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cannabisnews.com: NORML's Weekly News Bulletin - November 15, 2007

NORML's Weekly News Bulletin - November 15, 2007
Posted by CN Staff on November 15, 2007 at 12:36:45 PT
Weekly Press Release
Source: NORML
US Marijuana Market “Saturated,” Pot Prices To Fall, Federal Report Says November 15, 2007 - Washington, DC, USAWashington, DC: Domestic marijuana production has risen dramatically in recent years and will likely result in reduced retail prices for pot, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center’s (NDIC) 2008 "National Drug Threat Assessment" report.
"[R]ecent increases in cannabis cultivation and marijuana production within the United States coincide with the continued flow of marijuana from foreign sources," the report finds. "[This] may lead to market saturation in major markets, [which] could reduce the price of the drug significantly."Since 2000, the total number of domestic marijuana plants seized by US law enforcement has increased from 2.8 million to over 5.2 million, the report finds. Authors speculate that a significant portion of the increase in pot production is due to commercial growers relocating their operations indoors, which allows them to increase their total number of harvests per year and produce higher-quality cannabis. "[Though] the demand for marijuana appears to be relatively stable, … many users now prefer … higher-potency marijuana over commercial-grade marijuana," authors state. Nevertheless, the report concludes that "most" of the marijuana available in the United States continues to be "lower-potency, commercial-grade marijuana produced in Mexico."In 2006, law enforcement seized more than 1.1 million kilograms of pot along the US/southwest border, according to the study. By contrast, law enforcement seized fewer than 4,200 kilograms of pot along the US/Canadian border.Domestically, California continues to lead all US states in pot production, with an estimated 2.9 million plants having been eradicated by law enforcement so far this year. This record total is more than four times the total number of plants seized in 2005. Among California’s counties, Lake County, Humboldt County, and Shasta County report the largest numbers of pot seizures.For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500, or Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at: paul norml.orgFull text of the NDIC report, "National Drug Threat Assessment 2008" is available online at: http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7427 Cannabis Spray Effective Long Term In Pain Treatment, Study Says November 15, 2007 - Liverpool, UKLiverpool, United Kingdom: Long-term administration of Sativex, an oral spray consisting of natural cannabis extracts, reduces neuropathic pain without inducing tolerance in multiple sclerosis patients, according to clinical trial data published in the journal Clinical Therapeutics.Twenty-eight patients completed the two-year, open-label extension trial. Investigators reported that patients required fewer daily doses of Sativex and reported lower median pain scores the longer they took the drug. Authors also reported that drug’s administration was not associated with an increase in patients’ use of other analgesics – noting that several of the study’s participants reduced or ceased their use of pharmaceutical pain medications while taking Sativex. It has been estimated that more than one out of four MS patients suffer from neuropathic pain."[Sativex] was effective, with no evidence of tolerance, in … patients with central neuropathic pain and MS who completed two years of treatment," investigators concluded. "The use of [Sativex], per se, did not lead to a … major increase … in the use of new analgesics, which over at least two years is … a further indirect measure of sustained effectiveness in [this] population."Previously reported data on the long-term efficacy of Sativex has shown the drug to decrease spasticity and bladder dysfunction in patients with MS.NORML Senior Policy Analyst Paul Armentano called the extension trial results particularly significant. "Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, degenerative disease; its symptoms become more severe over time," he said. "Therefore, one would assume that patients would be increasing their daily drug administration in order to maintain their initial levels of pain relief. That they are not doing so indicates that patients are not becoming tolerant to the drug’s therapeutic effects. More importantly, this result may also be evidence that cannabinoids are, in fact, moderating the progression of this debilitating disease. "In August, Canadian health officials granted regulatory approval to Sativex as an adjunctive treatment in adult patients with cancer pain. Canadian officials had previously approved the drug’s prescription use to treat MS-associated neuropathy.Makers of the drug are seeking regulatory approval for Sativex in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and in the United States.For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at: paul norml.org Full text of the study, "Oralmucosal delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol/cannabidiol for neuropathic pain associated with multiple sclerosis: an uncontrolled, open-label, two-year extension trial," appears in the September issue of Clinical Therapeutics.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7426 Join NORML This Month For The 24th Annual Key West Legal Seminar November 15, 2007 - Washington, DC, USAWashington, DC: NORML is still accepting registrations from practicing attorneys for its 24th annual Key West Legal Seminar – taking place Thursday, November 29 through Saturday, December 1, at the Pier House Resort and Caribbean Spa in downtown Key West.Topics to be covered at this year's conference include: constitutional limits on roadside police encounters; special jury instructions in drug cases; current efforts to provide for the legal distribution of medical marijuana; and many more. Additionally, the conference agenda and speaker bios are available online. NORML's annual legal seminar is fully accredited in every state that requires continuing legal education (CLE) for attorneys.For more details, or to register for the conference online, please visit: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5341DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7428Source: NORML Foundation (DC)Published: November 15, 2007Copyright: 2007 NORML Contact: norml norml.org Website: http://www.norml.org/CannabisNews NORML Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/NORML.shtml
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Comment #8 posted by Max Flowers on November 16, 2007 at 09:58:04 PT
Flower prices, oil prices
I've seen prices fall in certain specific segments of the medical cannabis market, but I don't know what's happening in the "street" market... but I doubt prices are falling much there if at all.For example, hash oil prices paid (wholesale to the medical market) are definitely down from a year or two ago, telling me that cultivation is so prevalent now that thousands of guys are making oil from their trim, causing a big glut (in northern CA anyway). For example I recently came up with a refinement on an old process that makes the cleanest ever, using vacuum distillation. But no one cares---there's just too much of the stuff around.
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Comment #7 posted by afterburner on November 16, 2007 at 07:06:27 PT
I Woke Up to 'Grass' Narrated by Woody Harrelson
Random facts:Bureau of Narcotics zealot Harry J. Anslinger waged a media campaign against 'marijuana' in order to scare parents into pressuring states to sign on to his Uniform Narcotics Act which gave the country a federal reach with local police forces doing the fed's dirty work.The last state to sign onto the Uniform Narcotics Act was Colorado.The first person arrested under the act was a 58 year old Denver resident.The propaganda talking points have been recycled mercilessly even though they have been disproved time and time again by commissions, like New York's La Guardia Commission.When Harry J. Anslinger retired after serving under 5 presidents, Anslinger was given a commendation by JFK!The Boggs Act was the first to enact mandatory minimum sentences for 'drug' crimes.
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Comment #6 posted by afterburner on November 15, 2007 at 23:15:52 PT
FDA, the #1 Roadblock to Cannabis Normalization
More dirty work or neglect from the FDA (and the USDA) and their corporate connections:1. The greenwashing of toxic consumer products.
Monday, November 12, 2007 by: Mike Adams
http://www.newstarget.com/022229.htmlExcerpt:
"The FDA, for its part, has no interest whatsoever in requiring that the products it regulates are Earth friendly. And you know why? Because the fastest growing source of harzardous consumer products are, in fact, pharmaceuticals, and if the FDA admits it needs to start enforcing environmental safety in food and drug products, it would have to face up to the fact that medications are now a primary source of global pollution of rivers and oceans. (Take a guess what all those HRT drugs are causing down stream...)"So what about the EPA? Why doesn't the EPA regulate pharmaceuticals as environmental pollutants? The answer is obvious: Because the EPA mirrors the FDA in its kow-towing to the financial interests of powerful corporations, and it's far easier for the EPA to bury its head in medication-contaminated sand than to take meaningful action to protect the environment from Big Pharma."2. Stevia: The FDA's Attack On A Beneficial Supplement.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 by: Jon Barron
http://www.newstarget.com/022234.html3. Action alert: Help save raw almonds from the USDA:Health: Consumer groups join forces to reverse pasteurization ruling for raw almonds.
Monday, October 22, 2007 by: Mike Adams
http://www.newstarget.com/022146.htmlExcerpt:
{
The U.S. government is once again working closely with powerful corporations to knowingly deliver a nutritionally deficient food supply to the American people. This most recent example concerns the new rules by the Almond Board of California (ABC) and backed by the USDA to mandate the pasteurization of all commercially-grown almonds in California with substances that include highly toxic propylene oxide (PPO). As reported by the Health Freedom Foundation, propylene oxide is so toxic that it was "...banned by both the National Hot Rod and American Motorcycle Racing Associations, where it had been used as a fuel before being deemed too dangerous."
}Use the Action Alert in the linked article to webmail your Representatives and Senators to reverse this attack on organic food and on the health of the public.
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Comment #5 posted by The GCW on November 15, 2007 at 18:58:05 PT
What?
"""reduce the price of the drug significantly"""Drug?-0-How 'bout PLANT?As in a relatively safe God-given plant.
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Comment #4 posted by mayan on November 15, 2007 at 18:22:40 PT
More,Cheaper bud
That just proves that the war on cannabis has been a colossal failure! How much more of OUR money are the fascists going to burn?Tick,Tock...PENTAGON INSIDER HAS DIRE WARNING:
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/pentagon_insider.html
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Comment #3 posted by rchandar on November 15, 2007 at 17:15:38 PT:
Hydro
Listen, people--If the growers have created a better product, it is to be commended, not panned. If they can market an MJ that is stronger, cleaner, healthier, then that should be the basis of our appreciation of it, not our worry. MJ is a sacrament; if it is used properly, it creates no major problems. A lot of reports come out about how "high-grade" cannabis creates schizophrenia, but in reality these are users who haven't considered what it is worth, how they should think, what is valuable about their experience. THAT's why MJ should be legal. Really, we are a church without a church; that's what's sending the kids to ER. You don't take MJ just to take it; you take it because it offers you a PERSPECTIVE that is VALUABLE to the ordering of your life. MJ should be as strong, as clean, and as uncontaminated as possible. These are the same people who sprayed poison on the sensimillia gardens in 1976. No? people have to die because they smoke MJ? Just DON'T TRUST 'EM.--rchandar
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Comment #2 posted by rchandar on November 15, 2007 at 16:51:42 PT:
Outrage
"People are preferring high-grade marijuana to previous commercial marijuana."Screw 'em! Commercial marijuana is "schwag," it's full of mold and can damage your health any number of ways. Is it right to smoke mold? Fungus? Screw 'em.The police have numbers of ways to discourage you from making good decisions with your use. Trust me, I know.
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Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on November 15, 2007 at 15:40:02 PT
The Feds Know Nothing!
Prices falling? Give me a break! It's more like a huge increase in Marijuana use across the country and world-wide. The Feds think they are experts but on the contrary, they know nothing about the illegal market which is completely obscured for them. Do they make open market purchases? Prices falling? Have not seen it. Dream on Feds the reality is much different.Get this Sativex spray is effective but vaporized marijuana... is illegal. Go figure!
On a mission from God!
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