Chefs Scott Durrah (8 Rivers), Lauren Gennett and Rachel Wolpo will offer a series of cooking demonstrations for Simply Pure, the Colorado edibles company founded by Durrah and his wife, Wanda James, at KushCon II, which runs today through December 19 at the Colorado Convention Center.

"I never would have imagined that my love of cooking and cannabis could bring so much comfort and peace to people's lives," says Durrah. He and James were our Best Medical Marijuana Advocates in the Best of Denver 2010. "We care about what our patients eat, so everything we prepare is 100 percent organic and tested for potency and purity."

westword.com

An Italian hospital director sent a memo to doctors and nurses asking them not to snort cocaine while on duty, the ANSA news agency reported.

Giuseppe Di Maria now faces possible disciplinary action following the memo sent to medical staff at the Santa Catarina Novella di Galatina Hospital near Lecce in southern Italy.

afp

One day, with a prescription, Americans might be able to "turn on" with a hallucinogenic drug in a clinic that essentially is a day spa for psychedelic treatment.

A self-described nonprofit pharmaceutical company in Santa Cruz - which is holding an open house at their Mission Street offices today - has been working towards this vision for nearly 25 years.

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies works with scientists, doctors and regulators around the world to design research seeking to establish the safety and efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy.

mercurynews.com

In another blow to the “medical marijuana” movement, a “team of international immunologists led by a U.S. researcher say they found smoking marijuana can trigger a suppression of the body’s immune functions.”

The UPI reports: “The study, published in the European Journal of Immunology, demonstrated cannabinoids can trigger a massive number of myeloid-derived suppressor cells through activation of cannabinoid receptors that may suppress the immune system by activating these unique cells.”

australianconservative.com
upi.com

A new study in The Lancet rates the harmfulness of 20 psychoactive drugs according to 16 criteria and finds that alcohol comes out on top. Although that conclusion is generating headlines, it is not at all surprising, since alcohol is, by several important measures (including acute toxicity, impairment of driving ability, and the long-term health effects of heavy use), the most dangerous widely used intoxicant, and its abuse is also associated with violence, family breakdown, and social estrangement. A group of British drug experts gathered by the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) rated alcohol higher than most or all of the other drugs for health damage, mortality, impairment of mental functioning, accidental injury, economic cost, loss of relationships, and negative impact on community. Over all, alcohol rated 72 points on a 100-point scale, compared to 55 for heroin, 54 for crack cocaine, and 33 for methamphetamine. Cannabis got a middling score of 20, while MDMA (Ecstasy), LSD, and psilocybin mushrooms were at the low end, with ratings of 9, 7, and 6, respectively.

reason.com

The human consumption of psychoactive drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, is of even more recent historical origin than the human consumption of alcohol or tobacco, so the Hypothesis would predict that more intelligent people use more drugs more frequently than less intelligent individuals...

Given their extremely recent origin and thus evolutionary novelty, the Hypothesis would predict that more intelligent individuals are more likely to consume all types of psychoactive drugs than less intelligent individuals. Once again, as with alcohol consumption, the fact that the consumption of psychoactive drugs has largely negative health consequences and few (if any) benefits of any kind is immaterial to the Hypothesis. It does not predict that more intelligent individuals are more likely to engage in healthy and beneficial behavior, only that they are more likely to engage in evolutionarily novel behavior.

psychologytoday.com

Prince of Pot Marc Emery’s ex-business partner and blond bombshell medical marijuana advocate, Michelle Rainey, has died from cancer.

She had lived with Crohn’s disease since she was a teenager and in the last years of her life struggled against melanoma and lymphatic cancer.

Her husband, Jef Tek, and mother, Emilie, were at her side, each holding a hand, when she succumbed Wednesday night at her home in Maple Ridge in spite of last-ditch, high-dosage experimental cannabis treatment.

vancouversun.com
michellerainey.com

Memories of Michelle Rainey

Mayoori Buchhalter, Leiterin der Kochschule BioGourmetClub, und Daniel Kruse, Geschäftsführer von Hempro International, haben sich zusammen getan und ein Kochbuch der besonderen Art geschaffen.

Hanf gehört zu den vielseitigsten Rohstoffen, die die Menschheit kennt. Leider ist der Gebrauch von Hanfnüssen und Hanföl als Lebensmittel in unseren Breiten ziemlich in Vergessenheit geraten ist. Deshalb soll dieses Kochbuch dazu beitragen, dass die köstliche und gesunde Bereicherung des täglichen Speiseplans durch Hanfnüsse und Hanföl den Stellenwert erhält, den sie aufgrund ihrer ernährungsphysiologischen Eigenschaften verdient.

hanfhaus.de