Cannabis Use Lowers Risk of Obesity and Diabetes (Study)

Cannabis Use Lowers Risk of Obesity and Diabetes (Study) | Third Monk image 2

Cannabis Lowers Blood Sugar

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?

Cannabis and Blood Sugar Study Findings

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!

Cannabis - Joe Rogan

The Impact of Marijuana Use on Glucose, Insulin, and Insulin Resistance among US Adults | The American Journal of Medicine

Kid Cudi, King Chip – Just What I Am, Psychedelic Music Video (KJ Song Rec)

Kid Cudi, King Chip - Just What I Am, Psychedelic Music Video (KJ Song Rec) | Third Monk image 5

Kid Cudi Ft King Chip – Just What I Am
Album: Indicud

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”

weed-smoke-4

weed-smoke-1

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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

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Kid Cudi Ft King Chip – Just What I Am Instrumental

A Society Without Cannabis Lacks Unfiltered Levels of Perception – Carl Sagan

A Society Without Cannabis Lacks Unfiltered Levels of Perception - Carl Sagan | Third Monk

carl-sagan-cannabis-perceptionI am convinced that there are genuine and valid levels of perception available with cannabis (and probably with other drugs) which are, through the defects of our society and our educational system, un-available to us without such drugs. – Carl Sagan

Joe Rogan Podcast – Carl Sagan’s Belief of Cannabis Being Our Connection to the Universe

Joe Rogan talks about Carl Sagan’s essay on cannabis where he revealed that some of his best insights came from smoking marijuana.

Amsterdam’s Cannabis Coffee Shops Provides A Preview for California, Colorado (Video)

Amsterdam's Cannabis Coffee Shops Provides A Preview for California, Colorado (Video) | Third Monk image 1

Following the passing of recreational marijuana use laws, Colorado and Washington have started to plan for stoner friendly establishments. California is trying to catch up with a 2014 ballot measure that would legalize recreational use of cannabis for adults.

Amsterdam’s coffee shops are an example of how cannabis culture might change in the US.

A Tour Inside Amsterdam’s Cannabis Coffee Shops

Amsterdam’s liberal attitude toward drugs has created a subculture of coffee shops and stoner fans that chill out and eat magic treats or blaze the cannabis without fearing the fuzz. – Attack of the Show

Dampkring Cannabis Coffeeshop: Home of Bowie, the Stoner Cat

A short film montage of the Original Dampkring Cannabis Coffeeshop. Filmed by Maaike Carree
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California’s Push for Recreational Cannabis Legalization

cannabis-lounge-coloradoThe campaign behind the California Cannabis Hemp and Health Initiative, which would explicitly legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older, will begin collecting signatures in May, attempting to put their initiative to a vote of the people in 2014. – The Weed Blog

Here’s a breakdown of what the Jack Herer measure would do:

  • -Legalizes possession
  • -Legalizes home-growing
  • -Legalizes industrial hemp
  • -Makes it illegal for cops to enforce federal cannabis laws in California.
  • -Sets the possession and grow limit for personal use at 12 pounds, and 99 plants, per adult, per year.

Founding Fathers Were Stoners, Whitest Kids U’ Know (Video)

Founding Fathers Were Stoners, Whitest Kids U' Know (Video) | Third Monk

Trevor Moore (Whitest Kids U’ Know) reveals that the founding fathers were all stoned in this track from his new album “Drunk Texts to Myself”.

Make the most of the Indian Hemp Seed and sow it everywhere! – George Washington

We shall, by and by, want a world of hemp more for our own consumption. – John Adams

Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country. – Thomas Jefferson

Terence McKenna – Cannabis Edibles and Creativity, Animation (Video)

Terence McKenna - Cannabis Edibles and Creativity, Animation (Video) | Third Monk

Sleep Sweepers by Flying Lotus is used as the background track for Terence Mckenna’s take on the psychedelic effects caused by eating cannabis edibles.

We in the 20th century tend to smoke our cannabis aside from the occasional holiday cannabis cookie, cannabis for us is something that is smoked. On the other hand for the 19th century and for all of European civilization cannabis was something that was eaten in the form of various sugared confections that were prepared and this method of ingestion changes cannabis into an extremely powerful psychedelic experience.

If you read the accounts of people like Theodore Gautier, Baudelaire and Fitz Hugh Ludlow written in the mid 19th century they are describing experiences that are obviously, or are for them as powerful as a 500 micro gram dose of LSD proved in our own life times, and we forget this, we tend to think of it as a social drug and a kind of a minor drug on a par with smoking a cigarette or having a cognac or something like that. Well in fact for the serious eater of hashish it is the portal into a true artificial paradise whose length and breadth is equal to that of any of the artificial paradises that we’ve discovered in modern psychedelic pharmacology.

Terrence-mckenna-cannabis-edibles

Medical Marijuana Laws, State Comparison (Infographic)

Medical Marijuana Laws, State Comparison (Infographic) | Third Monk image 2

Medical Marijuana Infographic

Timeline of Prop. 215 and SB420 – California’s Medical Marijuana Laws

Prop. 215 took effect on Nov. 6, 1996 as California Health & Safety Code 11362.5. The law makes it legal for patients and their designated primary caregivers to possess and cultivate marijuana for their personal medical use given the recommendation or approval of a California-licensed physician.

Prop. 215 explicitly covers marijuana possession and cultivation for personal medical use. Hashish and concentrated cannabis, including edibles, are also included.

SB420, a legislative statute, went into effect on January 1, 2004 as California H&SC 11362.7-.83. This law broadens Prop. 215 to transportation and other offenses in certain circumstances; allows patients to form medical cultivation “collectives” or “cooperatives”; and establishes a voluntary state ID card system run through county health departments. SB420 sets a baseline statewide guideline of 6 mature or 12 immature plants, and 1/2 pound (8 oz.) processed cannabis per patient. Individual cities and counties are allowed to enact higher, but not lower, limits than the state standard.

Under Prop. 215, a recommendation is valid so long as the doctor says it is. However, SB420 requires ID cards to be renewed annually, and many police refuse to recognize recommendations that are older than a year or so. Courts have ruled that patients must have a valid approval at the time of their arrest, though this can have been oral.

Patients are not required to get an ID card to enjoy the protection of Prop. 215. All that is needed is a physician’s statement saying that marijuana is “approved” or “recommended.”

 

As Medical Marijuana Laws continue to be progressive we still see entities such as the DEA and the U.N. fight to nullify the legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado for fear of a domino effect across the nation. As we go through these changes remain knowledgeable on the current Medical Marijuana Laws, their guidelines and spread knowledge. Cannabis has uses beyond simply altering one’s state of being and the studies on cannabis continue to uncover more and more benefits. Our bodies are wired to intake cannabis, hemp can be used for a wide array of manufacturing purposes, and the relief brought to patients and the economy are indisputable.

For a deeper look into Medical Marijuana Laws check out the California NORML site.

Stoners Take Cannabis Driving Tests (Video)

Stoners Take Cannabis Driving Tests (Video) | Third Monk

Seattle, Washington TV station KIRO conducted a test in which they had drivers get stoned and tool around a driving course set up by a sheriff’s office. After each smoked three-tenths of a gram of a strain called “blueberry train wreck,” they took runs through the course. Though all were well over the legal limit, the instructor initially gave each of them passing marks. Then they kept smoking!

Addy, the veteran stoner made this news segment hilarious, she was allowed to smoke more after passing the most tests. Washington just recently made recreational use of cannabis legal so they have to put out these pieces to appease the people that don’t smoke. Driving stoned is hardly dangerous when compared to driving drunk but not everyone is ready to accept that.

Super Stoner Girl Addy – Stoned Driving Outtakes

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Sublime – Get Ready (KJ Song Rec)

Sublime - Get Ready (KJ Song Rec) | Third Monk

Sublime – Get Ready
Album: Sublime, Self Titled

Before cannabis was accepted in the mainstream, you had to be incognito with your tokes.

Somebody always gotta turn informer for the man
I want to know, know right now
Is there one of you in the crowd?
Are you gonna call 911, and spoil all of my fun?
You crazy fools

Frankie Paul – Get Ready

The original “Get Ready” from Frankie Paul that Sublime covered for their version.

Sublime – Get Ready (Live at the House of Blues 1996)