cannabisnews.com: NORML's Weekly News Bulletin - July 17, 2008 NORML's Weekly News Bulletin - July 17, 2008 Posted by CN Staff on July 17, 2008 at 12:37:56 PT Weekly Press Release Source: NORML ONDCP Insider: Drug Czar's Office Is “Flying Blind” July 17, 2008 - Washington, DC, USWashington, DC: Claims made by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) that America is making "progress" in the so-called 'war on drugs' are not based on evidence or measurable performance, according to an essay published this week by former ONDCP budget director John Carnevale. Writing for the HuffingtonPost.com, Carnevale - who spent eleven years working in the Drug Czar's office - states: "[T]he Office of National Drug Control Policy … claims that America has reached a turning point in the war on drugs. In reality, we have little reason to believe a significant change has occurred."He continues: "Though Congress created ONDCP to formulate research-driven and performance-based policy, assess and modify policy through performance measures, and give a precise accounting of the federal drug control budget, ONDCP fails at all of those tasks. … As a consequence, policy is now flying blind resulting in lost opportunities for more success."Full text of Carnevale's essay, "The Failure of the Office of National Drug Control Policy," http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-carnevale/the-failure-of-the-office_b_112693.htmlFor more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7652 Case Study: Inhaled Cannabis Improves Symptoms Of ADHDJuly 17, 2008 - Heidelberg, GermanyHeidelberg, Germany: Oral administration of synthetic THC capsules (dronabinol) mitigates symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a case study published by the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine (IACM, Germany). Investigators at the Heidelberg University Medical Center reported that smoking cannabis dramatically improved the performance, behavior, and mental state of a 28-year-old male patient diagnosed with severe ADHD. "The present case report suggests that individuals suffering from ADHD … may - in some cases - benefit from cannabis treatment in that it appears to regulate activation to a level which may be considered optimum for performance," researchers concluded.Full text of the case study previously appeared in the German journal Archives of Criminology.For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director. Full text of the study, "Cannabis improves symptoms of ADHD," http://www.cannabis-med.org/english/journal/en_2008_01_1.pdfDL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7651 Austrian Parliament Approves Medical Marijuana Use July 17, 2008 - Vienna, AustriaVienna, Austria: Austrian Health regulators will be legally permitted to grow and dispense cannabis for therapeutic purposes under legislation approved by Parliament last week.The Austrian Health Ministry will oversee production of the drug, according to an Agency France-Presse (AFP) news wire report.To date, only a handful of European nations, including the Netherlands, Germany (via federal permit only), and Finland (via court order), allow for the use of medicinal cannabis by qualified patients.For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7654 Marijuana Extracts Provide Superior Pain Relief Compared To Plant's Isolated Compounds, Study Says. “Cannabis sativa evoked a total relief of neuropathic pain, ameliorating the effect of single cannabinoids” July 17, 2008 - Milan, ItalyMilan, Italy: The administration of whole-plant cannabis extracts provides superior pain relief compared to the administration of the plant's isolated components, according to preclinical data to be published in the journal Phytotherapy Research. Investigators at the University of Milan, Department of Pharmacology assessed the antinociceptive efficacy of plant-derived cannabis extracts compared to the administration of a single cannabinoid in an animal model of neuropathic pain. Researchers reported that the administration of single cannabinoids such as THC or CBD (cannabidiol) produced limited relief compared to the administration of plant extracts containing multiple cannabinoids, terpenes (oils), and flavonoids (pigments). "[T]he use of a standardized extract of Cannabis sativa … evoked a total relief of thermal hyperalgesia, in an experimental model of neuropathic pain, … ameliorating the effect of single cannabinoids," investigators concluded. They added: "Collectively, these findings strongly support the idea that the combination of cannabinoid and non-cannabinoid compounds, as present in [plant-derived] extracts, provide significant advantages in the relief of neuropathic pain compared with pure cannabinoids alone. … Further studies of cannabis-based medicines in neuropathic pain are now required to demonstrate a clinically relevant improvement in the treatment of this condition."Two separate US clinical trials recently affirmed that inhaled cannabis significantly reduces neuropathy in patients with chronic pain conditions, such as HIV or spinal cord injury, compared to placebo.Previously published preclinical data on cannabis and analgesia have shown that cannabinoids, when administered in concert with either opiates or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), evoke greater reductions in pain compared to the administration of either drug alone.For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director. Full text of the study, "Antihyperalgesic effect of a Cannabis sativa extract in a rat model of neuropathic pain," will appear in the journal Phytotherapy Research. DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7650Source: NORML Foundation (DC)Published: July 17, 2008Copyright: 2008 NORML Contact: norml norml.org Website: http://www.norml.org/CannabisNews NORML Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/NORML.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by Hope on July 17, 2008 at 17:36:09 PT AND Not nearly so possibly dangerous as the very serious, often life threatening, pharmaceuticals that people are given. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Hope on July 17, 2008 at 17:28:49 PT Helps ADHD From my experience, I find that easy to believe."Zoning" = "Really focusing". "Able to think" = "A calmer mind".Relaxed a bit from the almost painfully agitated state some people find themselves in naturally.Tension can be eased enough to relax spasming muscles.The ability to listen or actually "hear" could increase. It might make it easier for them to discover a little hope or joy... or both.I can easily see how it could be helpful. Some people are what people used to call, in Victorian days... "A bundle of nerves". Cannabis used judiciously can calm and smooth those "bundles of nerves", astoundingly so sometimes.What's wrong with that?Prohibitionists are perfect prudes. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by paul armentano on July 17, 2008 at 14:31:07 PT More on the Italian pain study NORML podcast host Russ Belville and I discuss the Italian pain study -- Is the whole plant greater than the sum of its parts? -- in depth on Wednesday's edition of the NORML Audio Stash here: http://audio.norml.org/audio_stash/NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2008-07-16.mp3 http://stash.norml.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by observer on July 17, 2008 at 13:45:37 PT ADHD individuals suffering from ADHD … may - in some cases - benefit from cannabisI've heard some people tell me cannabis makes them more prone to distraction and less able to concentrate, focus, or stay on task. Then again, I think sometimes cannabis can improve one's focus and I've heard other people report that too. Cannabis can definitely change one's perspective on things. Sometimes that can be helpful for a given task; sometimes not. In any event, the real crime is jailing people because they buy, sell, or grow cannabis. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by TroutMask on July 17, 2008 at 13:15:30 PT Another for the NO SH!T files No Sh!T!!!!"Case Study: Inhaled Cannabis Improves Symptoms Of ADHD"sorry, gotta look at something else.... [ Post Comment ] Post Comment