Skip to main content

Latest

In The Trenches

LEAP Volunteers Needed

Dear friends,

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition is seeking professional, articulate volunteers to support LEAP by booking speaking engagements in your area.

LEAP is growing quickly as more and more distinguished members of law enforcement join us to speak out about the harms caused by our current drug policies.  As you know, LEAP's strategy is to send our respected and credible speakers out to explain this issue to captive audiences.  We want to utilize each speaker to their maximum potential and reach as many new people as possible, so we are seeking volunteers to help us put our speakers in front of audiences across the United States and abroad.

Because of the training involved, we ask volunteers to commit to 1-2 hours per week.  You'll be reaching out to civic clubs, universities, churches, and other groups in your area to book our speakers.  We will train you to call on these groups as a member of LEAP and explain why they should be interested in hosting a LEAP speaker.  As a token of appreciation for your time and effort, we offer a small compensation for each gig you are able to arrange.

This is a great opportunity to gain experience in advocacy, outreach, and event planning while helping to promote LEAP's message.  If you are interested in volunteering, please email me at [email protected]  with your name, city, country and relevant experience.

Sincerely,

Shaleen A. Title
Speakers Bureau Director
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
121 Mystic Avenue, Suites 8&9
Medford, MA 02155
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (617) 955-9638
Web Site: www.leap.cc

In The Trenches

Press Release: Study -- Marijuana May Protect Against Alcohol Brain Damage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
AUGUST 21, 2009   

Study: Marijuana May Protect Against Alcohol Brain Damage

CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications ............... 415-585-6404 or 202-215-4205

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A study just published online by the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology suggests that marijuana may protect the brain from some of the damage caused by binge drinking.

     The study, by researchers at the University of California San Diego, used a type of high-tech scan called diffusion tensor imaging to compare microscopic changes in brain white matter. The subjects were students aged 16-to-19, divided into three groups: binge drinkers (defined as having five or more drinks at one sitting for boys or four or more for girls), binge drinkers who also smoked marijuana, and a control group who had very little or no experience with either alcohol or drugs.

     As expected, the binge-drinking-only group showed evidence of white matter damage in eight regions examined, as demonstrated by lower fractional anisotropy (FA) scores. But in a finding the researchers describe as "unexpected," the binge-drinking/marijuana group had lower FA scores than the controls in only three of eight regions, and in seven regions the binge-drinking/marijuana group had higher scores -- indicating less damage -- than the binge drinkers who did not use marijuana.

     Brain white matter tracts were "more coherent in adolescents who binge drink and use marijuana than in adolescents who report only binge drinking," the researchers wrote. "It is possible that marijuana may have some neuroprotective properties in mitigating alcohol-related oxidative stress or excitotoxic cell death," as has already been shown in lab and animal studies.

     "This study suggests that not only is marijuana safer than alcohol, it may actually protect against some of the damage that booze causes," said Steve Fox, Marijuana Policy Project director of state campaigns and co-author of the new book, "Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?" (which hit number 17 on the Amazon.com bestseller list). "It's far better for teens not to drink or smoke marijuana, but our nation's leaders send a dangerous message by defending laws that encourage the use of alcohol over marijuana."

     REFERENCE: Jacobus, J. et al. "White matter integrity in adolescents with histories of marijuana use and binge drinking." Neurotoxicology and Teratology.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ntt.2009.07.006

     With more than 27,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.

####

In The Trenches

You Call That Change?

You Can Make a Difference

 

Dear friends,

Urge the Obama administration to clarify its position on medical marijuana. 

Take Action
Email the president

Earlier this month, we told the Obama administration to stop sending mixed messages on medical marijuana. The drug czar has responded, but he still has his facts wrong. Let's ask President Obama to set his drug czar straight on medical marijuana.

In a recent news interview, drug czar Gil Kerlikowske tried to amend his claim that "marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit,” saying that he was referring only to smoked marijuana.

That's not good enough, because it’s still not true. The science is clear: marijuana can be highly effective as a medicine when it’s smoked. For some patients, that’s the easiest and most effective way to consume it, and the harms of smoking it pale compared to the benefits.

The president has repeatedly said that science should trump politics. He’s also acknowledged that marijuana can be an effective medicine. We hoped this drug czar would be different from his predecessors. We still hope so, but he needs to abandon the falsehoods and rhetoric of the past.

Our job is to hold the White House and its appointees accountable both to fulfill the promises made by candidate Obama and to ensure that the lies of the drug war become a thing of the past. Write to the president today and ask him to make clear that politics will no longer trump science when it comes to medical marijuana.

Sincerely,

Bill Piper
Director, Office of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance Network

 

Latest News
Latest News
Latest News
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle

Feature: Heroin More Effective Than Methadone for Some Addicts, NAOMI Study Reports

A research report from the North American Opiate Maintenance Initiative (NAOMI) published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that heroin is more effective than methadone for some hard-core addicts, but also that Dilaudid may work just as well. The report should only add to rising pressure to expand opiate maintenance programs in the US.
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle

Medical Marijuana: Iowa Public Hearings Get Underway

Largely impelled by tireless medical marijuana advocate Carl Olsen, the Iowa Pharmacy Board Wednesday held the first in a series of public hearings about possibly rescheduling marijuana so it could be used as a medicine under state law.
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle

Latin America: Mexican Decriminalization Bill Now Law of the Land

A bill that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of drug for personal use is now the law of the land in Mexico. Although there was some doubt President Calderon would approve it, it appeared in the official gazette Thursday. It also includes provisions to allow the state and localities to go after small-time drug dealers, a power previously reserved to the federal government.
Chronicle
Chronicle
Chronicle