and filter out particulate matter, sometimes also adding ice or using substances such as brandy in place of water. Ash Catchers, Diffusors, Percolators, and Carbon Filters are being seen more and more in modern glass bongs. [6] Bongs may have a hole which is covered with a finger during inhalation and then uncovered to clear the pipe of smoke; slang names for this include: carb (short for carburetor), rush-hole, choke, “clear hole” or just “clear”, shotgun, and shotty.

Vaporizer
Since the delivery of THC occurs through heating rather than combustion, it is possible to “smoke” small servings of sifted cannabis without ever igniting the herb, through the use of a “vaporizer.” This maximizes consumption of active cannabinoids while minimizing the harmful and irritating effects of actual smoke.[7]

At least one study has shown that using a vaporizer results in reduced tar and carbon monoxide inhalation compared to smoking the same amount of cannabis.[8]

[edit] Joint
Main article: Joint (cannabis)
A joint or sometimes called a “spliff” or a “doobie” is created by rolling up cannabis, either manually or with a rolling machine, into paper, forming a cigarette-like product.

[edit] Blunt
A Blunt, sometimes known as a “Gar”, “rillo” or “L”, is ground cannabis rolled with a cigar wrapper (tobacco leaf).[9] Blunts are usually rolled using low quality cigars or blunt wraps. [10]

[edit] Shotgun
Main article: Shotgun (cannabis)
A shotgun (also known as a backfire, shotty, brainer, charge, powerhit, super, or blowback) refers to one user taking a “hit” of a blunt or joint (see below), turning it around so the lit end is inside the mouth, and blowing the hit out through the blunt/joint into the mouth of another user, who sucks it in. It is also common to take a hit and blow it directly into the other person’s mouth. A “Stinger” has the same concept except smoke is inhaled through the nasal passage.

[edit] “Spots”
Main article: Spots (cannabis)
An alternative vaporization method, known variously as spots, spotting, dots, hot knives, or blades, is to compress a small amount of cannabis between two heated metal blades and inhale the resulting vapors.[11]

[edit] Mixing with other herbs
Often cannabis is combined with tobacco (also known as “Spinning”, “Batching”, “Webacco”, and “Amsterdam Style”) or alternative smokable herbs[12], such as hops flowers, peppermint leaf, etc., in a joint or spliff.

Mixing with tobacco is more common in Europe and the Middle East than in the Americas. For some users this practice is said to have an instant and more intense effect than smoking cannabis by itself, but at least one source has suggested that it can lead to nicotine dependence[13]

[edit] Health effects
Main article: Effects of cannabis
[edit] Lung cancer
Main article: Effects of cannabis: Cancer risk
A major 2006 study compared the effects of tobacco and Cannabis smoke on the lungs.[14][15] The outcome of the study showed that even very heavy cannabis smokers “do not appear to be at increased risk of developing lung cancer,”[15] while the same study showed a twenty-fold increase in lung cancer risk for tobacco smokers who smoked two or more packs of tobacco cigarettes a day.[14][15] It is known that Cannabis smoke, like all smoke, contains carcinogens and thus has a probability of triggering lung cancer. THC, unlike nicotine, is thought to “encourage aging cells to die earlier and therefore be less likely to undergo cancerous transformation.”[15] Cannabidiol (CBD), an isomer of THC and another major cannabinoid that also grows on cannabis, has been reported elsewhere to have anti-tumor properties as well. However, in that report, some cellular abnormalities were documented showing an increase in lung cancer risk in very heavy users.[16]

[edit] References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cannabis smoking
^ http://lupus.webmd.com/news/20030415/cannabis-may-suppress-immune-system
^ Verhoeckx KC, Korthout HA, van Meeteren-Kreikamp AP, Ehlert KA, Wang M, van der Greef J, Rodenburg RJ, Witkamp RF (2006-04-06). Unheated Cannabis sativa extracts and its major compound THC-acid have potential immuno-modulating properties not mediated by CB1 and CB2 receptor coupled pathways. International Immunopharmacology. PMID 16504929.
^ http://www.erowid.org/plants/cannabis/cannabis_effects.shtml
^ United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2006), World Drug Report, 1, pp. 187–192, ISBN 92-1-148214-3, http://www.unodc.org/pdf/WDR_2006/wdr2006_chap2_annex1.pdf, retrieved 2007-11-22
^ [1]
^ [2]
^ [3]
^ DI Abrams, et al. (2007). “Vaporization as a Smokeless Cannabis Delivery System: A Pilot Study” (pdf). Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 82. http://www.maps.org/media/vaporizer_epub.pdf.
^ http://www.nida.nih.gov/infofacts/marijuana.html
^ http://www.drugabuse.gov/PDF/PARENTS_Marijuana_brochure.pdf
^ “Cannabis use in a drug and alcohol clinic population”, McBride A. J. 1994
^ http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Smoking_Cessation#Herbal_alternatives
^ Australian Government Department of Health: National Cannabis Strategy Consultation Paper, page 4. “Cannabis has been described as a ‘Trojan Horse’ for nicotine addiction, given the usual method of mixing cannabis with tobacco when preparing marijuana for administration.”
^ a b Boyles, Salynn. “Pot Smoking Not Linked to Lung Cancer,” WebMED Health News. May 23, 2006. (Retrieved 2009-09-05.)
^ a b c d “Study Finds No Link Between Marijuana Use and Lung Cancer,” American Thoracic Society. May 2006. (Retrieved 2009-09-05.)
^ Armentano, Paul. “Cannabis Smoke and Cancer: Assessing the Risk,” NORML: Working to reform marijuana laws. No publication date. (Retrieved 2009-09-05.)

Some Proof that Marijuana is a Powerful Medicine

29 December, 09:34, by admin Tags: ,
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Marijuana contains an amazing chemical, beta-caryophyllene, and scientists have thoroughly proven that it could be used to treat pain, inflammation, atherosclerosis, and osteoporosis.

Jürg Gertsch, of ETH Zürich, and his collaborators from three other universities learned that the natural molecule can activate a protein called cannabinoid receptor type 2. When that biological button is pushed, it soothes the immune system, increases bone mass, and blocks pain signals — without causing euphoria or interfering with the central nervous system.

Gertsch and his team published their findings on June 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.They focused on the anti-inflammatory properties of the impressive substance — testing it on immune cells called monocytes and also in mice.

Since beta-caryophyllene seems to be powerful, occurs naturally in many foods, and does not get people high, it could turn out to be a nearly ideal medication. The organic compound is also phenomenally cheap. Sigma Aldrich sells it, in kosher form, for forty-two dollars per kilogram.

Unfortunately, big pharmaceutical companies tend not to seek FDA approval for natural chemicals, and most doctors are reluctant to prescribe drugs that have not received a green light from the regulatory agency. Thus, it would require a heroic effort by academic researchers to prove that beta-caryophyllene is safe and effective in humans.

Perhaps, before that happens, the natural substance will find its way into the herbal medicine aisle of health food stores.

Marijuana bud

The effects of marijuana on a hot, sunny day

28 December, 22:23, by admin Tags:
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Top 5 Reason To Buy A Vaporizer Instead Of Making One

28 December, 09:17, by admin Tags:
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There are plenty of different designs to follow to make a homemade vaporizer. They are quite simple to put together and generally much cheaper than purchasing a manufactured product. The downside to this plan is that there are some definite drawbacks to making your own vaporizer which will be discussed later in the article.

The most obvious disadvantage of a homemade vaporizer is the actual experience that you may have when using it. With a vaporizer that has no defined temperature control, it is very easy to overheat and burn the substance that you are using in the vaporizer. This is contradictory to the whole concept of a vaporizer which is designed to heat without combustion. When this happens, you have essentially created a fire pit rather than a vaporizer. The result is a waste of herbs and a potentially very bad tasting, smoky vapor.

Additionally, creating a vaporizer from household substances is potentially toxic. When assembling vaporizer parts, you likely need some type of adhesive such as glue or tape. Heating substances like this and other materials such as plastic creates toxic fumes that can cause great harm to your system. A lot of materials create carcinogens when melted, burned or even heated and carcinogenic material is a leading cause of cancer.

Another serious aspect of a homemade vaporizer is the issue of safety. With the potential of materials combusting, a vaporizer that you assemble yourself can be a dangerous fire hazard. The temperature required to vaporize most herbs is high enough to cause many household materials to catch fire. Even if the vaporizer is not left unattended, a fire can become out of control very quickly.

A less severe but nonetheless viable reason to refrain from using a homemade vaporizer is the fact that manufactured vaporizers are much more efficient. With specially designed heating elements, valve sets and vapor capture devices; these marketed vaporizers make the best use of your herbal product. The temperature control that they provide heats the material to the proper temperature to maximize the quality of the vapor. Capturing a quality vapor and using it without wasting it due to leakage reduces the amount of material that you have to use in the vaporizer and greatly enhances the experience.

Although making your own homemade vaporizer may seem like a sensible, inexpensive way to go, in the long run, the risk is not worth the money you will be saving at the onset. It not only costs more money long term due to the additional plant herbs that you have to purchase, but the health risks and other hazards make spending a little extra money on a quality vaporizer a more viable choice.

Canada – #1 Pot Smokers In The World

27 December, 22:20, by admin Tags: ,
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How To Use A Digital Vaporizer

27 December, 09:13, by admin Tags:
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Those individuals who use a vaporizer experience the benefit created by inhaling the natural elements in plants and herbs. By heating the plant material to the correct temperature, a vaporizer releases the active ingredients of the herb in a vapor form. The active ingredients of the plant matter are released in their purest form, and can then be inhaled.

No smoke is created when using a vaporizer, as the herbs are heated to a point just before combustion and are not burned. Vaporizing offers a healthy alternative to smoking, as there are no harmful carcinogens or toxins produced that can damage the lungs and respiratory system and cause cancer.

The digital vaporizer is a device that uses an electronic digital temperature control. These devices plug conveniently into an electric outlet, and require a power source of either 110 or 220 volts of electricity. Some models are also available that operate with a rechargeable battery.

The temperature can accurately be set to the exact degree required to evaporate the active ingredients of the plant being used. Each herb uses a different temperature level to vaporize, so the ability to set an exact temperature makes the vaporizer more efficient. The digital control on the vaporizer is easily adjusted, and enhances the vaporizing experience.

Herbs vaporize at temperature settings of low (up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit), medium (up to 350 degrees F) or high (up to 400 degrees F). The active ingredients of the most popular herbs vaporize between the settings of 338 and 372 degrees. Lower temperature settings create a light, misty vapor, while higher temperature settings create a denser and stronger vapor mist.

Digital vaporizers are very efficient, convenient, and easy to use. They can be used for aromatic benefits or for medicinal purposes. The user simply needs to set the temperature to the correct setting, turn it on and wait for a few minutes until it reaches the optimal heat. You then load the heating plate with the herbs, and wait for the aromatic mist to form. Once the vapor is created, it can be safely inhaled. A convectional fan is used in digital vaporizers to draw air over the herbs and create a healthy, vaporized mist.

The price of a digital vaporizer ranges from $140 to $680, depending on the manufacturer and the different options and features that are available. The best type of digital vaporizer depends on its intended use. Volcano vaporizers are “top of the line” and priced toward the higher end of the price range, and portable vaporizers are lower in price although they are also very effective.

Digital vaporizers come in a range of sizes and colors to match any decor, and some are even small enough to be carried in your pocket. The portable type is a great device for people on the go. These vaporizers can be used in cars, boats, offices, or at home and are light in weight so they are easily transported. Some models also come with an automatic shut off feature, so you don’t need to worry about burning the herbs if you leave the vaporizer unattended.
The real benefit of a digital vaporizer over other types is the ability to accurately control the temperature setting. Below are some popular herbs and the temperatures required for vaporization.

Decriminalization of Marijuana in Canada –Law 12

26 December, 22:18, by admin Tags: ,
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Extreme Vaporizer Along With Its Contents

26 December, 09:08, by admin Tags:
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Nowadays extreme vaporizer comes in an exclusive power pack combo in a limited period offer. Generally the list price of it is 449.97$ but under this limited edition offer you will save 149.98 & it will cost you around 229$.extreme vaporizer consists of:

–1 piece of extreme vaporizer unit.
–1 piece of instruction manual.
–1 piece of extreme remote control.
–1 piece of extreme vaporizer whip.
–1 piece of extreme vaporizer stir tool.
–1 piece of extreme aromatherapy bowl.
–1 piece of extreme power chord of 110v.
–2 pieces of whip mouthpiece.
–2 pieces of vaporizer screen pack.
–2 pieces of glass cyclone bowls.
–2 pieces of extreme vaporizer.
–2 pieces of vaporizer balloon kits.
–2 pieces of balloon mouthpieces.

On looking towards the history of vaporizer, first the introduction takes place as Extreme vaporizer 2.0, and it was designed and manufactured mostly in Canada with the brand name Arizer. The latest version of extreme vaporizer exhibits a redesigned system for digital temperature control. It generally comes with a lifetime warranty pack.

—Extreme vaporizer remote control

Of all the vaporizers available, Extreme vaporizer features a remote controlled activation system, which further assists you by enabling you to set the fan speed, adjusting the temperature settings according to your requirements and also enables powering by switching between on and off.

—Multi-functionality extreme vaporizer

The feature of multi-functionality of the extreme vaporizer puts these units in a special class reserved separately for vaporizers (such as the volcano).you can easily use extreme vaporizer for both of the purposes, i.e. as a vaporizer as well as the steamer. It can also be used as an oil diffuser, or as an aromatherapy unit.

—Extreme vaporizer vapor whip

Extreme vaporizer enables making the use of an extra long vapor whip, in order to experience as like a traditional vaporizer. For a rich vaporizing experience completely inert tubing is featured in an extreme vaporizer.

—Extreme vaporizer balloon fill system

Due to its balloon fill system, people are really excited about the extreme vaporizer. To enable filling of balloon depending on your preference, extreme vaporizer consists of a 3 speed fan system which provides vapors with different densities to fill balloon.

—Digital temperature control (extreme vaporizer)

It controls the extreme vaporizer to utilize different herbs in an easy manner, with a wide range of temperature control. It let the extreme vaporizer be your partner in the vaporization process ranging from low end of heat spectrum to a high end.

—Extreme vaporizer autotimer

It enables us to enjoy the auto shutoff a feature of extreme vaporizer.extreme vaporizer allows to automatically shutoff of unit down to 4 hrs before the beginning of the vaporization session.

Generally Extreme vaporizer is shipped completely with 110 volt system, which was effectively used in North America and the lifetime warranty of extreme vaporizer can be applied to heater failure only. Any other sought of physical damage will not be entertained under the warranty cover.

Barack Obama Yes I inhaled

25 December, 22:31, by admin Tags: ,
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How To Clean Your Volcano Vaporizer

25 December, 22:17, by admin Tags: ,
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