The Botany of Desire: Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire:

What... was the knowledge that God wanted to keep from Adam and Eve in the Garden? Theologians will debate this question without end, but it seems to me the most important answer is hidden in plain sight. The content of the knowledge Adam and Eve could gain by tasting of the fruit does not matter nearly as much as its form... from nature. The new faith sought to break the human bond with magic nature, to disenchant the world of plants and animals by directing our attention to a single God in the sky. Yet Jehovah couldn't very well pretend the tree of knowledge didn't exist, not when generations of plant-worshipping pagans knew better. So the pagan tree is allowed to grow even in Eden, though ringed around now with a strong taboo. Yes, there is spiritual knowledge in nature, the new God is acknowledging, and its temptations are fierce, but I am fiercer still. Yield to it, and you will be punished.

So unfolds the drug war's first battle.
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Monday, July 19, 2010

Why Does the U.S. Have a Synthetic Fetish?

UPI
A marijuana component could provide pain relief, minus marijuana's other effects, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston find this pain relief component zeroes in on a particular nerve receptor so the other mental and physical side effects associated with marijuana, also known as cannabis, are avoided.

The study, published in Anesthesia & Analgesia, says the synthetic cannabinoid or cannabis-related compound, called MDA19 -- which acts more narrowly on a on a subtype of cannabinoid receptors -- is located in the brain but also in the peripheral immune system.

Naguib and colleagues conducted experiments analyzing the pharmacology and effects of the synthetic cannabinoid MDA19. It affected two subtypes of cannabinoid chemical receptor -- CB1, found mainly in the brain, and CB2, found mainly in the peripheral immune system -- the study says.


If cannabis is grown for the effects of cannabinoids other than C1, the thc effects would be minimized. Why bother with a synthetic? Oh, to maintain the war on drugs...that are not offered by large pharmaceutical companies.

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