Stressed soldiers to be treated with cannabis

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

-- from the British Daily Telegraph

Pot shots for Israeli soldiers
(Filed: 04/08/2004)

Israeli soldiers suffering from combat stress could soon be treated with cannabis to relieve their symptoms.


"The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) medical corps, in cooperation with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, is introducing the use of THC, the active agent in the cannabis plant, which helps relieve post-traumatic stress disorders, on an experimental basis," an army statement said.

The mental health department of the Medical Corps was set to to begin tests on volunteers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after reserve duty.

Hundreds of Israelis have been treated for combat stress after performing their mandatory national service in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The scientist who will help conduct the experiment heads a research team which discovered that cannabis helped mice which had suffered physical stress, and had even reduced the risk of stroke.

The army said the use of THC had been approved by a military and a civilian committee.

°°°°°°°°

and from the Sydney Morning Herald

Date: August 5 2004



Israeli soldiers suffering from combat stress after tours of duty in the Palestinian territories could soon be treated with cannabis to relieve their symptoms, the Ma'ariv daily reported.

The mental health department of the Medical Corps is set to to begin tests in the next few days on volunteers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after reserve duty, the paper said.

A scientist who will help conduct the experiment heads a research team, which discovered that cannabis helped mice that had suffered physical stress and even reduced the risk of stroke.

Hundreds of Israelis have been treated for combat stress after performing their mandatory national service in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

There was no immediate comment on the report from the Israeli military.

[Dr Dave]

I'm having a lot of stress today. Where do I sign up?

[groover]

This should increase their volunteer rate!

Meanwhile, scientists in the U.S. can't even get a legal supply to do research.

Scientists Say Marijuana Research Blocked
July 20th, 2004 | Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The government is violating federal law by obstructing medical marijuana research, scientists contend in lawsuits seeking faster action on applications to grow the drug.

In lawsuits to be filed Wednesday, researchers assert that Washington is refusing to act on legitimate research projects and delaying studies that could lead to marijuana's use as a prescription drug.

"There is an urgent need for an alternative supply of marijuana for medical research," said Lyle Craker, director of the Medicinal Plant Program at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the main force behind the lawsuits.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the Health and Human Services Department, "maintains a monopoly on research marijuana. Many researchers believe that NIDA's monopoly is an obstacle to getting needed studies done on a timely basis," Craker said in a statement.

The lawsuits, which target the Drug Enforcement Administration, HHS, NIDA and the National Institutes of Health, are being filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Joining Craker in filing the suit are Rick Doblin, president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, and Valerie Corral, co-founder of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz, Calif., who uses marijuana to control epileptic seizures.

"As a patient, each day brings new struggles," she said in a statement. "Instead of providing relief for critically ill Americans, our government refuses to allow the research that would free sick and dying members of our collective from living in fear of an administration that views medical assistance as criminal activity."

The case claims an unreasonable delay in acting on a three-year-old application by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to grow marijuana for federally approved researchers.

Scientists also want the government to act on a year-old application by Chemic Laboratories in Canton, Mass., to import 10 grams of marijuana from Dutch authorities for research into a device called the Volcano Vaporizer. The device potentially offers a nonsmoking way to deliver the medicinal value of marijuana.

"Every day DEA delays the applications necessary to initiate research is another day that the patients with illnesses susceptible to treatment using marijuana must either suffer otherwise remediable pain, or risk arrest to use marijuana as medicine," said the scientists behind the suits.

DEA spokesman Ed Childress said the agency won't discuss pending lawsuits.

All marijuana for research in the United States must come from a crop grown on a federally contracted farm in Mississippi. That product has been only "inconsistently available to researchers and is infamous for its low quality," the researchers contend.

[Ron Thorne]

When I read the thread title, I knew this wasn't a U.S. military story.

The ignorance in America surrounding this plant is truly astounding. Probably 75% or more of Americans are addicted to caffeine, millions more use alcohol and tobacco, yet cannibis gets the bad rap. Hell, many politicians probably can't even function before their first cup or two of coffee ...

Pathetic.

[stonemonkts]

Wanna get high?

[Slurpy]

Originally Posted by groover

This should increase their volunteer rate!

Meanwhile, scientists in the U.S. can't even get a legal supply to do research.

Scientists Say Marijuana Research Blocked
July 20th, 2004 | Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The government is violating federal law by obstructing medical marijuana research, scientists contend in lawsuits seeking faster action on applications to grow the drug.

I guess Ashcroft doesn't understand the use of his God's plants in the role of medicine. What a surprise.

"Man made alcohol,
God made Pot.
Who do you trust?" - My stoner roommate's sign he hung on the wall of our dorm room

[clinthopson]

MEDIC!

[Gary Sisco]

Hell, American vets have known and practiced this for decades.

Spark it up!