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Tommy Chong's Deleted Paraphernalia Website
(The Memory Hole)
On 24 February 2003 five federal agencies busted 50+ individuals allegedly involved in businesses that sell drug paraphernalia, such as bongs and pipes.

Tommy Chong--best known for his stoner movies with Cheech Marin--was among those targeted in Operations Pipe Dreams and Headhunter. His home was raided, and the feds seized all the smoking paraphernalia from his business, Chong Glass. He wasn't indicted at the time. For reasons not explained, Chong was not mentioned in the Justice Department's press release, and his Website was allowed to remain online. The Websites of the other people caught up in the sweep were quickly pulled offline by the DEA (but you can still see them on TheMemoryHole.org).

On 13 May 2003, Chong pled guilty to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia. [Read more through the above link.] He faces up to three years in the clink and a $250,000 maximum fine.

At the time of the raids, The Memory Hole downloaded the Chong Glass site for safekeeping. Sure enough, at some point by the time Chong pled guilty, the Website disappeared. Above you will find thumbnails and full images of every piece that Chong offered (all of which were created by his company).

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 8:09 AM

 

Marijuana trial to begin this year
(The Age, May 21, 2003)
Australia's first marijuana trial will get under way in NSW later this year in a bid to provide people suffering chronic pain alternative treatment options. . . . NSW Premier Bob Carr said the appetite-inducing qualities of marijuana would be legally harnessed under a medicinal cannabis scheme, which was greeted with bipartisan support. . . . Mr Carr said the trial was aimed at easing the suffering of people who came to the attention of a working party on cannabis he established in 2000. . . . The premier told parliament it was a compassionate scheme, helping people who suffer from wasting due to cancer and HIV/AIDS, nausea from chemotherapy, severe or chronic pain, muscle spasticity due to multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries. . . . NSW joins nine US states, Canada and the Netherlands in legalising marijuana for medicinal use. . . . The NSW Cancer Council cautiously welcomed the plan, saying marijuana could help relieve the pain many cancer patients suffer with treatments like chemotherapy.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 6:26 PM

 

Test may use cannabis spray
(News Interactive, May 21, 2003)
AN invention which allowed cannabis to be sprayed under the tongue would be considered for use in NSW's medicinal marijuana trial, Premier Bob Carr said today.

The new development, by a British pharmaceutical firm, could give those suffering HIV/AIDS or left nauseous after cancer chemotherapy treatments an option to deal with their pain, he told ABC radio.

A four-year trial of cannabis for medicinal use was announced in the NSW Parliament yesterday.

"The interesting thing here for us is the development of a pharmaceutical by a British firm called GW Pharmaceuticals which develops spray that places the substance under a person's tongue so these are very interesting developments," Mr Carr said.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 6:23 PM

 

Hallucinogenic plants might be treatment for alcoholism
(Lee Billings, The Minnesota Daily, May 8, 2003)
During the 1950s and 1960s, university researchers around the country, including some at the University of Minnesota, performed experiments testing the effects of hallucinogenic drugs on humans. . . . The University stopped its research in 1968 after new legislation restricting and prohibiting whole classes of drugs swept through Congress, halting research for decades in areas of psychiatry, neuroscience, biochemistry and other fields. . . . Dennis McKenna, a neurobiologist and University lecturer, has worked to legitimize hallucinogen research and therapy ever since. . . . And with his latest proposal — using exotic hallucinogenic plants to treat alcoholism — McKenna just might succeed. . . . Besides such behavioral changes, the researchers discovered that the brains of long-term ayahuasca users were chemically different from nonusers. Users had more receptors for serotonin, a neurotransmitter which helps regulate moods. The receptors function like vacuum pumps, transporting serotonin back into brain cells. . . . Studies have correlated lowered densities of serotonin receptors with alcoholism, severe depression and violent behavior. . . . “You have a group of people who were basically dysfunctional,” McKenna said. “They’re addicted, they have suicidal problems, they join (the church), they start taking ayahuasca, the biochemical profile is reversed, and the behavioral profile greatly improves.” . . . Dr. Charles Grob, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the UCLA medical school and collaborator with McKenna in Brazil, said he supports McKenna’s research of the drink’s antiaddictive properties. . . . “Dennis is one of the world’s foremost authorities on the science of ayahuasca, the botanical and pharmacological science,” Grob said. “He’s also a visionary thinker, often a step ahead of the pack in perceiving the potentials that this area has for helping us understand the mind, the brain, illness and helping with development of new treatment models.” . . . “Ayahuasca is actually, of all the different psychedelics, the one that has the best potential for treatment of alcoholism,” Metzner said. Besides expanding consciousness, “which is the whole point of 12-step therapy . . . “It’s like a detox program built right into the experience,” he said.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 9:25 AM

 

Something to think about
A society that can punish a marijuana offender more severely than a murderer is caught in the grip of a deep psychosis.
--Eric Schlosser, in Reefer Madness

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 2:06 PM