by ilene - July 23rd, 2010 8:26 pm
Two components of marijuana have different effects on symptoms of psychosis. Delta-9 tetrahydocannabinol (THC) causes hallucinations and, in high enough doses, can cause temporary psychotic experiences, even in healthy people. Another chemical, cannabidiol (CBD), has anti-psychotic effects. Scientists hope to replicate the antipsychotic effects of CBD without triggering the risks of THC. – Ilene
[click on image for TIME's photo series "The Great American Pot Smoke-Out"]
By Maia Szalavitz, courtesy of TIME
Since the days of Reefer Madness, scientists have sought to understand the complex connection between marijuana and psychosis. Cannabis can cause short-term psychotic experiences, such as hallucinations and paranoia, even in healthy people, but researchers have also long noted a link between marijuana use and the chronic psychotic disorder, schizophrenia.
Repeatedly, studies have found that people with schizophrenia are about twice as likely to smoke pot as those who are unaffected. Conversely, data suggest that those who smoke cannabis are twice as likely to develop schizophrenia as nonsmokers. One widely publicized 2007 review of the research even concluded that trying marijuana just once was associated with a 40% increase in risk of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
But here’s the conundrum: while marijuana went from being a secret shared by a small community of hepcats and beatniks in the 1940s and ’50s to a rite of passage for some 70% of youth by the turn of the century, rates of schizophrenia in the U.S. have remained flat, or possibly declined. For as long as it has been tracked, schizophrenia has been found to affect about 1% of the population.
One explanation may be that the two factors are coincidental, not causal: perhaps people who have a genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia also happen to especially enjoy marijuana. Still, some studies suggest that smoking pot can actually trigger the disease earlier in individuals who are predisposed, and yet researchers still aren’t seeing increases in the overall schizophrenia rate or decreases in the average age of onset.
In recent months, new research has explored some of these issues. One study led by Dr. Serge Sevy, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, looked at 100 patients between the ages of 16 and 40 with schizophrenia, half of whom smoked marijuana. Sevy and colleagues found that among the marijuana users, 75% had…
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by ilene - April 26th, 2010 12:25 pm
By Robert Folsom, courtesy of Elliott Wave International
In 1996 California voters approved Proposition 215, which extended legal protection to doctors who recommend and patients who use marijuana for medical reasons. This inspired the "medical marijuana" movement, though it made only sporadic progress in the decade that followed. Beyond a few mostly Western states, the movement found meager legislative support.
Until around 2007, that is.
In 2007 and 2008, legislatures in 27 states considered bills related to marijuana — each one sought to relax or eliminate the current penalties for use and/or possession in those states. The trend continued into 2009 and 2010. This past March saw the most far-reaching legislative proposal yet, again in California: the state legislature will vote on a bill to allow adults over 21 to personally possess and cultivate marijuana. It would also implement a regulatory regime that taxes pot sales by licensed vendors.
The trend itself may not be news to you, even if you don’t know all the particulars. This past January, an ABC News/Washington Post survey found that 81% of Americans support the legalization of medical marijuana (up from 69% in 1997). The same survey found 46% support "legalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal use" (up from 22% in 1997).
Still, you may not have gotten the memo about this past Tuesday (April 20) and the event known as 4/20, aka "Pot Day." Participants made a public show indeed of how much this day means to them: behold the crowd gathered for the occasion on the campus of the University of Colorado.
Yes, that cloud is exactly what you think it is.
This apparent willingness toward tolerance and use also extends to controlled substances which create clouds only a user might see. Earlier this month The New York Times reported the experience of a retired clinical psychologist who was deeply depressed while going through treatments for kidney cancer:
…
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by ilene - April 21st, 2010 2:13 pm
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
When KTVU has a guy on scene in Golden Gate Park on 4/20 with stoners saying "Tax it, we’re broke!" you know it might be time to do something.
KTVU said the San Francisco Police Department took a hands off approach to 420 today but the reality is SFPD takes a hands off approach to weed each and every day. Oh well.
Tax it, we’re broke.
(Tell me David Stevenson wasn’t stoned off his a** reporting from the scene in GG Park)
And while you’re high and [screwing] around on the Internet, check out Medithrive (the Starbucks of Cannabis) and/or Larry Carlson. And don’t miss the "marijuana enthusiast" with all the b*tches.
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by ilene - February 2nd, 2010 12:26 pm
This is a chapter from Ryan Grim’s book on drugs, This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America."
Excerpt from a review "Why we say yes to drugs" by Laura Miller in Salon:
…Yet even politicians inclined to support a treatment-oriented approach to diminishing the American appetite for illegal drugs have opted to emphasize enforcement in order to position themselves as "tough" on crime.
For just this reason, President Clinton replaced his first, reform-minded drug czar, Lee Brown, with retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who squandered billions on a scandal-ridden media campaign (planting secret anti-drug messages in prime-time TV dramas) and combating the medical marijuana movement, which is supported by a majority of Americans. Worse yet, overseas enforcement campaigns lead to horrific blowback. Grim points out that aggressive attacks on growers and suppliers cause centralization of the drug trade (only big organizations can afford the losses) and this in turn leads to corruption, as cartel leaders parlay their fortunes into political influence. Not only are we pissing away our own resources on ineffectual enforcement efforts, we have "brought the Mexican government to the brink of collapse, making the prospect of a failed state on America’s southern border a very real possibility."
For Grim, most of these mistakes have roots in an elementary error, the inability to accept that "altering one’s consciousness is a fundamental human desire." The craving to be more relaxed or more alert, more outgoing or more reflective, happier or deeper or even just sillier and less bored — in one form other another, this drive has always been and always will be with us, though many of us refuse to admit it. As a result, our political response to drug problems tends to be blinkered. "In reality, there’s no such thing as drug policy," Grim writes. "As currently understood and implemented, drug policy attempts to isolate a phenomenon that can’t be taken in isolation. Economic policy is drug policy. Healthcare policy is drug policy. Foreign policy, too, is drug policy. When approached in isolation, drug policy almost always backfires, because it doesn’t take into account the powerful economic, social and cultural forces that also determine how and why Americans get high."
…
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by ilene - January 17th, 2010 2:13 pm
Courtesy of Henry Blodget at The Business Insider/Clusterstock
Bankrupt states have finally found a a way out of their budget deficits: Taxes on legalized pot.
In certain western states, at least, the public supports the move.
WSJ: [A] national marijuana-legalization movement…has lately been emboldened by several factors, including laws allowing marijuana for medical purposes.
The recession may be another reason. With many states suffering big budget deficits, for instance, legalization advocates say the states could benefit from new taxes on the sale of marijuana. In addition, the Obama administration appears to have taken a more-mellow attitude on medical marijuana as societal views about the drug evolve. In a poll last week of 500 adults in Washington state by SurveyUSA, 56% of respondents said legalizing marijuana is a good idea.
"We’re beyond a tipping point culturally," said Roger Goodman, a Democrat representing Kirkland, Wash., and other Seattle suburbs in the Washington legislature who co-authored the legalization bill, known as HB 2401. "Now we’re at a point where we’re figuring out the safest way to end prohibition."
See Also:CNBC Viewers Want Pot And Porn, Not An AOL Documentary
Associate Sues Firm And Says Partner Is Pot-Smoking Adulterer
Feds Cool With Your Smoking Pot Now
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by ilene - June 14th, 2009 7:24 pm
Courtesy of Mark J. Perry’s CARPE DIEM
Here in the United States, four decades of drug war have had three consequences:
1. We have vastly increased the proportion of our population in prisons. The United States now incarcerates people at a rate nearly five times the world average. In part, that’s because the number of people in prison for drug offenses rose roughly from 41,000 in 1980 to 500,000 today. Until the war on drugs, our incarceration rate was roughly the same as that of other countries.
2. We have empowered criminals at home and terrorists abroad. One reason many prominent economists have favored easing drug laws is that interdiction raises prices, which increases profit margins for everyone, from the Latin drug cartels to the Taliban. Former presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia this year jointly implored the United States to adopt a new approach to narcotics, based on the public health campaign against tobacco.
3. We have squandered resources. Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard economist, found that federal, state and local governments spend $44.1 billion annually enforcing drug prohibitions. We spend seven times as much on drug interdiction, policing and imprisonment as on treatment.
It’s now broadly acknowledged that the drug war approach has failed.
~Nicholas Kristof in yesterday’s NY Times
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May 23rd, 2013 6:56 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Submitted by Tyler Durden.
The IRS' Lois Lerner may not be the most proficient when it comes to hiding years of alleged conservative group persecution, or subsequently pleading the fifth and avoiding self-incrimination in what she dubs is a perfectly legal misunderstanding even as she makes on the record statements defending her innocence, but when it comes to being put on "involuntary" paid leave, she shows private sector efficiency and results. According to Bloomberg, "Lerner is being replaced on an acting basis, the IRS said today. Lerner has been placed on paid administrative leave, said a Democratic aide...
May 23rd, 2013 6:35 pm
Courtesy of Doug Short.
The pre-market anxieties were little changed by this morning's slightly better-than-expected unemployment claims. The eurozone indexes were all down 2% to 3% when the US markets opened. The S&P 500 promptly plunged to its -1.20 intraday low in the first nine minutes of trading. But the index trimmed its losses in an irregular trend to its afternoon intraday high at 2:50 PM, when the market was just a hundredth of a point from break even. This was in contrast to eurozone, where the STOXX 50 closed its session down 2.05%. The S&P 500 saw some selling in the final hour and finished the day at -0.29%, well off its morning low. Presumably the abated selling suggests generally reduced fears about the Fed tapering QE in the near term.
Here is a 15-minute loo...
May 23rd, 2013 4:56 pm
Medallions & State-Mandated ScarcityBy Ilene
Why is your NYC taxi fare is so expensive?
The price is high due to NYC's limited supply of Medallions.
The taxicabs of New York City, with their distinctive yellow paint, are a widely recognized icon of the city. Taxicabs are operated by private companies and licensed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). It also oversees over 40,000 other for-hire vehicles, including "black cars", commuter vans and ambulettes. "Medallion taxis," the familiar yellow cabs, are the only vehicles in the city permitted to pick up passengers in response to a street hail. Wikipedia....
May 23rd, 2013 1:40 pm
Reminder: David is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.
Click here for the full report.
May 23rd, 2013 7:15 am
Submitted by Mark HannaCourtesy of MarketMontage. View original post here.
Some quick notes:
May 23rd, 2013 1:52 am
Courtesy of Sabrient Systems and Gradient Analytics
The market went through some gyrations on Wednesday in reaction to Fed Chairman Bernanke’s testimony before the Joint Economic Committee. He first defended continued quant easing by warning, “A premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but also would carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery.” Stocks dutifully rallied and all major indexes hit new intraday highs.
But alas, consensus is apparently not a given over the longer term. The minutes hinted that a tapering off could start sooner, “A number of participants expressed willingness to adjust the flow of purchases downward as early as the June meeting if the economic information received by that time showed evidence of sufficiently strong and sustained growth.” So …...
May 23rd, 2013 12:00 am
Courtesy of Benzinga.
Few stocks have attracted more news over the last six months than nutritional supplement maker Herbalife (NYSE: HLF).
Even casual market observers are aware of the circumstances surrounding the the initial bout of extreme volatility in the name back in December 2012. The shares went into free-fall at the end of the year after hedge fund manager Bill Ackman revealed in typical sanctimonious fashion that his firm Pershing Square Capital Management was short around $1 billion worth of the stock.
Amid much pomp and circumstance, Ackman laid out his short thesis at a New York investment conference and...
May 22nd, 2013 8:36 pm
Today’s tickers: SKS, USG & PFE
SKS - Saks, Inc. – Timely bullish bets initiated in Saks options just seconds prior to the closing bell on Tuesday are generating sizable gains for at least one trader today, with shares in the high-end retailer up at the highest level since 2008. The stock closed Tuesday up 11% on the day at $13.67 after the company reported first-quarter revenue above average analyst expectations. Within minutes of the close shares in SKS moved sharply to the upside after the New York Post, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported...
more from Caitlin
May 19th, 2013 11:38 pm
Reminder: OpTrader is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.
This post is for all our live virtual trade ideas and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).
We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options.
Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this virtual portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.
To learn more about the swing trading virtual portfolio (strategy, performance, FAQ, etc.), please click here
Optrader
...May 19th, 2013 1:09 am
NEW: Newsletter writers are available to chat with Members regarding topics presented in SWW, comments are found below each post.
Here's the latest Stock World Weekly! Just sign in with your PSW user name and password, or sign up to try it out.
...May 15th, 2013 7:35 pm
Reminder: Craigzooka is available to chat with Members regarding his virtual portfolio performance, comments are found below each post.
By Craigzooka
I am going to share with you how I manage my IRA and the power of reducing your cost basis. My goal each year is a 20% return in my IRA. Sometimes I make it and sometimes I don't, but I believe that all of my success is due to reducing my cost basis. To illustrate the power of reducing your cost basis here are some trades we did last year. These trades are taken from an educational portfolio we ran in a paper-trading account for a little more than a year.
May 12th, 2013 7:23 am
Courtesy of John Nyaradi.
Stock market posts another record setting week, but the big news came after Friday’s close.Courtesy of NASA
The stock market put on another record setting show with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) closing at a record high 15,118 and the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) closing at 1633.70, another all time closing high.
For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) gained 1%, the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) climbed 1.2%, the Nasdaq Composite (NYSEARCA:...
January 21st, 2013 8:09 pm
Reminder: Pharmboy is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.
Well, well, well....it is good to know that there are others in the scientific arena who believed that YMI Bioscience's data (cough - Gilead) is a better drug than Incyte's Jakafi. Now, the definitive data are still unknown, but there was enough evidence from a Phase 2 trial to take a small risk for a huge reward. So, let's forget about Apple (AAPL), and do nothing but biotechs from now until Congress passes universal health care coverage for prescriptions....and drive the prices down so that research and development is no longer feasible to conduct in the US. Even Seattle Genetics (SGEN) has been on a tear as of late...
Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
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Note: The material presented in this commentary is provided for informational purposes only and is based upon information that is considered to be reliable. However, neither Philstockworld, LLC (PSW) nor its affiliates warrant its completeness, accuracy or adequacy and it should not be relied upon as such. Neither PSW nor its affiliates are responsible for any errors or omissions or for results obtained from the use of this information. Past performance, including the tracking of virtual trades and portfolios for educational purposes, is not necessarily indicative of future results. Neither Phil, Optrader, or anyone related to PSW is a registered financial adviser and they may hold positions in the stocks mentioned, which may change at any time without notice. Do not buy or sell based on anything that is written here, the risk of loss in trading is great.
This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities or other financial instruments mentioned in this material are not suitable for all investors. Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only intended at the moment of their issue as conditions quickly change. The information contained herein does not constitute advice on the tax consequences of making any particular investment decision. This material does not take into account your particular investment objectives, financial situations or needs and is not intended as a recommendation to you of any particular securities, financial instruments or strategies. Before investing, you should consider whether it is suitable for your particular circumstances and, as necessary, seek professional advice. |
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