Day: 12/01/2014

Underground Chemists in the UK Are Trying to Bring Quaaludes Back

https://news.vice.com/article/underground-chemists-in-the-uk-are-trying-to-bring-quaaludes-back

Quaaludes are like barbituates — and I find it interesting that Soma also acts like a barbituate.  I took Soma for a long time, and I think it works for chronic pain.  Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Soma (carisoprodol):

As of November 2007, carisoprodol (Somadril, Somadril comp.) has been taken off the market in Sweden due to problems with dependence and side effects… In May 2008 it was taken off the market in Norway. In the EU, the European Medicines Agency issued a release recommending member states suspend marketing authorization for this product in the treatment of acute (not chronic) back pain.

The interaction of carisoprodol with essentially all opioids, and other centrally acting analgesics, but especially those of the codeine-derived subgroup of the semisynthetic class (codeine, ethylmorphine, dihydrocodeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, nicocodeine, benzylmorphine, the various acetylated codeine derivatives including acetyldihydrocodeine,dihydroisocodeine, nicodicodeine and others) which allows the use of a smaller dose of the opioid to have a given effect…

In recreational drug users, deaths have resulted from carelessly combining overdoses of hydrocodone and carisoprodol.

DOH Public Hearing 12/29/2014

http://nmhealth.org/about/mcp/svcs/

A Notice of Public Hearing has been released explaining that a public hearing on the proposed repeal and replacement of the rules will be held on Monday, December 29 @ 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM in the Harold Runnels Building auditorium, located at 1190 S. St. Francis Drive in Santa Fe to receive public comment regarding proposed changes.

Written comments may be submitted to:

Medical Cannabis Program
New Mexico Department of Health
P.O. Box 26110
1190 St. Francis Dr., S-3400
Santa Fe, NM 87502-6110
Email: medical.cannabis@state.nm.us

We encourage everyone to review and respond in writing to the proposed changes. Auditorium seating is limited to approximately 220 guests at one time. The Department of Health welcomes your input as we work together to create a safe, responsible Program to allow for the beneficial use of medical cannabis in a regulated system for the qualified patients of New Mexico. [Translation:  Never forget that the Program is more important than patients.]

REMINDER: The Department plans to open the Licensed Non-Profit Producer application period after any rule changes become effective. Until then the Department and MCP have no further information regarding applications.

Do antidepressants make the grieving process easier?

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/do-antidepressants-make-the-grieving-process-easier-120114.html

“In what some prominent critics have called a cash cow for the drug companies, the American Psychiatric Association voted in 2013 to drop the old warning against diagnosing depression in those who are mourning, paving the way for more of them to be diagnosed with major depression, and, thusly treated with antidepressants.”

News from the DOH

From New MexiCann newsletter 11/30/2014:
Dept. of Health Announces Public Hearing:

Licensed NonProfit Producers received an email from the Dept. informing us that a Public Hearing would be held for input and discussion on the now revised Proposed Regulations for the NM Medical Cannabis Program.

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING The New Mexico Department of Health will hold a public hearing on the proposed repeal and replacement of 7.34.2 NMAC (“Advisory Board Responsibilities and Duties”), 7.34.3 (“Registry Identification Cards”), and 7.34.4 NMAC (“Licensing Requirements for Producers, Production Facilities and Distribution”). The hearing will be held on Monday, December 29th at 9:00a.m. in the Harold Runnels Building auditorium, located at 1190 St. Francis Drive in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The public hearing will be conducted to receive public comment regarding proposed changes to these rules. A copy of these materials may be obtained from, and written comments may be submitted to: Andrea Sundberg, Program Coordinator Medical Cannabis Program New Mexico Department of Health P.O. Box 26110 1190 St. Francis Dr., Suite S-3400 Santa Fe, NM 87502-6110 505-827-2451 If you are an individual with a disability who is in need of special assistance or accommodations to attend or participate in the hearing, please contact Andrea Sundberg at the above address or telephone number. The Department requests at least ten (10) days’ advance notice for special accommodations requests 

These new Proposed Regulations have not yet been made public, but the Department’s email informed the Producers that we would receive copies on Monday, Dec. 1.  I hope so – we have scheduled a meeting of NM Drug Policy Alliance’s Cannabis Advisory Group for this Monday afternoon.  The NM Cannabis Producers Association , “The Guild”, will be scheduling a meeting this week or next to assess strategies to deal with the Proposed Regulations – but first we have to see them.

The Department’s email also outlined several of the changes made since the last Public Hearing in June.  Here they are for your info:

· PPL plant count will remain at 4 mature plants/12 seedlings

· Background checks for PPL’s will NOT be required

· Single fee structure  based on the number of total plants ($30,000 for 150 plants; $10,000 for each additional 50 plants up to 450 total)

· Withdrawal of patient registry fee (but with a $50 replacement card fee)

· Withdrawal of testing requirements for heavy metals and pesticide chemical residue; adjustments to testing standards based on public feedback

Many other issues were loudly protested at the last Public Hearing and hopefully these have also be improved upon.  We should know that tomorrow.  As soon as we have copies of the revised Proposed Regulations, I will post them for your review and comments.  I will also keep you in the loop on positions and strategies for DPA, NM Patients Alliance and The Producers Guild.

Prosecutors repeatedly stressed Brown’s pot use

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/prosecutors-repeatedly-stressed-brown-s-pot-use/article_71a79204-ff00-5070-9d1e-96098250e723.html

A detective told jurors the term “waxing” didn’t mean much to him at first. Then the results of Brown’s toxicology reports came back on Aug. 15 showing he had high levels of THC. The detective testified that the medical examiner’s office told him the level in Brown’s system “could have potentially caused a loss in perception of space and time and there was also the possibility that there could have been hallucinations.”

According to a toxicology report, Brown had 12 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood in his system. There were no other drugs detected.

In testimony before the grand jury on Nov. 4, the chief toxicologist for St. Louis County said it was clear Brown had consumed a lot of marijuana because it would take a lot to get a 300-pound person to the level of 12 nanograms of the compound THC in his bloodstream.

“In a small person, say like 100 pounds, to get to 12 nanograms wouldn’t take a lot,” the toxicologist said. “A single joint could easily do that. But when you talk about a larger body mass, just like drinking alcohol, larger persons can drink more alcohol because they have the receptacle to hold it.”

The toxicologist said it was impossible to conclude if Brown was a chronic marijuana user or had a single acute dose within hours of his death — or how either would have affected Brown.

It seems like this medical examiner is using his own opinion and bias when finding there were “high” levels of THC. I mean, hallucinations?  It’s my understanding that this particular side effect only happens to a very small percentage of users.  And 12 nanograms is so far below what even the NFL considers to be over the limit.

Throughout months of prosecutors questioning witnesses, marijuana use, which may have involved waxing, was frequently presented as a potential explanation for why an unarmed 18-year-old attacked a police officer and then charged head first into a barrage of bullets, as Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson has testified.

They’re just trying to make cannabis look bad because they have nothing else to explain Mr. Wilson’s story of a raging monster.