BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health

Subject: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 12:24 PM

To no surprise, researchers are finding evidence that cannabis isn't what the "Just Say No" folks would like you to think.

New research into brain health coming out of Canada makes for interesting reading.

Study turns pot wisdom on head
Lab rats given drug 100 times as strong as pot
By DAWN WALTON

Friday, October 14, 2005
Posted at 3:57 AM EDT
From Friday's Globe and Mail

Calgary — Forget the stereotype about dopey potheads. It seems marijuana could be good for your brain. While other studies have shown that periodic use of marijuana can cause memory loss and impair learning and a host of other health problems down the road, new research suggests the drug could have some benefits when administered regularly in a highly potent form. Most "drugs of abuse" such as alcohol, heroin, cocaine and nicotine suppress growth of new brain cells. However, researchers found that cannabinoids promoted generation of new neurons in rats' hippocampuses.

Hippocampuses are the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, and the study held true for either plant-derived or the synthetic version of cannabinoids.

"This is quite a surprise," said Xia Zhang, an associate professor with the Neuropsychiatry Research Unit at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. "Chronic use of marijuana may actually improve learning memory when the new neurons in the hippocampus can mature in two or three months," he added.

The research by Dr. Zhang and a team of international researchers is to be published in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, but their findings are on-line now.

The scientists also noticed that cannabinoids curbed depression and anxiety, which Dr. Zhang says, suggests a correlation between neurogenesis and mood swings. (Or, it at least partly explains the feelings of relaxation and euphoria of a pot-induced high.)

Follow the link at the top for the rest of this article.

Here is a Google search on more articles about this research.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 01:59 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: gnu
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 02:14 PM

Prior to posting, I will again state that I have NOT smoked dope (Cannabis Sativa) in over twenty years.

Ya know, when I was at university thirty years ago, I knew a bunch of lads who smoked dope... a lot of dope... potent dope. Typical among the heavy pot/hash/oil users were guys like *****. Engineering was a five year program which could be done in fours years by only the extremely intelligent. He not only did his undergraduate degree in four years, he took a bunch of extra courses and had SIX majors. He is now one of the top execs at a large Yankee oil company. He doesn't smoke dope anymore... they have a drug testing program.

Over my time at Uni, I knew of at least two dozen guys like *****. Law students, math students, etc, and even some of the Profs smoked dope back then. Not any more... it's not politically correct.

When I started Uni, I wouldn't even associate with anyone who smoked dope, until one night after Xmas exams in my third year. I got boozed up and smoked. Didn't get high. The next day, I was told that most people have to smoke twice to get high and I did. My 2.87 CGPA was near 4.0 when I graduated with a Master of Science in Engineering. Never had a beer for over five years.

Of course, when I got out in the working world, pot was a no-no and all my peers in the construction industry were heavy drinkers. I have seen a lot of lives ruined by booze. But I have never seen a pot smoker who was not successful and happy.

Like I said, I haven't smoked dope for over twenty years, but, the day it becomes legal, I am gonna replace part of my rhubarb patch... and grow into a wise old sage.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: gnu
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 02:15 PM

Awww... Peace.... I don't know what to say. To each his own?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 02:37 PM

I have smoked dope (grass) but not in over thirty years. In fact, when I die I intend to be cremated, put into nickle bags and given to all my friends. Well, the two of them, anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 02:48 PM

Oh, yeah. I just remembered what I was gonna say in my first post.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Robyn
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 03:25 PM

Then why did my nephew become bi-polar after smoking dope on a regular basis? He was fine before that.
He's almost a total write-off as a human being, at age 35. He's unable to hold down a job and he keeps annoying the police. Nothing too serious, just getting into fights and driving when he shouldn't.
(But I still love him.)
Robyn

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: gnu
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 03:32 PM

Because he became bi-polar. Thank goodness he was smoking dope, which delayed the onset of this terrible affliction. Fire up a doobie and chill or provide some evidence for your "claim".

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 03:56 PM

Any doctor who encourages a patient to smoke cannabis in any other situation than terminal illness doesn't deserve the title "Doctor of Medicine". In fact any Doc who encourages smoking of ANYTHING is in the same category.
There has been much crap talked about cannabis use----by both sides in the argument. Marijuana is nowhere near being the horrid poison which has been demonised by the "antis". Nor is it the benign and harmless habit extolled by the "pros". On the "anti" side, ONE reefer is much more harmful than ONE cigarette. A home made reefer burns at a much higher temperature than a factory made cig, and does proportionately more immediate damage. On the "pro" side ---nobody I have ever met smokes up to forty reefers a day! Most cannabis users I know indulge their pleasures mainly at parties or social gatherings, etc.
   Tobacco is only now being seen for what it is--an utter abomination. The difference between the two drugs lies in the fact that tobacco is extremely harmful even when used in a "non-smoking' fashion. Cannabis, on the other hand, can have similar physical and mental effects whether it is smoked or ingested by any other means.
If it is smoked, it must be considered like tobacco---an abomination. It is becoming apparent to most interested folks that because of the blind prejudice of the "antis" , and the defiant 'freedom to indulge in a 'joint" pros, a potentially very beneficial weapon in the armoury of medicine has been unjustifiably sidelined for far too long. If you must use cannabis recreationally, eat a cookie--or get the recipe for marijuana butter. These avenues MAY turn out to be benign enough to merit general acceptance. Smoking the stuff---snoking ANY stuff---can do nothing but physical harm.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 03:59 PM

Bipolar disease isn't one that is likely to be set off by something like drug use, but rather the reverse, according to a friend of mine who has the ailment, as does her son. There is a genetic connection, and she feels that the bi-polar disease is what has contributed to his use of controlled substances. Looking for relief.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 05:04 PM

Call me old fashioned but I don't think that it is very wise to imbibe dubious substances bought from criminals.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 05:28 PM

It shouldn't be a crime. That would solve that problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 07:08 PM

The only way I would ever be found returning to tobacco [after what it has done to me----] or starting to smoke cannabis would be if something had very seriously compromised my brain health beforehand--

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 07:16 PM

I have never seen a pot smoker who was not successful and happy.
gnu, you sure have missed seeing a number of people I've known along the way. Having said that, I buy a good share of what you've said. I've known more sad, sorry drunks than sad, sorry potheads; the difference between the legal and social status of alcohol and of pot is an absurdity. And I've known very intelligent, successful people who smoked the "evil weed" at least occasionally. But I've known a few daily pot smokers, and I can't remember any of them who were winners.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: gnu
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 07:29 PM

Cool. All very good points. In the end, we all know that ingestion of anything other than pure water is a detriment to health. Pot included. I just gave you my perspective from my own experience.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: bobad
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 07:42 PM

One of my best friends is a dedicated daily pot smoker. By all of society's standards of measurement he is successful. He lives in a big house in the suburbs, has three great kids two of whom are in post secondary education one still in high school, belongs to the local sailing club etc. etc.

It is my observation that it is not the use of pot or booze or whatever one uses to get through life but the strength of one's character that determines his goodness.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: *daylia*
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 08:04 PM

Hmmm. So that's why they inscribed "with HIGH distinction" on my diploma!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 11:26 PM

I also have a couple of friends who have continued the practice over the years, and seem no worse for the wear. Truth be told, this seems to be a much better vice than alcohol. And no calories.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: number 6
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 11:43 PM

A Nickel Bag ?!?!
That has gone the way of the 35 cent pack of MacDonald's cigarettes, 10 cent gallon of leaded gas, ... gone the way of honesty and integrity.

A Nickel Bag ?!?!?
Anyone here remember Webster's resteraunt on Avenue Road, a couple blocks north of Yorkville Ave. in Toronto?

A Nickel Bag ?!?!?
Remember when getting high didn't involve supporting your local gangsters and thugs.

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: gnu
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 12:22 AM

Or Chinese nationals?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: number 6
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 12:32 AM

good one gnu !!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 01:24 PM

I've known pot smokers who became successful and happy, some who became successful and unhappy, some who were total abject failures at everything, and others who muddled around vaguely in the in-between, as it were...

I draw no useful conclusions from that regarding the efficacy of marijuana in improving brain function.

But I do know this: inhaling any kind of smoke deliberately is a dead stupid idea. The best evidence of that is: NO animal will voluntarily inhale smoke if it has any way of avoiding doing so. Try it out on any animal and see...

So, my advice is, if you want to injest marijuana, eat it. Much healthier all the way around. Smoking is bad for you, and it's bad for anyone else who is in the same space with you.

This is clearly one area where I am not in accord with traditional Native American culture... ;-) (the exception that proves the rule?)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: gnu
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 01:35 PM

But, like, wow, man. Like, ya gotta spend all that time cookin and tryin ta remember if ya put in the right amount of, ah, er, ohhh, you know, and, if ya use up yer brownie mix makin "brownies', what are ya gonna much on? More "brownies"? Like George Carlin said... ya don't get mored stoned, ya just get lower on dope. Ya know George?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 01:57 PM

Brownies. Yep. I ate some one night in Brooklyn. Had two then about six or seven more (I thought the THC was faster than it turned out being). I was in Brooklyn and going to 14th Street near Greenwich Village. I was gonna stop at the subway station (West 4th Street)before going home. I guess the brownies kicked in near the Brooklyn station (can't recall which one). I took the train the wrong way. Crossed over to get the train going in the right direction (towards Manhattan). Stared out the window and the next thing I knew I was near 125th Street. Crossed over to take a southbound train. Finally forgot I was going to 4th Street first and got off at 14th Street. Then walked to the Village. Ya gotta watch out for the brownies.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Metchosin
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 02:23 PM

ah dam....too bad the stuff gives me migraines. Guess there's no hope of becoming wise, no matter what I do.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: dianavan
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 02:23 PM

From the link, "The scientists also noticed that cannabinoids curbed depression and anxiety..."

Oh, oh, I think they let the cat out of the bag. I imagine that the pharmaceutical companies will do all that they can to suppress this bit of information. I wonder how much money they would lose if people stopped buying anti-depressants and just took a toke instead. Imagine if they were allowed to grow it in their own backyards! Very bad news for the black market and the legitimate drug market as well.

Of course, then governments would have to stop hassling growers and users and concentrate on the hard drugs. Of course that probably won't happen either because its too logical and they might have to some real work.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: gnu
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 02:24 PM

Smoke may be injested with very little harm through the use of modern technology. One does not need much smoke to get high. Like George said.... ya ain't gonna get any higher. Brownies are a bad way to go. Ya get overbuzzed easy (FUBAR). A pinch'll do ya in a bong.

Gosh... I am get "nostalgic". But, until the Canadian government recognizes it's own research (LeDain Commission and others since) I am at a loss. I guess I'll have another Bud.... not necessarily for the wiser.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 03:08 PM

Very sensible comments there, Dianavan. I know several people who use pot to ease their anxiety, and it seems to help them. But I am a real subversive. I don't toke and I don't take any legal drugs either ('cept for the occasional aspirin). I also don't watch TV or listen to the radio. I think if the $ySStem became aware of all this I might be in real danger, being as subversive as I am. I mean, how the hell can they play their money and addiction game if people don't go along with it?

gnu - Well, I guess any poison doesn't hurt you much if you take it in small enough amounts, does it? You just gotta figure out how small an amount is safe, that's all. Life is always a compromise between one thing and another. On the few occasions when I smoked pot or tobacco (as an educational experiment) I could only be amazed that anyone would actually want their mouth to taste as bad as that during and after indulging in their favorite pastime. Gaaahh! It's detestable. (But not if you take it for granted, I guess...) For a real thrill, roll up a joint that is full of roaches from 15 previous joints. Rank!!!! Ugh. (But it will get you pretty flippin' high, eh?)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 03:21 PM

New York roaches were too fast to catch. And no one wanted to smoke dead ones. YUK!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: *daylia*
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 03:42 PM

I could only be amazed that anyone would actually want their mouth to taste as bad as that during and after indulging in their favorite pastime. Gaaahh! It's detestable

Well, LH, it's kinda like Dylans' voice. If you enjoy and value certain other attributes/characteristics of his songs, his voice gets much easier to put up with. And after years of overlooking it, you hardly notice it at all.

But if you don't like Dylan in any way shape or form, then that voice is TRULY obnoxious.

"The scientists also noticed that cannabinoids curbed depression and anxiety..."

WEll, I can sure vouch for that one! But on the other hand, cannabinoids raise the heart-rate, tiring the body and the mind unnecessarily. THat's why it tends to make people lazy and unmotivated. (ie It's a bright and beautiful Saturday morning and the grass needs cutting ... but .... hey, it's my day off. Maybe I'll just have me a little toke and sit here watching it grow instead ...)

And being injected with an artificial chemical 10X stronger than pot??? YIKES!!!! Bet those poor rats spent their short little lives staring mournfully at their exercise wheels, just dreamin of the rock-hard buff little ratty-buns they COULD have, but unable to rouse up enough oooommph to do diddley-squat about it ....

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: gnu
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 04:48 PM

Roaches? Chong in the second (?) movie.... priceless.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 07:52 PM

True to that, gnu.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 09:14 PM

"Ya gotta watch out for the brownies."

Yep! Always selling them damn cookies!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 09:26 PM

Got that right, Daylia. I detested Dylan's voice for years, until I actually listened to what he was saying one day in 1969. From then on I loved his voice. That's the magic of love...it transforms everything.

I'd say, looking back, that most of my buddies loved pot more than they did their girlfriends! A question of priorities, right? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 09:33 PM

ALICE B. TOKLAS BROWNIES (aka ALICE BE TOKIN' BROWNIES)

Alice B. Toklas included the following introduction and recipe for "Haschich Fudge" in her 1954 "Alice B. Toklas Cook Book":

"This is the food of Paradise.... it might provide an entertaining refreshment for a Ladies' Bridge Club or a chapter meeting of the DAR.... Euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter; ecstatic reveries and extensions of one's personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected. Almost anything Saint Theresa did, you can do better."
                
1 tsp. black peppercorns
1 whole nutmeg
4 sticks cinnamon
1 tsp. coriander
1 handful stone dates
1 handful dried figs
1 handful shelled almonds
1 handful peanuts
A bunch of cannabis sativa ("picked and dried as soon as it has gone to seed and while the plant is still green")
1 cup sugar
1 large pat of butter

Grind the pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, and coriander in a mortar. Chop and mix the dates, figs, almonds, and peanuts. Grind the cannabis and mix it with the spices; dust this mixture over the fruits and nuts. Mix the sugar with the butter and knead this together with the fruits, nuts, spices, and cannabis. Eat with care - two pieces are quite sufficient.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 09:38 PM

LH, a lot of my buddies discovered they loved their girlfriends a whole lot more while high on pot--or that they loved their buddies' girlfriends a whole lot more--and sometimes they discovered they had made love to someone's girlfriend a whole lot more.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Oct 05 - 09:43 PM

Actually they should taste quite nice, even without the 'special ingredient'.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: robomatic
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:00 AM

Turns out hitting yourself in the head with a hammer has been erroneously thought to be harmful. The authorities who told us not to hit ourselves in the head with hammers were having us on. But it turns out the students I knew who were hitting themselves in the head with hammers where really really brilliant. One of 'ems been denominated for the Supremes.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:04 AM

I just remembered again what I was gonna post on 14 Oct 05 - 01:59 PM.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: bobad
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:18 AM

Having flashbacks again are you?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:25 AM

It is snowing.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: bobad
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:26 AM

Far out.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:30 AM

Filthy crap falling outta the sky.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:36 AM

Oh, yeah. I have a serious question for 'catters. I am not a cat lover, but neither am I a cat hater. That said, there is an old grey cat that has been meowing outside my friggin' window at all hours of the day/night--I live in a basement apartment, such as it is--and I have thus far considered

1) killing it
2) taking it to the SPCA where they will kill it
3) adopting it (because he/she/it looks to be about my age in cat years and somehow the poor old thing has made it to a ripe old age despite life's trials), except I can't stand cats

Y'all got any ideas?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:38 AM

I think it's cowardly to just drive it away and drop it somewhere else, so that ain't an option. (Pedant alert: I know I split the infinitive there.)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:49 AM

Oh, yeah. Winter is coming and the cat looks like it's been abandoned and for sure it'll freeze to death (it doesn't look smart or agile enough to live out the winter here).

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: bobad
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:52 AM

Any Chinese restaurants in town?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:52 AM

Offer to feed it. If it makes friends, take it to a vet and see if it's healthy. If it is, decide if it will live in a civil manner indoors in your apartment. All of my best pets have arrived as strays. Three out of the four in my yard and house now were originally stray. The fourth was a defacto stray--she came from the humane society, history unknown.

If it hasn't been fixed, have it fixed.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:53 AM

But don't offer the cat any pot.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:58 AM

I wish I could--even though I wouldn't. Haven't even had so much as a second-hand toke in about three decades.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 12:12 PM

Have you been fixed yet, Stilly? And how about you, Bruce? I personally think everyone should be taken to a vet and fixed as quickly as possible, right? Much better all around. Too many people anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: *daylia*
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 01:01 PM

Ever lived with a Siamese cat in heat, LH?

Or searched the neighbourhood for Sylvester for days on end, only to discover him half-dead at your door one morning, in desperate need of several hundred dollars worth of repairs at the vet (again)?

Have you ever had to take the box of mewling, starving newborn kittens you found in the ditch to the vet's or the Humane Society?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 01:14 PM

Alas, Little Hawk, I have been fixed. When the doctor fixed my cancer he fixed me at the same time. It seemed a reasonable exchange.

If you'd ever tried to live in a house with an unaltered cat, you wouldn't be asking that question.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: number 6
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 01:14 PM

If you have no intentions on keeping the cat, at least take it to the SPCA ... that's the least you can do Peace.

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: bobad
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 05:31 PM

Is it still snowing out yer way Peace and is it sticking around?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 05:37 PM

It snowed about 2" last night. Melting off as we speak.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 05:40 PM

"Actually they should taste quite nice, even without the 'special ingredient'."

That's true. I had 'em without the peppercorns and they were just fine.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: gnu
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 05:50 PM

Take the poor bugger in lad. I'd do it fer you.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 05:52 PM

I probably will. I have never had a cat before. Can you train them to heel? Fetch? Do ya have to walk them?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: number 6
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 06:29 PM

"I probably will. I have never had a cat before."

That cat's probably never known a good human before ... is going to kick the crap out of me or is he going to get me some help?

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 06:35 PM

I have lived with a number of un-altered male cats, and none of them presented any real problems, except for one who was an arrogant bastard who refused to obey "the rules" (he peed on things). He eventually moved on. The others were all fine. Perfect gentlemen. We did have one male Siamese who used to beat the shit out of any dog or cat that ventured onto our property, but he was fine with people. He died of a rare blood disease after about 6 years of wrecking havoc on various furred and feathered creatures which foolishly entered our yard. As for the female cats, yes, it is a good idea to "fix" them. No question about that.

Did our male cats father any progeny? Well, I'm sure they were eager to, but there weren't very many available females around most of the time. They'd all been "fixed". ;-)

No cat will smoke marijuana. Not upon ANY excuse. They can't be bribed or persuaded to. This proves that they are basically smarter than humans. (or more tuned in, anyway)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 06:37 PM

THC suppositories, for the discerning cat.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: number 6
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 06:58 PM

"They can't be bribed or persuaded to." ... anyone who enduces an animal with a mind altering substance ... should be charged with with undue cruelty to animals.

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 06:59 PM

I agree with that. I saw a cat that some asshole gave LSD to. I asked if I could put it down. The owner refused. Thought it was a joke.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Oct 05 - 10:41 PM

I think you missed my point, Number 6. ;-) I've never seen anyone offer a cat a toke. Or anything else like that. But if they did...the cat would refuse. Cat's ain't stupid.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: *daylia*
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 07:22 AM

You may be onto something there, LH. I doubt any animal would willingly ingest any kind of smoke.

Then again, I doubt any animal plays the guitar either.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: *daylia*
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 07:35 AM

And then again, lots of animals seem to enjoy nibbling on marijuana plants - deer, rabbits, mice, even the odd (very odd) cat.

Ingesting pot can make one a bit odd though, according to this New Scientist article.

Some studies have suggested long-term cannabis use can increase your risk of developing schizophrenia (New Scientist, 26 March, p 44). Others have linked the drug to milder "schizotypal traits" that include odd, magical beliefs and social paranoia...

The results showed that the majority of people who'd recently used cannabis had schizotypal symptoms before using the drug (Psychiatry Research, vol 134, p 37). Schiffman admits that the limited study "leaves far more questions than answers" - for instance, it gives no clues as to why people with such traits might be attracted to cannabis.

INteresting that scientists have found that highly creative people also show "schizotypal traits". (eccentric quirky behaviour)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 09:00 AM

Come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if my brother's cat had taken a whiff or two...

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: GUEST,The Cat in the Hat
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 10:15 AM

I love to smoke it in a house
I love to smoke it with a mouse
I love to smoke it in the rain
I LOVE my bong - it boings my brain!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 10:50 AM

For anyone who does do illegal substances. Our fiend, George.

If he gets hung up, just tweak him with your mouse.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 10:54 AM

Seems I forgot the 'r' in friend. OOPS.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 10:57 AM

"just tweak him with your mouse"--such an understatement of what many would like to do to this sociopath!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: John Hardly
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 10:58 AM

oh wow, man.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: number 6
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 11:07 AM

That is very good Peace !!

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: GUEST,Doobya
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 11:08 AM

Don't make me blow it out my ears too!!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 11:11 AM

From a friend in California who got it from a friend in Switzerland who got it from . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: JennyO
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 11:24 AM

Oh yes! There is something enormously satisfying about that - it certainly beats shooting cats out of cannons! Now I want a John Howard one!

MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHA HAHA HA!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Green Man
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 11:51 AM

Our cats have all really liked pot, its related to catnip (I think) as for use, burning it in a joint is wasteful as the volatiles disperse cooking it into cakes is good as long as you are careful. I could go on a bit about how it fits into receptors in the brain that are a perfect fit. As for using it a lot I never have and I do believe that it has true medicinal properties. I also believe that a lot of people are taken in by black P.R. and disinformation put out by multi nationals that are trying to protect their interests. After all its really up to you to make an adult and educated decision. Here in the UK its been reduced in classification but not legalised. If it were decriminalised completely it would save millions in customs and police time as well as court time.

Anyway its green and made of leves why shouldn't I like it.

I leaves you now. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 12:41 PM

HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! Omigod! That is the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Ha! Ha! Ha!

Go, George, go! This is better than "Bedtime For Bonzo".


Well, back to the pot and cats issue...Daylia, I am entirely in favour of cats eating marijuana leaves if they want to. In fact, I recommend the eating of marijuana to anyone who really wants to...just not the smoking of it. It's the smoke itself I object to, not the substance or the "getting high" experience in a general sense. Just the smoke. Smoke is bad for my nasal passages, throat, and mucus membranes, and it hurts my eyes. It leaves smelly residue on my clothing and in my hair. I don't like incense much either, for the same reason.

It's a social custom. When people get used to social customs, they take them for granted. I don't take smoking for granted, because I grew up in a nonsmoking home. You really notice these things when you don't take them for granted.

After all, dogs love to roll in shit and dead bodies, don't they? They think it's great, and they take it for granted. We don't. We think they stink when they do that. We kick them outta the house or throw them in the tub. Well...that's what happens when you don't take stuff for granted. It may seem quite bothersome, senseless, unexplainable, and downright awful.

It's all a question of perception, based on past experience... ;-)

(And DON'T bring Bob Dylan's voice into this! If you do, I will be forced to make certain comments regarding Neil Young's vocal abilities.)

(that was a joke)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 12:51 PM

Catnip is in the mint family (Menthaceae, also called Lamiaceae, used to be call Labiatae)

Cannabis is in the hemp family (Cannabaceae)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: *daylia*
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 01:11 PM

They think it's great, and they take it for granted.

O anthropomorphic one of all anthropomorphic ones    :-D    I think dogs don't think about it, they just go right ahead and "camoflauge" their own scent by rolling in stinkier stuff. It's a protective, instinctive, survival behaviour. And it stinks all round, I agree!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: *daylia*
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 01:33 PM

PS ....I am entirely in favour of cats eating marijuana leaves if they want to. In fact, I recommend the eating of marijuana to anyone who really wants to...just not the smoking of it

LH, eating cannabinoids gives more of a "body stone", less of a "head stone". Every muscle feels so HEAVY, feels like it's twitching and rippling uncontrollably.   ugggh ... to each their own though ....

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 01:43 PM

I had a dog named Ginger who used to roll in dead fish. Then he hated to be bathed. He knew the word bath and would scramble all over everywhere not to get caught and washed. Last I saw him he was doing something indecent to a garbage can. Horniest dog I ever owned. Couch arms, legs, trees, name it. He has been dead these past 48 years, but he still lives in my memory.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: frogprince
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 03:33 PM

About "bouncing George"; didja notice that you can hook him by the nape of his scrawny little neck on your cursor arrow and dangle him there?

Way back when, on the farm, our two dogs trotted into the yard looking kinda like they'd been tarred, and smelling like nothing this side of hell. A neighbor had towed a dead hog out by the line fence, it had decomposed right down to sludge, and the dogs had totally rolled in it.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 05:34 PM

That had to have been a new odor sensation. GAWD.

I fought a fire in a hao barn once. Even with the BA mask--whew! All of us who did entry had to wash our gear afterwards. It was the gift that kept on giving.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 05:47 PM

Yeah. That's dogs for you. I don't think they do it to disguise their own scent, I think they do it because they downright LOVE it! I mean, you can tell they love it. You want to please a dog? Wrap up some fresh shit or week-old roadkill for him and give it to him on his birthday. Dogs are filthy by nature, and they love it.

Anyway, there's no point disguising a fairly mild bad smell with a bad smell that is so strong that it could melt a brick wall...

What is the dog's prospective prey going to think? "Hmmm. There appears to be a bunch of shit and decaying bodies coming this way. Hmmm. Gee. I wonder how that could be? Should I be concerned about this? Hmmm...."

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: frogprince
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 06:24 PM

My sister's little mixed breed has never had the chance to get that raunchy, but sometimes she (the dog, that is) gets a little too affectionate. I was reading some, conversing some, and suddenly the dogs tongue was in my mouth further than any human female's has ever been. My sis trotted out the old line about dogs having cleaner mouths than humans do. Well, yeah, maybe, if the humans you know like to nibble shit and roadkill.
Having said that, I've always liked dogs. For too many years it just hasn't made sense (mainly for the dog's sake) for us to keep one ourselves.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: number 6
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 09:55 PM

"Wrap up some fresh shit or week-old roadkill for him and give it to him on his birthday."

Jeeezuz H. !!! That's dizguZting L.J ... what's going through yer head .... you smoking some of that shit today?

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: harpmolly
Date: 17 Oct 05 - 10:12 PM

Peace...that is awesomely disturbing. Although after about ten minutes I simultaneously started feeling a little sorry for the poor guy (he looks so forlorn and ridiculous) and also feeling a bit nauseous. Probably because of the aforementioned feeling. *grin*

M

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 01:28 PM

Only cure for that is to go roll in some dead fish.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 01:31 PM

Naw...I don't smoke anything, but I know dogs! They're lovable, but filthy.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 08:47 PM

Here's a dog story...

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: frogprince
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 09:38 PM

Foolestroupe, I betcha Buster smoked too much pot as a puppy.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 09:54 PM

But he was brought up with a nice Police Family....

ooooooooooooooooo....

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Oct 05 - 09:56 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: dianavan
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 12:22 AM

Just heard on the radio that a new study shows there is a lower rate of cancer among pot smokers. This study will play havoc with those that have opposed the medical use of marijuana on the grounds that inhalation of smoke of any kind is bad for you.

(They used to put asthma sufferers in a tent filled with pot smoke to relax them so that they could breathe freely again).

Many more studies are needed but for now, it is obvious that pot is not the demon we once thought it was.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 06:26 AM

Ah, so the house across the road from us was not a MaryJoanna farm, but a pharmacy!

Wonder if the cops realised that when they busted it last month....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 06:51 AM

Morning Liz,
             Are you in pursuit of the 100th perchance?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 07:08 AM

Trouble is you never get a balanced debate on the dangers/merits of pot. On one side you have the converts, often hippies, on the other you have the 'straights' who have never even smoked it, so how can they possibly comment?
There is growing evidence to show a link between cannabis use and psychotic illness. I believe this is true. I had a psychotic episode followed by a breakdown 15 years ago, which I am convinced was linked to smoking dope. I now rarely smoke it. Sometimes I am ok with it, other times it makes me paranoid and jumpy.
As for the person who said 'no calories' as a good point about cannabis - what about the bloody 'munchies' it gives you, which makes you raid the fridge?? Thats another reason I don't smoke it - it can make you fat!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 08:26 AM

I don't smoke dope, but I know a hell of a lot of people who do. All it seems to do is make them lethargic, apathetic, lazy and in some cases, paranoid. Enjoy!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 04:19 PM

100th what?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 05:39 PM

Maybe the pesticides used by the grower made you ill? I doubt there is an "organically grown" component that is easily identified when you're shopping for your weed supply.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: gnu
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 06:04 PM

Paranoid.... hehehehehe

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 06:12 PM

Ever paranoids have enemies. (I wonder who's Kissinger now?)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 08:50 PM

If there's a lower rate of cancer among pot smokers, it's probably because they're not so stressed out as other people. It does help to relax most users. Some get a little too relaxed, though.... ;-)

I did not want to be one of those nonsmokers who was speaking from a position of ignorance on the subject, so I did smoke pot on a rare few occasions in order to see what the fuss was about. I smoked tobacco on a rare few occasions too, in Native ceremonies...and once or twice just to freak out people who knew of me as a "militant nonsmoker". That was fun, but the aftertaste wasn't so terrific.

The interesting thing was, I could see right away what people like about it (tobacco, I mean), but that didn't make me want to turn it into a habit. As for the pot, that was a little different. Godawful harsh tasting stuff. If it didn't get you high, I figure no one would smoke it! ;-)

Remember when all those silly people tried smoking banana skins? Boy, I bet that tasted awful.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 19 Oct 05 - 09:06 PM

Donovan explained how the whole banana skin deal got started: Country Joe and the Fish were promoting a concert by driving around in a truck with a model of a giant banana and saying that smoking banana skins get you high. They figured the newspapers would pick up on it for a day or two and they'd get publicity for their gig. However, Donovan's song, "Mellow Yellow" happened to be released that week. It contained the lines,

"Electrical banana is gonna be a sudden craze;
Electrical banana is gonna be the very next phase..."

and the media went crazy reporting that crazed hippies thought that smoking banana skins could get you high. The rest is hokey history.

Elmer

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 07:43 AM

Aaaahhh... The mighty Donovan, Dylan's hero.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 10:18 AM

The did a recent release of many of Donovan's hits on the occasion of his 60th birthday. I heard an interview with him on Terry Gross' Fresh Air (the interview may have been a repeat, but they replayed it upon the occasion of the release).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 01:35 PM

Donovan did a whole lot of great stuff. I could never figure why people tried to set up this competition between him and Dylan because they were/are almost totally different from one another in their approach to both lyrics and music. It's like comparing a swordfish with a gazelle or something... What's the point?

In his very early career, though, Donovan adopted an appearance that was very "early" Dylanesque (the little hat and the work clothes and so on)...so I guess that's how it got started.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Auggie
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 02:07 PM

Last week I heard the PBS interview that SRS referred to a post or two ago.
For an artist that I had always associated with a high level of drug induced stupor (but perhaps wrongly), he sounded quite lucid; engaging, funny, eminently likeable. He sang a bit in the studio with only his guitar as accompaniment and he's still in possession of an awesome, haunting voice. And while no one would confuse his chops with say, Steve Goodman's in-the-broadcast-studio licks on The Easter Tapes, he was a pretty nice sounding picker as well.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 02:33 PM

"It's like comparing a swordfish with a gazelle or something... What's the point?"

Good pun.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 04:01 PM

There is evidence that dope smoking is a very strong contributary factor in triggering psychotic episodes in those who have a predisposition towards it.

Every mind altering substance is likely to have both positive and negative effects often in different people. And there is no way of knowing how it is going to affect you prior to trying it.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: *daylia*
Date: 21 Oct 05 - 10:33 AM

That's true, Guest. It would be interesting to find out why marijuana affects different people so differently. Could have a lot to do with expectations, but I think it probably has more to do with emotional state and brain chemistry.   Pot doesn't seem to affect certain people at all, while others become overwhelmingly paranoid and scatterbrained. Others go green with nausea. Some people get pleasantly energized, 'uplifted' and creatively inspired. Others just get so tired they can't get off the couch.

As a teen, I turned it down for quite a while because of the scare-mongering by police at school. Pot was no different than heroin, in my book anyway .... till a few months before my 16th birthday. I'd been sent up north to a Catholic boarding school that year, and I wasn't adapting to my new surroundings very well at all. The nuns didn't seem to appreciate my company much either. They labelled me a "live-wire", and picked on poor little me about every little thing I did! Got myself suspended / sent home twice in 4 months, the first time for smoking a cigarette while hiding out in the mausoleum. (You had to be 16 to smoke, and I wasn't yet ... and here I figured the dead nuns wouldn't mind one way or another... guess I was wrong...)

All in all, it was a very miserable year. ANd then one gloomy winter's day, out for a walk with 3 of my best friends, I had a joint passed to me (again). Seeing my reluctance, they convinced me that it wouldn't affect me at all "because it was my first time". I'd heard that before, and I was more than ready for a change of pace anyway, so I took a little puff. ANd then about 2 more.

Well! 5 minutes later I felt like I was on another planet. The ditch beside the road looked like a mountain-side, and the clothes hanging on the line looked like a work of art from the Group of Seven, and I thought we'd been away from school for hours and HOURS ... and all that because of three little puffs of lousy Ontario homegrown leaf (!?!)

Managed to get back to the school somehow, only to find the nun who was my "dorm-mother" waiting for me at the door. She was upset with me (as usual), started yelling at me for something I'd done or neglected to do (again). My friends took off, and I stood there trying to focus on whatever it was she was yelling about. But then my mind started wandering. Her voice faded out, and her face got huge ... and I stood there just spell-bound by the amazing new-found ugliness of that angry, contorted face ...

Well, woe is me, all of a sudden that face started looking unbearably funny.   In spite of my horror and my best efforts to stifle it, a little laugh slipped out ... and then, holy jumpin! Once I started, I couldn't quit!   I got "the laughs!!!" for the first time in my life, right in poor ole Sister Dolores' face! Stood there racked with helpless convulsions, tears streaming, knees quaking ... egads ...

Well, I'd never seen that nun rendered speechless before. Ordered me to my "cubicle", called my mother, and between the two of them they decided I was definitely 'emotionally disturbed'. (Which I was, but not quite the way they imagined). Booked a psychiatrist's appt for me the following week, but that's another story ...

Anyway, it would sure be interesting to find out why some people have no reaction to pot, while it catapults others right into the next world so to speak. In my case, it expands my "sense of humour", makes everyday reality seem brand-new and surreal. Which can be construed as beneficial, I suppose, when that everyday reality feels like it's too much to bear. Depression and anxiety just disappear - temporarily, anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Little Hawk
Date: 21 Oct 05 - 09:06 PM

Anything that makes Catholic schoolgirls laugh hysterically at their dorm-mothers can't be all bad... ;-)

Let's airdrop the stuff to ALL the Catholic schools, I say!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 21 Oct 05 - 11:52 PM

Full of SH!T!!!

<.h2>

SRS - if I were directing the FEDS to the nearest house to bust - it would be YOURS.

It has been my personal experience over the past 30 years....the ones who most vephemantly prosteltize the benilovence of POT....and the most like to use and abuse.

For six years I have attempted to tutor an adult through Algebra One. No go. Frustration, confusion, anger.

Fourteen months ago, after a major auto accident (after using pot) the individual gave up "the noble weed."

REMARKABLE!!! For the first time in 20 years....the processes are making sence...he has found a delight and organization he never knew before....He actually LOVES Algebra - and may finally move on to a teaching credential.

POT DOES mess with cereblum capasity!

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Retired officer JOE - trace the SRS and his URL - there may be bounty waiting in January if current law passes.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Oct 05 - 12:02 AM

Thank you for useful references to other contributors to the financing of terrorist organizations.

Once a junky, always a junky.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 05 - 12:10 AM

Gargoyle,

Posting a citation and starting a thread does not a pothead make.

Methinks he protests too much. . .

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: GUEST,Retired officer joe
Date: 22 Oct 05 - 12:36 AM

I have recorded the SRS and URL and will be reporting them to the appropriate authorities immediately.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Peace
Date: 22 Oct 05 - 02:39 AM

Under the new bill, retired officer joe will also have a gun.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: dianavan
Date: 22 Oct 05 - 04:09 AM

Any adult who tries to study algebra stoned, obviously has other problems as well. Pot and studying do not mix. It temporarily interferes with your visual memory. Most mature adults wouldn't even attempt it. Why bother?

Frustration and confusion I can understand but I don't think you can directly link the anger to pot. I think the anger may be coming from something else. Was it directed at you?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: dianavan
Date: 22 Oct 05 - 04:17 AM

BTW - Threatening behaviour is also cause for concern although its my understanding that pot actually has been known to curb most forms of aggressive behaviour.

gargoyle - You should try it and report back to us. We'll tell you if we notice any difference.

Guest and Guest ROJ - Save your time and the taxpayer's dollars and go find some heroin smugglers or is it that more than you can handle?

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: *daylia*
Date: 22 Oct 05 - 06:32 AM

Any adult who tries to study algebra stoned, obviously has other problems ...

Right on, dianavan. For everything, there is a season(ing). And as for contributing to terrorist organizations, that's why I refuse to file my taxes.    ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 05 - 11:28 AM

All "peace officer joe" would find around my house is lemon balm and chocolate mint and rosemary. My dogs must be real junkies--they race around through the gardens and they smell wonderful!

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Oct 05 - 12:47 PM

SRS -

A recent local news item reported that the town cops in an adjacent village got a tip about "maryjane" being grown by a citizen. They staged a full-blown raid, ripped up plants, demolished the house with their search and then received the lab report on the confiscated plants identifying them as "sunflowers." (The official Kansas state flower).

John

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 05 - 01:32 PM

Geez.

Well look at the turn this story took: it seems the suspect is a kid who thought his pot-growing apparatus was delivered to the wrong address. (From CNN)

Vitale slaying suspect charged with murder
Teenager described as loner, will be tried as an adult

MARTINEZ, California (CNN) -- A 16-year-old California boy was charged Friday with one count of murder in the beating death of Pamela Vitale, the wife of prominent defense attorney Daniel Horowitz. The suspect, Scott Edgar Dyleski, will be tried as an adult, according to Hal Jewett, Contra Costa County deputy district attorney. Bail was set at $1 million.

Dyleski has been described by classmates as a goth loner who followed the occult and dressed in black from the polish on his fingernails to his trench coat. Police say he apparently acted alone.

Horowitz found Vitale's body Saturday night when he returned to a trailer the couple shared while they built a dream home on a hilltop in affluent Lafayette, east of Oakland. Authorities said Vitale, 52, was bludgeoned with a strip of crown molding and fought with her killer. A Gothic cross was carved into her back.

"He was just really a Gothic kid, and everyone knew who he was just because of his apparel. When you heard the name, you were just like, 'Oh, that kid,' " a classmate told CNN. "He just definitely stood out in front of anybody in the school," the classmate added. "When he walked by, everybody talked about him -- like, he definitely didn't blend in."

Former classmates told The Associated Press that Dyleski drew a pentagram on the ground at school and that he read from "the book of Satan." They described him to the wire service as a quiet student at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, where he stood out because of his attire. "He was really Gothic, always wore a long, dark jacket," Kevin Etheridge, 16, told the AP. "He'd hang out with a few kids, but he was pretty quiet, pretty much to himself."

While authorities say the motive is not clear, the San Francisco Chronicle, citing an unidentified law enforcement source, reported that investigators said they suspect the killing was related to a scheme that involved using stolen credit card numbers to fund a marijuana-growing operation. The Chronicle's source said the boy had ordered equipment for the operation and mistakenly thought the supplies were delivered to Horowitz and Vitale's home, the newspaper reported Friday on its Web site.

The teen went there Saturday looking for the equipment and got in a fight with Vitale, striking her dozens of times in the head with a piece of molding that was left behind at the scene, according to the Chronicle's source. The boy, who lived on a remote canyon road down the hill from the estate, had scratches on his arms and legs, the newspaper reported.

A man at the house where the suspect lived declined to comment Thursday, as goats and chickens wandered around the property. A potbelly stove, a bathtub and dozens of baseballs littered the yard, AP reported. If Dyleski is convicted of murder as an adult, he would face up to life in prison. If convicted as a juvenile, he would be freed on his 25th birthday. He is too young to face the death penalty.

Subject: RE: BS: Mythbuster: Pot and brain health
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Oct 05 - 11:04 AM

There is no denying that death and violence are a by-product of the drug "industry" such as it exists today. When I lived in the Pacific Northwest the Forest Service and the Park Service and other government entities were always busting growing operations out on public land, and they approached them VERY cautiously due to the potential violence from the growers and those they hire to guard the stuff. I worked in the woods in the 1970s and 80s and it used to be that we were careful not to startle poachers or cedar thieves. That has largely changed.

Were such drugs legal there would be standardization, there would be less side effect from pesticides and herbicides, and it would take the thunder and violence out of the current growers.

It probably wouldn't be treated like tobacco and receive huge federal support in subsidies. Now THAT'S obscene!

SRS