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by The Associated Press November 23, 2009 At the newly opened Cannabis Cafe, people sit around taking tokes from a "vaporizer" — a contraption with a big plastic bag that captures the potent vapors of heated marijuana. Glass jars hold donations of dried, milky-green weed, and the cafe serves up meals and snacks for the hungry. It's all perfectly legal and, for cancer patient Albert Santistevan, it's about time. "It's a very positive atmosphere. We could use more places like that," the 56-year-old former jewelry shop owner said. A few weeks ago, Santistevan would have had no place to go. But with the Obama administration's decision last month to soften the federal stance on medical marijuana, the Cannabis Cafe and a lounge across town popped up, bringing a little bit of pot-friendly Amsterdam to this working class corner of Portland. The idea could catch on in the roughly dozen other states with medical marijuana laws. Allen St. Pierre, spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, said the organization has already gotten inquiries from Washington state, Michigan, Montana and Maine. Read the rest here

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Dev Meyers Cannabis Revolution Examiner August 28, 2009 “The thermostat that regulates our bodies was set in the evolutionary past,” said Dr. Robert J. Melamede, Ph.D. President & CEO of Cannabis Science Inc. “Endocannabinoids regulate everything.” That thermostat was set in the past. In a time when human beings had a shorter life span – 20, 30 , 40 years tops. “It was a dirty world. They lived in squalor,” said Dr. Bob.”  “Our immune system was programmed to have an inflammatory response,” he said. “It’s the same as radiation from nuclear bombs. If you nuke a city there is collateral damage.” The collateral damage is caused by free radicals running rampant. Some call it biological rust.  In simplistic terms, as our bodies age we develop an endocannabinoid deficiency. Dr. Melamede makes the analogy of an old car that needs an oil change.  Now that we are living longer, there are many age related illnesses – cardio-vascular disease, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s, cancer, etc.” Phytocannabinoid supplements help reduce the onset and severity of these age-related diseases.  Dr. Bob's course Endocannabinoids and Medical Marijuana Biol 408