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OPINION: Feds' Top Pot Researcher Says Marijuana Should Be Legal

By National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws , Working to Reform Marijuana Laws - June 18, 2009

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LOS ANGELES --- A University of California researcher who has performed US-government sponsored studies of marijuana and lung function for over 30 years says that pot should be legal . In an interview with the McClatchy newspaper chain, Donald Tashkin of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, said: "[A]t this point, I'd be in favor of (marijuana) legalization. I wouldn't encourage anybody to smoke any substances. But I don't think it ... Read the Full Article

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OPINION: Feds' Top Pot Researcher Says Marijuana Should Be Legal

Interesting...

Interesting that cells being killed off before they can become cancerous makes smoking pot better for the lungs than smoking tobacco (when cancer is the yardstick).

I am more and more on the side of legalizing marijuana the more I learn. No, I don't smoke weed, and don't even smoke cigarettes anymore. Still vote, though, lol.

- SolarSanitizer June 19, 2009 8:38AM

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- Its not everyday...
  
  We see actual US studies, especially long term, that come down on this side of the medical science debate.
  
  We need more research, and there are many institutions who apply every year only to be turned down by the DEA. Seems that the agency in charge of enforcing drug law should not be in charge of research into said drug. It should be the FDA.
  At least UMass in Amherst got their go ahead, finally.
  
  - tRANIS June 19, 2009 1:17PM
  
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  - In charge of what?
    
    In what capacity is the DEA in charge of researching the science surrounding long-term drug effects? The actual research or the grants for research, or approval to research legally? I really don't know.
    
    - SolarSanitizer June 19, 2009 1:23PM
    
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    - They don't research
      
      They block everyone else from doing research. They have pretty much the approval power to allow research and they consistantly block or tie it up for years. I can post some links. Surely not all but a start of the paper trail
      
      http://www.maps.org/mmj /
      http://www.maps.org/mmj/DEAlawsuit.html
      http://ga0.org/drcnet/alert-description.tcl?alert_id=10201889
      
      - tRANIS June 19, 2009 1:29PM
      
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      - Not Everyone.
        
        The first link took me to a MAPS page where they talked about DEA-licensed labs. Someone must get clearance to study. Furthermore MAPS is researching vaporized marijuana (among other things, like bongs).
        
        I hope like 'ell they get their clearance from whomever Obama posts in the DEA.
        
        I used to smoke cigarettes , but now I vape. e-cig is the best thing to happen to tobacco since fire, and I am sure it can make ingestion of marijuana healthier, just as it has tobacco.
        
        - SolarSanitizer June 19, 2009 1:58PM
        
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    - Approval
      
      Too do any study you must submit an outline of your study,with the projected results to the DEA for approval and to receive the government raised pot to use in your study.
      They put the agency charged with the removal of all drugs from American streets with the final approval or denial on all studies
      and as any bureaucratic organization will do,they are protecting their turf when they refuse any medical testing of any drug.
      
      - Clay June 21, 2009 3:26PM
      
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  - they got the wrong results.
    
    This was not a study to find good in marijuana ,the study was approved because they thought they would find a direct connection
    to pot smoking and cancer . The same as with tobacco smoke,only the statistics and results didn't go as the DEA and NIDA had hoped
    and it left them paying for a study that helped pots medical claims.
    We should all send thank you notes for this study to those organizations.
    
    - Clay June 21, 2009 3:12PM
    
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