This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
From LaurelBush 15:54, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC):
from the slang section:
Is there any evidence of this? "G-13" is the name people claim is given to marijuana grown by the federal government for people with medical use accepted by the federal government (which is supposedly a tiny number of people - like 10). It's supposedly a super-potent strain. It's also supposedly an urban legend. I've heard different things and even sampled what was claimed to be G-13. It was certainly expensive enough, but I'm not convinced this is not an urban legend, apparently popularized by the movie American Beauty. I certainly never heard anything specific like the above, and I couldn't verify it by googling for "g-13" and "University of Washington" -- such searches mostly point to this page. Can anyone document that G-13 actually exists and was developed at this university?-- csloat 03:21, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)
The G-13 is a female clone so it can not produce seeds without being hybridized and she has been, with the Hash Plant, to produce seeds. This hybrid is available for Sensi Seeds. There are no less than a dozen so-called G-13 clones being sold at the moment. The G-13 is actually not that good. Haze is the most potent strain of Cannabis available. It is pure Sativa.
I will have to admit that doing the 'research' for my addition to this article was probably the most fun ive had researching any article. I think the average person fails to realize just how much scientific knowledge is out there concerning this plant and its optimum growing environment, physiology, etc. In fact I found far more information on the cultivation of cannabis than I did for corn, soybeans, tomatoes, etc. Maybe we should make corn illegal, then in 30 years we would have figured out how to grow ears the size of watermelons and kernels the size of quarters.
Would an interested or expert party please revise the following paragraph, which was removed from "Plant physiology". It is currently not suitable for general-purpose.
Also, in plant physiology, it said "cannabis is an acidophile", would someone please explicate this more, without using the world "acidophile". Also, does anyone have anything to say about the "THC Seeds" site in "External Links"->"Growing Cannabis". Is it sufficiently reputable and useful to remain? - Centrx 22:11, 6 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Removed from article:
Reports since the middle ages have claimed that marijuana "drieth up a man's seed". Modern scientific support of this is some understood in terms of premature activation of the hyperactive swimming mode of spermatazoa. A fair use excerpt from a press release (available from eurekalert.org) explains:
"Men who smoke marijuana frequently have significantly less seminal fluid, a lower total sperm count and their sperm behave abnormally, all of which may affect fertility adversely, a new study in reproductive physiology at the University at Buffalo has shown.
This study is the first to assess marijuana's effects on specific swimming behavior of sperm from marijuana smokers and to compare the results with sperm from men with confirmed fertility. Marijuana contains the cannabinoid drug THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which is its primary psychoactive chemical, as well as other cannabinoids.
Results of the study were presented today (Oct. 13, 2003) at the annual meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in San Antonio.
"The bottom line is, the active ingredients in marijuana are doing something to sperm, and the numbers are in the direction toward infertility," said Lani J. Burkman, Ph.D., lead author on the study. Burkman is assistant professor of gynecology/obstetrics and urology and head of the Section on Andrology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. UB's andrology laboratory also carries out sophisticated diagnosis for infertile couples.
"We don't know exactly what is happening to change sperm functioning," said Burkman, "but we think it is one of two things: THC may be causing improper timing of sperm function by direct stimulation, or it may be bypassing natural inhibition mechanisms. Whatever the cause, the sperm are swimming too fast too early." This aberrant pattern has been connected to infertility in other studies, she noted. "
This is a single, very recent study which does not constitute scientific consensus or definitiveness worthy of an encyclopedia. An encyclopedia article should not resort to a quote to support its statements, but rather those statements are of such conclusive evidence that no source is necessary directly in the article (of course sources in the discussion page are beneficial useful). It is also misleading, for other studies which found abnormal sperm (which administered extremely high levels of THC) concluded that the abnormality were reversed after cessation of use, and those abnormalities were within normal ranges that would be unlikely to affect fertility. - Centrx 03:51, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Ok, as you probably guess I disagree with the changes Centrx made. The previous version I thought was fair and balanced and accurate. The new version doesn't like to use the word carcnogen, although its is factually correct the smoke is more carcnogenic (see last time we debated this). The debate over radioactivty vs carcnogen in tabacoo is moot. From the little googling I've done on the subject there does indeed exist some controversy, but it by no means proven. Regardless the debate about the relative risk factors in tabacoo should really be reflected in the tabacoo articles. The previous version warned that infering a direct comparison was "problematic". Mention of nicotene is irrelevant to the debate at hand, yes its nasty but not directly implicated in cancer. To me its looks as though its put in to say "well maybe smoking cannabis is a little bad for you but look, cigerettes are soo much worse!". Which brings me to the crux of the problem I have with the changes, which is a desire to paint cannabis as a risk free (or very low risk) drug which in my mind is not a NPOV. I'm minded to revert the changes but in the interest of wiki debate I'd like some opinions, ideally backed up to links to supporting evidence from others interested in this article. - Alex 16:04, 27 Aug 2004 (BST)
If this page is a redirect from "Marijuana," should an origin of the word be included somewhere? Does anyone know where the word comes from? - Anonymous
The federal law may have been abolished, but several states tax banned substances incl marijuana as a way to diversify the punishments. (You buy a stamp indicating you paid the tax - it is not necessary to present the goods. If you're caught with stuff lacking the stamp, back taxes and tax evasion gets added to the fines and charges.)
And according to FlyingBuffalo, in Arizona you needed an illegal-drug-dealer license ($100) to purchase the stamps. (The stamps were recently abolished - my read indicates the licensing still holds. Also note the ancient "marihuana" spelling on the Texas stamp.) 142.177.127.140 19:32, 27 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I would like to split this page into three articles. Cannabis will contain a description of the plant, classification, etc. Hemp will cover the plant as grown for fiber, seeds, or other uses other than as a drug. Marijuana will cover psycoactive, legal, medical, slang, etc, some of which are seperate articles already. Comments? - Anonymous
Because this is an encyclopedia that presents facts about the subject, rather than a review of research in an incipient field that comes to no conclusion, I have removed the following information from the article in the reworked section:
In addition to the above statement of encyclopedic quality, these ought to be removed for other reasons. First item: Some evidence must be presented that this is actually the case. I cannot find any mention of mental illnesses related in any way to cannabis in the BMJ for that date (which is actually 22 Nov) on the BMJ website (which has free journal archives). Also, unless there is some novel methodology (which, I suppose would in itself be questionable), it seems they would have had to administer cannabis to children in a prospective study, which would, I suppose, be unethical and unlikely. Second item: These studies are less relevant than the other studies and, as is stated in the paragraph, the first study is particularly invalid for all but the most extreme of use and all are not necessarily applicable to the human nervous system and have one or two experiments backing them up. All in all, this paragraph presents some information that is not applicable to humans and comes to no conclusion. Third item: In addition to the inappropriate direct link (as the information there should be synthesized in the article here or the link should be at the very end of the article), this paragraph simply repeats what is stated above it in the same section. - Centrx 01:17, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Since no-one replied to the discussion, I decided to be bold and I have now reworked the 'Effects on cognition' (previously called Long term effects of smoking, which as incorrect, since it also dealt with medium-term effects). It is a combination of the last rework I did, plus the changes Centrx made, in the hope we can agree on this version. See my comment below for the motivations. And if you change something, please discuss it here on the discussion page. As I noted earlier, if we can't agree on something, maybe it would be an idea to have another Wikipedia-user review it.
Reponse to Centrx reworked version (see his commments below): I don't intend to start an edit war over this, but I think the section on long-term effects is ignoring scientific fact. For instance, it says that it is not known if cannabis plays a causative role in psychosis, even though this has in fact been established. And you didn't even read the study. In your response below you dismiss it by essentially saying that it is impossible to prove such a thing?! If this, in some ultra regioristic sense, is true then it is also true that it hasn't been shown that cigarette smoking causes cancer - do you think we should correct the articles on this subject to reflect this?
The same thing goes for the long-term effects. I believe the WHO-quote (regarding long-term cognitive impairment) is appropriate - it is not only more explicit, but it also goes further than what the article currently says, because it explicitly says that there may be long term effects that are significant to ability of some to carry out their jobs. The current articles says that such remaining effects may be 'subtle'. Also, I think it is appropriate for Wikipedia articles to reference recent studies even if this may not be common in printed encyclopedias. A study is a study, and if it hasn't been discredited, it deserves mentioning - as long as the over-all article remains fair and balanced. This is the style you will find in many other Wikipedia articles. Right now I think the balance has tilted in favor of those who believe cannabis has little or none long-term effects. What one must understand is that the first studies on Cannabis that showed serious, permanent cognitive impairment were blatantly wrong. However, when this was disclosed, bias has shifted in the other direction. And when later studies find little long-term impairment, 'little' should be interpreted in the contents of the gross impairment found in the flawed studies. In this case, 'little' means that the cognitive impairment cannabis may cause does not affect basic, everyday activities, like shopping, maintaining your house, doing your taxes etc. However it may still significantly affect your ability to carry out higher levels of reasoning. That is the next thing to be examined and it hasn't been the focus of current studies. All we can say is that the indications we get from current studies is that cannabis does cause some kind of long-term impairment in higher level cognition and I think the article should reflect this fact. I really hope we can find something we can agree on. Ideally, I would like the section to summarize the WHO statement on long-term effects. I believe this is the least biased and most comprehensive meta-study presently available. If we can't agree on something I will dispute the contents of the article and call for someone else to review it and give their opinion. - Anonymous
Hello, Centrx - the BMJ article mentioned is in BMJ 325, 23th November 2002.
"Cannabis may also be orally ingested by blending it with alcohol or fats. The effects are significantly reduced if it is so blended."
This is a bit unclear. Does cannabis have to be combined with alcohol/fats or not? I'm also not sure if there's evidence for "significantly reduced." I've read elsewhere that oral ingestion is more efficient than smoking.
THC is lipid soluble and hyrophobic. Without fats, no psychoactive effects appear to happen. THC is somewhat soluble in achohol, but not much. This seems like it would just result in the THC disolving into the stomach juices and being attacked by enzymes, but might have some effect on uptake. - Anonymous
by amount, thats the key. If you eat a kilo, you'll feel more than if you smoke a gram ;) Sam Spade wishes you a merry Christmas! 22:35, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)
The facts (or my beliefs about what I believe I have experienced, if you want to be picky) are as follows: you can eat a lump of hashish or even herbal cannabis on their own. It tastes disgusting, but is very effective. I consider this to be much less wasteful (i.e. more effective) than smoking it. THC is soluble in fats and/or alcohol. So cooking some kind of food or confectionery is a good way to make the stuff palatable. Useful book - "Cooking with Ganga" by Eric. Fudge or chocolate truffles are recommended. - Anonymous Walrus.
I removed the most recent addition from the article: THC was considered as a soft-drug for a long term of European history. The first legalizing country were the Netherlands in 1987, 1995 the Swiss and on 05th of November 2004 Italy and Germany followed by setting up legal selling shops, owned by the provisional government. Though several demonstrations were made to "Legalize Cannabis" the government of Italy and Germany does not look forward to publish the unoficial change, yet. This is more wrong than it is right: It is illegal (although sometimes tolerated) to sell cannabis containing significant amounts of THC in most of the countries listed. I'm not aware of any provisional government in European countries, let alone one that runs such shops.
I bet he was trying to write Provincial Government. - Anonymous Walrus
Pointer: Agreed, possession of cannabis illegal but tolerated in Netherlands. Switzerland I believe it can be bought as an aromatic herb in small number of shops legally but in no way can it be prepared for consumption. No current knowledge re. Germany and Italy. If you're looking to study legalisation then take a look at Portugal where govt. policy towards 'hard' and 'soft' drugs was changed couple of years back - possibly legislation in that country has followed suit.
Comment: Yes, cannabis is indeed illegal globally, as far as I know any country legalizing it would be embargoed by the UN members, since cannabis is on UN's 'evil drugs' list. So the practice is 'tolerance' or 'turning a blind eye', afaik cannabis possession, use and minimal cultivation for personal use is 'tolerated' in UK, Germany, the netherlands and Spain, to name a few. -- anon
Supposedly any country is free to refuse to accept the UN drug provisions if they choose to do so, and the UN drug treaties are subject to the member country's constitution. UN member countries are certainly able to control their own penal systems -- Canada is preparing to decriminalize small quantities of cannabis, and I believe the UK has already reduced possession of small quantities cannabis to a non-criminal status. -- Thoric 22:17, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Smoking may pose the greatest risk to physical health, but is reduced by using water pipes.
This is disputed. While water pipes reduce the level of toxins/carcinogens, they also reduce the level of cannabinoids. At least one study has suggested that water pipes may actualy increase the health risk.
Should there not be some sort of warning before the section "Preparations for human consumption". True some countries have de-criminalized small quantities of cannabis, but the majority of countries still have rather harsh laws against any use of cannabis, even as so far as death in east Asia. And even in the countries that have de-criminalized the possession of small personal quantities; buying(usually, if other than for medicinal use), selling and the growing of cannabis is still illegal. While it's up to people if they want to decide if they want to use cannabis, as an encyclopedia, is there not a moral obligation to warn that it could be legally dangerous to use? -JCBP
"...marijuana causes loss of short-term memory (Diana et al 1998). In fact evidence has been found that 9-THC destroys short-term memory (Heyser, 1993)" http://www.onlinepot.org/medical/potmemory.htm -- techtonik 20:49, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)
THC does not break down into CBD as buds mature. That's chemically impossible, and nobody who knows anything about the chemistry of cannabis would make such a ridiculous faux pas statement.
Per Wikipedia:No personal attacks, please do not personally addressing headings to people on talk pages. Article talk pages should be used for discussing the articles, not their contributors. Headings on article talk pages should be used to facilitate discussion by indicating and limiting topics related to the article. For instance, you could make a header whose title describes in a few words one problem you have with the article. This will make it easy for people to address that issue, work towards consensus, and eventually resolve the issue or dispute and improve the article. If you need to reach another user please go to their user talk page. Thanks. Hyacinth 01:14, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
From LaurelBush 15:54, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC):
from the slang section:
Is there any evidence of this? "G-13" is the name people claim is given to marijuana grown by the federal government for people with medical use accepted by the federal government (which is supposedly a tiny number of people - like 10). It's supposedly a super-potent strain. It's also supposedly an urban legend. I've heard different things and even sampled what was claimed to be G-13. It was certainly expensive enough, but I'm not convinced this is not an urban legend, apparently popularized by the movie American Beauty. I certainly never heard anything specific like the above, and I couldn't verify it by googling for "g-13" and "University of Washington" -- such searches mostly point to this page. Can anyone document that G-13 actually exists and was developed at this university?-- csloat 03:21, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)
The G-13 is a female clone so it can not produce seeds without being hybridized and she has been, with the Hash Plant, to produce seeds. This hybrid is available for Sensi Seeds. There are no less than a dozen so-called G-13 clones being sold at the moment. The G-13 is actually not that good. Haze is the most potent strain of Cannabis available. It is pure Sativa.
I will have to admit that doing the 'research' for my addition to this article was probably the most fun ive had researching any article. I think the average person fails to realize just how much scientific knowledge is out there concerning this plant and its optimum growing environment, physiology, etc. In fact I found far more information on the cultivation of cannabis than I did for corn, soybeans, tomatoes, etc. Maybe we should make corn illegal, then in 30 years we would have figured out how to grow ears the size of watermelons and kernels the size of quarters.
Would an interested or expert party please revise the following paragraph, which was removed from "Plant physiology". It is currently not suitable for general-purpose.
Also, in plant physiology, it said "cannabis is an acidophile", would someone please explicate this more, without using the world "acidophile". Also, does anyone have anything to say about the "THC Seeds" site in "External Links"->"Growing Cannabis". Is it sufficiently reputable and useful to remain? - Centrx 22:11, 6 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Removed from article:
Reports since the middle ages have claimed that marijuana "drieth up a man's seed". Modern scientific support of this is some understood in terms of premature activation of the hyperactive swimming mode of spermatazoa. A fair use excerpt from a press release (available from eurekalert.org) explains:
"Men who smoke marijuana frequently have significantly less seminal fluid, a lower total sperm count and their sperm behave abnormally, all of which may affect fertility adversely, a new study in reproductive physiology at the University at Buffalo has shown.
This study is the first to assess marijuana's effects on specific swimming behavior of sperm from marijuana smokers and to compare the results with sperm from men with confirmed fertility. Marijuana contains the cannabinoid drug THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which is its primary psychoactive chemical, as well as other cannabinoids.
Results of the study were presented today (Oct. 13, 2003) at the annual meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine in San Antonio.
"The bottom line is, the active ingredients in marijuana are doing something to sperm, and the numbers are in the direction toward infertility," said Lani J. Burkman, Ph.D., lead author on the study. Burkman is assistant professor of gynecology/obstetrics and urology and head of the Section on Andrology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. UB's andrology laboratory also carries out sophisticated diagnosis for infertile couples.
"We don't know exactly what is happening to change sperm functioning," said Burkman, "but we think it is one of two things: THC may be causing improper timing of sperm function by direct stimulation, or it may be bypassing natural inhibition mechanisms. Whatever the cause, the sperm are swimming too fast too early." This aberrant pattern has been connected to infertility in other studies, she noted. "
This is a single, very recent study which does not constitute scientific consensus or definitiveness worthy of an encyclopedia. An encyclopedia article should not resort to a quote to support its statements, but rather those statements are of such conclusive evidence that no source is necessary directly in the article (of course sources in the discussion page are beneficial useful). It is also misleading, for other studies which found abnormal sperm (which administered extremely high levels of THC) concluded that the abnormality were reversed after cessation of use, and those abnormalities were within normal ranges that would be unlikely to affect fertility. - Centrx 03:51, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Ok, as you probably guess I disagree with the changes Centrx made. The previous version I thought was fair and balanced and accurate. The new version doesn't like to use the word carcnogen, although its is factually correct the smoke is more carcnogenic (see last time we debated this). The debate over radioactivty vs carcnogen in tabacoo is moot. From the little googling I've done on the subject there does indeed exist some controversy, but it by no means proven. Regardless the debate about the relative risk factors in tabacoo should really be reflected in the tabacoo articles. The previous version warned that infering a direct comparison was "problematic". Mention of nicotene is irrelevant to the debate at hand, yes its nasty but not directly implicated in cancer. To me its looks as though its put in to say "well maybe smoking cannabis is a little bad for you but look, cigerettes are soo much worse!". Which brings me to the crux of the problem I have with the changes, which is a desire to paint cannabis as a risk free (or very low risk) drug which in my mind is not a NPOV. I'm minded to revert the changes but in the interest of wiki debate I'd like some opinions, ideally backed up to links to supporting evidence from others interested in this article. - Alex 16:04, 27 Aug 2004 (BST)
If this page is a redirect from "Marijuana," should an origin of the word be included somewhere? Does anyone know where the word comes from? - Anonymous
The federal law may have been abolished, but several states tax banned substances incl marijuana as a way to diversify the punishments. (You buy a stamp indicating you paid the tax - it is not necessary to present the goods. If you're caught with stuff lacking the stamp, back taxes and tax evasion gets added to the fines and charges.)
And according to FlyingBuffalo, in Arizona you needed an illegal-drug-dealer license ($100) to purchase the stamps. (The stamps were recently abolished - my read indicates the licensing still holds. Also note the ancient "marihuana" spelling on the Texas stamp.) 142.177.127.140 19:32, 27 Sep 2004 (UTC)
I would like to split this page into three articles. Cannabis will contain a description of the plant, classification, etc. Hemp will cover the plant as grown for fiber, seeds, or other uses other than as a drug. Marijuana will cover psycoactive, legal, medical, slang, etc, some of which are seperate articles already. Comments? - Anonymous
Because this is an encyclopedia that presents facts about the subject, rather than a review of research in an incipient field that comes to no conclusion, I have removed the following information from the article in the reworked section:
In addition to the above statement of encyclopedic quality, these ought to be removed for other reasons. First item: Some evidence must be presented that this is actually the case. I cannot find any mention of mental illnesses related in any way to cannabis in the BMJ for that date (which is actually 22 Nov) on the BMJ website (which has free journal archives). Also, unless there is some novel methodology (which, I suppose would in itself be questionable), it seems they would have had to administer cannabis to children in a prospective study, which would, I suppose, be unethical and unlikely. Second item: These studies are less relevant than the other studies and, as is stated in the paragraph, the first study is particularly invalid for all but the most extreme of use and all are not necessarily applicable to the human nervous system and have one or two experiments backing them up. All in all, this paragraph presents some information that is not applicable to humans and comes to no conclusion. Third item: In addition to the inappropriate direct link (as the information there should be synthesized in the article here or the link should be at the very end of the article), this paragraph simply repeats what is stated above it in the same section. - Centrx 01:17, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Since no-one replied to the discussion, I decided to be bold and I have now reworked the 'Effects on cognition' (previously called Long term effects of smoking, which as incorrect, since it also dealt with medium-term effects). It is a combination of the last rework I did, plus the changes Centrx made, in the hope we can agree on this version. See my comment below for the motivations. And if you change something, please discuss it here on the discussion page. As I noted earlier, if we can't agree on something, maybe it would be an idea to have another Wikipedia-user review it.
Reponse to Centrx reworked version (see his commments below): I don't intend to start an edit war over this, but I think the section on long-term effects is ignoring scientific fact. For instance, it says that it is not known if cannabis plays a causative role in psychosis, even though this has in fact been established. And you didn't even read the study. In your response below you dismiss it by essentially saying that it is impossible to prove such a thing?! If this, in some ultra regioristic sense, is true then it is also true that it hasn't been shown that cigarette smoking causes cancer - do you think we should correct the articles on this subject to reflect this?
The same thing goes for the long-term effects. I believe the WHO-quote (regarding long-term cognitive impairment) is appropriate - it is not only more explicit, but it also goes further than what the article currently says, because it explicitly says that there may be long term effects that are significant to ability of some to carry out their jobs. The current articles says that such remaining effects may be 'subtle'. Also, I think it is appropriate for Wikipedia articles to reference recent studies even if this may not be common in printed encyclopedias. A study is a study, and if it hasn't been discredited, it deserves mentioning - as long as the over-all article remains fair and balanced. This is the style you will find in many other Wikipedia articles. Right now I think the balance has tilted in favor of those who believe cannabis has little or none long-term effects. What one must understand is that the first studies on Cannabis that showed serious, permanent cognitive impairment were blatantly wrong. However, when this was disclosed, bias has shifted in the other direction. And when later studies find little long-term impairment, 'little' should be interpreted in the contents of the gross impairment found in the flawed studies. In this case, 'little' means that the cognitive impairment cannabis may cause does not affect basic, everyday activities, like shopping, maintaining your house, doing your taxes etc. However it may still significantly affect your ability to carry out higher levels of reasoning. That is the next thing to be examined and it hasn't been the focus of current studies. All we can say is that the indications we get from current studies is that cannabis does cause some kind of long-term impairment in higher level cognition and I think the article should reflect this fact. I really hope we can find something we can agree on. Ideally, I would like the section to summarize the WHO statement on long-term effects. I believe this is the least biased and most comprehensive meta-study presently available. If we can't agree on something I will dispute the contents of the article and call for someone else to review it and give their opinion. - Anonymous
Hello, Centrx - the BMJ article mentioned is in BMJ 325, 23th November 2002.
"Cannabis may also be orally ingested by blending it with alcohol or fats. The effects are significantly reduced if it is so blended."
This is a bit unclear. Does cannabis have to be combined with alcohol/fats or not? I'm also not sure if there's evidence for "significantly reduced." I've read elsewhere that oral ingestion is more efficient than smoking.
THC is lipid soluble and hyrophobic. Without fats, no psychoactive effects appear to happen. THC is somewhat soluble in achohol, but not much. This seems like it would just result in the THC disolving into the stomach juices and being attacked by enzymes, but might have some effect on uptake. - Anonymous
by amount, thats the key. If you eat a kilo, you'll feel more than if you smoke a gram ;) Sam Spade wishes you a merry Christmas! 22:35, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)
The facts (or my beliefs about what I believe I have experienced, if you want to be picky) are as follows: you can eat a lump of hashish or even herbal cannabis on their own. It tastes disgusting, but is very effective. I consider this to be much less wasteful (i.e. more effective) than smoking it. THC is soluble in fats and/or alcohol. So cooking some kind of food or confectionery is a good way to make the stuff palatable. Useful book - "Cooking with Ganga" by Eric. Fudge or chocolate truffles are recommended. - Anonymous Walrus.
I removed the most recent addition from the article: THC was considered as a soft-drug for a long term of European history. The first legalizing country were the Netherlands in 1987, 1995 the Swiss and on 05th of November 2004 Italy and Germany followed by setting up legal selling shops, owned by the provisional government. Though several demonstrations were made to "Legalize Cannabis" the government of Italy and Germany does not look forward to publish the unoficial change, yet. This is more wrong than it is right: It is illegal (although sometimes tolerated) to sell cannabis containing significant amounts of THC in most of the countries listed. I'm not aware of any provisional government in European countries, let alone one that runs such shops.
I bet he was trying to write Provincial Government. - Anonymous Walrus
Pointer: Agreed, possession of cannabis illegal but tolerated in Netherlands. Switzerland I believe it can be bought as an aromatic herb in small number of shops legally but in no way can it be prepared for consumption. No current knowledge re. Germany and Italy. If you're looking to study legalisation then take a look at Portugal where govt. policy towards 'hard' and 'soft' drugs was changed couple of years back - possibly legislation in that country has followed suit.
Comment: Yes, cannabis is indeed illegal globally, as far as I know any country legalizing it would be embargoed by the UN members, since cannabis is on UN's 'evil drugs' list. So the practice is 'tolerance' or 'turning a blind eye', afaik cannabis possession, use and minimal cultivation for personal use is 'tolerated' in UK, Germany, the netherlands and Spain, to name a few. -- anon
Supposedly any country is free to refuse to accept the UN drug provisions if they choose to do so, and the UN drug treaties are subject to the member country's constitution. UN member countries are certainly able to control their own penal systems -- Canada is preparing to decriminalize small quantities of cannabis, and I believe the UK has already reduced possession of small quantities cannabis to a non-criminal status. -- Thoric 22:17, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Smoking may pose the greatest risk to physical health, but is reduced by using water pipes.
This is disputed. While water pipes reduce the level of toxins/carcinogens, they also reduce the level of cannabinoids. At least one study has suggested that water pipes may actualy increase the health risk.
Should there not be some sort of warning before the section "Preparations for human consumption". True some countries have de-criminalized small quantities of cannabis, but the majority of countries still have rather harsh laws against any use of cannabis, even as so far as death in east Asia. And even in the countries that have de-criminalized the possession of small personal quantities; buying(usually, if other than for medicinal use), selling and the growing of cannabis is still illegal. While it's up to people if they want to decide if they want to use cannabis, as an encyclopedia, is there not a moral obligation to warn that it could be legally dangerous to use? -JCBP
"...marijuana causes loss of short-term memory (Diana et al 1998). In fact evidence has been found that 9-THC destroys short-term memory (Heyser, 1993)" http://www.onlinepot.org/medical/potmemory.htm -- techtonik 20:49, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)
THC does not break down into CBD as buds mature. That's chemically impossible, and nobody who knows anything about the chemistry of cannabis would make such a ridiculous faux pas statement.
Per Wikipedia:No personal attacks, please do not personally addressing headings to people on talk pages. Article talk pages should be used for discussing the articles, not their contributors. Headings on article talk pages should be used to facilitate discussion by indicating and limiting topics related to the article. For instance, you could make a header whose title describes in a few words one problem you have with the article. This will make it easy for people to address that issue, work towards consensus, and eventually resolve the issue or dispute and improve the article. If you need to reach another user please go to their user talk page. Thanks. Hyacinth 01:14, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)