Show Me the Facts

"THE PROPER TREATMENT FOR MARY" - Pacific Drug Review - Nov. 1937

I get e-mail from time to time from readers; sometimes they are compliments, sometimes suggestions, and here and there disagreements (which usually end up turning into good conversations). Other times, I get heart-felt stories from marijuana users who appreciate what I am trying to do with this site.

The other day I was contacted by a reader with a joint disorder that causes inflammation and degradation of the mandable. Marijuana, as the reader is keenly aware, has great anti-inflammatory properties to help combat things such as joint inflammation. The reader went on to describe how he found out about it and how well it was working for him. Then he said something that made me really stop and think:

“I also decided to use marijuana because I didn’t have medical insurance and it was the best way to cope with the disorder without breaking my wallet.”

Think about that for a moment. Really let it settle in.

Prior to the dawn of the corporate pharmaceutical age, if you were sick or just didn’t feel well, what were your options? Well, chances are you went to the local drug store and picked up some medicine. Coincidentally, marijuana used to be a highly utilized drug prior to 1937/1938 and was available in many forms, for various conditions. Even the US Pharmacopoeia, a publication of doctor’s remedies started in 1820, endorsed marijuana from 1870 until 1942.

Eli Lilly Powdered Cannabis Extract

These days, if you were to suddenly find yourself in excruciating amounts of pain from, say, a kidney stone or back-strain, what would you do? Some of you may reach for an over-the-counter drug like Motrin®, Tylenol®, or Excedrin® and be completely satisfied with the results. If that fails to work, many of you would schedule an appointment with your physician in order to get yourself checked out and–ultimately–get your hands on a stronger, more effective drug like Vicodin® or Percocet®. However, these more effective drugs come with higher risks for abuse and even physical harm and because of this, you will need a doctor’s approval and prescription before being allowed to purchase them legally.

But what about those not fortunate enough to have medical insurance? What about those 46-million+ Americans who quite literally can not afford to get sick, yet alone afford prescription medication?

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Yes, this is our official logo... just haven't had the time or funds available to do a site redesign. =)

So it has been a month or so in the making, but I’ve just heard back from Adam Scorgie, co-creator and executive producer of the much-hyped marijuana documentary, The Union: The Business Behind Getting High. I compiled a list of questions I wanted to know and several of you contributed your own.

Again, if you haven’t yet watched it… watch it. There are many great marijuana documentaries on the market, each bringing something unique to the table, but I truly believe The Union has gone above and beyond when it comes to cited research and copious amounts of professional logic. Don’t forget to pre-order your copy!

Some interesting highlights from the interview:

• The Union was not originally supposed to be a general “pro-marijuana” documentary. Rather, it was originally supposed to be a specific exposé piece on the B.C Bud industry.
• As Adam puts it, “I think because we didn’t have an agenda, or goal for the film going into it is why it turned out so well.”
• From start to finish, the film took four years to complete.
• According to Adam, growers are hoping against legalization for at least five years so they can build a nest-egg for retirement.

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This interview was conducted via e-mail between April 22nd, 2009 and April 26h, 2009. Only minor grammar/spelling checks have been made at the request of Adam Scorgie. Hyperlinks were added after by myself.

Q. ShowMetheFacts.org: What is your first memory of marijuana?
A. Adam Scorgie: HMMMM!!!!, I have to think way back, because growing up in B.C, we’re exposed to Marijuana at such an early age, but here’s goes: I remember the first week of high school, back when high schools went from grades 8-12, and hanging out by the smoke pit and all these older kinds were talking about smoking Bud, Reefer,Pot, Marijuana,Ganja, and I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, there sure are a lot of different drugs around school”, haha, it wasn’t until later that year I realized they were all the same thing.

Q. SMtF: Have you always been supportive of marijuana, or what caused you to change your views?
A. A.S.: No, actually, I was very against marijuana when I was younger, I was somewhat of a jock in high school and believed everything that I was told about Cannabis, that it would make you stupid, lazy, go onto harder drugs. It wasn’t until we started filming The Union that my mind was changed, because originally all we wanted to do with The Union, was just an exposé of the B.C Bud industry, we never knew it would evolve into the educational piece it has become. It was because of interviews with former Police officers like Norm Stamper and scientist and doctors like Lester Grinspoon that really turn my perception, of what “I thought I knew” around.

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(4/29/09: update added to end of article)

(6/1/09: update added to end of article)

So as the world slowly but surely begins to freak out about the new swine flu going around, I came across an interesting article about Cannabis Science Inc. reporting on a “prospective life saving treatment for H1N1 Swine Flu and H5N1 Bird Flu”.

For those of you not aware, swine flu is highly virulent (meaning there is a reason behind the global interest in finding a way to stop it from spreading).

In walks Cannabis Science Inc. with their “whole-cannabis lozenge”. From the article:

Dr. Robert J. Melamede, Director and Chief Science Officer, stated, “The influenza virus has a unique genetic make up that, in combination with its replicative machinery, has an extraordinary capacity to mutate. As a result, the high lethality of some strains can be attributed to the resulting adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ARDS is caused by an excessive immune inflammatory response driven by Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) that leads to the death of respiratory epithelial cells and resulting organ failure. Endocannabinoids are nature’s way of controlling TNF activity. Existing peer reviewed publications have shown that phytocannabinoids can prevent this cell death by mimicking the endocannabinoids that nature has selected to prevent excessive inflammatory immune responses.”

In other words, the reason swine flu is so dangerous is because it causes your immune system to go into overdrive. Marijuana, however, is a proven immune system suppressant which, in this case, may aid in survival.

So we have a non-toxic, safe, cheap, potential-treatment for a disease that has some people using the word “pandemic”. On top of that, Cannabis Science Inc. has “offered to produce up to 1 million doses” of its lozenge and “provide them to HSA (Homeland Security Administration) for distribution at cost.”

What is there to lose?

(via MarketWatch)

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Update (4/29/09): Just to make it clear to anyone thinking, “Hey, smoking marijuana will keep me safe!” This research explicitly states that smoking marijuana will likely not provide the same medicinal affects that a lozenge would. The best affects are shown through absorption via the mouth (lozenge) or digestion (edibles).

Update (6/1/09): For those of you who are not aware–which based on the various comments made on this page is a lot of you–immune system suppression is not the same as a weakened immune system. The way the flu kills you is by causing your immune system to go into overdrive. Cannabinoids have been shown to keep the immune system from overreacting (supressing it) NOT by weakinging it by any means at all. So please stop making comments about this being “stupid” because it makes you weaker. If you belive this, you believe a fantasy.

(Update): I’ve had some feedback regarding how I format my updates. Usually I place them on top of the article, but I can see how this would be confusing. For now on I will post updates at the end of an article with a short notice at the top to let you know they are there, like so:

Updates as of 4/28/09 added to bottom of article.

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As many of you know, I love keeping a TwitterFall window open to keep track of hashtags that interest me. Usually this helps me find new friends or efficiently retweet information to my followers, etc.

Sometimes, like tonight, however, I see a post/link that leads me to write an article. Here is that post:

Twitter message from @ParentingWithD

The formatting made it a bit difficult to understand what exactly I was about to click, but I decided to go for it and followed through to the article, How does marijuana use affect physical health? (article has been removed)

I wish I could say this was an appreciative post thanking both Denise Witmer and About.com for a wonderful exhibition of journalistic integrity, research, and factual information. Instead, the article is not only highly questionable, it made it pretty hard to find where she got her information since no sources were posted (other than a tip of the hat to the NIDA at the end). It honestly appears as if the author re-packaged NIDA-talking-points in the form of an article.

I will be responding to her article on a point-for-point basis. Ms. Witmer, I invite you to e-mail me with your responses, as I–and my readers–would love to hear them.

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So apparently the comment functioning on the site decided to kill itself and no one told me until today.

I’ve been wondering why no one has bothered commenting, but apparently due to a glitch from reCAPTCHA (it decided to start rejecting my key), comments were not able to be made.

I have just fixed this error and you should be able to comment on all articles now.

I wish I knew how it happened or what caused it to stop working in the first place. If you ever notice a glitch, feel free to contact me directly at eric@showmethefacts.org and I’ll check it out immediately.

Thanks!

So let me be the first to say that this all has been much more confusing than I would have ever expected.

To rehash for everyone, the other day I was contacted by a fellow marijuana supporter telling me to call 973-409-3274 to “help legalize marijuana”. I called the number, but something didn’t seem right to me since there was no identification whatsoever for who was conducting this poll. I chose not to vote and, instead, started googling to hopefully figure out who was behind this number.

The first bit of information I found claimed that the number was related/endorsed by Change.org, however, I could not find any information which would support this claim on Change.org’s website. I sent an e-mail off and got a reply from Ben Rattray (founder and CEO of Change.org) who dismissed the claim and denied any endorsement for the number. Update: Change.org has posted its own reply to this confusion.

Some claims made regarding the number said it was a “national census” being conducted, others claimed it was directly related to specific pro-marijuana bills which needed support.

It appeared that there was much mystery/controversy surrounding this combination of digits which made it appear very shady.

Thankfully, though, we have reached the end of this adventure and have finally figured out what exactly this number is, what is is not, and, most importantly, who owns it.

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***Last Update: It caused a lot of confusion, but we finally got to the bottom of it. It turns out this number is not a scam, just an innocent poll number set up by Humor Hotlines that got hijacked by mischievous user online who falsely promoted it. For more information, go here: http://www.showmethefacts.org/2009/04/24/marijuana-phone-poll-scam-confusing/

In light of the new information, I will strike out information from the article below but leave it for the sake of transparency.***

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As I pointed out in the last article, there was something suspicious going on in regards that 973-409-3274 number currently being passed around the internet.

The only legitimate tie it seemed to have were claims that it was backed by/associated with Change.org. Thus, the only logical thing to do was to contact Change.org for clarification. I just got this response:

Thanks for the note, Eric.  We are in no way connected to the phone number you mentioned, and it also looks very much like a scam to us.  We would really appreciate it if you would update your blog to let your readers know about this, as well as anyone else who may have been spreading the rumor that this is a legitimate number/operation, which it is almost certainly not.  We will also try to write a blog post about it tomorrow clarifying things if we can find the time.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention,

Ben Rattray
Founder and CEO, Change.org

Everything was pointing at “scam”, but this severs the last bit of potential legitimacy that the number had.

So please, DO NOT CALL 973-409-3274 as it appears to be a type of scam to either harvest phone numbers or even potentially charge you money by hitting the pound key (which would be the equivalent of you accepting charges).

STOP sharing this phone number as well. I literally sit and watch person after person share this on twitter thinking they are helping the cause when in reality they are just helping these scammers reach new victims. If you have shared this link, please post this update to let others know to keep an eye on their phone bill for any unauthorized charges.

Again, just to be clear: This number is not a legitimate polling number associated with any known marijuana advocacy group. Calling it does not help/support marijuana legislation in anyway and only risks you becoming a victim to some type of phone scam.

If you really want to help legalize marijuana, consider making a contribution to MPP, NORML, or other reputable, legitimate marijuana advocacy groups. Just like the many online petitions available, a “phone call poll” will hardly destroy prohibition.

Thanks again Mr. Rattray for your prompt response!

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High - Pre-Orders Start June 30th

Update (4/28/09):

I figure I’ll just keep this as the main The Union page and add updates to it as they come in.

I talked to Adam Scorgie and he said that if you want to be notified when the DVD is available for purchase (this includes those of you pre-ordering) to go to their website, http://www.TheUnionMovie.com, click on the contact us button, and then enter your e-mail to be placed on the list to be notified when it is available for pre-order/purchase. I’m on the list, I hope you will join me.

Also, Adam mentioned that they have a goal of selling over 5,000 pre-orders from between June 30th and July 28th, 2009.

No word yet regarding pricing, but I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.

For now, however, if you really want to support legalization, supporting this film is a great way to do so. I’m sure most of you have watched the internet-quality version, but think about how snazzy it would be to have a crisp, DVD-version to bring with you any time and anywhere logic is needed!

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I was planning on making this post after the interview with Adam Scorgie, however, due to the recent surge in traffic I wanted to get this up as soon as possible.

Let me first make the distinction that this is not an advertisement for The Union: The Business Behind Getting High; rather, it is an endorsement. What I mean by this is I am not being paid or compensated in any way to endorse this documentary. I sincerely and honestly believe it is the best marijuana documentary currently available and I am I absolutely thrilled that so much time and effort was put into making it.

I will be posting an exclusive interview with Adam Scorgie regarding this film probably sometime next week, but I wanted to give everyone a heads-up that pre-ordering will start June 30th, 2009.

I will post more details soon!

Again, I apologize that I don’t have all the details now… I rarely post things so pre-mature… but I really wanted to give everyone a heads up =).

As always, any questions, concerns, comments, etc… feel free to contact me!

***Last Update: It caused a lot of confusion, but we finally got to the bottom of it. It turns out this number is not a scam, just an innocent poll number set up by Humor Hotlines that got hijacked by mischievous user online who falsely promoted it. For more information, go here: http://www.showmethefacts.org/2009/04/24/marijuana-phone-poll-scam-confusing/

In light of the new information, I will strike out information from the article below but leave it for the sake of transparency.***

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UPDATE (April 24th, 2009): I have received a reply from Ben Rattray which confirms that this phone number has no association with Change.org whatsoever and thus is highly likely to be a scam. Click HERE to read the update!

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BIG UPDATE (10:15pm EST): Thanks to @EMC1130 for pointing this out… on 800notes.com’s page for this number, someone by the name of “Pinot” writes:

If your wireless provider supports it, you’re signing yourself up for a 9.99 online content “COGA” charge on your next cell phone bill by calling this number and hitting pound.

Again, I have no idea if this is true, but it is what I fear may be true. So if you have called the number and pressed the # button to “vote”, make sure to check your bill and see if there was a $9.99 COGA fee applied.

I’ve e-mailed Change.org to see if they will verify that they own the number or not.

Until I see a shred of evidence that this is legitimate, it is my belief that this is a clever scam created to take advantage of marijuana-supporters’ willingness to do whatever they can to support the cause.

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Double Updates added below…

Ok, so I keep seeing posts about “call 973-409-3274 to legalize marijuana” (especially on twitter). According to things I read online, if someone (and I have no idea who that “someone” is) gets 1,000,000 votes on that phone number, they will “bring the issue in front of Obama”.

The big issue here is who is that someone?

I like to think of myself as a pretty sophisticated googler and can usually find the source of something with enough time… but after a solid 30 minutes of googling, all I can find is person after person claiming that this number is for legalizing marijuana yet no solid proof of who is behind the number.

One person claimed it belonged to Change.org, but I can’t find it anywhere on their site except in comments from users.

So here are some things to consider before calling the number, as they are the only scenarios I can think of:

1. The number is legit and is from a group that is so unorganized they didn’t make it easy to verify the number.
2. The number is part of a scam to harvest phone numbers… possibly trying to target marijuana users/supporters or just something they knew would spread online.
3. It may be part of one of those scams that charge you by calling it/agreeing to it (by voting).

I’m not positive it is a scam I’m fairly positive this is a scam, but until someone can prove to me it isn’t by providing a credible link as to where it originated, who is backing it, etc… I will not call and I advise everyone else to be cautious.

Double Update: So when I find someone saying it is legit, they seem to claim it is from “Change.org Criminal Justice” group, then link to this page. Notice how they don’t list the number there at all.

Also, 973 is a New Jersey area code, yet according to Change.org’s Whois, they are a California-based group.

Again, I’m not saying its not legit… just saying so far there is nothing but anonymous users supporting this number.

I stumbled upon a great article today and I wanted to share it with everyone. It was written by John Stossel and addresses the current double-standards/ignorance when it comes to dealing with drugs and the drug war going on in Mexico.

My favorite part from the article:

I don’t expect politicians to be sticklers for logic, but this is ridiculous. Americans also have a hefty demand for Mexican beer, but there are no “Mexican beer cartels.” When Obama visits France, he doesn’t consult with politicians about “wine violence.” What’s happening on the Mexican border is prohibition-caused violence.

A legal product is produced and traded openly, and is therefore subject to competition and civilizing custom. If two beer distributors have a disagreement or if a liquor retailer fails to pay his wholesaler, the wronged parties can go to court. There’s no need to take matters violently into their own hands. As a result, in legal industries the ability to commit mayhem is not a valued skill.

On the other hand, dealers in a prohibited product operate in the black market. Upstanding businesspeople stay away, relinquishing the trade to those without moral scruples. Black-market operators can’t resolve disputes in court, so being good at using force provides a competitive advantage.

Politicians gave us prohibition and created the conditions in which violence pays. This doesn’t excuse those who commit it, but the fact remains that a legal drug market would be as peaceful as the beer, wine and whiskey markets. When alcohol prohibition, which spawned large-scale organized crime, ended in 1933, there was a brief upsurge in drinking, but America became a more peaceful and less corrupt place.

We should learn from that, but we haven’t. American politicians are largely responsible for the atrocities now taking place.

The whole article, located here, is well worth a read. It is a refreshing perspective with unique comparisons, like the one above. Bravo, Stossel.