Lester Grinspoon

"His adventures, collected during his 72 years, tell of a man who pursued risk, made sacrifices and reaped rewards. They reveal a person who challenged himself and showed the courage to change.

Grinspoon's accomplishments are many. He gave credibility to the pot movement with the publication of Marijuana Reconsidered and ushered in the age of medical marijuana with Marijuana: The Forbidden Medicine.

He prevented John Lennon's deportation and helped save a American charged with marijuana possession in Malaysia from a death sentence; traveled the world as a reasonable ambassador for the sacred herb and chaired NORML's Board of Directors

He's introduced a lexicon that frames marijuana as an enhancement tool for sex, music, food, sports, spirituality and anything else you can think of that is improved by smoking pot.

Oh yeah, he was an accomplished academic researcher and physician. He was the first person to prescribe lithium for manic depression in North America, and he made the American Psychiatry Association and Harvard University millions from publishing ideas like the Annual Review and the Harvard Mental Health Letter.

Thing is, when baked, Lester, like most stoners, tends to branch off on tangents. He'll start the story about how Harvard University withheld full professorship for his heretical views on drugs."

complete article here: http://www.the40yearplan.com/Lester_Grinspoon.php

Terrific winehippie. Nice post. Thanks for the link.

Nice info, very interesting indeed!

I honestly believe one of the key factors for weed illegal status is that it has many positive benefits, and if you want to rule the world, then you don't want open-minded and healthy people.

I believe cellphone are more deadly than weed.

Cognitive effects
A 2009 study examined the effects of exposure to radiation emitted by standard GSM cell phones on the cognitive functions of humans. The study confirmed the existence of an effect of exposure on response times to a spatial working memory task, as well as the fact that exposure duration may play a role in producing detectable effects on performance
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_radiation_and_health#Cognitive_effects

i really do not want to think of family/friends frying their brains with cellphones.
i suggest that if they must use one, to switch back and forth between ears, which
is a small gesture, but perhaps it helps
***
in addition to Mr Grinspoon, i'd like to introduce you to col. joe, who contends

"It is impossible for tobacco to cause cancer; It is a weed just like marijuana, tea, and many vegetables and spices we eat. And for those who need to smoke the "weed" for pain relief; try putting "bulk green tea" in your pipe and smoking it, you will get pain relief The best smoking is a plain virgin tobacco cigar, it too will give you pain relief. And for readers of this letter who think I am some kind of nut, I have been granted not one but three (3)US Patents, covering an "oxalic acid" that is in all weeds in varying amounts and is in the blood of all "warm blooded mammals" including humans. It kills all virus, bacteria, and abnormal cells (cancer cells). It is impossible for smoke from a weed to cause cancer as the smoke carries oxalic acid in the ester form into the lungs where it is picked up by the blood, which carries it to the cancer cells and destroys them. "

the rest, and more, is here http://www.coljoe.net/letter_to_the_arkansas_gaze.html

Thanks again WineHippie! Cool post...

"It is impossible for smoke from a weed to cause cancer as the smoke carries oxalic acid in the ester form into the lungs where it is picked up by the blood, which carries it to the cancer cells and destroys them."
> http://www.coljoe.net/letter_to_the_arkansas_gaze.html

"Another object of the present invention is an oxalic acid or oxalate composition and method for treating autoimmune related diseases such as AIDS, HIV, SLE, BSE, CFS, and the like."
> http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6133317.html

"The term medical marijuana took on dramatic new meaning last February, when researchers in Madrid announced they had destroyed incurable brain cancer tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. Most Americans don't know anything about the Madrid discovery. Virtually no U.S. newspapers carried the story, which ran only once on the AP and UPI news wires, on Feb. 29"
> http://www.cancertutor.com/Other/Big_List.htm

"In 1974 researchers at the Medical College of Virginia, who had been funded by the National Institute of Health to find evidence that marijuana damages the immune system, found instead that THC slowed the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice - lung and breast cancer, and a virus-induced leukemia"
> http://americanmarijuana.org/pot.shrinks.tumors.html

Thanks Harry J. Anslinger, you silly man:
"Anslinger was an extremely ambitious man, and he recognized the Bureau of Narcotics as an amazing career opportunity — a new government agency with the opportunity to define both the problem and the solution. He immediately realized that opiates and cocaine wouldn’t be enough to help build his agency, so he latched on to marijuana and started to work on making it illegal at the federal level."
> http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/?%3F

"With BOB MARLEY now becoming a "pest" with his peace tactics and advocacy for ganga and the legalization of the plant."
> http://forums.projectcovo.com/showthread.php?t=469360

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society" - J. Krishnamurti