Showing posts with label Synthetic cannabis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Synthetic cannabis. Show all posts

Friday, May 30, 2014

Poisonings from E-Cigarettes and Synthetic Pot Are Surging

English: The so called "incense blend&quo...English: The so called "incense blend" spice Deutsch: Die sogenannte "Kräutermischung" Spice (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



By Dr. Mercola
The gradual demise of traditional cigarettes has sparked some new health concerns related to the rising popularity of electronic cigarettes, as well as new "designer drugs" like synthetic cannabis. Designer drugs are synthetic analogs of illegal or prohibited drugs, devised to circumvent drug laws.
The dangers of e-cigs may not be as obvious as those of traditional smokes, but according to CDC, accidental poisonings are soaring, most notably among small children who come in contact with liquid refills for vapor versions. More than half of the poisonings have been occurring in children age five and younger.1
For children to be poisoned by a traditional cigarette, they must eat one. But just touching the liquid refills for some e-cigs is dangerous for young children because  the chemicals can be readily absorbed through their skin and even their eyes. The toxic effects of synthetic cannabis are also proving deadly.

Nothing Natural in Electronic Cigarettes or Fake Pot

One of the reasons e-cigarettes and are causing so many poisonings is that they are unnatural—synthesized in a lab—and often loaded with heavy metals, solvents, and a hodgepodge of toxic chemicals.
With synthetic marijuana, there is no end to the potentially deadly combinations of laboratory-fabricated chemicals. Various versions are being imported, mostly from Asia, under the guise of potpourri, herbal incense, and even "plant food."
The rate at which poisonings are escalating argues in favor of the legalization of marijuana. While not completely safe, marijuana is a natural herb that offers many health benefits. These synthetic drugs offer NONE of the health benefits—only the risks.

Smokeless Does Not Mean Harmless

Instead of lighting up, e-cigarettes work by a mechanism that heats up a liquid—typically containing nicotine, flavoring agents, and solvents—which turns into a vapor that you inhale and exhale. This is called "vaping." In spite of industry's claims that e-cigarette vapors are harmless, testing has revealed toxic metal nanoparticles in these aerosols.
One of the problems unique to e-cigarettes is how easy it is for anyone to smoke them—and in the process, expose you to secondhand fumes. In most offices, you can just vape away at your desk—no need to trek outside to the nearest smoking area.
Some people are vaping at work all day long. If the fumes were truly only "water vapor" as the manufacturers would have you believe, then this wouldn't be an issue... but they aren't just water vapor. According to Tim McAffee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):2
"We just don't know what's in them, and we don't know how much of what's in them would get out into the environment — but the assumption would be that it would."
E-cig vapor has been shown to contain tin, copper, nickel, and silver silicate beads.3 In some cases, the levels are greater than what you might be exposed to from smoking a conventional cigarette.
Breathing metal nanoparticles has additional risks because they can more easily enter your bloodstream and body tissues, as their microscopic size allows them to better evade your body's natural defenses. They also carry the potential for harming your developing fetus or newborn baby.4
According to Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights (ANR), secondhand e-cigarette aerosol contains at least 10 chemicals identified on California's Proposition 65 list of carcinogens and reproductive toxins, listed in the table below. Scientists have also found measurable amounts of propylene glycol, diethylene glycol, and carcinogenic tobacco-specific nitrosamines.5, 6
AcetaldehydeBenzene
CadmiumFormaldehyde
IsopreneLead
NickelNicotine
N-NitrosonornicotineToluene

Just One Teaspoon of E-Cigarette Fluid May Be Deadly For Small Children

The toxicity of e-vapor pales in comparison to the toxicity of the cartridge liquid, which contains highly concentrated liquid nicotine in a cocktail of flavorings, colorings, and solvents, proven to be neurotoxic. Tiny amounts, whether ingested orally or absorbed through your skin, can cause vomiting, seizures, or even death.
Just one teaspoon of even highly diluted e-cigarette liquid can kill a small child.
Dr. Richard Clark, toxicology professor and medical director of the California Poison Control System, calls nicotine "probably the most toxic plant chemical ever discovered."7 One estimate is that between one and two million liters of e-fluid will be sold in the US this year. According to the New York Times: 8
"Reports of accidental poisonings, notably among children, are soaring. Since 2011, there appears to have been one death in the United States, a suicide by an adult who injected nicotine. But less serious cases have led to a surge in calls to poison control centers.
Nationwide, the number of cases linked to e-liquids jumped to 1,351 in 2013, a 300 percent increase from 2012, and the number is on pace to double this year, according to information from the National Poison Data System. Of the cases in 2013, 365 were referred to hospitals, triple the previous year's number."
The nicotine levels in e-liquids vary. According to Dr. Cantrell from California poison control, most range between 1.8 percent and 2.4 percent, concentrations that can cause sickness, but rarely death, in children. But higher concentrations, like 10 percent or even 7.2 percent, are widely available on the Internet. At those levels, a lethal dose for an adult would be less than one tablespoon.9
Many of the chemicals in e-cigarettes are known to cause respiratory distress and disease. Indeed, this is what many people who have inhaled e-cig vapors are reporting—trouble breathing, cough, sore throat, chest pain, and allergic reactions such as itchiness and swelling of the lips. Chest pain and cardiovascular problems have also been reported.10  

Targeting Today's Youth

The marketing of e-cigarettes is an issue of its own. Reminiscent of tobacco's early years, e-cig marketers are making vaping look cool and glamorous, even sophisticated. The rising popularity with teens is creating a whole new source of nicotine addiction—in addition to the other health hazards already mentioned. Yet, manufacturers deny that they are marketing to children. Are we seriously supposed to believe that e-cig manufacturers are not targeting children with flavors like bubble gum, cherry blast, and Gummy Bear?11  
In spite of the health risks reported by both CDC and the ER docs who've had to pick up the pieces, the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH)12 remains an enthusiastic supporter of smokeless tobacco products, calling the risks "exaggerated (by mainstream media), irresponsible, harmful and malicious." However, please note that the ACSH is an agenda-driven PR firm disguised as a science organization, heavily funded by industry, with vaccine industrialist Paul Offit as its board trustee.13

AVOID Synthetic Marijuana—It Can Be Deadly!

Spice. Black Mamba. K2. MOJO. White Widow. These are all street names for synthetic cannabis (synthetic marijuana or "fake pot"), virtually unheard of five years ago but now sold widely in stores with little fear of prosecution. Introduced in 2009, this synthetic version of cannabis bears little resemblance to natural pot and has dramatically different effects on your body. It is manufactured to produce a "high" similar to marijuana, but instead of high, people are finding themselves on a bad trip to the ICU, permanently brain damaged, or even dead.
According to a recent Time Magazine feature, synthetic marijuana is the second most popular drug among teens and young adults, behind pot itself.14 Most people don't realize how dangerous synthetic marijuana can be. The synthetic powder is mixed in a lab and shipped to the US, where retailers spray it onto a leaf—often an herb or a spice—that can be smoked, just like pot. It binds to cannabis receptors in your body up to 1,000 times more strongly than real marijuana, as well as producing gripping effects on serotonin and other receptors in your brain. You can't overdose on real pot, but you CAN overdose on synthetic versions—and it doesn't take very much.
In recent weeks, more than 100 people were treated in Louisiana emergency rooms after smoking synthetic cannabis products, many suffering life-threating reactions—so many that the state of Louisiana recently banned the sale and use of eight of them.1516Colorado has experienced a similar escalation in ER visits.17 The following table lists some of the frightening reactions to synthetic marijuana that emergency rooms and poison control centers are reporting:18
SeizuresHallucinations
VomitingPsychosis
Extreme anxietyPermanent brain damage19
SuicidalitySevere kidney damage
Reduced blood flow to heartTachycardia
Heart attackSudden cardiac arrest
Stroke20Delirium

REAL Cannabis for REAL Therapeutic Benefits

Twenty states have legalized cannabis for medical purposes, and two states (Colorado and Washington) now permit recreational use. Medical marijuana is largely opposed due to misinformation and the fact that it spells competition for the pharmaceutical industry, as the cannabis plant could replace a wide variety of synthetic drugs, especially for treating mood and anxiety disorders. The cannabis plant contains a variety of compounds with medicinal properties, including terpenes and flavonoids. Probably the most noteworthy is CBD (cannabidiol), which is associated with an array of health benefits. Different strains of cannabis have different ratios of CBD to THC. 
There are strains of cannabis that contain high amounts of CBD, while being very low in THC, which is the psychoactive agent in marijuana. Such strains are the ones typically used for medical purposes, and will not produce a high. Just as with most medicinal plants, it is important to use the whole plant rather than isolated compounds, in order to take advantage of its natural synergistic actions. For more information about this, refer to the Project CBD website.21 If you do have cannabis in your home, please make sure to keep it away from your pets, as it is highly toxic to cats and dogs. When used appropriately, medical-grade cannabis offers a great range of benefits, including but not limited to the following:
  • Anti-inflammatory and Analgesic: Cannabis suppresses inflammation,22 in addition to reducing pain for chronic pain sufferers
  • Anticonvulsive: Cannabis is showing great promise for treating epilepsy (especially in children) by raising the seizure threshold23
  • Anticancer: Binds to receptors on cancer cells, causing them to die off and inhibiting their spread. Harvard researchers found THC retards lung cancer growth, which helps explain why smoking marijuana doesn't cause lung cancer24
  • Neuroprotective: CBD protects those with brain injury from nerve damage, and may help prevent Alzheimer's25
  • Treatment of Tourette Syndrome: Shown effective in reducing tics and behavioral symptoms, including obsessive compulsive behaviors26

My 'Trick' for Quitting Smoking

If you're thinking about quitting smoking, swapping conventional cigarettes for electronic cigarettes may simply expose you to a new set of health risks. This is also the case with drugs designed to help you quit. For example, the smoking-cessation drugChantix has been associated with an inordinately high number of serious side effects, including suicides and psychotic reactions in people with no prior history of violent behavior. So, what's the trick to quitting smoking? I believe the "secret" is to get healthy first, which makes quitting much easier. 

Electronic cigarettes have proven to be helpful for some individuals who have chosen to quit smoking. I encourage you to do your research on the product you choose to use and continue in your effort to fully quit. My mother is 79 years old and smoked for all of her adult life. When she decided to give up smoking, she used a rechargeable, electronic cigarette in the process and found it helpful. 
Exercising, eating healthy, and managing your stress are key parts to successfully managing to quit. Only when you have taken care of these basic aspects of your health should you attempt to quit smoking, and going "cold turkey" seems to work best. Two-thirds to three-quarters of ex-smokers stop without the need for pharmaceutical or medical intervention…27 and without e-cigarettes! The following are some tips for addressing each of these three key health areas.
  1. Eat well: Choose a diet rich in fresh, whole foods such as sustainably raised, organic produce, grass-pastured meats, raw nuts and seeds, etc. A diet rich in antioxidants will help you limit your damage from tobacco smoke. Read through my free comprehensive nutrition plan if you need some direction. It is really crucial that you convert from sugar burning to fat burning mode with the use of intermittent fasting. This will help you avoid the virtually inevitable desire to binge on junk food as a reward for giving up smoking.
  2. Exercise regularly: One study found that exercise doubles your chances for success in the quit-smoking battle.28 Make sure to incorporate strength training, high-intensity interval training like Peak Fitness, core-strengthening exercises, and stretching.
  3. Manage your stress and your cravings: Finding tools to help you improve your emotional health is extremely important when shifting lifestyle habits. Many people use yoga, meditation, or relaxation techniques for this, and these are all great. I also recommend the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), as this can reduce stress and restore your energetic balance, helping you break free of cigarette cravings.
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Sunday, March 23, 2014

Spice aka Synthetic Marijuana

English: A photograph of hemp (Cannabis sativa...
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



So spice is a type of herbal product that was popularized in Europe in the late 90's or early 2000's. Essentially because of marijuana or cannabis is so interesting from a pharmacological standpoint, all these laboratories started developing compounds that could mimic the effects of the naturally occurring compounds in cannabis or marijuana. And essentially they need to get stronger and stronger potency ones to bind to the receptors in stronger and stronger fashion to do tests and studies in a more accelerated fashion.

As is done in research laboratories. So one the laboratory of John Huffman American scientist. His group was experimenting with different compounds. Completely different structures to the naturally occurring compounds in cannabis. But they all ended up having activity at this one receptor in the human body. So to make a long story short, that molecule somehow leaped out of the laboratories that compound, and people started putting that super strong compound into herbal blends in Europe. It was where it first appeared. Sometimes it goes by the name spice or K2. It's maybe about five to one hundred times more potent at the cannabinoid receptor than tetra-hyrdo-cannbinol or THC which is one of the naturally occurring strong compounds in marijuana.

Now people purchase this and use it to get some experience of an alteration of consciousness which is a normal behavior in humans to want to change their mind state. But these compounds are very new, they're synthetic, they're designer, they haven't been tested very much on humans. There's lots of reports of psychotic reactions because it's extremely potent. It turns out naturally occurring cannabis, those cannabinoids like THC aren't that strongly binding to the receptor. They're actually called partial agonists. And these are full agonists and they can have very strong effects. So it is a fake marijuana in the sense that it's not really cannabis or marijuana that we're talking about. It's a synthetic super synthetic cannabinoids that have been sprayed onto herbal blends that people smoke. The United States government has made these extremely popular by banning them. Which they recently, the DEA emergency scheduled them into the most restrictive class in the federal drug laws. And of course when you do something like that you make it very, very interesting as a forbidden fruit.

So the gentleman who invented this first compound, John Huffman, so that you know if people want to change their consciousness, they should stick to marijuana.




Latest Synthetic Marijuana Causes Concern.



A local father is reaching out to other parents and their children about the dangers of a synthetic marijuana that has left his teenage son near death.

Our Notes:  We have an entire series on here of legal, quasi legal and illegal drugs that are being used everywhere.  We are doing this to show the concerns that we must all have and what we need to be watching out for.  A great deal of this stuff is death waiting to happen and it could take out innocent people along the way as well as tremendous property destruction.  All we can say is don't do it and watch out for those who do.


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Salvia, New Quasi Legal OTC Drugs And Their Effects

Español: Salvia Divinorum cultivada en Medelli...
 Salvia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



This first video is a homemade video showing a girl using Salvia.  You need to watch these videos to see what we are all now dealing with.




Another Homemade video showing what kind of results Salvia produces.




Hallucinogenic drug popular with teens questioned after Tucson shooting.  

Our Notes:  Do not confuse with Stevia which is a natural herbal sweetener.  Again, this looks to us like another portal drug.  People who use some form of tobacco will experience less problems than those who do not.  You can bet that there will be stronger mixtures that will be made from this herb and who knows what kind of issues those will cause.
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