the dope report

WikiLeaks’ just-released Afghan War Diary paints a picture of failed drug interdiction in the most drug-addled region on the globe. United States soldiers stop a negligible fraction of the tonnage of Afghan opium and cannabis grown in the region. Meanwhile profits from Afghanistan’s drug trade fuels the Taliban and the associated war, which has claimed thousands of civilian lives. Amid the 91,000 plus documents of the Afhan War Diary are just six reports classified as drug crimes.

Most notably, soldiers met with small arms fire from irate poppy farmers irritated about the U.S. crackdown on the country’s leading cash crops. Other times, the U.S. intercepted as much as 60 kilograms of heroin in one action. But the sum of drug crime reports indicate most of Afghanistan’s drug trade goes largely unchecked.

Bay Area residents are enrolling in twelve-step-like classes that use cannabis to quit heroin, pills, cigarettes, alcohol, and other addictive substances, defying decades of Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous tradition.

Prominent legalization activist Jack Herer, author of 1985 book The Emperor Wears No Clothes died Thursday, April 15. He was 70 years-old. Herer passed away after months of serious health complications from a massive heart attack in late 2009. California NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer said Herer was an idealistic, hard-headed pioneer who had a voice louder than any P.A. system.

“Jack’s big contribution was to raise awareness of hemp and the importance of hemp in American agriculture and industry before the mid 20th century. I saw an immediate impact when his book came out around 1990. I had just gotten involved in the marijuana movement and it was the height of the war on drugs. People would just avoid you like the plague. Then when Jack had his book come out, hemp suddenly became an environmental issue.”

NASCAR has denied Cannabis Planet TV’s bid to roll out a green bedecked cannacar in NASCAR races. Here’s what it would have looked like.

We, for one, are glad to see NASCAR protecting the values it has upheld for decades. Namely: boozing, fighting, bigotry, and the occasional frog hunt.

Shake and bake!

New Scientist reports that newer, stronger dope makes crazies, well, crazier. Scientists have noted marijuana’s deleterious effect on people predisposed to schizophrenia, but it’s even worse for schizos smoking the urp. Why?

Normal cannabis contains level of the anti-psychotic CBD. But breeders focused on high THC strains have accidentally bred out CBD.

Just look at what THC on its own can do:

“Laboratory studies have shown that pure, synthetic THC causes transient psychosis in 40 to 50 per cent of healthy people. In stark contrast to THC, CBD appears to have an anti-psychotic effect, at least in animals. Studies in humans, though few in number, have produced similar findings. The elimination of cannabidiol from skunk may play a key role in the development of psychosis.”

In one human study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology (DOI: 10.1038/npp.2009.184), Sagnik Bhattacharya and colleagues at the Institute of Psychiatry in London used functional MRI brain scanning to study the effects of THC and CBD on the brains of healthy volunteers. They found that THC and CBD acted in opposition; in brain regions where THC increased neural activity from a baseline, CBD decreased it, and vice-versa.”

[New Scientist]

The November 2010 election in California will feature at least one notable ballot initiative: a proposal to tax and regulate personal use of cannabis. Oakland organization Tax and Regulate Cannabis 2010 reports turning in over 700,000 signatures from California voters, all but qualifying the them for the statewide ballot. Remember to register to vote, kiddies. Seriously, calendar it. [TRC]

See, police in Edinburg seized a thousand pounds of the stuff in a truck carrying fruit and veggies. By law, Texas police can’t let the produce go on to its destination, so they send it to jails and homeless shelters. Usually without the drugs still in it.

Employees working in the mess hall of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Segovia Unit found 25 pounds of marijuana nestled in a crate of bananas and other fruits Friday. ... Prisoners — several of whom unloaded the produce from the prison delivery truck — were strip-searched to make sure they had not taken any of the drugs

[DFPCA via HailyMaryJane via Edinburg’s The Monitor]

Really? The “first”? Ok:

The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified medical marijuana users a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it – as long as they are out of public view – despite a federal ban. ... Members pay $25 per month to use the 100-person capacity cafe. They don’t buy marijuana, but get it free over the counter from “budtenders”. Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., it serves food but has no liquor license.

[Reuters via Dosenation]