i feel he has much to teach most of us humans.

i will be going to the Power-Shift.org conference on Sat.

I'm not disputing that! However, this is CORRELATION, not CAUSATION.

By itself, this little factoid is almost completely worthless. I'm going to take a wild guess that people who use MJ probably use alcohol at a higher rate than the general public. I wonder, do they exercise as much? Do they smoke cigs at a higher rate that general population? Do they eat as well? Take multivitamins? Have more stress?

If they put out a study that CONTROLS for all these other factors, they'll have proved causation, and they'll have delivered a piece of useful health information to the world.

Until then, all they've done is issue a obviously politically-driven piece of nonsense.

Saturday April 01, 2006

ISLAMABAD: Short-term cannabis use does not seem to adversely affect CD4+ cell counts or viral loads in HIV -infected patients, according to a report published in the August 19th issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. In HIV-infected patients, marijuana has been used as an appetite stimulant and as a treatment for the nausea associated with some antiretroviral agents. However, concern has been raised that such therapy could have a harmful effect on disease status, because in theory, cannabinoid use could increase HIV levels by impairing the immune response or by interfering with the activity of protease inhibitors.

Previously it was shown that short-term marijuana use did not influence nelfinavir metabolism. Although marijuana use did produce a drop in indinavir levels, this fall was small and unlikely to be clinically meaningful. However, it still remained unclear whether cannabinoid use had an effect on viral load or CD+ cell counts.

To investigate, Dr. Donald I. Abrams, from the University of California at San Francisco, and colleagues assessed the outcomes of 67 HIV-infected patients who were randomly assigned to use marijuana cigarettes, cannabinoid capsules, or sugar pills (placebo) three times daily for 21 days. All of the patients had been receiving the same antiretroviral regimen, which included indinavir or nelfinavir, for at least 8 weeks before the study began.

More than half of the subjects in each group had undetectable viral loads throughout the study, the researchers note. Although not statistically significant, marijuana and cannabinoid use were actually associated with a slight drop in viral load compared with placebo use.

Marijuana and cannabinoid use did not produce a drop in CD4+ or CD8+ cell counts. In fact, compared with placebo use, treatment with these agents was actually associated with a slight increase in cell counts.

The results suggest that short-term cannabinoid use is not unsafe for patients with HIV infection, the authors note. "Further studies investigating the therapeutic potential of marijuana and other cannabinoids in patients with HIV infection and other populations are ongoing and should provide additional safety information over longer exposure periods," they write.

Copyright: PakTribune.com Pvt Ltd 2003-2004

March 31, 2006

Contact: Carol Hall-Walker 401-222-2589

The Rhode Island Department of Health has taken steps to implement the Medical Marijuana Program (MMP) as directed by the General Assembly. The Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater Medical Marijuana Act was enacted on January 3, 2006.

The regulations were filed with the Secretary of State today and the application is available online at http://www.health.ri.gov/hsr/mmp/index.php or people may get an application at Room 104 of the Department of Health at 3 Capitol Hill, Providence RI, 02908.

Only Rhode Island-licensed physicians will be able to issue a certification of eligibility.

To be registered as a medical marijuana program participant, qualifying patients must submit their physician’s written certification form stating the qualifying patient’s debilitating medical condition or conditions.

“Debilitating medical condition” means cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, Hepatitis C, or the treatment of specific conditions., including chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces one or more of the following: cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe, debilitating, chronic pain; severe nausea; seizures, including but not limited to those characteristic of epilepsy: or severe and persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis or Crohn’s disease; or agitation of Alzheimer’s disease; and any other medical condition or its treatment approved by the Department, as provided for in section 21-28.6-5 of the Rhode Island General Laws.

Once the card is issued the patient and/or caregiver may possess a limited amount of marijuana without violating state law. The law does not alter federal statutes and regulations prohibiting the possession and use of marijuana. Patients and their registered caregivers must have a registry identification card on them.

There is an application fee of $75.00, unless the applicant can show evidence that he or she is a recipient of SSI or Medicaid, at which point the fee will be reduced to $10.00. The Department of Health is only able to take checks or money orders, not cash or credit cards. The Department has 30 days to verify and approve the application.

For more information, go to: http://www.health.ri.gov/hsr/mmp/index.php or call 401-222-2828 during regular business hours from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

Rhode Island Department of Health • 3 Capitol Hill • Providence RI 02908 Voice: 401-222-2231 • Fax: 401-222-6548 • TTY: 711 • A Rhode Island Government Website • Copyright: 1998–2006

By Will Boggs, MD

March 31, 2006

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The likelihood of a good outcome of fertility treatment is reduced if either the man or the woman uses marijuana, compared with couples that don‘t use it, the results of a new study suggest.

If these study findings are confirmed by additional research, we would recommend that physicians tell couples to not use marijuana for at least one year before starting fertility treatment, Dr. Hillary S. Klonoff-Cohen from University of California, La Jolla, told Reuters Health.

Klonoff-Cohen and colleagues investigated the possible effects of marijuana use on the outcomes of 221 couples who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF) or gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) treatment for infertility. The findings are published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

At least 10 percent of men and women smoked marijuana in the year before the fertility procedure, the authors report, and 3 percent of women and 0.5 percent of men reported smoking marijuana the day before the procedure.

Longer marijuana use over a woman‘s lifetime reduced the number of eggs that could be retrieved and the number of embryos that could be transferred, the results indicate.

Women who smoked marijuana during the year before the procedure had 25 percent fewer eggs and about one fewer embryo transferred, compared with women who didn‘t smoke marijuana during that year, the researchers note.

Similarly, marijuana smoking by the man during the year before the procedure was associated with approximately one fewer embryo transferred, the report indicates.

Any lifetime use of marijuana by both partners was associated with a 19 percent decrease in eggs retrieved, compared with couples who never smoked marijuana.

Furthermore, Klonoff-Cohen‘s group found that if the man or the woman had ever used marijuana, their infant had a significantly lower birthweight, compared with individuals who had never used marijuana. This effect seemed to increase with higher or more recent marijuana use.

"Marijuana has been implicated with low birthweight, although the results are inconsistent," Klonoff-Cohen commented. However, this is the first report of a relationship between marijuana use by the father and low infant birth weight, so our findings need to be verified by larger studies.

"We are currently evaluating the effect of marijuana use on intracytoplasmic sperm injection patients," Klonoff-Cohen added.

SOURCE: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, February 2006.