Elevate and Evolve | Cannabis & Psychedelic Culture Blog
Using the same sarcastic tone as Tim Meadows when he warns Dewey Cox about all the awesome benefits of smoking marijuana in Walk Hard, the creator of this video combines a bunch of anti marijuana propaganda to point out the obvious.
You have to go to ridiculous lengths (Reefer Madness) to try to paint something so positive in a negative light. The propaganda worked for decades but people are now informed about the bullshit myths surrounding cannabis.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, has publicly apologized for his part in misleading the public about the negative effects of Cannabis. Gupta’s admission that he had not done the proper research before condemning the drug, creates a path for others to do the same.
As Cannabis legalization gains momentum, this sort of back-peddling may become the norm. Those who claimed Cannabis is harmful will have to either feign ignorance as Gupta has or simply fade from public thought. Their dated opinions holding no weight in the face of an informed public.
In his op-ed “Why I changed my mind on weed”, Gupta explains his initial opposition and subsequent change of heart:
Long before I began this project, I had steadily reviewed the scientific literature on medical marijuana from the United States and thought it was fairly unimpressive. Reading these papers five years ago, it was hard to make a case for medicinal marijuana. I even wrote about this in a TIME magazine article, back in 2009, titled “Why I would Vote No on Pot.
“Well, I am here to apologize. I mistakenly believed the Drug Enforcement Agency listed marijuana as a schedule 1 substance because of sound scientific proof. Surely, they must have quality reasoning as to why marijuana is in the category of the most dangerous drugs that have “no accepted medicinal use and a high potential for abuse.
“They didn’t have the science to support that claim, and I now know that when it comes to marijuana neither of those things are true. It doesn’t have a high potential for abuse, and there are very legitimate medical applications. In fact, sometimes marijuana is the only thing that works.
They get in narcotics, on morphine, Oxycontin, Dilaudid. These types of medications don’t work, maybe at all, but certainly not after a few months. People can develop tolerance to them. And you come to find that marijuana in a percentage of patients, not only does it work better than these narcotics, it’s much safer. — Dr. Sanjay Gupta
VICE’s Weediquette column is getting the video series treatment. In this initial episode, Weediquette column writer The Kid delves into the wild world of butane hash oil extraction.
Every Sunday for the past eight months, the Weediquette column has told a weed story, be it a profile on an odd character in the weed world, a trend in the newly legal drug, or an anecdote from my exceptionally stoned life. When you smoke this much weed, stories tend to find you, and one of the things that found me was just too big and too awesome to be conveyed through text alone.
It began with an intriguing comment on a Weediquette article. A kid from Denver said, “Dude, you should be dabbing errl.” There was very little available information on this phrase at the time, so I ventured to friend this kid on Facebook in hopes of getting some answers. Having smoked for as long as I have, I didn’t expect to learn anything new about weed, but the kid from Denver humbled me quick.
He was describing Butane Hash Oil, or BHO, a marijuana extract that is pretty much pure THC. People have been making marijuana extracts for millennia, pounding, churning, and milling green plant matter to separate its natural resins, yielding a more concentrated product. For ages, we called this stuff hash, but a new method of extraction came about that was so much more effective that the product itself looked different, had a different texture, and most importantly, got you waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay fucking higher.
Simply put, BHO is made by blasting marijuana with butane, a solvent that takes all the THC with it and nothing else. Evaporating away the butane leaves only the resin, a viscous, amber-colored, waxy substance. BHO is vaporized, either in a pan or using a dabbing pipe, which is where the phrase “Dabbing Errl” comes from—you blowtorch the titanium bowl piece until it’s red hot, then you use a pointy tool to press the oil onto the metal and it bursts into a vapor cloud that you inhale rapidly.
The most notable thing about the high from BHO is that it makes you feel the way you did when you smoked the first time. It’s a high that envelopes you and renders you pretty much useless, but the bliss that comes with it is unmatched. After that first hit, I was obsessed and took to the internet to explore this wonder substance further.
Alas, every rose has its thorn, and I soon discovered that the thorny side of BHO arose from the process of making it, a precarious procedure that can literally blow up in your face. Over the past couple of years, there have been an increasing number of instances of people fucking up the BHO-extraction process and severely injuring and even killing themselves. Naturally, this made me want to see the process in person. So we found a lunatic who makes BHO, and the rest is in the episode.
What began with a simple blog comment led me to some of the weirdest weed characters and weed places I’ve ever met and seen, things worlds apart from the tie-dye stereotypes of yesteryear. To me, getting high was just a recreational practice without a need for optimization, but the weed-hungry world disagrees and here we are, exploded faces, teenage highs, and all.
Check out the Weediquette column, Sundays on VICE.
> Butane Hash Oil | VICE
Watch as the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, kills cancer cells.
Since 1974, studies have shown that cannabis has anti-tumor effects. The results of the 1974 Washington Post Study, were that cannabis’s component, THC, “slowed the growth of lung cancers, breast cancers and a virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives by as much as 36 percent.”
In 1998, a research team at Madrid’s Complutense University discovered that THC can selectively induce programmed cell death in brain tumor cells without negatively impacting surrounding healthy cells.
No chemotherapy can match this nontoxic anti-cancer action.
– The SETH Group, Cancer Research
A breakdown of what happens when THC enters a cancer cell.
A March 2002 issue of “Nature Medicine” showed that cannabis had destroyed incurable brain cancer tumors in rats by injecting them with THC.
Watch as cancer cells self destruct in the presence of cannabis.
Parallel experiments were performed testing the effect of THC on human brain cancer cells (glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM) and also on normal brain cells. Both types of cells were treated with the same concentration of Δ9-THC but after 20 hours only the cancer cells died. Cell death is seen in the lower right panel as cells shrinking to inanimate white spheres.
Clip from the PBS documentary Clearing the Smoke: The Science of Cannabis
The history between cannabis and sex extends back as far when the Hindus would use hashish to achieve a state of Kama also known as pleasure. Does cannabis enhance the sexual experience? Well, it’s difficult to argue with a culture that wrote the book of Kama Sutra.
Marijuana and sex are gifts of nature, we enjoy them because biology and evolution have equipped us to do so. Just as our bodies contain pleasure systems which reward us for sex; our brains contain neurocellular circuitry which can only be activated by substances with THC’s molecular structure.
This makes the marijuana high a unique constellation of feelings, and there are only two sources for the substances which activate THC’s very own neuroreceptor. Our brain is one source: it generates a neurochemical very similar to THC, called anandamide. Translated, the word means bliss. The only other source for this bliss-producing substance is the cannabis plant.
Being stoned or sexually aroused both produce similar physiological responses, such as increased heart rate, heightened sensitivity, changes in blood flow and respiration, relaxation, an acutely altered state of consciousness.
Sex and pot provide us with euphoric peak experiences, unity of body and mind, a healing escape from routine existence.
Cannabis also enhances the enjoyment of sex – on the one hand it gives an exquisite sensitivity, but on the other hand it postpones orgasm: in part by distracting me with the profusion of image passing before my eyes. The actual duration of orgasm seems to lengthen greatly, but this may be the usual experience of time expansion which comes with cannabis smoking.
– Carl Sagan, Astronomer, Benefits of Cannabis Use By Carl Sagan
With a life that is bombarded by responsibilities and time constraints; many psychologists believe that these life stressors rob females of a healthy sex life. Sexual dysfunction is a broad-based term for which there is no single reason, nor magic bullet to cure. Pain during intercourse, spousal conflicts, childbirth, and a host of other ailments all play a role in the female libido and her ability to feel ‘turned on.’
Jill Lopez is a newlywed who works in advertising sales. She also recently started a master’s degree program. The course load coupled with her regular work schedule has her feeling ‘stressed and tired.’
That stress has overflowed into her sex life. Jill openly admits that using marijuana helps her feel less anxious about her day-to-day routine and increases her libido. ‘I feel relaxed and stimulated at the same time,’ she says.
Relationship and sex advice columnist Dan Savage endorsed the combo of sex and weed when he spoke with Huffington Post.
Marijuana and sex? Oh they are terrifically compatible. Marijuana is a wonderful way to lower your inhibitions and just relax. As anyone who uses it recreationally knows … You know, not being so self-conscious about the things that you are doing and being naked in front of somebody else? I think that can be a wonderful tool. – Dan Savage, Huff Post
The lowering of the inhibitions, for some it leads to the lowering of their pants.
Dr. Robert Block at the University of Iowa disputes the commonly held notion that marijuana alters the level of testosterone. The study contradicted a widely publicized 1974 study by Dr. R.C. Kolodony, which reported decreased testosterone levels in men who smoked marijuana chronically.
The U. of Iowa study found that chronic marijuana use had no effect on testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone, prolactin and cortisol in men or women. Noting that six other studies had failed to show lowered testosterone levels in men,
Dr. Block concluded: ‘It appears that marijuana, even heavy use of the kind that’s typical in the United States, doesn’t alter testosterone levels.”
The myth of cannabis being a threat to fertility is just one of many marijuana myths and propaganda that have been debunked.
Stoner girls working on a California cannabis farm spoke of inserting raw resin glands, bubblehash, and processed solvent hashish into the vagina and anus so they experience soaring, wildly sexual, multi-orgasmic peaks.
We take the resins and put it inside of our vaginas,” she said. “It’s a direct channel into your sexual energy circuits.”
Another girl chimed in, “THC absorbs through mucous membranes, buddy, and there’s nothing more absorptive than the inside of a vagina.”
”It’s nothing like eating a pot brownie, taking a bong hit, using marijuana tincture, or any other marijuana use,” a girl explained. ”It’s a rad body high that’s a guaranteed aphrodisiac. It starts in your crotch, warms your whole body, makes you want to have sex all day and night, and lulls you to sleep hours later. Your orgasms are timeless, constant, out of this world.” – Viagra Cannabis, Big Buds Magazine
The women advised others to make sure to only insert pure bubblehash or other resins-only marijuana material that’s totally clean, no pesticides, molds, mildews or other debris.
The method seemed simple: Start with a small amount of hashish, honey oil, dabs, or other potent THC extracts…maybe a gram or two. Wait a while to see how it affects her, then add some more if she’s ready for it. Here’s the how-to advice one of the girls gave:
Put the hashish on your clitoris and inside you, focusing on applying it to your G-spot. Then lay back with your legs elevated for a half an hour or more so the hashish doesn’t ooze out. My guy says having sex with me when the resins are in there also gets him high by transferring into his penis, and when he performs oral sex on me!
A call to a female marijuana expert confirmed that resin glands and extracted cannabis concentrates transfer THC into the bloodstream via the vagina, the mouth (sublingual), and the anus.
She also confirmed that vaginal, sublingual and anal THC insertion effects differ from those produced by any other method of ingesting THC. And as an added bonus, she explained, preliminary medical research indicates that cannabis extracts administered through the vagina and anus have anti-bacterial and positive hormonal effects!
If you had the resources to block a competing technology that was more efficient and better for the environment, would you do it to protect your profits? In a cash driven society, many of the wealthiest companies have no remorse about choosing profit over progress.
The consumer tech industry will delay the release of better models until the current ones finish their sales cycles and become obsolete. Hospitals make money off a sick population, there is no incentive to push through medical breakthroughs when there is little profit to be made from a healthy society.
Here are examples of the most suppressed inventions ever:
In 2001, Rick Simpson discovered that a cancerous spot on his skin disappeared within a few days of applying an essential oil made from marijuana. Since then, Simpson and others have treated thousands of cancer patients with incredible success. Spanish researchers have confirmed that THC, an active compound in marijuana, kills brain-tumor cells in human subjects and shows promise with breast, pancreatic and liver tumors.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has no accepted medical use, unlike Schedule II drugs, like cocaine and methamphetamine, which may provide medical benefits. Bullshit.
Nikola Tesla was an undisputed genius, he figured out a way to bypass fossil-fuel-burning power plants and power lines, proving that “free energy” could be harnessed using ionization in the upper atmosphere to produce electrical vibrations.
J.P. Morgan, who had been funding Tesla’s research, had a bit of buyer’s remorse when he realized that free energy for all wasn’t as profitable as, say, actually charging people for every watt of energy use. Morgan then drove another nail in free energy’s coffin by chasing away other investors, ensuring Tesla’s dream would die.
In 1921, the streetcar industry netted $1 billion, causing General Motors to hemorrhage $65 million in the face of a thriving industry. GM retaliated by buying and closing hundreds of independent railway companies, boosting the market for gas-guzzling GM buses and cars.
While a recent urban movement to rescue mass transit has been underway, it is unlikely we’ll ever see streetcars return to their former glory.
When two physicists who were working on the decades-long Tokamak Hot Fusion project stumbled across a cheaper, safer method of creating energy from colliding atoms, they were allegedly forced to repudiate their own discoveries or be fired; the lab feared losing the torrent of government money for Tokamak.
In retaliation, the lead researchers created the Focus Fusion Society, which raises private money to fund their research outside of government interference.
Perhaps the most notorious suppressed invention is the General Motors EV1, subject of the 2006 documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car? The EV1 was the world’s first mass-produced electric car, with 800 of them up for lease from GM in the late ’90s. GM ended the EV1 line in 1999, stating that consumers weren’t happy with the limited driving range of the car’s batteries, making it unprofitable to continue production.
Many skeptics, however, believe GM killed the EV1 under pressure from oil companies, who stand to lose the most if high-efficiency vehicles conquer the market. It didn’t help that GM hunted down and destroyed every last EV1, ensuring the technology would die out.
The Transcutaneous Electronic Nerve Stimulation (TENS) device was created to alleviate pain impulses from the body without the use of drugs.
In 1974, Johnson & Johnson bought StimTech, one of the first companies to sell the machine, and proceeded to starve the TENS division of money, causing it to flounder. StimTech sued, alleging that Johnson & Johnson purposely stifled the TENS technology to protect sales of its flagship drug, Tylenol. Johnson & Johnson responded that the device never performed as well as was claimed and that it was not profitable. StimTech’s founders won $170 Million, although the ruling was appealed and overturned on a technicality. The court’s finding that the corporation suppressed the TENS device was never overturned.
Hemp, is often identified as the same plant as marijuana and therefore unfairly maligned. Governmental roadblocks prevent hemp from becoming the leader in extracting ethanol, allowing environmentally damaging sources like corn to take over the ethanol industry.
Despite the fact that it requires fewer chemicals, less water and less processing to do the same job, hemp has never caught on. Experts also lay the blame at the feet of Presidential candidates, who kiss up to Iowa corn growers for votes.
Despite how silly it sounds, water-fueled vehicles do exist. The most famous is Stan Meyer’s dune buggy, which achieved 100 miles per gallon and might have become more commonplace had Meyer not succumbed to a suspicious brain aneurysm at 57.
Insiders have loudly claimed that Meyer was poisoned after he refused to sell his patents or end his research. Fearing a conspiracy, his partners have all but gone underground and taken his famed water-powered dune buggy with them.
Phillips, GE and Osram engaged in a conspiracy from 1924 to 1939 with the goal of controlling the fledgling light-bulb industry, according to a report published in Time magazine six years later.
The alleged cartel set prices and suppressed competing technologies that would have produced longer-lasting and more efficient light bulbs. By the time the cabal dissolved, the industry-standard incandescent bulb was established as the dominant source of artificial light across Europe and North America. Not until the late 1990s did compact fluorescent bulbs begin to edge into the worldwide lighting market as an alternative.
A new understanding of the connection between cannabis and physical activity has emerged, coined as the “endocannabinoid runners’ high.”
Science has now discovered evidence that “runner’s high” evolved in humans to take the discomfort from long distance runners who hunted animals to exhaustion.
All exercise starts in your brain, sending strong signals to skeletal muscles to contract. These stronger signals of intensity in aerobic exercise cause a spike in a natural cannabinoid neurotransmitter called anandamide, whose effects aided early hunter-gather humans to run down game over many miles by blocking pain and inflammation and replacing it with a euphoric “runner’s high.” This hard-wired positive feedback pathway is what THC also activates to produce the same mood state, activating the same CB1 receptor.
Can the mixture of marijuana plus aerobic exercise produce an aroused, energetic, tingly, uplifted, focused, creative, blissful mood state that lasts the whole day, making people want to repeat it over and over again?
The initial rush of cannabinoids locking into CB1/CB2 receptors causes bronchial relaxation, allowing more air to be taken in, and a mild increase in heart rate due to vasodilatation. Both the increased air intake and increased blood vessel diameter deliver increased oxygen and, when channeled into your workout, will help you slip into your cannabinoid zone.
In addition to motivation, marijuana is a fitness junkie’s best friend as a natural medicine for recovery. It’s an analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmodic, sleep aid, bone loss preventer, alternative to over the counter NSAIDs, and a great way to wind down after a big workout along with the hot shower and high-protein fruit smoothie.
Even stoners who don’t exercise have benefited from the physical enhancing properties of cannabis. A recent study published in the American Journal of Medicine found that marijuana users have a lower body mass index and a lower rate of diabetes than the U.S. population as a whole.
Many elite professional athletes use marijuana for its amazing physical advantages. The best argument against “cannabis use negatively affecting performance” is Olympic Swimming Champion, Michael Phelps. Your lungs need to be on an elite level to rack up all those gold medals, there’s no question that all those bong rips helped Phelps achieve his goals.
Kelly Starret, a physical therapist respected for his approach to preventing injury and hacking the body for optimal performance vouched for cannabis on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast. Many NBA trainers told Starret that basketball players will regularly smoke a bowl of cannabis and use the foam roller to recover after games.
The physical benefits of cannabis is not limited to just running and working out. You can integrate it into any physical activity such as dancing, power walking, hiking, swimming, martial arts, or cycling.
> Worth Repeating: The Marijuana Exercise Prescription | Toke of the Town
A recent cannabis study conducted in Germany is suggesting that marijuana triggers the release of antioxidants, which act as a cleansing mechanism. This process is known to remove damaged cells and improve the efficiency of mitochondria, which is the energy source that powers cells.
These discoveries shed new insight on how natural marijuana cannabinoids hold the capacity to literally kill the brain inflammation responsible for causing cognitive decline, neural failure, and brain degeneration.
By supplying these receptor sites with cannabinoids, patients may be able to overcome brain conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and more, not to mention premature brain aging. The human brain has an extensive network of special receptor sites that modulate nervous system function only when activated by the appropriate cannabinoid compounds, which are found in the marijuana plant.
Cannabinoid system activity is neuroprotective, and increasing it could be a promising strategy for slowing down the progression of brain aging and for alleviating the systems of neurodegenerative disorders – Andras Biokei, Institute of Molecular Psychiatry at the University of Bonn in Germany
I’ve been trying to find a drug that will reduce brain inflammation and restore cognitive function in rats for over 25 years; cannabinoids are the first and only class of drugs that have ever been effective. I think that the perception about this drug is changing and in the future people will be less fearful. – Gerry Wenk, Professor of neuroscience at Ohio State University
Biokei and his collegues said that the greatest hurdle for moving forward with their research are the social and political challenges. This isn’t something new, our world seems to be dominated by belief systems instead of obvious fact.
It’s quite clear that the powers that be do not want to legalize marijuana, and we know that they do not have our best interest at hand.
Cannabis Brain Damage Study Sources:
http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/29/how-cannabinoids-may-slow-brain-aging/
http://www.drugscience.org/Petition/C3D.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/040456_marijuana_cannabinoids_dementia.html
http://edrv.endojournals.org/content/27/1/73.fullhttp://cannabisclinicians.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/OS-2011-Terpenes+Minor-CBs.pdf
> New Study Shows Cannabinoids Improve Efficiency Of Mitochondria And Remove Damaged Brain Cells | Collective Evolution
Scientific and technological advances for the highly beneficial cannabis plant are about to explode, following the exit of outdated laws.
In HIGH COUNTRY, Vice Motherboard heads to Denver–ground zero for cannabis legalization, and home to a booming tech sector in what could be called the Silicon Valley of weed–to inhale the newest high-tech highs.
We visit the key players scaling up this new green tech, wrap our heads around all the money to be made, crack open the confusing science of America’s No. 1 cash crop, and smoke dabs.
Obesity and Diabetes are associated with inactivity and overeating. It just so happens that Stoners are often associated with having “the munchies” and being lazy.
By this logic Stoners should be at an increased risk for obesity and diabetes, right?
A new study published in the American Journal of Medicine has revealed a potential benefit from the use of cannabis. The article, entitled “The Impact of Marijuana Use on Glucose, Insulin, and Insulin Resistance among U.S. Adults,” investigated the blood sugar-related effects of cannabis use among participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2005 to 2010.
In several other studies of large populations, lower rates of both obesity and diabetes have been noted among users of cannabis, as compared with non-users.
The researchers noted that although cannabis smokers generally consume more calories than non-users, they paradoxically live with lower body mass indexes (BMIs) and reduced rates of both obesity and diabetes.
The researchers found that subjects who were current cannabis users had lower levels of fasting insulin, lower levels of insulin resistance, smaller waist circumference, and higher levels of HDL cholesterol, which is known to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
it is believed that cannabis acts on the cannabinoid 1 and 2 receptors in the brain, enhancing the activity of adiponectin. This hormone helps to regulate blood sugar and plays a role in controlling weight and reducing the tendency toward diabetes.
Based on results reported in this study and supported by other epidemiological surveys, it is possible that cannabis use helps to reduce the tendency toward both obesity and type 2 diabetes.
The regulating effects that cannabis induces within the human body continue to reveal benefit after benefit. As we approach the legalization of cannabis, let’s take a moment to observe this current conundrum through these appropriate words from Joe Rogan:
People say “Well you can abuse marijuana”. Well shit you can abuse cheeseburgers too.
Ya know, you don’t go around closing Burger King because you can abuse something. I can take a fuckin’ fork and jam it in my eyeball. Does that mean forks should be illegal? Ya know, I could jump off a bridge, should we outlaw bridges? Lets Nerf the world!
> The Impact of Marijuana Use on Glucose, Insulin, and Insulin Resistance among US Adults | The American Journal of Medicine
Medical marijuana adds to its growing list of benefits by helping sick and aging dogs. The pain relief and appetite stimulation that medical marijuana provides improves the quality of life for ailing K9s that limp towards the finish line of life.
Often our aging pets that we love go through a variety of invasive procedures in our attempts to extend their lives; medical marijuana can improve their quality of life during that stressful time.
Today, at age 12, he plays like a puppy through the day, his fur is soft and he sleeps at night, soothed not by magic, but by the dose of marijuana in that cheese.
Medical Marijuana has been like the fountain of youth for the American bulldog.
It’s really nice to see your sick pet, for his last moments or weeks or months, be happy and not real sick and dealing with needles and surgery.
– Dog Owner: Laura Bugni-Daniel
I grew tired of euthanizing pets when I wasn’t doing everything I could to make their lives better. I felt like I was letting them down.
– Veterinarian Doug Kramer
Medical cannabis eased Dr. Karmer’s Siberian husky’s pain during her final weeks, after she had surgery to remove tumors. Not only did Nikita stop whimpering while using cannabis, but she started eating, gaining weight and meeting him at the door again.
The science behind pet pot use has only begun to be written. But the trend behind the science of medical marijuana has been filled with positive findings. It’s an exciting time to be a stoner’s dog.
> Cannabis for canines: Medical marijuana for dogs is necessary for pets in pain, U.S. veterinarian says | National Post
Kid Cudi made his name as a stoner rapper before ditching Mary Jane for cocaine and a stream of problems. Just What I Am is Cudi’s chill anthem about his return to cannabis. Sometimes people blame cannabis for personal issues and take a break from it. When they get their life back in balance and realize that it wasn’t the herb causing the problems, reuniting with the medicine becomes a celebration.
For his directorial debut, Kid Cudi said he wanted to make a music video designed to be watched on shrooms and herb.
Neighbors knockin’ on the door, asking can we turn it down
I say, “Ain’t no music on” she said, “Naw, that weed is loud”
I need smoke
I need to smoke
Who gon’ hold me down now
I wanna get high y’all
I wanna get high y’all
