Medical cannabis proves miraculous for terminally-ill pets

- By Jonathan Benson - May 06, 2014

If your pet was sick, you would do anything possible to help it get better, right? Well the verdict is in, and medical cannabis is the way to go. Pet owners everywhere, thanks to the devoted work of people like California veterinarian Dr. Doug Kramer (who unfortunately passed away last summer), are coming to the realization that cannabis works, and that prohibition of a substance with such limitless therapeutic potential is a waste of resources and an affront to health freedom.

During an interview last spring with Vice.com, Dr. Kramer, who was also known as "The Vet Guru," provided insight into the beneficial effects of cannabis for pets. A longtime advocate of the therapy, Dr. Kramer told the story of how he was first introduced to the idea through one of his clients who successfully treated her terminally-ill dog Nikita, who had been diagnosed with "untreatable" cancer, using medical cannabis.

"She had a pet that was not responding well to any of the pain medications or the steroids that we were giving it, and she wanted to talk about getting medical marijuana," explained Dr. Kramer to Vice.com's Harry Cheadle. "She had gone through all of the traditional pain medications, even steroids. When it became clear that she was nearing the end, that's when she had nothing to lose, as long as it didn't hurt her. At the first dosage, she was up and around."

Dr. Kramer quickly learned that the therapy could be applied to all sorts of medical conditions, and that it worked safely without causing harmful side effects. As a result, he became somewhat of a pariah within his profession, at least initially, as he began to treat more and more pets with medical cannabis. Prior to his untimely death last August, he had been aggressively advocating for more widespread acceptance and legalization of the plant for veterinary purposes.

"Any animal that has the cannabinoid receptors would respond [to THC] the same way we do," he stated, noting that delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, one of the primary active ingredients in medical cannabis, helps alleviate chronic pain, reduce nausea, spur appetite and in many ways improve quality of life for mammals, including humans. "There are studies out there that show that pigs, chickens, monkeys, and rats all have those same receptors."

Cannabis as a first choice for health rather than a last resort

During a separate interview with Mother Jones, Dr. Kramer also told of how other pet owners had used medical cannabis to treat chronic arthritis in cats. One woman, he explained, even used cannabis-infused butter to treat her sick horse, which suffered from a foot condition known as laminitis. The solution helped ease the horse's swelling, allowing it to function as normal.

"A glycerin tincture is, to me, by far the optimal way to administer it because it offers the greatest accuracy in dosing," he said. "It's also sweet tasting. Obviously you can make it into butter or oil, so anything that you can cook or make with butter or oil would work, like homemade dog biscuits."

And while many pet owners might consider medical cannabis only as a last resort when all else has failed, its track record of success suggests that it might be better off as the primary choice. In fact, based on the way the cannabinoid receptors in mammalian physiology respond to cannabis, it may even be beneficial to preventatively use the plant in disease prevention.

"I cured my dog's brain tumor with cannabis oil," wrote one affirming Vice.com commenter. "It took only 3 1/2 weeks and both seizures and hallucinations have stopped. It's now been almost 6 months and she has had no recurring episodes."

Sources for this article include:

http://www.vice.com

http://newsfeed.time.com

http://thedailygolden.com

How microbes in the gut influence anxiety, depression

- By Carolanne Wright - May 05, 2014

We may not give much thought to the 100 trillion microbes living within our guts, but new discoveries within psychiatry have found that these organisms can profoundly affect our moods. In fact, psychiatrists are now exploring the possibility of manipulating these microscopic populations with the goal of treating clinical depression and anxiety -- all without resorting to potentially harmful pharmaceutical drugs.

The mind-gut connection

The bidirectional link between the emotions and the gut is nothing new. Scientists have long known that the enteric nervous system (ENS) found within the gut is connected to the brain via the vagus nerve, and is so influential that it's often referred to as the "second brain." When we experience sadness, fear or another emotional state, the gut is affected. And yet, the reverse is also true. When imbalances within the gut are present, such as inflammation or an infection, our emotional state suffers as well.

Researchers have taken these findings a step further by examining how actual microbes within the gut alter behavior and mood. Premysl Bercik, an associate professor of gastroenterology at McMaster University, is one of the first scientists who made the leap from how microbiota impact gut function to how they shape emotions. Bercik realized that a significant portion of his patients were not only suffering from gastrointestinal maladies, but also substantial depression and anxiety.

Digging deeper, Bercik and his team discovered "mild gut inflammation caused by chronic parasitic infection... induces anxiety-like behavior in mice." The following year (in 2011) the team published research that demonstrated how gut microbes influence behavior in mice. According to the AltNet piece, "How the Microbes Living in Your Gut Might Be Making You Anxious or Depressed":

"One study compared conventional and germ-free mice, finding behavioral and brain chemistry differences between the two groups.

They began with two different types of mice, Balb/c and NIH Swiss. Balb/c mice are traditionally timid and exhibit anxiety-like behavior, whereas NIH Swiss mice are known for being daring and adventurous. In addition to differing in behavior, these types of mice also differ in the composition of their gut microbes.

The scientists raised control mice of each type as well as germ-free mice of each type. When the mice reached adulthood, they colonized some of the Balb/c germ-free mice with normal Balb/c mouse gut microbes and they colonized another group with typical NIH Swiss mouse gut microbes. They did the same with the germ-free NIH Swiss mice.

When "we colonized [them] with their own microbiota," explains Bercik, they "basically reproduced the same behavior in the normal conventional mice." Balb/c mice remained timid, and NIH Swiss mice remained daring "with a high exploratory drive."

But when they colonized the Balb/c mice with NIH Swiss microbes, "they became more daring, their exploratory behavior increased. And the opposite happened with the other." NIH Swiss mice colonized with Balb/c mouse microbes became more timid and anxious. "Which would suggest that gut microbiota modulates or has an effect on behavior."'

Although still in its infancy, many in the psychiatric profession are taking this line of study to heart. Emily Deans, M.D., a psychiatrist in Massachusetts, reminds us that gut bacteria Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium produce the chill-out neurotransmitter known as GABA, while Bacillus and Serratia produce dopamine -- a neurotransmitter that activates the reward and pleasure centers of the brain. She admits that there is still much we don't know about how microorganisms in the gut influence emotion and moods. Even so, there is enough solid evidence to support a daily habit of consuming probiotic-rich foods such as yogurt, kefir, kombucha and fermented vegetables - or a probiotic supplement - to encourage balanced moods and a bright outlook.

Sources for this article include:

http://science.naturalnews.com/pubmed/15220671.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24690573

http://farncombe.mcmaster.ca

http://www.nleducation.co.uk

http://www.psychologytoday.com

About the author:

Carolanne believes if we want to see change in the world, we need to be the change. As a nutritionist, natural foods chef and wellness coach, she has encouraged others to embrace a healthy lifestyle of green living for over 13 years. Through her website www.Thrive-Living.net, she looks forward to connecting with other like-minded people who share a similar vision.

Follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Thrive-Living/4995788...

For Pinterest fans: www.pinterest.com/thriveliving/

Annual GWPF Lecture - Prof Richard Lindzen - Global Warming For The Two Cultures

Prof. Richard Lindzen Confirms The Climate Alarm Is Based On Bogus Science

Published: October 15, 2018

Annual GWPF Lecture - Prof Richard Lindzen - Global Warming For The Two Cultures - London 8 October 2018 - Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Richard Lindzen, an atmospheric scientist, was Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT from 1983 until his retirement in 2013. Currently he is a Distinguished Senior Fellow in Cato Institute's Center for the Study of Science.

This talk is a brilliant takedown of the alarmists' bogus arguments. It is extracted from his 2018 Global Warming Policy Foundation lecture below. He provides both the political and scientific reasons why the climate scare is unwarranted and that additional CO2 is to be welcomed as plant food. (The fuller talk, for those interested, also outlines the way the climate actually works.)

Pseudo science and pretend pride of the fool intellectuals that they also "know" and "respect" science (he cites CP Snow's brilliant insights into this tendency, which I've edited out of the talk to keep it short) keeps this nonsensical and harmful alarm going.

But as he rightly notes, the middle classes are not fooled. The middle class have universally (except possibly in India, yet) rejected climate alarm. That is the only saving grace in this evolving socialist nightmare. Our only hope is the common sense of the middle class.

This e-mail below was received from the Whitehouse, today, May 6, 2014

Hi, everyone --

Today, we released the third National Climate Assessment report, by far the most comprehensive look ever at climate change impacts in the United States.

Based on four years of work by hundreds of experts from government, academia, corporations, and public-interest organizations, the Assessment confirms abundant data and examples that climate change isn't some distant threat -- it's affecting us now.

Not only are the planet and the nation warming on average, but a number of types of extreme weather events linked to climate change have become more frequent or intense in many regions, including heat waves, droughts, heavy downpours, floods, and some kinds of destructive storms.

The good news is that there are sensible steps that we can take to protect this country and the planet.

Those steps include, importantly, the three sets of actions making up the Climate Action Plan that President Obama announced last June: cutting carbon pollution in America; increasing preparedness for and resilience to the changes in climate that already are ongoing; and leading the international response to the climate change challenge.

We've made great progress in the year since his announcement -- but there's much more work to be done.

Watch this short video to learn more about the new report and see how climate change is affecting people across the United States today:

Dr. John Holdren, President Obama's Science Advisor, introduces the National Climate Assessment and discusses President Obama's climate action plan which takes an all of the above energy approach towards combatting climate change now. Learn more at http://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change

Explore the full report, and find out how you can help -- because every one of us has to do his or her part to meet the challenge of climate change.

Thank you,

John

Dr. John P. Holdren
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
The White House
http://www.globalchange.gov/