Talk:Cannabis/Archive 2

message: 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. "
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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)
thread_title:  Infertility 

message: 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
: An encyclopedia article does not necessarily include word histories. Cannabis was the name for the hemp plant in Latin and Greek, and marijuana is a word of uncertain origin from Mexican Spanish that was introduced into the English language in the early twentieth century. - Centrx 22:56, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Unrelated question

message: 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)
thread_title: Taxation

message: 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
: In Columbia, for one, personal use possession of cannabis legal. In light of this single instance and considering the fact that there are numerous countries in the world, cannabis is not "illegal globally". - Centrx 05:16, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: What the heck? Cannabis is legal lots of places, and used by millions in these places. jericho4.0 21:04, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Laws in Europe 

message: 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
:JCBP, I think you have a good point.  The legal status of cannabis is mentioned only tangentially, mostly in the History section.  The subject is complex enough that it warrants its own section, IMHO.  I will create a stub section called "Legality" with some starter information.--Pontifex 00:01, Dec 29, 2004 (UTC)
:: Put stub-like information in a section and point it to the "Main article: Legal issues of cannabis" under the section heading. - Centrx 11:02, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Warning of preparation

message: "...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)
replies: text: Whatever you're arguing, you're going to have to be a little more specific what is meant by 'destroying' short-term memory. This vague, non-medical terminology could mean anything from the novel and unsupported notion that THC forever destroys one's capacity to hold thoughts in memory to the well-known fact that THC inhibits the formation of short-term memories while one is under the influence. - Centrx 20:49, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  THC causes short-memory loss 

message: 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.
: Not as buds mature, dear reader, but THC does degrade sequentially from photoreaction first to cannabidiol (CBD) and then to cannabinol (CBN). Michael Starks addresses this in "Marijuana Chemistry". Feel free to clarify the "impossible" nature of this reaction. --While on the subject of chemistry, I notice there's no mention of the elusive compound THCV. Am I the only one who has heard of this? Not all plants produce it, it's really rare. Mashford 22:32, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wikiwhores wrong again. News at 9.