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Is it the guy who asks you after the meeting about how the antiwar movement needs to get "serious" and asks you lots of questions about terrorism and "fighting back"? Jennifer Van Bergen reports, first-hand. Part 2 of our series on what really happened on 9/11/2001: the physics of collapse, and how not to make a "pancake" by Manuel Garcia, PLUS Engineer Pierre Sprey on why "controlled demolition" theories are off target. What you just missed, but can still get, in our last newsletter: Paul Craig Roberts on the Collapse of America. CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation towards the cost of this online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! |
Today's Stories October 23, 2006 Werther October 20 / 22, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Gary Leupp Brian Cloughley Dave Zirin William Blum Christopher
Brauchli Winslow Wheeler Michael Donnelly Fred Gardner Susie Day Lucinda Marshall Fred Wilcox Alan Maass Lee Sustar Ariadna Theokopoulos Missy Beattie CP News Wire CP News Services Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
October 19, 2006 Elaine Cassel Col. Dan Smith Manuel Garcia, Jr. Josh Gryniewicz Amira Hass Eric Holt-Gimenez Jesse Hagopian Sam Husseini John Weisheit CP News Service Website of
the Day Art Gallery
of the Day
October 18, 2006 Joshua Frank Dr. Curran
Warf, MD Saul Landau Tom Barry Bruce Jackson Dave Lindorff Frederico Fuentes Michael Simmons Daryll E. Ray Kate Doyle Website of
the Day
Michael Neumann Manuel Garcia,
Jr. Stephen S.
Pearcy Sharon Smith Al Krebs David Underhill Daniel Wolff James Brooks Website of the Day
October 16, 2006 Gary Leupp Patrick Cockburn David Wilson Robert Fisk Robert Jensen Ingmar Lee
/ Krista Roessingh Mike Whitney Jake Whitney Sanho Tree Website of
the Day
Uri Avnery John Walsh Jean Bricmont Jennifer Van Bergen Ralph Nader Floyd Rudmin Mark Weisbrot Laura Carlsen Hani Shukrallah Dr. Susan Block John Chuckman Lucinda Marshall Don Monkerud Missy Comley
Beattie Ron Jacobs Website of
the Weekend
October 13, 2006 Jorge Mariscal Stephen Philion John Blair Col. Dan Smith Alastair Crooke / Mark Perry Stephen Fleischman Charles Perroud Anne E. Brodsky Website of the Day
October 12, 2006 Jonathan Cook Norman Solomon M. Shahid Alam Paul Craig
Roberts Meredith Schafer / Chris Kutalik Carl Gelderloos Alastair Crooke / Mark Perry Charles Sullivan William S. Lind CP News Service Website of
the Day
October 11, 2006 John Feffer Dave Lindorff Jackson Katz April Howard / Ben Dangl Michael Carmichael Ken Couesbouc Gregory Afghani Alexander Cockburn Website of
the Day
October 10, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Robert Robideau Joshua Frank Dave Lindorff Dave Zirin Heather Gray James Knotwell Missy Beattie Mike Whitney David Rosen Website of the Day
Robert Fisk Norman Solomon Ron Jacobs Gideon Levy Walter Brasch Mickey Z. John Holt Lucinda Marshall Saul Landau Website of the Day
October 7 /
8, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Peter Kwong Ralph Nader Mark Donham Dave Lindorff Peter Bosshard Ron Jacobs Lawrence R.
Velvel Fred Gardner David Green Jim B. Missy Beattie Michael Donnelly Jackson Thoreau Jon Hung CounterPunch
News Service Tom D'Antoni Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
Alison Weir Tiffany Ten
Eyck / Mark Brenner Corporate Crime Reporter Juan Antonio
Montecino Walden Bello Christopher
Brauchli Brynne Keith-Jennings Jonathan Cook Website of the Day
John Walsh Carol Norris Paul Craig Roberts Ricardo Alarcón James Abourezk Nicola Nasser Kirkpatrick Sale Uri Avnery Website of the Day
Elizabeth Terzakis Paul Wolf Sean Penn Dave Lindorff Diane Farsetta Sharon Smith Felice Pace Sara Roy Website of
the Day
Jennifer Van
Bergen Greg Moses Stan Cox Niranjan Ramakrishnan Evelyn Pringle Fred Wilhelms Michael Abelman Gary Leupp Website of the Day
October 2, 2006 Eric Hazan Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Assaf Kfoury Missy Beattie Arthur Neslen Paula J. Caplan Website of the Day
Sept. 30 /
0ct. 1, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Marjorie Cohn Ben Tripp Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Mike Whitney Christopher Reed Seth Sandronsky Fred Gardner Mokhiber /
Weissman Michael Dickinson Alan Gregory Poets' Basement
September 29, 2006 Bruce Jackson Michael J.
Smith Emira Woods William S.
Lind David Swanson Jonathan Cook Website of the Day
Sen. Russ Feingold Ron Jacobs Mokhiber /
Weissman Lee Sustar Robert Jensen John Chuckman Evelyn Pringle Nicola Nasser Uri Avnery Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Camilo Mejia Ben Terrall Ridgeway /
Ng Joe Allen Andrew Wimmer Franklin C. Spinney Website of
the Day
Hani Shukrallah William Blum Niranjan Ramakrishnan Barbara Becnel Paul Rockwell Dave Lindorff Rich Gibson Anthony Papa Nate Mezmer Uri Avnery Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Jonathan Cook Joshua Frank Paul Craig
Roberts Robert Jensen Dave Lindorff Norman Solomon Dr. Charles
Jonkel Michael Dickinson Alexander Cockburn Website of
the Day
September 23
/ 24, 2006 Jonathan Cook Jeffrey St.
Clair Dr. Anon Tom Barry Carl G. Estabrook Laura Carlsen Todd Chretien Dr. Charles
Jonkel Debbie Nathan Fred Gardner Fred Wilhelms Seth Sandronsky Ralph Nader Rev. William
Alberts Jon Van Camp Heather Gray David Vest Jeffrey St.
Clair Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend Video of the Weekend
September 22, 2006 Patrick Cockburn Michael Donnelly Ramzy Baroud Evo Morales Stanley Howard Sarah Leah
Whitson JoAnn Wypijewski Website of the Day
Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad Justin E. H.
Smith Mike Roselle Amira Hass Deborah Rich Mickey Z. Saul Landau Website of
the Day
Sharon Smith Christopher
Reed John Ross Joshua Frank Arthur Neslen Norman Solomon Michael Carmichael Evelyn Pringle Hugo Chavez Website of the Day
Patrick Cockburn Jeff Leys Brian M. Downing Col. Dan Smith Liaquat Ali
Khan Ron Jacobs Nik Barry-Shaw
/ Yves Engler Lucinda Marshall Saul Landau Photo of the Day Website of
the Day
Carl Boggs Uri Avnery Mike Stark / Jim Bullington Joshua Frank John Murphy Ramzy Baroud Dave Lindorff Bill Quigley Website of the Day
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October 23, 2006 An Interview with Jeffrey Hergenrather, MDWhat Have California Doctors Learned About Cannabis?By FRED GARDNER It has been 10 years since California voters enacted Proposition 215, making it legal to grow and use cannabis, with a doctor's approval, for medical purposes. Prop 215 didn't create a record-keeping system because the authors didn't trust the government and didn't want to generate a master list of cannabis users. So, over the course of the past decade, a vast public health experiment has been conducted in California but no state agency has been tracking doctors who approve cannabis use or patients who medicate with it. To assess the results in the absence of government-garnered data, I surveyed doctors associated with the Society of Cannabis Clinicians. The SCC was founded by Tod Mikuriya, MD, in 2000 so that doctors monitoring their patients' use of cannabis could share data for research purposes (and, alas, respond to threats from federal and state authorities). More than 20 doctors have attended SCC meetings, which are held quarterly. Philip A. Denney, MD, is the current president. Some responses to the survey have not yet been received, but it appears that the specialists have approved cannabis use by more than 140,000 patients. "Approve," not "recommend," is the apt term, since more than 95 percent of the patients consulting specialists had been self-medicating previously. The specialists account for approximately 40% of the letters of authorization on file with an agency that issues ID cards on behalf of cannabis dispensaries (to spare them having to confirm the validity of each customer's letter of approval). Extrapolating from this ratio, I estimate the number of Californians who have used and/or provided medicinal cannabis legally under Prop 215 to be about 350,000. The complete survey will appear in the Fall issue of O'Shaughnessy's, a journal I produce for the SCC. What follows are excerpts from the response of Jeffrey Hergenrather, MD, a former family practitioner who has been conducting cannabis consultations in Sebastopol since 1999. Q. How many patients will have received your approval to use cannabis through October 2006? A. 1,430 Q. What percentage had been self-medicating with cannabis prior to consulting you? A. 99% Q. With what medical conditions have they presented? List top five and approximate percentage (total can exceed 100%). Chronic pain (62%), Depression and other mental disorders (30%), Intestinal disorders (12%), Harmful dependence (10%), Migraine (9%) are the most common conditions being treated. Q. What results do patients report? How does cannabis appear to work in treating their symptoms? A cannabis specialist soon becomes aware of two remarkable facts. The range of conditions that patients are treating successfully with cannabis is extremely wide; and patients get relief with the use of cannabis that they cannot achieve with any other pharmaceuticals. The testimonies that I hear on a daily basis from people with serious medical conditions are moving and illuminating. From many people with cancer and AIDS come reports that cannabis has saved their lives by giving them an appetite, the ability to keep down their medications, and mental ease. No other drug works like cannabis to reduce or eliminate pain without significant adverse effects. It evidently works on parts of the brain involving short-term memory and pain centers, enabling the patient to stop dwelling on pain. Cannabis helps with muscle relaxation, and it has an anti-inflammatory action. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis stabilize with fewer and less destructive flare-ups with the regular use of cannabis. Other rheumatic diseases similarly show remissions. Spasticity cannot be treated any more quickly or efficiently than with cannabis, and, again, without significant adverse effects. Patients who suffer from migraines can reduce or omit conventional medications as their headaches become less frequent and less severe. About half of the patients with mood disorders find that they are adequately treated with cannabis alone while others reduce their need for other pharmaceuticals. In my opinion, there is no better drug for the treatment of anxiety disorders, brain trauma and post concussion syndrome, ADD and ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are stabilized, usually with comfort and weight gain, while most are able to avoid use of steroids and other potent immunomodulator drugs. People who were formerly dependent on alcohol, opiates, amphetamines and other addictive drugs have had their lives changed when substituting with cannabis. Patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis and those with transplanted kidneys show mental ease, comfort, and lack of significant graft-versus-host incompatibility reactions in my small series. Diabetics report slightly lower and easier-to-control blood sugar levels, yet to be studied and explained. Sleep patterns are typically improved, with longer and deeper sleep without any hangover or significant adverse effects. Many patients with multiple sclerosis report that their condition has not worsened for many years while they have been using cannabis regularly. MS and other neurodegenerative diseases share the common benefits of reduced pain and muscle spasms, improved appetite, improved mood and fewer incontinence problems. Many patients with epilepsy are adequately treated with or without the use of other anticonvulsants. Patients with skin conditions associated with systemic disease such as psoriasis, lupus, dermatitis herpetiformis, and eczema all report easement and less itching when using cannabis regularly. Airway diseases such as asthma, sleep apnea, COPD, and chronic sinusitis deserve special mention because I encourage the use of cannabis vapor or ingested forms rather than smoking to reduce airway irritation. Finally, most obese and morbidly obese patients respond with weight loss and improved self esteem. I believe that cannabis and psychotherapy work well together in fostering behavioral changes. Q. Have you compiled demographic data or can you estimate the breakdown with respect to your patients' age, gender, race, economic status? Gender: 62% male, 38% female. Ages range from 14 to 86 years old. The male mean age is 45.9 years with a median age of 46. The female mean age is 47.4 with a median age of 48 years. The graphs of the age and gender distribution are similar with the exception that there is a bump in the leading edge of my male patient population as compared to the females, which I account for by young men's work injuries, sports injuries, motor vehicle accidents, and problems stemming from military service, including injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. The vast majority of patients in my practice are of Caucasian / Indo-European descent, with only about 1% African-American, 2% Native American, 1% Pacific Islanders, and 2% Asian. Q. Have you observed or had reports of adverse effects from cannabis? If so, please describe. Is there a downside to the use of cannabis? The sense of intoxication rarely lasts longer than an hour and tends to be more troubling to the novice than to the experienced user. For some people cannabis can induce dry mouth, red eyes, unsteady gait, mild in-coordination, and short-term memory loss, all of which are transient. These effects are reportedly trivial compared to those brought on by pharmaceutical alternatives. Cannabis use is steadily finding acceptance in society. Still, for many it remains awkward if not totally impractical in the workplace. People whose jobs require multi-tasking such as pilots, drivers, dispatchers, switchboard operators, and many professionals find the intoxicating effects of cannabis inappropriate in the workplace, and therefore reserve their use for after work. Strains Q. What have you learned re strains and dosage? Cannabis is a complex, un-patentable plant with vast pharmacologic potential. Different strains contain different mixes of cannabinoids and terpenes that give them distinct qualities. Some strains energize you; others put you to sleep. Many patients, when they find a strain that suits their needs, try to obtain it on a regular basis. Unless they are growing their own from cuttings, however, they have to rely on growers and distributors to reproduce and make available the preferred strain from year to year. Due to Prohibition, California growers have been denied the tools of analytical chemistry to test the cannabinoid contents of their plants. This has impeded the development of strains aimed at treating various conditions. Nevertheless, patients continue to educate themselves about cannabis as medicine and how best to use it. Over the years that I have specialized in cannabis therapeutics, health benefits reported by patients have been substantiated and explained by findings from research centers around the world.
The great Freddy Fender died last week -lung cancer at age 69. From his Associated Press obit: "his career was put on hold [in 1960] when he and his bass player ended up spending almost three years in prison in Angola, LA., for marijuana possession." He was born Baldemar Huerta and took the name Fender in honor of his electric guitar when he signed with Imperial Records in 1959. He took "Freddy" because he thought it sounded good with Fender. I never stopped giving my vinyl "Best of Freddy Fender" a spin. Look at how America treats its artists, its national treasures! Clifford Antone, founder of Austin's famous blues club, died in May of this year. He served two prison terms, according to his obit in the New York Times, "one in the 1980's for possessing marijuana and another from 2000 to 2002 for dealing more than 9,000 pounds of the drug and laundering money Mr. Antone was known for his generosity to musicians. He organized a series of benefits for victims of Hurricane Katrina and recently he helped arrange an apartment and nursing care for the 92-year-old pianist Pinetop Perkins." Paul Armentano of NORML has analyzed a new U.S. Department of Justice report for 2004 and concludes that U.S. taxpayers are now spending more than a billion dollars annually to incarcerate citizens for pot. Armentano estimates that 33,655 state inmates and 10,785 federal inmates are locked up on marijuana charges. The DOJ report didn't provide stats for county jails. Thousands behind bars cannot
see the stars Fred Gardner can be reached at fred@plebesite.com
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org. The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn |