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SCIENTIFIC FACTS of POT This site does not condone any illegal activity nor make any claim regarding the legality of any activity. While much research has been done to produce this site, we're very new and will be adding a tremendous amount to it over the coming weeks and months. Please visit regularly to keep yourself educated! Welcome Some of the first misunderstandings about pot is its many names. While many know the street names of grass, pot, or marijuana, they do not know that cannabis and hemp are also the same plant. While the word hemp is now commonly used in reference to very low THC cannabis, it is only since 1913 that there has been any major divergence in strains of cannabis sativa as the selection process in the US became very refined in favor of fiber production.[1] Prior to this point, even the european strains which had the lowest THC content were widely used for medicine and intoxication. As early as 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal fiat condemning witchcraft and the use of hemp in Satanic mass.[2] Common folk uses for the plant were: easing childbirth; reducing inflamation, fever, and the swelling of joints; preventing convulsions; and curing jaundice and rheumatism.[3] The only reason there is any concern over THC content in modern hemp is because of the "drug war" created by Harry Anslinger, - who regularly opined that marijuana was worse than heroin - the complete fabrications printed in the papers of William Randolph Hearst that were widely distributed accross the US and the hysteria that these propaganda machines created.        The information on this website is based on scientific facts that will be linked to medical studies that support it. The claims about the benefits of marijuana found in the "studies" section are not based on any opinion or are in any way related to how we feel about anything. The journals that publish these studies and other scientific information about pot are peer-reviewed, which means that a panel of scientists, not involved in the same projects, have looked over the results and have agreed that the methods used were stringent enough to be considered hard science and produced factual evidence such as is admissable in court. We are here to provide you with knowledge and truth about a beneficial substance that has been banned due to ignorance and protection of corporate profits. Marijuana has been around for at least 5,000 years of recorded history. It is well known that Pot has been part of the worship of Shiva in hinduism; it was an integral part of jewish mysticism with numerous writings about it's care and use and there is reason to believe that the sacred annointing oil given to Moses by God contained cannabis instead of carcinogenic calamus. This was the same oil that Jesus frequently and controversially used on numerous non-clergy. Aside from ancient religions using it as a holy sacrament, pot has also been featured in Sanskrit writings which the oldest documents known to man. In China, 10,000 year old pottery has been found with hemp as a component. Although cannabis contains at least 400 different chemicals, its main ingredient is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). The amount of THC in marijuana determines the drug’s strength and the THC levels are affected by a great many factors, including plant type, weather, soil, and time of harvest. Below is some information relayed by laymen to laymen. It is still very cautious and superstitious regardless of the positive light shed upon cannabis in these articles. The overwhelming flood of hard scientific proof that can be found in the "studies" section of this site paints a far more positive picture than authors below who have to worry about career and the way in which they will be viewed and/or punished for expressing positive sentiment about such a socially denigrated medicine. Recent News In the stoner stereotype, pot smokers and dying brain cells go hand in hand. However, new research suggests the situation may be more uplifting than that. A drug that functions as concentrated marijuana does spur neurogenesis, the process by which the brain gives birth to new nerve cells. This very process is also responsible for aleviating anxiety and depression.                                  Science News Online Article  In lab experiments, the scientists found THC was significantly better at disrupting the abnormal clumping of malformed proteins. THC could completely prevent AChE from forming amyloid plaques, while two drugs approved for use against Alzheimer's, donepezil and tacrine, reduced clumping by only 22 and 7 percent, respectively, at twice the concentration of THC used in the tests.                                   Live Science Article Human brains may do the equivalent of rolling themselves a joint when they want to forget a damaging memory of something awful. The body's own versions of the active ingredient in cannabis may help extinguish unwanted memories thus effectively dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.                                  New Scientist Article The scientists suggest the way THC disrupts synchronized brain cell activity might help fight seizures. During seizures, brain activity becomes abnormally synchronized. Prior research suggested the brain's natural versions of THC, known as endocannabinoids, helped prevent seizures.                        Live Science Article   The current debate over medical marijuana hinges on its use as pain medication. But an extract of the plant could one day form the basis of cancer treatments. New findings indicate that Cannabis extracts can shrink brain tumors by blocking the growth of blood vessels that nourish them                                  Scientific American Article Although we prefer to vaporize marijuana to get a cleaner hit as well as for the conservation of pot, some people enjoy smoking it out of pipes or rolling joints. The smoke from burning marijuana leaves contains several known carcinogens and the tar it creates contains 50 percent more of some of the chemicals linked to lung cancer than tobacco smoke. A marijuana cigarette also deposits four times as much of that tar as an equivalent tobacco one. Scientists were therefore surprised to learn that a study of more than 2,000 people found no increase in the risk of developing lung cancer for marijuana smokers.                                  Scientific American Article Marijuana is a drug with a mixed history. Mention it to one person, and it will conjure images of potheads lost in a spaced-out stupor. To another, it may represent relaxation, a slowing down of modern madness. To yet another, marijuana means hope for cancer patients suffering from the debilitating nausea of chemotherapy, or it is the promise of relief from chronic pain. The drug is all these things and more, for its history is a long one, spanning millennia and continents. It is also something everyone is familiar with, whether they know it or not. Everyone grows a form of the drug, regardless of their political leanings or recreational proclivities. That is because the brain makes its own marijuana, natural compounds called endocannabinoids (after the plant's formal name, Cannabis sativa).                                 Scientific American Article Medical marijuana poses dilemmas for politicians, but scientists see tremendous therapuetic promise in the drug's derivatives and synthetic forms. In fact, humans have smoked marijuana for thousands of years; the plant was given as medicine in the United States until the early 1900s and did not become a controlled substance until 1934. Marijuana remains a Schedule 1 substance today along with the likes of heroin, although Marinol was recently "declassified" to a Schedule 3 drug, which has looser prescription requirements.                                  Scientific American Article Summary Upon more focused examination, an unbiased and level-headed examiner will find that the scientific studies show how pot is a powerful medicine used for millenia as an integral part of human culture. It has been and continues to be used for food, clothing, shelter and a wide variety of tools. Ten thousand acres of hemp can produce with one year's growth as much paper as thirty thousand acres of thirty year old forest.  Fear, superstition, greed and racism has played a critical role in demonizing this medicine. From the false stories of murder and insanity printed in Hearst's papers (an owner in the logging and paper industry) to the close association of pot with immigrants and minorities, when we examine negative claims it is obvious they are almost always a spin and a carry-over of outdated and barbaric behaviors modern society is suposed to have left behind. Pot is the only "drug" which you cannot overdose on. High levels of both alcohol and tobacco are fatal wherease in the past 5,000 years of recorded use, there has not been a single case of marijuana overdose or death. In 2001, there were approximately 75,000 deaths attributable to excessive alcohol use. In fact, excessive alcohol use is the 3rd leading lifestyle-related cause of death for people in the United States each year. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, tobacco was responsible for 435,000 deaths in 2000, or nearly 1,200 deaths per day. How is it that we can consider pot a "drug" yet we do not think of alcohol, nicotine and caffiene as such when they have just as much effect and more in the brain? In the face of the body of evidence presented here you must ask yourself, "Am I a thinker or just a believer".                                        CDC Alcohol Stats [1] 1927 USDA Yearbook of Agriculture; Lyster H. Dewey, B.S., Botanist, in Charge Office of Fiber Plants, Bureau of Plant Industry; Pages: 358 - 361 [2]  A. De Pasquale, "Farmocognosia della 'Canape Indiana'", Estratto dai Lavori dell'Instituto di Farmpcognosia dell'Universita di Messina 5 (1967): 24. [3] Benet, "Early Diffusion", p. 46.

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