facialimpediment posted:

https://twitter.com/stuartathompson/status/841398469822672898

quote:

Take a look at the photo above. That's what most marijuana consumers picture when they think “marijuana” — chunks of pungent green plant material coated in sticky, crystallized THC-rich resin.

But if you're a researcher looking to work with marijuana — to say, investigate how it impairs people, or how it could help people suffering from certain ailments — you don't have access to the weed that everyone else is using. Since the late 1960s the federal government has mandated that all marijuana used in research has to come through the federal government.

To investigate the real-world effects of marijuana, however, researchers need a product that looks and feels like the real thing. And they're increasingly frustrated with government weed that is something else entirely.

Don't take their word for it. The photo below shows a sample of federal marijuana distributed to Sue Sisley, a researcher who just embarked on a first-of-its-kind clinical trial to test the efficacy of medical marijuana for military veterans suffering from PTSD.

Nida-supplied marijuana, as received by Sue Sisley. (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies)

Here they are side by side:

Photos via Oliver Contreras/Washington Post (left) and MAPS (right)

A quick glance confirms it looks nothing like the commercial marijuana depicted above. While the real stuff is chunky and dark green, the government weed is stringy and light in color. It appears to be full of stems, which most consumers don't smoke. “It doesn’t resemble cannabis. It doesn’t smell like cannabis,” Sisley told PBS NewsHour last week.

Jake Browne, a cannabis critic for the Denver Post's Cannabist marijuana news site, agrees. “That is, flat out, not a usable form of cannabis,” he said. Browne should know: He's reviewed dozens of strains professionally and is running a sophisticated marijuana growing competition called the Grow-Off.

“In two decades of smoking weed, I've never seen anything that looks like that,” Browne said. “People typically smoke the flower of the plant, but here you can clearly see stems and leaves in there as well, parts that should be discarded. Inhaling that would be like eating an apple, including the seeds inside it and the branch it grew on.”

It's unclear if this is an exceptionally bad batch, but there's reason to strongly suspect it's typical of what most researchers are given.

All federal marijuana is grown at a single facility at the University of Mississippi, overseen by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Last summer the DEA formally took steps to allow other entities to supply marijuana for research purposes. So far, none have been approved.

The problems with the Mississippi weed go well beyond aesthetics.

For instance, the pot grown there maxes out, potency-wise, at about 13 percent THC (the main chemical that gets you high). And that might be an overstatement — Sisley's own testing found that one of NIDA's strains purported to be 13 percent THC was actually closer to 8 percent.

By comparison, the typical commercial weed available in Colorado is at about 19 percent THC, according to a laboratory that tests commercial marijuana in the state. And that's just the average — some of the higher-end strains are pushing 30 percent THC or more.

For a researcher, it's difficult to assess the real-world impact of high-end pot if you only have access to the low-quality stuff. It's akin to investigating the effects of bourbon by giving people Bud Light.

For certain types of research this isn't necessarily a problem, says Rick Doblin, founding director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a group that's been working with Sisley on the PTSD trial. "[NIDA's] marijuana is fine if you want to do academic research,” Doblin said — studies that look at how marijuana affects the body in a laboratory setting, for instance.

But NIDA's weed doesn't pass muster if you want to know how marijuana use is affecting people in the real world. Or if you want to run highly controlled medical experiments, like the one Sisley and Doblin are working on. It's not even tested for some common contaminants, like yeast and mold, that many states now check for as part of their regulatory regimes.

Doblin said the marijuana they received from NIDA showed levels of mold and yeast that far exceeded standards for some states, like Colorado and Washington. Be they opted to go ahead with the trial since additional testing confirmed that none of the strains of mold and yeast found in the plant material posed a risk to humans.

In an email, a NIDA representative acknowledged that “there has been some emerging interest from the research community for a wider variety of marijuana and marijuana products. ... NIDA does plan on growing some additional marijuana this year and harvest some high THC material that will likely be above 13 percent THC.”

SwampDonkey posted:

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/841400244130705409


gently caress a paywall.

EVA BRAUN BLOWJOBS posted:

Hot Karl Marx posted:

https://twitter.com/lukeoneil47/status/841382683821391873

Nostalgia4Butts posted:

i personally call him fuckerberg

SwampDonkey posted:

https://twitter.com/Vets_Vs_Trump/status/841412694880223232

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/841327667643318275

Two Finger posted:

gently caress ingrown toenails forever

Blind Rasputin posted:

Uhm if you are diabetic this is a real actual life threat. I've seen people septic as hell from an infected diabetic toe that goes to the bone. Sadly, people usually in this position are the same ones that have trouble working and affording health insurance. Rip is right. This is terrible.

Two Finger posted:

i was under the impression they are a real threat to anyone

i've had one and they are loving painful as hell i was just lucky i didn't get the massive infection to go with it

why would being diabetic be more of a problem there?

MA-Horus posted:

I paid 600 dollars this year for my healthcare through taxes.

An additional 2600 for supplementary coverage though my workplace (90% dental, physio, massage, chiro, etc).

You will take my socialist Canadian healthcare from my cold dead loving hands. The conservatives keep trying to push a 2 payer system and I will scream in protest of that poo poo until I look like high knife hand DI.

not caring here posted:

Poor circulation, and usually peripheral neuropathy mask the real hurt so you don't know you have one until your toe looks gangrenous

Hot Karl Marx posted:

They should take more imo or at least spend it better. But yes, I still can't comprehend that americn people could go into major debt/bankruptcy from a child getting injured from being a child or just blind bad luck/genetics.

MA-Horus posted:

Oh I'm not saying it's perfect. Not at all perfect. It's rather poo poo at times, especially if you need an MRI or joint replacement. You're gonna wait a while on those.

SwampDonkey posted:

https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/841424182802075650

quote:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A year ago, the U.S. government was campaigning for an international ban on shipments of rechargeable batteries on passenger planes because the batteries can self-ignite, creating intense fires capable of destroying an airliner.

"The risk is immediate and urgent," Angela Stubblefield, a U.S. aviation official, declared then.

Today, that urgency has evaporated as safety regulations stall under President Donald Trump's push to ease what he sees as red tape holding back the economy.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, a U.N. agency that sets global aviation safety standards, decided last year to ban bulk shipments of lithium-ion batteries on international passenger flights. On cargo flights, the batteries can be charged to no more than 30 percent, a level that may reduce the likelihood of fires.

As a result, countries around the world have been adopting the new international standard for domestic flights as well. The Obama administration also looked to do so, submitting rules for publication that makes them binding. But after Trump took office on Jan. 20, he signed an executive order freezing the publication of new regulations. That means airlines and cargo operators remain free to ignore the standard for domestic flights.

The Obama administration had considered the change so urgent that it was fast-tracked in the rulemaking process. Trump's executive order says urgent safety rules can be exempted from the freeze, but the new administration isn't invoking that exemption for battery shipments.

"This is part of our ongoing regulatory review," the Transportation Department said in a statement. "The safe movement of hazardous materials remains a priority. We will provide updates as soon as decisions are made with regard to these and other issues at hand." No time frame was provided.

Rechargeable batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Manufacturers like them because they pack more energy into smaller packages, but the batteries can self-ignite if they have a manufacturing flaw, are damaged, exposed to excessive heat, overcharged or packed too closely together. The fires can burn up to 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit, close to the melting point of the aluminum used in aircraft construction.

Since 2006, three cargo jets have been destroyed and four pilots killed by in-flight fires that investigators say were either started by batteries or made more severe by their proximity.

Most passenger carriers and some cargo operators are voluntarily abiding by the international standard for their domestic operations for the time being. Trade associations for the U.S. and international airline industries, as well as the Air Line Pilots Association, say they support extending the standard to domestic flights.

But lobbyists for the battery industry, which opposed the international standard when it was adopted last year, are urging administration officials to make changes that would allow certain batteries to continue to be shipped on passenger flights. The U.N. agency standard already allows for limited exemptions, but lobbyists are asking for blanket exemptions for medical-device batteries and shipments to remote locations and other changes.

The position of U.S. negotiators last year was that medical-device batteries were no less dangerous than other kinds.

Extending the international ban to domestic flights is "a matter of life and death," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the House transportation committee's senior Democrat and an advocate of banning air shipments of batteries.

"If we don't start following the ICAO guidelines and stop stuffing giant boxes of lithium batteries that are fully charged into passenger aircraft, sooner or later we're going to kill a lot of people," he said. "When something is this critical that it will take down an airplane, voluntary compliance with a non-existent rule is not adequate."

But Bob Richard, a battery industry lobbyist, said people living in the Alaskan outback, for example, might not be able to receive batteries for their backup heaters or emergency beacons if the international standard is extended to domestic flights.

Under Trump, "regulators are going to be held more accountable for understanding the impacts of their rules," Richard said. "I think that will cause agencies to take a closer look at the implications."

Battery makers and electronics companies say the problem is mostly limited to manufacturers in China that make substandard batteries and don't follow hazardous materials shipping regulations. They say greater enforcement of the previous, less stringent shipping rules is the better solution. But a study by Canadian safety authorities found that the problem of battery shippers not following regulations was widespread and not limited to China.

Congress directed the Transportation Department last year to adopt the international standard for domestic flights. But it's not uncommon for federal agencies to ignore congressional directives or delay compliance, especially if they disagree with them.

Without harmonization, the U.S. also can't enforce the U.N. agency standard for international passenger and cargo flights to and from the United States. The U.S. is the world's largest aviation market.

Safety concerns about rechargeable batteries increased after FAA tests in 2014 showed gases emitted by overheated batteries can build up in cargo containers, leading to explosions capable of disabling aircraft fire suppression systems. An organization representing aircraft manufacturers said in 2015 that airliners aren't designed to withstand lithium battery fires and continuing to accept battery shipments is "an unacceptable risk."

SwampDonkey posted:

https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/841424182802075650

shyduck posted:

How reliable is Louise Mensch?

Office Pig posted:

quote:

“What mandate in the Obamacare bill does he take issue with?” Doyle asked Shimkus, using the formal parlance of congressional committees.

“What about men having to purchase prenatal care?” Shimkus said.

At that point, one could hear the room start to stir.

“I’m just . . . is that not correct?” Shimkus said. “And should they?”

quote:

“Do men not have to buy maternity coverage?” Ellmers said, referring to the health-care law’s essential health benefits. “To the best of your knowledge, has a man ever delivered a baby?”

shyduck posted:

How reliable is Louise Mensch?

Nostalgia4Butts posted:

i personally call him fuckerberg

A Handed Missus posted:

https://twitter.com/jeremypgordon/status/841326492005081088

KildarX posted:

I am now certain that the Republican party has no clue how government works.

facialimpediment posted:

l o fuckin l the white house's internal projections of Trumpcare were even worse than CBO'S

https://twitter.com/blakehounshell/status/841464203064029184

Best Friends posted:

I'm deep in the heart of the coastal corporatist liberal hell, a land of starbucks, expensive fad diets, and stupid sport SUVs, and even I don't know anyone who would vote Zuckerberg. Who does he imagine his constituency is? I get looking at Trump and thinking "I'm smarter and richer than him" and no doubt that's true, but Trump has charisma.

Pesticide20 posted:

Is there some funny thing to change his name to Zuckerman instead of Zuckerberg?

Fister Roboto posted:

Zuckerkorn 2020

"He's Very Good"