Knesset outlaws sale of bongs, often used for marijuana consumption – Haaretz – Israel News
The Knesset Law, Constitution and Justice Committee approved on Sunday a law banning the sale of bongs — water pipes often used for the smoking of marijuana.

The law, which was approved in the second and third readings, prohibits the sale and import of apparatuses geared for the production and consumption of illicit drugs. The main objective of the new law is to put an end to the sale of bongs at stores adjacent to educational institutions.

The law stipulates that the punishment for the sale of bongs will not exceed five years incarceration. However, the Knesset committee withdrew the clause that prohibits the possession of paraphernalia used for personal drug use.

Even before the new law was approved, the existing law prohibited the sale and possession of devices used to produce or consume drugs, and even attached a maximum 20 year jail sentence as a penalty to such a crime, but the existing law is difficult to enforce because the courts insist that the device in question contain at least traces of illicit substances.

The new law still awaits approval in the second and third readings before the Knesset plenum.

If you think laws against marijuana are silly, try enforcing one against marijuana paraphernalia.  What, exactly, is the difference between an unused glass bong and a creative glass sculpture?  Under the old law, the glass “art” was paraphernalia once it has marijuana residue on it, but now, it’s illegal if it is “intended” for marijuana smoking.

We’ve seen this in other situations.  An article in this month’s High Times mentions how glass pipe importers have to not drill through the carb on pipes being imported and run a string through the pipe, because if the glass has one hole and is on a string, it’s “jewelry”, but if it has two holes, it is paraphernalia.

I anticipate clever Israeli stoners circumventing this law quite easily – unless Israel plans on making illegal two-liter soda bottles, apples, paper towel tubes, surgical tubing, little plastic bears that contain honey, or any of the myriad assortment of items with which one can fashion a bong.

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2008-05-19

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2008-05-16.mp3)

It’s Monday, May 19th, and it’s 4:20 somewhere in the world. I’m your host, “Radical” Russ Belville.

Don’t forget to your Congress at 202-224-3121, and tell your representative to support Barney Frank’s HR5843 bill that would legalize marijuana for personal use. Ending prohibition starts with you!

For our Political Activism day today, I’ve just got to tell you about my Sunday at the Waterfront in Portland, where me and 75,000 of my friends gathered to hear Senator Barack Obama. Check out the pictures, map, and video on my personal blog at RadicalRuss.com. It’s exhilarating to feel so many people gathered for political change and awareness, and it’s my goal to bring that wave of change toward ending adult marijuana prohibition. It’s time for a change and it starts with you.

Today we start our Political Activism day halfway around the world to New Zealand, where we spoke with New Zealand NORML’s Chris Fowlie about their Global Marijuana March, or as they call it, “J-Day”.

For our musical break on Blues Monday we’ve got Julian Fauth, a contemporary bluesman from Toronto, Canada. Cannabis Karri picked out “Roll on In” – is it a tribute to great joint rollers? Stay tuned and find out. (If it is, it ain’t about me. I’m a lousy joint roller.)

To conclude our Stash we welcome back new NORML Dad, Deputy Director Paul Armentano. Our international flavor continues as Paul breaks down research from Israel comparing the driving effects of mild doses of cannabis vs. alcohol on drivers.

We’ve also got another great NORML Pass the Stash contest. This time you could win the uncensored DVD of “Totally Baked”, written by Craig Shoemaker (a guest on the Stash). Bonus for you Stashers: it’s autographed by the Executive Producer, Brian Johnson, the lead singer of AC/DC! No joke, there are even three brand new Brian Johnson songs on the DVD. Listen for details later in the podcast on how you can win.

And remember, if you are a business or non-profit who’d like your message heard on the Daily Audio Stash or the NORML Weekly News, you can advertise with us. We have rates for every budget and a 10% discount for non-profits. Just send us an email at stash ‘at’ norml.org and we’ll have you on the air in no time.

So sit back and relax with a good friend and your favorite strain, it’s time for your NORML Daily Audio Stash.

New anti-drug campaign equates smoking pot with terrorism – Haaretz – Israel News
Israel’s Anti-Drug Authority has launched a new campaign featuring Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, aimed at deterring Israelis from smoking marijuana.As part of the campaign, the authority has published a poster showing the Hezbollah leader emerging genie-like from a bong.

Underneath the image, the poster reads: “Hezbollah is clearly planning to flood Israel with narcotics. Narcotics pose a strategic threat to Israeli society. Whoever uses narcotics is giving a hand to the next terrorist attack.”

The Israeli media last week quoted senior Israeli security sources as saying that Hezbollah is planning to flood Israel with drugs in an effort to harm its citizens.

Police and IDF troops on the same day stopped the largest shipment of pure heroin ever to be intercepted on Israel’s border with Lebanon, a total of 32.5 kilograms, with an estimated street value of NIS 30 million.

Gee, Israel’s only five years behind the US effort to link bongs with bombs and tokin’ with terrorism in an ad campaign that was roundly criticized not only for the idiocy of its message, but for the fact that the ads had the opposite of the intended effect – adults and teens distrust these alarmist messages and rates of use and favorable perceptions of marijuana among teens may actually increase.

Plus, how exactly is it that Hezbollah forces these helpless Israeli citizens to take drugs? Doesn’t there have to be a demand for drugs in order for the so-called “flood” strategy to be effective? I also wonder how much of that pure heroin originated from Afghanistan, where we’ve let the Taliban regain power from the profits of the country’s farmers producing most of the world’s heroin? Wouldn’t it be more strategic to focus on terrorists’ production of heroin than to demonize Israeli pot smokers?

Terrorists are making their money from heroin, not marijuana. Even so, a heroin addict is not to blame for Hezbollah’s profit from drug dealing, prohibition is to blame. If that heroin addict was getting a maintenance dose from a government clinic, there would be less profit for Hezbollah.

Israeli Research Shows Cannabidiol May Slow Alzheimer’s Disease – Inside Israel – Israel News – Arutz Sheva
(IsraelNN.com) The initial findings of a study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem show that a non-psychoactive component of cannabis, marijuana, may hold out hope for slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

The research, still at an early stage, indicates that memory loss, the first and primary symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, can be slowed down significantly in mice by cannabidiol.

Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, affects some 24.3 million people worldwide.

Well, this sure looks promising! But who wants to bet that their idea here is to synthesize cannabis, remove the CBD molecule and process it into a bar-coded, profit-laden pharmaceutical? C’mon, any takers, tokers?

Although the findings look promising, Professor Mechoulam warned that Alzheimer’s patients should not use cannabis itself because THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, could have the opposite effect and have damaging effects on the memory.

I win. Despite all the studies showing that the only effect on memory caused by THC is while you’re high, and that even the heaviest THC exposure only slightly affects the formation of new memories, he just had to go there, didn’t he?

Mechoulam was the first scientist to isolate the THC component of cannabis and later discovered the first endo-cannabinoid.

Dr. Clive Ballard, director of research for the UK Alzheimer’s Society, called for further research into the use of cannabis as a treatment option, saying, “We need robust clinical trials into the potential benefits of non-psychoactive components of cannabis. It is important for people to note that these treatments are not the same as recreational cannabis use, which can be potentially harmful.”