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Mia Muze is Tokyo born, Sydney raised, lives on NE Coast QLD. Lived abroad in Colorado where she was hugely influenced by hip hop. Musically, her background is full of 90s Aussie Rock and Funk and Jazz.  More recently she has been producing downtempo electronica.

Mia Muze composes in her home studio in Surfers Paradise, and she records, produces and mixes at the Gold Coast Conservatorium. Her music has received attention worldwide, including Australian FM radio airplay, record of the year nominations (2007 +2008), and a number one song on the unsigned artist charts.

You can find out more about Mia Muze on her Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/miamuze or at her Windows Live page.

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A new article on MedPage today claims that we still don’t fully understand the health risks of cannabis use:

Overall, “the public health burden of cannabis use is probably modest compared with that of alcohol, tobacco, and other illicit drugs,” Australian researchers reported in the Oct. 17 issue of The Lancet.

Wayne Hall, PhD, of the University of Queensland in Herston, Australia, and Louisa Degenhardt, PhD, of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, reviewed nearly 100 studies covering acute as well as chronic effects of marijuana, including reports of the prevalence of marijuana use around the world.

Globally, they wrote, about 3.9% of the world’s population used marijuana in 2006, according to United Nations statistics.

Well it opens nicely by noting that cannabis is safer and that almost 1 out of 25 people worldwide use cannabis. It gets a bit dicey from there:

They spent more time detailing the psychomotor impairments associated with the marijuana high. “Some experimental studies have shown diminished driving performance in response to emergency situations,” Hall and Degenhardt said, findings also corroborated in epidemiological studies.

For example, one study of car crash victims found that they were more likely to have tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of marijuana, in their blood compared with age- and sex-matched controls.

Another study determined that motorists killed in wrecks were 2.5 times as likely to have been responsible for the accident when they had THC in their blood.

These are meaningless points when you recognize that:

1. Marijuana is the third-most used drug after alcohol and tobacco, so it is not surprising you’d find it in car crash victims;
2. Marijuana is detectable in the blood long after most other drugs, including alcohol, are not; and
3. Recent studies show that people can test positive for THC in the blood up to a week after ceasing their use of cannabis.

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

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(New Scientist) Stoners may be trading sexual highs for the chemical kind. Males who smoke marijuana daily are four times more likely to have trouble reaching orgasm than men who don’t inhale, finds a new study of 8,656 Aussies.

Other smokers had the opposite problem, experiencing premature ejaculation at nearly three times the rate of non-smokers, find a team led by Marian Pitts at La Trobe University in Melbourne.

Now there’s a new reefer madness scare for you!  Smoke too much pot and you’ll either orgasm too quickly or not at all!  Sounds to me like more research needs to be done in this area to determine exactly how much pot a man needs to smoke and how often in order to orgasm at precisely the right time.  Bring me the Deal or No Deal models, a pound of White Russian sinsemilla, and a notebook and let’s get to the science!

Somebody in the photo department found the perfect picture for this story. (Image: Lindsey T/ theogeo)

Even though many male smokers experienced sexual problems, they reported more partners than non-smokers. Marijuana users were twice as likely to have had two or more sex partners in the previous year than men who didn’t smoke pot.

So, then, smoking pot is going to help you attract the ladies, but once you get them to have sex with you, you’re going to have troubles in the bedroom.  How does that work?  Wouldn’t the ladies eventually make the connection that most of their pothead lovers are lousy in bed?

Pitts’ team found an even stronger trend for increased sexual activity among female smokers, who were also seven times more likely to have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection in the last year than non-smokers. However, female smokers had no more problems in the bedroom than abstainers, Pitts’ team found.

And if you do get one of those pot-smoking ladies to jump in bed with you, you’re going to get a disease.

[A] 2007 study led by Marie Eloi-Stiven at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York found that marijuana users were far more likely than others to take sildenafil (Viagra) recreationally. This is presumably to counteract the perceived libido-sapping effects of marijuana, her team concluded.

Or, presumably, because men who enjoy enhancing the big head with pot might also like to enhance the little head with Viagra.

Once again, it seems like more reefer madness propaganda to scare men into thinking that smoking marijuana will ruin their sex lives.  It used to be that marijuana was going to affect fertility, damage chromosomes, and unravel your DNA.  Dr. Mitch Earleywine and I will discuss this in Cannabis Science tomorrow.

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London, Aug 10 (ANI): A new study has revealed that stress and dieting can lead to a positive cannabis test long after the drug was last used.

Lead researcher Jonathon Arnold, from the University of Sydney in Australia, says that the main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is instantly absorbed by fat cells and over the next few days is slowly diffused back into the blood.

During the study, Arnold and colleague Iain McGregor exposed THC-laden fat cells taken from rats to the stress hormone ACTH.

The researchers found that the hormone increased the speed of release of THC from the cells.

They later injected rats with 10 milligrams per kilogram of THC (equivalent to a person smoking between five and 10 cannabis cigarettes, depending on their strength) every day for 10 days.

Two days later, they injected a third of the rats with ACTH, deprived another third of food for 24 hours, with the rest as controls.

They found that rats that were not given food had double the blood level of THC acid, a metabolite of THC, compared with the controls.

The other group exposed to ACTH also showed a statistically significant increase in THC acid levels.

Paul Armentano has been documenting the science of how long-term cannabis users can fail a cannabis screening up to 100 days after ceasing cannabis use, and that people can pass many cannabis screens and then fail one.  So many people who are on probation or parole have cannabis screening as a part of their sentence and so many go back to prison when the failed cannabis screen turns up.  These people often insist that they have stopped using cannabis, but prosecutors contend that the failed test, especially after passing a few tests, is evidence of the re-initiation of cannabis use.

The science Armentano has documented shows this clearly is not the case, but until now there has been no understanding of why the levels of detectable THC and metabolites rise and fall so dramatically in the former user’s blood and urine.  This research begins to unravel that mystery and shows us that stress and diet may have much to do with it.  The research has not yet been replicated in humans, but this gives scientists a clue to study further.

My not-so-scientific analysis?  If you’re trying to pass a drug test, stop smoking pot for a few weeks, chill out, and eat a Twinkie.

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Well, it’s not that graphic, it’s just shocking.

I think the lesson here is: don’t drive stoned, but if you do, don’t stop to switch drivers!

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Help us end the 21st century prohibition! Join NORML today!

I am now NORML’s National Chapter Outreach Coordinator.  In that capacity, I receive the emails from people all across the country looking to join NORML.  We currently have 64 chapters and 47 campus chapters in 38 states, and 8 international chapters.

I want a NORML chapter in all fifty states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.  I want double the number of chapters.  So I really need your help.

Just this last two weeks, I have received emails from budding activists (pun intended) looking to start NORML Chapters in Colorado, North Carolina, Alaska, Alabama, Florida (Miami), Missouri, Virginia, Idaho, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Mississippi, Vermont, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Kansas, as well as four new college chapter inquiries and inquiries from Australia, Japan, Guam, and Mexico (Cuidad Juarez).

I work to put the people in the same state in touch with each other because the hardest thing about forming a NORML Chapter isn’t finding the guy or gal to lead, it’s finding the other four people to form your board.

So Stashers, if you’re in one of the above-named states or countries and you’d like to get on board with a new local chapter, send me an email to stash@norml.org with the subject “Join a Chapter” and I’ll hook you up.

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Uproar in Australia over plan to block Web sites (AP) by AP: Yahoo! Tech

SYDNEY, Australia – A proposed Internet filter dubbed the “Great Aussie Firewall” is promising to make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among democratic countries.

Consumers, civil-rights activists, engineers, Internet providers and politicians from opposition parties are among the critics of a mandatory Internet filter that would block at least 1,300 Web sites prohibited by the government — mostly child pornography, excessive violence, instructions in crime or drug use and advocacy of terrorism.

First of all, it won’t work.  People that want those sites will still be able to get them, and people who are looking for something else like “breast cancer”, “sex education”, or “child porn arrests” won’t find what they’re looking for.

But what I’d notice in the context of this blog is “instructions in crime or drug use”.  That sounds very broad to me, and I wonder if that would mean pro-drug law reform sites like this one would be inaccessible “down under”?

It becomes a zen koan if you think about it.  We believe laws that punish the personal use of cannabis are wrong.  But personal use of cannabis is illegal, so does arguing against the existence of a crime advocate crime?  I don’t think so.  If you effectively ban people from discussing the righteousness of our laws, how can you have a democracy?

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We get an extra treat with today’s musical break because we also have a music video!  This is a song called “Marijuana Australiana” and it comes from a band Down Under called The Bushwackers.  They were one of Australia’s hottest bands in the 1980s and they are still touring, performing, and composing even today.  That’s about all I was able to find on them, and here is a page where you can find some of their music.

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Researchers explore marijuana and mental health
(PhysOrg.com) — A team of mental health experts from the University of Western Sydney say young people who have developed a dependence on cannabis are likely to continue using the drug following the diagnosis of a mental illness. 

To find out their reasons why, the Social Justice Social Change Research Centre (SJSC) at UWS will commence a study of the links between marijuana and mental health in 2009.

Cannabis is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. In Australia, forty to fifty percent of young people admit to trying cannabis at least once.

Associate Professor Meg Smith, the lead UWS researcher from SJSC, says a high proportion of people living with mental illness also have a co-occurring substance abuse problem.

“Experts are aware that cannabis use can precipitate the onset of mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals,” says Associate Professor Smith.

Actually, experts are doubtful of a causal link between cannabis use and schizophrenia.  According to data published in 2007 in the journalSchizophrenia Research, there were no statistically significant “differences in symptomology between schizophrenic patients who were or were not cannabis users” and that the findings “argue against a distinct schizophrenic-like psychosis caused by cannabis.”

“But little is known about why so many young people continue to use a drug that has direct negative impacts on their mental health.”

The study will focus on young people with a history of cannabis use between the ages of 18 and 30, with the ultimate aim of determining why they continued or ceased to use the drug.

Co-researcher from the School of Social Sciences at UWS, Sharyn McGee, says it can be difficult for carers and mental health workers to understand why a young person would choose to continue using a drug that adds to the complexity of their treatment and exacerbates their symptoms of mental illness.

“Aside from their base dependency on the drug, many young people who use cannabis do not see it as a problem. In fact, they may see the drug as a means of improving their self confidence, creativity or sexual prowess,” says Ms McGee.

“For some people, using cannabis can also have the benefits of relieving their symptoms of depression, alleviating cognitive difficulties and nullifying the side effects of some medications.”

Professors McGee and Smith, has it ever occurred to you that perhaps these young people are right?  Gee, how could people want to use something that makes them feel happy, creative, thoughtful, confident, and sexy, and it smooths out the meds?

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AFP: Smoke without ire: Aussie politicians admit using marijuana
SYDNEY (AFP) — Australia’s acting prime minister admitted Friday she had smoked marijuana as a university student, but said it was no big deal.

Julia Gillard’s disclosure in a radio interview followed a similar confession on television overnight by the leader of the opposition, multi-millionaire former merchant banker Malcolm Turnbull.

“At university, tried it, didn’t like it,” said Gillard, the deputy prime minister, who is standing in for Kevin Rudd while he attends the UN General Assembly in New York.

“I think probably many Australian adults would be able to make the same statement so I don’t think it matters one way or the other.”

Using the drug remains illegal in Australia.

Turnbull, who took over the leadership of the conservative Liberal Party earlier this month, said he regretted smoking dope.

“Yes, I’ve smoked pot,” he said, drawing laughter from the live studio audience before going on to say that he now considered it to have been a mistake.

“I think now, with what we know about marijuana, I think it is a very serious drug and it is a drug that we should strongly discourage everybody, be they young or old, but obviously particularly young people, from using.”

I guess this is progress.  We’ve gone from a point where admitting to smoking marijuana would cost you your political career to a point now where you can admit you smoked marijuana in the past, but only if it was in college and you claim you didn’t like it.

I call this the “yeah, like lots of people, I tried it, but I didn’t like getting high like those stoners!” defense.  And it reminds me of Hillary Clinton in the primaries this year trying to score political points by taking a shot of Crowl Royal with some barflies.  See, taking the highly potent alcohol drug in a dosage and manner intended to bring about inebriation, that just means you’re one of the regular folks.  But if you enjoyed smoking a joint in college twenty years ago, you must be one of those hippie-dippie free love communists!

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