WHATS ARE THEY SMOKIN?

What’s he smokin? Isn’t really a question it’s more of an egregious example of a prejudicial comment made to describe anyone who acts in a manner which the observer determines to be peculiar or a baseless statement against anyone who expresses a thought the observer is incapable of understanding thus dismissing it with ridicule. The implication of course is that the behavior or the thoughts are to be explained by the subject’s use of marijuana.

And a good number of American’s have been sufficiently socialized by Cheech and Chong movies to accept ignorance and refer to it as a prevailing wisdom that marijuana makes people stupid. Yet Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong are the “step-n-fetch its” for a political ideology which conditions its citizens ad nauseam to “just say no” to reality.

When I hear “what’s he smoking?” I think about Carl Sagan who wrote “Cosmos” yet he allegedly smoked marijuana everyday. And I think about William Shakespeare whose pipes recently tested positive for cannabis residue. Now Shakespeare and Sagan could hardly be considered “stupid” making it appear that anyone using the phrase “what’s he smoking?” would be more appropriately described as “stupid” thus begging the question – what, if anything, makes people “stupid”?

Well I recently read the following article and concluded the answer certainly that marijuana does not cause one to be “stupid” but then again the article is based on scientific study and we live in a nation that formulates policy based on the faith of those who want to legislate their morality based on a god and a religion which is nothing more than a figment of their imagination.

Who knows, maybe that’s why “Christianity” has such an abject intolerance for “Marxism” when Marx expressed his observation that religion was the opiate of the masses. Maybe it is religion which is the drug that really makes people stupid because today’s false prophets would prefer to have us believe their god is the same god in genesis 1:29 and 3:18 among other comments documented in the Christian Bible.

Nietzsche would say that the last true Christian died on the cross, Gandhi would say there is no higher form of god than truth and I would say truth is realized when we overcome ignorance. The following article is just another stop to shed some ignorance and come closer to the truth.


Marijuana may spur new brain cells

By STEVE MITCHELL

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Scientists said Thursday that marijuana appearsto promote the development of new brain cells in rats and have anti-anxiety and anti-depressant effects, a findingthat could have an impact on the national debate over medical uses of the drug. Other illegal and legal drugs, including opiates, alcohol, nicotine andcocaine, have been shown to suppress the formation of new brain cells whenused chronically, but marijuana's effect on that process was uncertain.

Now, a team led by Xia Zhang of the department of psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan inSaskatoon may have found evidence the drug spurs new brain cells to form ina region of the brain called the hippocampus, and this in turn reducesanxiety and depression.

Marijuana appears "to be the only illicit drug whose capacity to produceincreased ... neurons is positively correlated with its (anti-anxiety) andanti-depressant-like effects," Zhang and colleagues wrote in the Novemberissue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The paper was posted online Thursday.

In the study, rats were given injections of HU210 -- a synthesized versionof a cannabinoid chemical found in marijuana -- twice per day for 10 days. Zhang told United Press International this would be "a high dose" of smokedmarijuana, but he added he is not certain how many equivalent joints it would take.

The rats showed evidence of new neurons in the hippocampus dentate gyrus, aregion of the brain that plays a role in developing memories.Zhang's team suspected the new brain cells also might be associated with areduction in anxiety and depression, because previous studies had indicatedmedications used to treat anxiety and depression achieve their effect this way.

To find out, they treated rats with HU210 for 10 days and then tested themone month later. When placed in a new environment, the rats were quicker toeat their food than rats that did not receive the compound, which suggestedthere was a reduction in anxiety behaviors.
Another group of rats treated with HU210 showed a reduction in the durationof immobility in a forced swimming test, which is an indication the compoundhad an anti-depressant effect.

Asked how he thought the findings might impact the debate over usingmarijuana to treat medical conditions, Zhang said, "Our results indicatecannabinoids could be used for the treatment of anxiety and depression." He added that his view is "marijuana should be used as alcohol or nicotine,"noting "it has been used for treating various diseases for years in othercountries."

Last June the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 that the federal ban on marijuanasupersedes the laws of certain states that allow the substance to be usedfor medicinal purposes, such as the treatment of pain, nausea in cancerpatients and glaucoma. Eleven states have passed laws legalizing marijuanause by patients with a doctor's approval, including California, Alaska,Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

The Bush administration, through the Department of Justice's DrugEnforcement Agency, began conducting raids in California in 2001 on patientsusing marijuana. Two of those arrested by the DEA -- Angel Raich, whosuffers from brain cancer, and Diane Monson, who used the drug to helpalleviate chronic back pain -- sued Attorney General John Ashcroft,requesting a court order to be allowed to grow and smoke marijuana, whichled to the Supreme Court decision.

Paul Armentano, senior policy analyst with the National Organization for theReform of Marijuana Laws, told UPI he thought the findings "would have apositive impact on moving forward this debate, because it is giving ... ascientific explanation that further supports long-observed anecdotalevidence, and further lends itself to the notion that marijuana, unlike somany other prescription drugs and controlled substances, appears to haveincredibly low toxicity and as a result lacks potential harm to the brainthat many of these drugs have."

The DEA Web site, however, contends that "marijuana is a dangerous,addictive drug that poses significant health threats to users," includingcancer and impaired mental functioning.
Armentano said this is a distortion of what scientific studies actuallyshow. Studies in animals indicate marijuana actually may protect againstmany forms of cancer, rather than cause the disease, he said. In addition,studies in marijuana smokers have found little evidence of cognitivedeficits, and even when they do, the defects disappear if the person stopssmoking for 30 days.

E-mail: sciencemail@upi.comCopyright 2005 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.