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JJ the Gardener

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  1. Oregon’s marijuana glut forces growers to make hard choices By Lily Raff McCaulou, Rolling Stone https://nypost.com/2018/07/20/oregons-marijuana-glut-forces-growers-to-make-hard-choices/ John Plummer, founder and co-owner of Bull Run Craft Cannabis in Boring, Oregon, got his first hint that the state was careening toward a marijuana glut two years ago. In early 2016, his company received one of Oregon’s first few licenses to grow recreational cannabis. In June of that year, Plummer and one of his employees stood third in line to pay at Camps True Value Hardware, in nearby Gresham. They were buying lumber to fence a temporary outdoor operation that would ensure a quick harvest while they set up their more labor-intensive indoor facility. The cashier asked the couple at the front of the line what they were building. “Recreational marijuana is legal now, so we’re going to start farming it,” Plummer overheard the couple say. The next people in line, an older couple, chimed in that they, too, were building a space to grow recreational cannabis. Plummer and his employee glanced at each other, eyebrows raised. Every person in line at the lumber store was farming cannabis. Two years later, Plummer laughs as he recounts the absurdity of the scene. “I mean, what are the chances?” Plummer says. Pretty good, it turns out. Oregon now has 1,012 licensed growers, with another 956 in the process of obtaining licenses. All those growers in a state with just four million residents has resulted in a mountain of marijuana. Nearly one million pounds of usable flower remains unsold — about three times what consumers purchased in all of 2017. Prices of the recreational drug have plummeted, with dispensaries selling pre-rolled joints for $1, less than the price of a cigarette. That leaves growers to face tough decisions. Some are getting out of the business altogether. Others are struggling to stay afloat. If the product can’t be sold before it goes bad, the legal method of disposal is to burn or compost it. For growers with no other options, that means churning all their hard work and money back into the soil or igniting it into an expensive, fragrant bonfire. Officials say desperate growers are increasingly turning to the black market. When Oregon launched its recreational cannabis program in 2016, the first growers’ licenses were issued just six months before retail dispensaries opened shop. Plummer and two of his business partners, growers Steve Bailey and “EZ Mike” Scarbrough, were waiting at a computer the morning that Oregon put its application online. Then it was a mad dash to get their product on shelves in time for shops to open. That fall, Oregon growers harvested about one million pounds of wet-weight cannabis, according to the state tracking system. Processing shrunk that down – drying weed cuts it to about a quarter of its original weight – and consumers snatched it up. Demand was high and prices were astronomical. Robin Cordell, co-founder and owner of Oregon Girl Gardens LLC, was a little slower to set up her farm. Cordell has a degree in horticulture and opened the business with her brother and sister-in-law on a swath of overgrown land behind their parents’ house. She had no trouble selling her first few harvests in early 2017. “One distributor said to me, ‘We’ll take whatever you have and we’ll pay whatever you want for it,’” she says. “You could make a very good living at $2,000 a pound.” But those prices didn’t last long, and expenses kept mounting. Cordell says she had trouble keeping up with regulations, not only from the state but the county. The two standard greenhouse fans she bought, for example, were considered too loud given the building’s proximity to her property line. To stay in compliance, she had to replace the fans with five smaller, indoor-rated fans. She says that switch cost her an extra $2,000. Meanwhile, more growers were coming online and adding to the state’s supply. David Fowler became interested in cannabis in 2014, after it helped him overcome a chronic sleep problem. An empty nester with ample savings, the civil engineer-turned-financial advisor longed to start his own business on the side. Fowler decided to start small. He purchased property that he felt confident he could turn around and sell, regardless of the state of the cannabis industry. The property had an old farmhouse on it, which Fowler converted into an indoor grow facility, doing most of the construction himself. “We started taking our product around, just to get an idea of what dispensaries would think about it,” Fowler says. “This was in July 2016. Everybody back then was in desperate need of indoor (high-quality) flower.” But it was January 2017 by the time Fowler’s operation was licensed. The first harvest was in May 2017, when prices were still high, around $2,300 to $2,500 per pound. That was more than he had counted on. In his business plan, Fowler had penciled in a per-pound price of $1,400, to play it safe. “You can’t get any loans in this business, and I knew that from the time we started, we would have zero cash flow for the first five or six months, so I made operations really cheap,” he says. After a few months, prices slipped to $1,900 per pound. Then, in October 2017, Oregon growers harvested 2.5 million pounds of wet-weight cannabis – more than twice the previous year’s crop. By then, there were hundreds more indoor grow operations, too, which harvest regularly throughout the year. Prices dropped to $1,200 per pound, and Fowler grew frustrated with dispensary managers. “You would start having this relationship where they would say, ‘We’ll take two pounds this week and then in two weeks, bring me another pound.’ Eight times out of ten when you called to say ‘I’ve got your next order ready,’ they’d say, ‘Give me a couple more days.’ And then when you called back, they’d say, ‘Oh, someone came in yesterday and we bought all their product,’” he says. When dispensaries did buy a pound or two, they didn’t pay much. Fowler was getting offers for $800 per pound. He laid off three of his four employees, so only he and the master grower remained. Farming is always hard work, but cannabis involves a particularly labor-intensive routine after harvest, to dry the flower and trim it without compromising quality. Fowler and his grower were working around the clock. And Fowler still had a day job. Even with no employees, the operation was barely breaking even. About a year into the venture, Fowler put his farm on the market. He sold it this month for a little more than he paid for the land. “It was a good time to get out,” he says. Fowler recently dropped his last 40 pounds of cannabis off at a processor who turned it into extract and split the sale price with him. When he looks back on his experience, he mostly feels relief that it’s over. He thinks it will take years for the market to stabilize. “The only way to really enjoy it is to have 10 employees,” he says. “I know what it takes to get to that level – you have to be producing 800 pounds a year and bringing in $1 million. We were at a point where we could do 300 to 350 pounds a year.” Fowler estimates that he lost between $50,000 and $60,000 in his venture, and says he feels lucky about that figure. “People in the business,” he says, “hear what I lost and say, ‘That’s it?’” In January, with prices plummeting due to oversupply, Cordell’s relatives decided to pull out of their company, leaving her to run the operation herself. She says she is not currently speaking with her brother and sister-in-law and compares the fallout to going through a divorce. She plans to grow medicinal cannabis this year and eventually switch to hemp. She also intends to grow food and medicinal herbs and to start teaching classes on gardening and making therapeutic food and body products. “I’m just looking for things that not everyone is doing,” she says. “This is the life a lot of people want to live.” Plummer, on the other hand, is sticking it out. Bull Run Craft Cannabis has marketed its organic farming practices and its carefully curated strains. “We’re kind of the ‘soccer mom’ brand right now,” he says, “and we’re really proud of that.” Plummer has decades of experience building small businesses in Portland that overcome stark odds. He owns a popular bar and music venue, and he owned a shoe store that thrived downtown for more than 20 years despite the rise of big box stores and online behemoths. Besides, Plummer and his partners are not strangers to risk. Back in 1998, “EZ Mike” Scarbrough served 90 days in jail for growing five marijuana plants under a light in his closet. “I was really lucky to be in a tolerant state,” he says of the experience. Scarbrough had moved a couple of years earlier from Utah, where the same activity could have resulted in a seven-year sentence. His record was expunged in 2015, and 10 years after he was released from jail, he applied for and received a license to grow medical marijuana in Oregon. But today, Scarbrough’s “tolerant state” has caused new headaches. Unlike Washington and Colorado, which control the number of cannabis licensees and who can invest in them, Oregon has taken a free-market approach, with no caps on licenses issued or out-of-state investment. “The marketplace is a closed system,” Plummer says. “We’re producing, producing, producing, which would be great if it were like our craft beer industry or our wine industry, which sells all over the world.” Instead, it remains federally illegal to transport cannabis across state lines. Last month, Oregon’s US Attorney, Billy Williams, issued a memo challenging the state to do something about its oversupply issue, and vowing to crack down on the illegal black market. In a press conference, he said large amounts of Oregon-grown marijuana have been seized in 30 states. Earlier this year, Oregon lawmakers earmarked an additional $1.5 million in law enforcement, to crack down on the illegal cannabis market. “Everybody in the industry knows someone who is doing something shady if not outright illegal,” Plummer tells us. “There are only three choices: sell it legally, dispose of it legally or do something illegal.” Cordell says she wishes there were a legal avenue for donating unsold product to low-income patients, for example. “It would take some crappy options off people’s plates,” she says. Plummer says once-friendly relationships between growers have turned sour and suspicious. He says he’s heard of growers reporting violations to the state that they spotted on other growers’ social media feeds. Oregon uses a seed-to-sale tracking system to log recreational cannabis as it’s grown, processed and sold. State code instructs growers to dispose of any cannabis they can’t sell by composting it, burning it or dumping it in a landfill. Any product that can’t be sold has to be marked for disposal in the online tracking system and then stored on the premises for at least three days before it’s discarded, so inspectors can stop by to verify. As cannabis has piled up, disposal of usable marijuana has increased. In March 2017, growers destroyed about 3,367 pounds of usable marijuana, according to the state tracking system. In March of 2018, growers destroyed 13,976 pounds. The agency that handles licensing and compliance recently stopped accepting new applications, from June 15 until at least January 2019, but a spokesman says that decision had nothing to do with concerns about illegal activity. Mark Pettinger, of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, says it was based on a simple backlog of applications. Despite turmoil in the market, people are still lined up to go into the cannabis business. “We foresee it taking six to nine months for us to get through the work we already have,” Pettinger says of the licensing backlog. He adds that only the state legislature – which next convenes in February 2019 – has the power to cap licenses. “We can’t do it unilaterally,” he says of his agency. Growers say they expect it will take several years for the oversupply to work itself out. Plummer remains optimistic that the federal government will eventually legalize cannabis. If that happens, he thinks whatever Oregon producers remain in business will be poised for success. Oregon growers are engaged in the agricultural equivalent of an arms race to produce cannabis that stands out from the competition. “One positive of all of this is that Oregon is producing the most scrutinized weed that the world has ever seen,” Scarbrough says. “We’ll take the Pepsi Challenge with anyone right now.” Tris Reisfar is co-owner of Blazing Trails, a cannabis tour company in Bend, Oregon. Many of his tours turn into de facto consulting sessions. “Lots of people who come visit are dreaming of getting into the industry,” he says. Reisfar is honest with them. He tells them that prices have plummeted, that growers are desperate. He tells them about growers who lost their life savings, even their homes. None of it dulls the twinkle in peoples’ eyes. “They hear me, but they don’t really hear me,” he says. Plummer compares the current market to the Gold Rush, when people were dying and losing everything they owned, yet hordes more kept flooding into California to pan for gold. “There’s this romantic idea, it doesn’t matter that it’s not reality,” Plummer says. Even Plummer can’t really help himself. He still sees opportunities. “My mom’s a senior citizen and she won’t stop talking to her friends about her pot cream that helps her arthritis so much. I keep expecting to see the farm that sort of brands itself as the senior citizen brand,” he says. “That would be a really smart move.”
  2. Thank you for sharing. I hope to hear about more about the improvements good sleep and breathing has done for you. As well as anything you can add from your experience to helpful hints. It all goes to help others who will follow later.
  3. Medical Disclaimer 01 - Personal Energy - Understanding Stress and Our Energies 02 - Personal Energy - Energy and Stress Management - Breathing Part 1 - Understanding Breathing and Breathing Test 03 - Personal Energy - Energy and Stress Management - Breathing Part 2 04 - Sleep and its meaning to energy and life Sleep Sleep like breathing is often something we typically take for granted. However, as in breathing, we often do it wrong and form habits that are detrimental to our daily energies and to our health in ways that we seldom appreciate. Typically this process happens when we are kids. For example, look at young children today and see how wide awake and full of energy they have when they awake, this is in part due to healthy sleep. As children they tend to have bed times on a regular schedule and thus they do not suffer from sleep deprivation or a short sleep. At the same time it is often the desire of the child to stay up late and they will tend to find ways to be able to stay up late at every opportunity. It is in this that we typically begin the process that later will develop into sleep deprivation as we learn to get by with less sleep. Almost as a right of age is that we can stay up as late as we want and for most, the effect of this is dramatic on our energy and our health. The centers for disease control has listed insufficient sleep as a public health epidemic. TEDx Talks The following are just an example of the lures that can keep people from sleeping correctly. Watching late movies, Going out or to parties into early morning hours, Playing video games into late to early morning hours, Working late hours, Economic stresses, Parental aspects, baby and small child, Social aspects, Emotional or physical distress. Finding solutions to address these issues will help eliminate those sleep deprivation aspects and in a short period of time you can begin to enjoy the life you want to enjoy with energy and give yourself the capability to be healthy. We will talk more on that in a bit but first lets discuss the process of sleep. The Sleep Process Understanding our sleep cycle is not just to educate on the issue but to understand what is happening when we sleep. This is important when it comes to addressing negative sleep issues and potentially in our sleep management. The stages of sleep: Stage 1 is light sleep where you drift in and out of sleep and can be awakened easily. In this stage, the eyes move slowly and muscle activity slows. During this stage, many people experience sudden muscle contractions preceded by a sensation of falling. Stage 2, eye movement stops and brain waves become slower with only an occasional burst of rapid brain waves. The body begins to prepare for deep sleep, as the body temperature begins to drop and the heart rates slows. Adults spend nearly half of sleep time in stage 2, Stage 3, (Deep Sleep) extremely slow brain waves called delta waves are interspersed with smaller, faster waves. This is deep sleep. It is during this stage that a person may experience sleepwalking, night terrors, talking during one’s sleep, and bedwetting. These behaviors are known as parasomnias, and tend to occur during the transitions between non-REM and REM sleep. Stage 4, (Deep sleep continues) as the brain produces delta waves almost exclusively. People roused from this state feel disoriented for a few minutes. In both deep sleep stages of 3 and 4 A reduction in sleep drive, and provides the most restorative sleep of all the sleep stages. This is why if you take a short nap (power nap) during the day, you’re still able to fall asleep at night. However if you take a nap long enough to fall into deep sleep, you have more difficulty falling asleep at night because you reduced your need for sleep. Human growth hormone is released and restores your body and muscles from the stresses of the day. Your immune system restores itself. It may be during this stage that the brain also refreshes itself for new learning the following day. In stage 5, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, brain waves mimic activity during the waking state. The eyes remain closed but move rapidly from side-to-side, perhaps related to the intense dream and brain activity that occurs during this stage. Dreams occur at this stage of sleep. Infants spend almost 50% of their time in REM sleep. Adults spend about 20% in REM Older adults spend progressively less time in REM sleep. REM occurs during the second half of sleep. REM sleep typically begins about 90 minutes after you first fall asleep, with the first REM cycle lasting about 10 minutes. Each successive REM cycle last longer, with the final REM stage lasting up to 1 hour. Most people experience three to five intervals of REM sleep each night. Waking may occur after REM. If the waking period is long enough, the person may remember it the next morning. Short awakenings may disappear with amnesia. In the REM period, breathing becomes more rapid, irregular and shallow, eyes jerk rapidly and limb muscles are temporarily paralyzed. Brain waves during this stage increase to levels experienced when a person is awake. Heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, males can develop erections and the body loses some of the ability to regulate its temperature. Younger men often wake up with erections or sometimes referred to as morning wood. The Sleep Cycle The sleep cycle is the period of time it takes a person to progress through the sleep stages however a person does not simply progress from stage 1 to stage 5. There is a gearing up and gearing down sort of like a stick shift in a vehicle. The sleep cycle progress through the stages of non-REM sleep from light to deep sleep, then reverse back from deep sleep to light sleep, ending with time in REM sleep before starting over in light sleep again. This cycle typically repeats 4 to 5 times a night. For example, A typical sleep cycle order looks something like this: Stage 1 (light sleep) – Stage 2 (light sleep) – Stage 3 (deep sleep) – Stage 2 (light sleep) – Stage 1 (light sleep) – REM Sleep After REM sleep, the individual returns to stage 1 of light sleep and begins a new cycle. As the night progresses, individuals spend increasingly more time in REM sleep and correspondingly less time in deep sleep. The first sleep cycle takes about 90 minutes. After that, they average between 100 to 120 minutes spending more time in REM sleep as the cycles progress. Effects of lack of sleep TED-Ed We all are familiar with being sleepy and needing some restful sleep as we have all experienced this need for sleep but outside of being sleepy and perhaps a bit cranky to confused do you really understand what is going on when we miss correct sleep? Sleep and Performance In a study published in 2003 in the Journal of Sleep Research, 66 In a study published in 2003 in the Journal of Sleep Research, They were tested regularly on a psychomotor vigilance task. 66 normal volunteers spent either 3, 5, 7 or nine hours daily time in bed for one week. This was followed by three days of recovery with eight hours daily time in bed for recovery. When people were held to sleep deprivation of either 7 or 5 hours per night performance decreased but then stabilized. This stabilization remained even after 3 days or normal/recovery sleep. The people only getting 3 hours of sleep per night declined in performance over the seven days. Even after three days of recovery in regular sleep, they were still under-performing compared to everyone else. The people getting 9 hours of sleep performed better than everyone else across the week of the experiment. They also continued to perform better even after the sleep-deprived participants got more sleep in a recovery phase The authors of the study concluded that the brain does adapt to chronic sleep restriction, but we adapt at a reduced level of performance. This illustrates that our bodies will adjust to our sleep patterns but with a decrease in performance and it is unlikely that in our day to day functions that we realize this decrease in performance with 5 to 7 hours sleep. It also shows that catching up on sleep does not effectively restore our performance levels. How to Reset your sleep schedule. This will help you restore healthy sleep patterns. Adjust sleep in 15 minute small increments, adjusting no more than 15 minutes earlier every two to three days. This will help your body to adjust to the new schedule. It can take 2 to 3 weeks to properly adjust to your new schedule. Sleep Deprivation Effects Sleep deprivation reduces your ability to make good decisions about sleep. People who consistently get six hours of sleep a night report that they have adapted to function on less sleep. However, actual investigations of their mental alertness and mental performance show that they are suffering the effects of sleep deprivation In terms of efficiency getting sufficient sleep is one of the best health-promoting decisions you can make. Consider the common cold. Adults who sleep fewer than seven hours per night are almost three times more likely to get sick when exposed to a cold virus than adults who sleep eight or more hours a night. Prioritizing eight hours of sleep per night can save you days of productivity lost to sickness Sleep is part of the process that regulates our body’s natural DNA repair. When you don’t sleep, you disrupt the body’s natural healing process, which can make you more susceptible to chronic diseases such as cancer. Sleep deprivation can affect postmenopausal women with breast cancer who routinely sleep less than six hours per night. They may be twice as likely to have more aggressive breast cancers as those who sleep more. Lack of sleep can also make you more susceptible to mental health disorders. In fact, after just 24 hours of sleep deprivation, healthy people exhibit symptoms of schizophrenia, including reduced inhibition, attention deficits, a sensitivity to light color and brightness, an altered sense of smell and time. Lack of sleep can literally create psychological and psychiatric dysfunction. Sleep-deprived people have impaired judgment. One Swedish studies asked people to go shopping twice with a fixed amount of money. When the same people went shopping while sleep deprived. They bought more food overall, and more fatty and unhealthy food options in particular Sleep is also involved in how we learn and remember. In one study, preschoolers worked on a memory game, and then either stayed awake or took a nap that was about an hour and 15 minutes long. Then they played the memory game again. When they stayed awake, they forgot 15 percent of what they learned. When they napped, they remembered everything Sleep also matters for preserving long-term memory. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health say that interventions to improve sleep quality may help to prevent or slow the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. how Sleep helps. Sleep helps promote health is through growth hormone which is primarily secreted at night, while you are sleeping In kids, growth hormone is a primary factor in growth. In adults, growth hormone is critical to maintaining and repairing tissues and organs. Sleep also keeps you safe. Consider that a blood alcohol level of 0.08 is considered legally drunk. By 18 hours awake, your alertness level is comparable to someone with a 0.05 alcohol level while not necessarily legally drunk, but certainly tipsy. By 24 hours awake, your alertness level and reflexes are comparable to a .01 alcohol level, which is drunk past the legal limit. Signs of aging, research from University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland shows that people who slept less had more visible signs of aging. Getting enough sleep may make you feel better about what you see in the mirror and that’s going to give you more energy. A moment on sleepy driving, a very deadly and life impacting problem. JoinTheDrive Long term effects We often know in a sense that reduced sleep is not good for us but often when the price is to be paid for this behavior it may be a bit on the side of too little too late in terms of correcting the developed issues, at least in a quick turn. Please appreciate that this damage may stay with us in part for the remainder of our lives depending on the severity. However, it is never too late to return to healthy sleep patterns and begin the process of renewal and healing. From the CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention As chronic diseases have assumed an increasingly common role in premature death and illness, interest in the role of sleep health in the development and management of chronic diseases has grown. Notably, insufficient sleep has been linked to the development and management of a number of chronic diseases and conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression. Diabetes: Research has found that insufficient sleep is linked to an increased risk for the development of Type 2 diabetes. Specifically, sleep duration and quality have emerged as predictors of levels of Hemoglobin A1c, an important marker of blood sugar control. Recent research suggests that optimizing sleep duration and quality may be important means of improving blood sugar control in persons with Type 2 diabetes. Cardiovascular Disease: Persons with sleep apnea have been found to be at increased risk for a number of cardiovascular diseases. Notably, hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease and irregular heartbeats (cardiac arrhythmias) have been found to be more common among those with disordered sleep than their peers without sleep abnormalities. Likewise, sleep apnea and hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) appear to share some common physiological characteristics, further suggesting that sleep apnea may be an important predictor of cardiovascular disease. Obesity: Laboratory research has found that short sleep duration results in metabolic changes that may be linked to obesity. Epidemiologic studies conducted in the community have also revealed an association between short sleep duration and excess body weight. This association has been reported in all age groups—but has been particularly pronounced in children. It is believed that sleep in childhood and adolescence is particularly important for brain development and that insufficient sleep in youngsters may adversely affect the function of a region of the brain known as the hypothalamus, which regulates appetite and the expenditure of energy.3 Depression: The relationship between sleep and depression is complex. While sleep disturbance has long been held to be an important symptom of depression, recent research has indicated that depressive symptoms may decrease once sleep apnea has been effectively treated and sufficient sleep restored. The inter-relatedness of sleep and depression suggests it is important that the sleep sufficiency of persons with depression be assessed and that symptoms of depression be monitored among persons with a sleep disorder. Common Sleep Disorders Insomnia: Insomnia is characterized by an inability to initiate or maintain sleep. It may also take the form of early morning awakening in which the individual awakens several hours early and is unable to resume sleeping. Difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep may often manifest itself as excessive daytime sleepiness, which characteristically results in functional impairment throughout the day. Before arriving at a diagnosis of primary insomnia, the healthcare provider will rule out other potential causes, such as other sleep disorders, side effects of medications, substance abuse, depression, or other previously undetected illness. Chronic psycho-physiological insomnia (or “learned” or “conditioned” insomnia) may result from a stressor combined with fear of being unable to sleep. Individuals with this condition may sleep better when not in their own beds. Health care providers may treat chronic insomnia with a combination of use of sedative-hypnotic or sedating antidepressant medications, along with behavioral techniques to promote regular sleep. Narcolepsy: Excessive daytime sleepiness (including episodes of irresistible sleepiness) combined with sudden muscle weakness are the hallmark signs of narcolepsy. The sudden muscle weakness seen in narcolepsy may be elicited by strong emotion or surprise. Episodes of narcolepsy have been described as “sleep attacks” and may occur in unusual circumstances, such as walking and other forms of physical activity. The healthcare provider may treat narcolepsy with stimulant medications combined with behavioral interventions, such as regularly scheduled naps, to minimize the potential disruptiveness of narcolepsy on the individual’s life. Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS): RLS is characterized by an unpleasant “creeping” sensation, often feeling like it is originating in the lower legs, but often associated with aches and pains throughout the legs. This often causes difficulty initiating sleep and is relieved by movement of the leg, such as walking or kicking. Abnormalities in the neurotransmitter dopamine have often been associated with RLS. Healthcare providers often combine a medication to help correct the underlying dopamine abnormality along with a medicine to promote sleep continuity in the treatment of RLS. Sleep Apnea: Snoring may be more than just an annoying habit – it may be a sign of sleep apnea. Persons with sleep apnea characteristically make periodic gasping or “snorting” noises, during which their sleep is momentarily interrupted. Those with sleep apnea may also experience excessive daytime sleepiness, as their sleep is commonly interrupted and may not feel restorative. Treatment of sleep apnea is dependent on its cause. Gentle air pressure administered during sleep (typically in the form of a nasal continuous positive airway pressure device) may also be effective in the treatment of sleep apnea. As interruption of regular breathing or obstruction of the airway during sleep can pose serious health complications, symptoms of sleep apnea should be taken seriously. Treatment should be sought from a health care provider. If other medical problems are present, such as congestive heart failure or nasal obstruction, sleep apnea may resolve with treatment of these conditions. Sleep management Naps can be a good way to boost your energy. Different naps have different purposes, and you should choose a nap based on what you need. A 90-minute nap clears the brain’s short-term memory storage and helps make room for you to learn new information. A 20-minute power nap primarily helps to boost alertness. A German study has found that a micro-nap as short as six minutes may help boost your memory Making up for lost sleep? Some people try to make up for limited sleep during the week by sleeping in on the weekends. That strategy has downsides. One research study found that the greater your average daily variation in wake-up time, the higher your body-fat percentage. People who have less than 30 minutes variation in their wake-up time have, on average, 6 percent less body fat than people who have 2 hours or more difference in their wake-up time. If you just try to clear your schedule and go to bed early one night, that can also backfire. Some sleep researchers state that it is easier to stay up an hour past your bedtime than it is to go to bed 15 minutes before your normal bedtime. If you are trying to get more sleep, you may need to move your bedtime up. Move your bedtime gradually, in 15-minute increments. That gives your body time to adjust and build a habit of rest Banking sleep. While you can’t really catch up on missed sleep, you might be able to bank it occasionally. If you have a work project coming up or a social outing that will require you to skimp on shut-eye, stock your sleep bank in advance by getting more sleep than normal. This will allow you to perform at a higher level even on limited sleep. Use this approach as a sleep emergency fund. It shouldn’t be your regular approach to sleep, but it’s good to know you can save up rest and have enough energy when you need it. Resetting sleep schedules. Adjust sleep in 15 minute small increments, adjusting no more than 15 minutes earlier every two to three days. This will help your body to adjust to the new schedule. It can take 2 to 3 weeks to properly adjust to your new schedule. Overcoming Sleep Barriers Disconnect: Another common sleep barrier is social interests and entertainment. The world is plugged in 24/7, and it’s hard to unplug when there are so many things to see and do and watch. This stimulation can keep you awake. Health and life Stresses: Health and life struggles with emotional or physical challenges that interrupt sleep can be a significant sleep barrier. These are challenges that will affect both your rest and your sleep, and you will have to identify personal adaptations to make rest possible. Professional help may be required. Mattress and Pillow. The physical condition of your sleep space matters: Evaluate how you sleep, where you experience pain, and your preferred sleep position to find the preferred mattress for you. Your pillow matters too. The type of pillow is going to depend on the position you prefer for sleeping. A good chiropractor or physical therapist can likely make recommendations about a pillow. Click for a video, not a mattress endorsement but a good video.(any good mattress that fits your sleep style is great) Routine is key. The lack of a consistent sleep routine can also disrupt sleep: The simplest way to improve your sleep quality is to build a consistent routine, both for life in general and for sleep in particular. It works for kids, and research shows that it works for adults. The light affect. In terms of your schedule, be aware of the effect of light of your sleep: Light in the day is good for your sleep. Light at bedtime and during the night is bad for your sleep. Blue light helps awaken and alert the brain. A study in the journal of Sleep Medicine reported that nighttime light exposure led to shallower sleep and more mini-arousal's. Waking up during sleep. Another common barrier to sleep is stress about sleep itself. For instance, you may have anxiety about waking up during the night: It can help to learn that waking up at night is completely normal. In fact, bimodal and segmented sleep is not unusual. A normal night’s sleep includes many mini-arousals that last only a few seconds; there can be as many as 3 to 15 per hour. Sometimes, especially as we get older and under stress, these mini-arousals may be full-on wake-ups, which can lead to sleep stress. Working on our anxiety about sleep itself can go a long way to helping us sleep better in spite of the mini-arousals. A study from Northwestern University found that when insomniacs practiced yoga for 15 to 20 minutes per day, twice per day for two months, they spent less time awake at night. Avoid large meals: Avoid large meals 2-3 hours before bed. Eating a snack before is ok. Easily digestible foods such as fruit is recommended. It forces your organs such as liver and pancreas to work at a time they should rest. In addition, if the caloric intake of a meal exceeds the amount you need for energy you will store this energy as you are unable to work or exercise this energy off. Eating at bed can also cause heartburn and this can lead to other health issues besides problematic sleeping. Exercising near bedtime can wake you up: Exercise can stimulate us and keep us awake. Exercise 2 hours before bed. Sleep Disorder struggles: If you consistently struggle with sleep quality and insomnia, a sleep-improvement program can be valuable. Your doctor can likely refer you to a sleep specialist. Some mental health providers specialize in behavioral sleep training. There are also online tools that can help. Such as an online sleep training program, which combines cognitive behavioral strategies with practical tools like sleep logs and progress charts. Summary Sleep is as most things one of the aspects of life that we tend to take for granted. We tend to believe we manage sleep with our life schedule but the reality is that sleep manages us and enables us to be at a level that is linked by our hours of restful sleep. We typically diminish our capabilities in this way without even knowing it. This aspect is rarely appreciated. This affect us physically, mentally and emotionally and can be a significant factor in all problematic areas. Without a charged and healthy battery, we do not function well nor efficient. Often we believe sacrificing sleep is a necessary aspect of life when we have responsibilities but we often fail to see the big picture and suffer the long term cost of our health. We may suffer for our families and responsibilities now but by not giving ourselves healthy restful sleep we will deny our families and fail at our responsibilities later in life as the repercussions of long term sleep deprivation affects begin. We owe it to not just ourselves but those we love and care about, to our responsibilities and we need to not just teach these lessons and aspects of life to our children but mold them in a way that they have this understanding and appreciation instilled in them that it becomes a core value and perhaps happier and healthier families will result. Sleep well my friends, sleep well! Credits Professor Kimberlee Bethany Bonura centers for disease control http://www.sleepdisordersflorida.com/pvt1.html https://www.sleepadvisor.org/eat-just-before-bed-risks/ https://www.tuck.com/stages/ https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/healthy-sleep/health-risks/the-effects-of-sleep-deprivation JoinTheDrive https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/discomfort-15/better-sleep/adjust-sleep-cycle?page=1 http://www.centerforsoundsleep.com/sleep-disorders/stages-of-sleep/ https://www.everydayhealth.com/sleep/insomnia/resetting-your-clock.aspx Medical Disclaimer 01 - Personal Energy - Understanding Stress and Our Energies 02 - Personal Energy - Energy and Stress Management - Breathing Part 1 - Understanding Breathing and Breathing Test 03 - Personal Energy - Energy and Stress Management - Breathing Part 2 04 - Sleep and its meaning to energy and life ~A Cultural Healing and Life Compilation
  4. Billy Caldwell to be granted 'lifetime' medical cannabis licence From Q Radio Local News - Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018 6:04am - By David Hunter http://www.goqradio.com/belfast/news/q-radio-local-news/billy-caldwell-to-be-granted-lifetime-medical-cannabis-licence/ The Home Office has rubber-stamped a special exemption licence meaning severely epileptic Billy Caldwell can go home with his medicinal cannabis, a family spokesman has said. His mother Charlotte, of Castlederg in Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland, had seven bottles confiscated at Heathrow Airport customs on June 11 after she brought them in from Toronto. Last month a 20-day emergency licence was granted for 12-year-old Billy after he was admitted to hospital in a critical condition having suffered multiple seizures. But a family spokesman said the Home Office, and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital have now agreed he can go home to Northern Ireland with his medicinal cannabis. He added: "The Department of Health in Northern Ireland are applying for a licence for Billy's medication to be administered at home in Castlederg. "In anticipation of that application being processed, the Home Office have rubber-stamped it and he will be going home at some point this week." The spokesman said the special exemption licence was agreed on Monday afternoon. Welcoming the development, Ms Caldwell said in a statement that the "Home Office clearly wanted this to happen". "The amazing Chelsea and Westminster Hospital got behind it, and they've helped make it happen," she added. "We all now need to make this also happen for all the other families who need medicinal cannabis. "We are in the very final stages of what has been an amazing four weeks. I can barely believe we'll be home in a few days. "Billy has been amazingly resilient throughout. He's autistic, and everything that has been going on - no regularity, no familiar surroundings - are beginning to take their toll on him. "He needs his toys, his garden, the things he's used to. I need to see him happy and well. I can't believe he'll be back in his own bed in a few days. It's within our grasp." A family spokesperson described it as a 'lifetime' licence, but the Home Office hasn't clarified the limitations. Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust and the Home Office both declined to comment. Following the public uproar over the confiscation of the cannabis oil from Ms Caldwell as she attempted to bring it into the UK, a new panel assessing claims for its use was set up. On Wednesday, the temporary expert panel began accepting applications for licences for the drug from senior clinicians. The Home Office announced the panel will make "swift" recommendations to ministers, who will then sign off on applications within two to four weeks. If given approval, doctors can then start writing prescriptions for their patient, while ministers decide whether to remove cannabis's banned status as a medicine. Ms Caldwell said the focus will now turn to a campaign to get "every other family equal opportunity, and equally swift progress through the assessment process". "Clinicians simply don't yet have guidelines, and no clinician will operate outside guidelines, so few are taking what they see as the risk of entering a patient into the assessment process - and even those who have seen the Government's announcement are hesitant," she said. "We want to help them in any and every way we can."
  5. Today is the anniversary of Deborah's passing. Soon I will write part two of this story and tell of the happenings of the last year! I offer these songs by the Avett Brothers. I celebrate Deborah and while I miss her she lives on in that celebration and within my heart and in my soul. We are still, as always one. Deb's loving husband, Jon
  6. Cannabis oil row: Boy has epilepsy medication returned Original article: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44507135 A boy with severe epilepsy has been given back medicinal cannabis oil that was confiscated from his mother at customs, the home secretary has said. Billy Caldwell, 12, received the oil after doctors made clear it was a "medical emergency", Sajid Javid said. Billy's mother, Charlotte Caldwell, from County Tyrone, said they had "achieved the impossible" but called for the oil to be freely available. Billy began using cannabis oil in 2016 to control his seizures. The cannabis oil, which contains a substance called Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is illegal in the UK but available elsewhere. Billy's most recent supply - which Ms Caldwell had tried to bring into the UK from Canada - was confiscated at Heathrow Airport on Monday and he was admitted to hospital before Mr Javid said it would be returned. The oil arrived at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where Billy is being treated, on Saturday afternoon. It was administered under a special 20-day licence and is not allowed to be taken home. A spokeswoman for the Home Office said it was an "exceptional licence" for a "short term emergency" and it would need to be reviewed. 'Completely broken' Ms Caldwell said: "I truly believe that somewhere in the Home Office there's someone with a heart, and I truly believe that Billy was pulling on their heart strings." But she said Billy's "little body has been completely broken and his little mind". "No other family should have to go through this sort of ordeal, travelling half way round the world to get medication which should be freely available," she said. "My experience leaves me in no doubt that the Home Office can no longer play a role in the administration of medication for sick children in our country. "Children are dying in our country and it needs to stop now." Billy was admitted to hospital in London on Friday Mr Javid said he had issued a licence to allow Billy to be treated with the cannabis oil after discussions with Billy's medical team. "This is a very complex situation, but our immediate priority is making sure Billy receives the most effective treatment possible in a safe way," he said. "My decision is based on the advice of senior clinicians who have made clear this is a medical emergency. "The policing minister met with the family on Monday and since then has been working to reach an urgent solution." Reality Check: Does UK export the most legal cannabis? Barbara Zieniewicz, co-founder of campaign group Families4Access, and who travelled to Canada with Billy and Ms Caldwell, called Mr Javid's decision "triumphant". "I strongly believe that this is the first push - from here, it's a ripple effect. This means, to me, there is hope, not just for Billy, but for all the families that need it." Billy, from Castlederg, started the treatment in 2016 in the US, where medical marijuana is legal. Ms Caldwell says Billy's seizures dramatically reduce when he takes the oil. In 2017, he was prescribed the medication on the NHS. But in May this year, his GP was told he could no longer prescribe it. At the time the Department of Health in Northern Ireland said cannabis had not yet been licensed in the UK as a medicine. Last Monday, Ms Caldwell tried to bring a six-month supply of the oil - to treat up to 100 seizures a day - into the UK from Toronto but the substance was confiscated by officials at Heathrow airport. The boy's family said he was taken to hospital when his seizures "intensified" in recent days. The family's MP, Órfhlaith Begley, said the Home Office's decision was "life-saving", adding: "I will continue to engage with the Home Office and the health authorities to ensure he can access his medication in the longer term so there is no repeat of the trauma he has suffered over recent weeks." 'Not straightforward' Dr Amir Englund, who studies cannabis at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said: "Clearly, there is evidence that Billy's medication works for him where others have failed. "The duty of government is to protect its citizens from harm with regulations on medicines, so that the ones doctors prescribe are safe and effective. "However, there are instances which these measures become counterproductive and harmful. This is such an instance, and the Home Office should allow an exemption so that he does not come to further harm." Meanwhile, clinical lecturer in psychiatry at University College London, Dr Michael Bloomfield, said on the one hand "current laws are too strict", but added that the issue of medical marijuana is "far from straightforward". "Any 'medical marijuana' needs a scientific evidence base, in the form of medical trials et cetera, which is currently lacking for many disorders and has become, for many jurisdictions, a potential way of decriminalising cannabis through the back door," he said. Does cannabis have medicinal benefits? CBD and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are two types of cannabinoids found naturally in the resin of the marijuana plant. A cannabis-based drug called Sativex has been licensed in the UK to treat MS. It contains THC and CBD. Doctors could, in theory, prescribe it for other things outside of this licence, but at their own risk. MS patients prescribed Sativex, who resupply it to other people, also face prosecution. Another licensed treatment is Nabilone. It contains an artificial version of THC and can be given to cancer patients to help relieve nausea during chemotherapy. Source: NHS Choices
  7. Home Office looks at allowing cannabis oil for boy with epilepsy Original article at the Guardian by: Mattha Busby @matthabusby Fri 15 Jun 2018 19.01 EDTFirst published on Fri 15 Jun 2018 06.55 EDT https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jun/15/mothers-plea-for-uk-to-legalise-cannabis-oil-charlotte-caldwell-billy Prescriptions consideration comes after Billy Caldwell, 12, has ‘life-threatening’ seizures The Home Office has said it will “carefully consider” allowing a 12-year-old boy to be prescribed cannabis oil after he was admitted to hospital with “life-threatening” seizures following the confiscation of his supply. Billy Caldwell had his anti-epileptic medicine confiscated at Heathrow airport on Monday. If the decision is made to permit him to have the treatment, it would be the first time that cannabis oil containing THC was legally prescribed in the UK since it was made illegal in 1971. Late on Friday night, Billy’s family were trying to find a clinician with knowledge of his condition to recommend the prescription of cannabis medicine. His mother, Charlotte Caldwell, said: “Finally I’m hearing signs that the Home Office appreciate the severity of Billy’s condition, and are showing a willingness to act humanely.” In a statement, a Home Office spokesperson said: “Billy is in the care of medical professionals who are best placed to assess the care and treatment that he requires. “The Home Office is contacting Billy’s medical team. If the team treating Billy advise a particular course of urgent action, the Home Office will carefully consider what options are available to help facilitate that advice.” On Friday afternoon, Billy was taken to Chelsea and Westminster hospital in west London in an ambulance after experiencing uncontrollable seizures. “Billy has had back-to-back seizures today,” his mother said. “On his medication, which included the vital but banned THC component, he was seizure-free for more than 300 days.” Caldwell said doctors in Canada and Northern Ireland familiar with the case had described her son’s situation as life-threatening. She said the Home Office would be held accountable if her son died. Billy had been placed on cannabidiol (CBD) oil, along with opiate-based medication, after he was forced to stop taking cannabis oil, but he failed to respond positively to the treatment and his health deteriorated as his seizures gradually resumed. The family said the 12-year-old can now be treated only with hospital-administered medication. Speaking from hospital, Caldwell told Sky News: “[Billy’s] out of the seizure but I cannot administer any more rescue medicine for him at home. He’s been admitted and they’re keeping him in hospital simply because Billy’s seizures are life-threatening ... one seizure can kill him.” Earlier on Friday, Caldwell criticised the government for effectively forcing them to leave the UK. “No mother should be made to flee the country to keep their child alive,” she said. The pair have spent about four of the past 12 years abroad because cannabis oil is illegal in the UK. On Monday they had six months’ worth of anti-epileptic medicine confiscated by customs agents when they arrived at Heathrow from Toronto. Caldwell was invited to meet the Home Office minister Nick Hurd, who told her that it would not be returned, despite her pleas. “It has to be the most frightening situation that a mother could ever be put in,” Caldwell told the Guardian, describing how she and Billy had been forced to leave their home, friends and family in order to access the potentially life-saving medicine. “He’s undergone countless administrations of anti-epileptic pharmaceutical drugs which have never worked and have upset his entire system,” Caldwell said. “The side-effects left him so depleted that he couldn’t even lift his head or pick up a toy.” The anti-epilepsy drugs prescribed by the NHS often cause uncontrollable tremors, hair loss, swollen gums and rashes, among other adverse effects. Feeling that she had no choice but to seek treatment for her child abroad, Caldwell found a doctor in the US in September 2007 who “saved Billy’s life” by weaning him off anti-epileptic pharmaceutical drugs, which she says were aggravating his seizures. The doctor also placed him on a ketogenic diet – a high-fat, low-carbohydrate food plan – that helped his seizures to rapidly subside. Eight years later, in June 2016, the seizures returned. They travelled to California again in September that year, until their money ran out eight months later and they came back to their home in Northern Ireland. In March 2017 they walked 150 miles in eight days, from their home to the hospital, to demonstrate the incredible improvement in Billy’s condition after the cannabis treatment. A doctor in Northern Ireland prescribed him the oil, since it was clear it was the only effective treatment. This was the first time a child had ever been issued the substance on the NHS. The oil contained CBD and also THC the psychoactive constituent of cannabis that gets users high. In October 2016, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency issued an opinion that products containing CBD used for medical purposes are medicine. However, medicines containing the raw form of THC remain illegal. The government’s current position is that THC has no recognised medicinal or legitimate uses beyond potential research. Although some children with epilepsy respond positively to CBD, the conditions of others, such as Billy, respond only to THC-derived products. And there is growing evidence of the benefits of prescribing medicinal cannabis. After about 300 days without a seizure, the Home Office recently ordered the doctor to stop prescribing the oil, prompting Caldwell to seek treatment in Canada, which is preparing to legalise cannabis. The case has shone a light on a drug policy that critics see as outdated and has provoked widespread demands for urgent reform, as well as calls for an exception to be made for Billy until legislation can be considered. Caldwell said she doubted whether she or Hurd would be arrested if the minister decided to “do the right thing” and allow Billy to have his anti-epileptic medication. “Surely common sense should prevail,” she said, pointing to the public support for the legalisation of medical cannabis, and the fact that police in some parts of the country had deprioritised cannabis offences. “To me, this is not an illegal or controlled substance, this is my little boy’s medicine. Even if you drank six months’ worth of this medicine, you wouldn’t get high because the THC content is so low.” There are around 63,400 children with epilepsy in the UK and a third of those do not respond to the medication prescribed by the NHS. Some 1,150 people died of epilepsy-related causes in 2009. Billy, who also has severe autism, cannot talk and requires 24/7 care, enjoys riding his pony Paddy, often goes swimming and attends a special needs school. Asked how Billy had handled a week of intense media attention, Caldwell said he had been “a wee bit out of sorts” and that “he knows that something is going on”. On Tuesday morning he had his first seizure in almost a year. On the same day, a group of pro-reform Tory MPs said that medicinal cannabis could be on sale within a year. But this could be too late for Billy. “The fear that Billy will die without his medication has been my overriding emotion this week,” said Caldwell. “I think that fear is keeping me going.” From the Guardian site and this is direct to Guardian, we are just passing on their request since we use their link. Since you’re here… … we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. Democracy depends on reliable access to information. Your support helps keep The Guardian open to a global audience for generations to come. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. I appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all and not a commodity to be purchased by a few. I’m happy to make a contribution so others with less means still have access to information.Thomasine, Sweden If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $1, you can support the Guardian – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Support The Guardian
  8. DUP gives backing to Billy Caldwell receiving cannabis medication Original Article: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/dup-gives-backing-to-billy-caldwell-receiving-cannabis-medication-37009693.html The DUP have given their backing to Northern Ireland boy Billy Caldwell receiving access to medicinal cannabis oil which his mother says helps control his seizures and could even safe his life. The party had previously remained tight lipped on the issue and were not part of a five party grouping (SDLP, Sinn Fein, UUP, Alliance and Greens) from Northern Ireland which backed allowing access to cannabis oil on the NHS earlier this month. Five NI parties back call for cannabis oil on NHS - SDLP, Sinn Fein, UUP, Alliance and Green Medicinal cannabis could be legal in a year: Tory MP Billy Caldwell's mum says Home Office signed son's death warrant after cannabis oil seized Mum defiant as son's cannabis medication is seized at airport However a DUP spokesperson has now said that the party is in favour of Billy getting access to the medication until a final recommendation has been made on the issue from medical experts. Billy has a rare form of epilepsy and has been denied access to the medication following a ruling from the Home Office. His mum Charlotte took Billy to Canada retrieve the medication but it was then seized at Heathrow Airport as they attempted to return to Northern Ireland. She accused Home Office Minister Nick Hurd of having “likely signed my son’s death warrant” following the seizure. Ms Caldwell is still awaiting an appointment with consultants recommended by the Home Office. She said her son had suffered his first seizure in 300 days after being denied the medication. A DUP spokesperson confirmed that they had met with Billy's family to discuss the issue. "DUP representatives have met with the Caldwell family on many occasions and continue to make representations on their behalf. MPs will usually be only able to facilitate meetings with Ministers on behalf of their own constituents however," the spokesperson said. "The party pursues an evidence-based approach to our position on cannabis. We do not support legalisation of cannabis for recreational purposes. "Trials are ongoing to test cannabis-based drugs for conditions such as epilepsy in children, glaucoma and cancer pain. We recognise that patients and their families will be keen to have access to innovative treatments immediately but it is necessary that such drugs are rigorously tested and all processes followed to ensure full safety and effectiveness." The spokesperson said the party was in favour of Billy receiving the medication until a final decision on the issue has been made. "In the absence of decisions by such expert bodies, consideration has been given to specific process where medication could be provided on an individual basis at the request of an individual clinician to a particular patient for a particular condition," the spokesperson said. "We are supportive of such an approach until final decisions are made on more general availability." The latest development comes after Ms Caldwell hit out at the links between Theresa May's husband and companies which supply the drug. The Daily Mirror reported Philip May's Capital Group is the largest investor in GW Pharmaceuticals, which produces cannabis oil - which Billy Caldwell had been using for his treatment - for sale in a foreign market. Speaking to the paper, Billy's mother Charlotte Caldwell said: "Why is my son being left to die in his own country by his own government? I can tell you why, greed and hypocrisy and it’s a recipe that will kill Billy.” Billy Caldwell requires cannabis oil to prevent seizures. UK-based cannabis-legalisation group United Patients Alliance reported in April GW Pharmaceuticals has produced a medicine extracted from the raw cannabis plant called Sativex, used for Multiple Sclerosis patients, as well as Epidiolex, which is made using purified cannabinoid (a component part of cannabis) CBD. It also highlighted that husband of UK Home Office minister Victoria Atkins is a managing director of British Sugar which grows raw cannabis to supply GW to manufacture Epidolex. Victoria Atkins has previously spoken out against the legalization of cannabis.
  9. Medical Disclaimer 01 - Personal Energy - Understanding Stress and Our Energies 02 - Personal Energy - Energy and Stress Management - Breathing Part 1 - Understanding Breathing and Breathing Test 03 - Personal Energy - Energy and Stress Management - Breathing Part 2 04 - Sleep and its meaning to energy and life Click pic for a song by Nattalie Rize Personal Energy - Energy and Stress Management - Breathing Part 2 Breathing Management, Techniques for Stress and Anxiety Control When it comes to breathing management we first must realize and hopefully appreciate the first writing and compilation which is here. Now that we have that understanding we can begin to put into action. The first important step is to realize proper breathing through the nose compared to mouth breathing which was discussed in the prior section. If those lessons were applicable to you and you have embraced retraining your breathing habits than the following will likely have more effect for you as these techniques work best when breathing is correctly is in sync as your body is more attuned to these breathing management techniques. In addition, by following other aspects such as proper sleep, nutrition and clarity or the state of ones mind (meditation) these techniques will have a higher success rate. If you have not taken those lesson seriously than the following may still benefit you but it is only part of the management method and achieving the desired outcome and/or achieving it with ease or with more difficulty becomes a potential factor. Breath Management By using breathing techniques and exercises one can either increase energy or relax depending on your needs and situation. Their are many types of or a variety of names associated with these practices. In this, we will discuss a range of those techniques that will work to obtain desired results. Essentially we use different breathing techniques to activate our sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems inducing energy or rest depending on the technique. Matt Pocock Parasympathetic, Deep Breathing Exercises to Reduce Stress & Anxiety These techniques will help one to active the parasympathetic nervous system and work to induce rest and relaxation. These techniques are great for the end of the day, when one needs to address stress or anxiety or any time one should desire to calm down. Such benefits are to reduce blood pressure, slow down heart rate, relax muscles, reduce tension and calm the mind. Belly Breathing Be The Change Yoga Belly Breathing is essentially foundation for most breathing practices such as yoga, tai chi and even martial arts. The goal is naturally belly breath and this is often a work in progress and over a period of time. Similar to working on ones posture. Initially one may have to think of it and realign their posture and over time proper posture becomes normal. This is similar to that practice. Belly breathing supports improved energy and relaxation. This works by giving more oxygen to the muscles and helps the organs work optimally, helps digestion, helps the muscles in the neck and upperback by day and calms the mind helping for a deeper sleep at night. Kevin Chen Belly Breathing Technique Sit on chair or on the floor, have your knees and hips comfortable. Posture is important, if sitting. You can sit on your hands and it will line you up. Special tip from Meg, Veteran Center Meg! You can also lay down. Do not hold your breath in between, remember how a baby breathes. We want to regain those natural belly breaths. This can be done sitting, lying down or standing. If you get light headed lie down until your body acclimates to these relaxing feelings. Relax hands gently on your lap. Relax your shoulders, you can roll your shoulders a few times to soften and relax them. Bring your hands centered over the belly button with one hand over top of the other. You place a hand on your chest and one on your belly button. Inhale and exhale normally once. Inhale again through your nose Imagine all the air going to the bottom of your lungs. Feel your abomen expand. Exhale/release gradually. Feel your belly go to the spine. Repeat this exercise 4 plus times and throughout the day or until you begin to feel calm and truly connected to your body. Overtime you will naturally take on this type of breathing and replace shallow breathing. Square Breathing Therapy in a Nutshell Square Breathing is similar to Belly Breathing but you hold the breath in four second intervals, increase this number over time up to six or eight second intervals if more advanced. The standard is 4 seconds. If you have high blood pressure, are pregnant or is just uncomfortable use a lower count such as two. This exercise will help to calm and is great for anxiety or any time you need to refocus. This is also a good breathing exercise in the middle of an exercise routine or in a situation. This technique will help with energy boost as it enables more oxygen to the brain. Square Breathing Technique Breathe in for 4 seconds, Breath in through the nose into the belly. Hold it in for 4 seconds. The hold should not be tense or difficult. Breathe out for 4 seconds, Exhale evenly through the nose. Repeat this 4 times and any time needed during the day for four sessions. After every session, try for one second more but if feels uncomfortable than return to the time that was most comfortable for you. Such as going to 5 second intervals gradually working to 8 seconds which will give you greater benefit but if you force this it will not achieve the desired benefit and thus it is better to work slowly over time moving forward only when it feels natural. This an excellent technique before doing any stressful for difficult task or job and is also great when on break or at lunch at your job to help you keep centered and fresh for the next work period. Any time stress and anxiety occurs, this exercise will assist in re-centering and help restore focus and energy. The Full Exhalation Technique This technique can give a feeling of recharging and energy boost as your body intakes more oxygen. This is a great exercise anytime you are feeling tired or worn down and need a boost. If you are out of breath or emotionally and physically exhausted. This will return to normal breathing. Reestablished direct control of your breathing. At work during lunch or on a break. A pause during a work out or a sport I recommend this technique. Most people will natural inhale longer than exhale and this prevents people from fully emptying ones lungs. This essentially reduces the volume of lung capacity. This causes one to breath in more quickly raising stress for the mind and the body. Rapid breathing is often an indicator and creator of stress. If you try to empty your lungs you will notice that you can keep on exhaling long after it is comfortable to do so. We have larger lung capacity than we tend to think that we do as with incorrect breathing we tend to forget this and we train our breathing to be more shallow and rapid giving ourselves a false impression of our lung capacity. By doing a full exhalation it will lead naturally to a full inhalation in a slower more relaxed way. This exercise will help focus and energize you. Helps with digestion. Helps with inspiration. Helps with passion. UW - Department of Family Medicine and Community Health - The Complete Breath - Surya Pierce, MD and David Rakel, MD Full Exhalation Exercise Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Take a few normal quiet breaths. Through the nose. Belly breaths. Take a normal inhalation. Breath out normally. When you think you are done, exhale some more. exhale and push as much air as you can out of your lungs until you cannot exhale anymore. Naturally inhale. Breath out normally. When you think you are done, exhale some more. exhale and push as much air as you can out of your lungs until you cannot exhale anymore. Inhale naturally again Breath out normally. When you think you are done, exhale some more. exhale and push as much air as you can out of your lungs until you cannot exhale anymore. Inhale naturally again Breath out normally. When you think you are done, exhale some more. exhale and push as much air as you can out of your lungs until you cannot exhale anymore. Take a few more normal deep breaths. Feel connected to your breath. Let go of any tension. Slowly open your eyes. Bellows Breath Bellows breath will help boost energy and is also a great abdominal exercise. Some prefer this technique over a cup a coffee and is great in the middle of the day. This technique simulates panting and thus if you have a history of panic attacks or high blood pressure skip this one. In this exercise you will be inhaling and exhaling through the nose as if panting. It is fast, noisy and several breaths per second. If you have nasal congestion such as a cold or seasonal allergies it could become messy as mucus is expelled. Have tissues available is applicable. You will use the diaphragm like a fire place bellows as you bring in breaths very quickly. As you increase your abdominal strength with Bellows Breath you can add another round but when learning only do three sets. If it feels uncomfortable for you, reduce the number but work to 30 round sets as best you can. Rebekah Harbour Bellows Breath Technique We are going to go through 3 rounds of 30 bellow breaths for each round. 30 exhalations, Ending with a deep breath in, Hold the breath, Exhale and begin second and then third round. Sit comfortably with a straight back and head straight Place hand on belly (belly breathing), breath in and out a few times naturally. Inhale, balloon the belly out Exhale, squeeze in Take a deep breath in Begin 30 pants: Video at 3:20 mark Exhale completely Deep breath in Hold breath Relax the body Gently exhale through the nostrils Deep breath in Begin second round of 30 pants Begin 30 pants Exhale completely Deep breath in Hold breath Relax the body Gently exhale through the nostrils Deep breath in Begin third round of 30 pants Begin 30 pants Exhale completely Deep breath in Hold breath Relax the body Gently exhale through the nostrils Breath normally. The following video will give a visualization to the following three techniques we will discuss below. Meghan Livingstone Pursed lip breathing Use this technique during the difficult part of any activity, such as bending, lifting or stair climbing. Pursed lip breathing is one of the simplest ways to control shortness of breath. It provides a quick and easy way to slow your pace of breathing, making each breath more effective. This technique is also taught to those who suffer from asthma and COPD or Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Practice this technique 4-5 times a day at first so you can get the correct breathing pattern. Breathe slowly, easily, and relaxed, in and out, until you are in complete control. Relax your neck and shoulder muscles. Breathe in slowly through your nose for two counts, keeping your mouth closed. Don't take a deep breath take a normal breath. It may help to count the inhale time, one, two. Pucker or "purse" your lips as if you were going to whistle and breathe out to a count to four. Do not force the air out. Always breathe out for longer than you breathe in. Pursed Lip Breathing Video American Lung Association Equal Breathing The benefits of equal breathing are: The practice works to calm the mind in a number of ways. It is a little bit tricky so the effort involved distracts you from any negative thoughts you may be having. Secondly the breath is close to the emotions and so paying attention to the breath tends to take a little energy out of strong emotions. Finally in lengthening the breath we are working to slow things down throughout the body. Determining your base breathing capacity The average person has a short and uneven breath. Such a person may breath in 4 seconds and may breath out 3 seconds. In fact the breath may be even as short as 3 seconds in and 2 seconds out. If we take the average breath of an average person to be something like 2 seconds in and 2 seconds out, then such a person breathes at the rate of 15 breaths per minute. "you have to see the capacity of your inhalation and exhalation first, and always go with it," says Swami Rama in Lectures on Saundaryalahiri. Place your finger in front of your nostrils and feel your breath. Count the length of both, the inhalation as well as the exhalation. The counting method is recommended because it does not encourage a dependency on any external objects such a watch. Count silently in the mind. Count so that one count is equal to one second. Check your breath at different times of the day. You may notice differences in the counts, depending on the time of the day, degree of tiredness and your emotional state. Accept the most common count as the base to start from. Equal Breathing with counting Sit in your chosen meditative posture and do this practice silently. Let us assume your natural breath count is: 5 seconds in, 4 seconds out. Place your finger in front of your nostrils and feel your breath. Take the lower count, that is, in this case 4 seconds. Breath in 4 seconds and breath out 4 seconds. This is one breath. Do this 10 times. This is one round. After a round breath normally for a couple of moments. Take the time between rounds to come back to your normal breathing. This may not seem to make a difference initially, but as you increase the counts, you will find these short breaks of normal breathing useful. Do another 2 rounds, remembering to take a break of normal breathing between the rounds. Flowoxygen Elongating the Even breath Gradually increasing the counts will help to establish an even and elongated breath. If you started out with the base count of 4 seconds out and 4 seconds in, then after 2 weeks increase the counts to 6 seconds out and 6 seconds in. Do 3 rounds of 10 breaths each. After another 2 weeks, increase the counts to 8 seconds out and 8 seconds in. Once again do 3 rounds of 10 breaths each. Advanced Breathing Elongation Keep increase the counts by 2 seconds every 2 weeks, until you reach 30 seconds out and 30 seconds in. That means 1 breath per minute. You will have achieved this gradually and gently over 7-8 months. This gradual increase in counts is important so as not to damage the finer elements of the lungs. From THATFirst Alternate Nostril Breathing Some of the benefits of alternate nostril breathing include: Balance to both the right and left hemispheres of the brain Reduction of anxiety and stress Lowered heart rate to relieve tension Revitalization of a tired mind and body Regulation of the cooling and warming cycles of the body Preparation for deeper meditation Purification of the body’s channels, so that prana, or life force energy, can travel more easily Alternate Nostril Breathing Technique Find a comfortable seat or sit on a blanket or pillow. Rest your left palm on your left knee, moving your right hand towards the nose. Keep the spine straight and head straight. Using the right thumb, softly close the right nostril, and inhale as slowly as you can through the left nostril, then close it with your ring finger. Pause. Open and exhale slowly through the right nostril. With the right nostril open, inhale slowly, then close it with the thumb. Pause. Exhale through the left nostril. Once your exhalation is complete, inhale through the left. Pause before moving to the right. Repeat this pattern five to ten times, and then release the right hand to the right knee. Ease back into normal breathing. Very good illustrative breathing by Yoga with Adriene Yoga With Adriene Their are many other breathing techniques but these are easy techniques that are simple to learn and to manage within ones day or situations as applicable. First by working to retrain our breathing and then by utilizing breathing techniques and exercises we can utilize oxygen to its fullest potential enabling our bodies and mind to live healthier and more vibrant. We hope this compilation will have a lasting and positive impact on you. It has on me. Credits Nattalie Rize Matt Pocock https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/9443-pursed-lip-breathing- http://www.that-first.com/show/article/equal-breathing/ American Lung Association http://www.stillmind.com.au/Documents/Equal Breathing.pdf https://www.doyouyoga.com/a-basic-intro-to-alternate-nostril-breathing/ Professor Kimberlee Bethany Bonura Kevin Chen Meghan Livingstone UW - Department of Family Medicine and Community Health Rebekah Harbour American Lung Association Flowoxygen Yoga With Adriene Medical Disclaimer 01 - Personal Energy - Understanding Stress and Our Energies 02 - Personal Energy - Energy and Stress Management - Breathing Part 1 - Understanding Breathing and Breathing Test 03 - Personal Energy - Energy and Stress Management - Breathing Part 2 04 - Sleep and its meaning to energy and life ~A Cultural Healing and Life Compilation
  10. Updated News Billy Caldwell's mum resumes talks with British government for son's medical cannabis Two meetings held on Monday resulted in no movement for the family Original Article: By Jilly Beattie 08:27, 12 JUN 2018 https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/billy-caldwells-mum-resumes-talks-14772528 Talks start again this morning in London as cannabis campaigner mum Charlotte Caldwell fightsto retrieve her son’s medical cannabis from the British government. Two meetings held on Monday resulted in no movement for the family. And since Charlotte and her sister landed back in the UK from Canada with his oil, he has missed three vital doses. The sudden removal of his medication after 19 months of daily use could prove deadly to the youngster. The 100 seizures he suffered daily before he was prescribed medicinal cannabis had stopped. But now his mum Charlotte says she will not sleep until he gets the oil back. She said: "I slept with my arm and leg around Billy all his life until the last 18 months when his seizures dropped away thanks to his medication. "But now we are back to square one. By the time I wake on Tuesday and start to fight for the oil to be returned, he will have missed four doses. "This is medication and no medication should be stopped abruptly, especially in a child who suffers from epilepsy. That’s a death sentence by any other name. "I’m exhausted and upset but I’m not beaten and will never be beaten while I have Billy. I will never give up on him and his wellbeing. "He will sleep tonight and I pray he sleeps peacefully. I’ll watch him every minute. It’s all I can do to keep him alive until we get his oil back. "What parent would do any less? Apparently that’s what is expected of me.. to let my son slip away. I didn’t do it 12 years ago, I didn’t do it two years ago and I’m not going to do it now." Epileptic boy has first seizure in months less than 24 hours after 'life-threatening' confiscation of cannabis medication https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/cannabis-medication-billy-caldwell-epileptic-seizures-marijuana-customs-confiscation-latest-a8394971.html Billy Caldwell suffers first seizure after cannabis oil confiscated His 100 seizures a day stopped when he started the medicinal cannabis drops Original article: By Jilly Beattie 11:26, 12 JUN 2018 https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/billy-caldwell-suffers-first-seizure-14773654 Billy Caldwell whose medicinal cannabis oil was confiscated by the Tory government yesterday, has suffered his first seizure in 19 months. The 12-year-old poster child for the fight to legalise the herbal medication, had missed four of the tiny doses prescribed to him in Toronto. His mum Charlotte, 50, from Co Tyrone , travelled from Canada on Monday with Billy and openly declared the Tilray oil at Heathrow Airport. But tearful custom's officers, under orders from Tory Policing minister Nick Hurd, confiscated the bottle which contained enough dosages for six months. Just 12 hours later Billy suffered his first epileptic seizure in 19 months. The 100 seizures he suffered daily before he was prescribed medicinal cannabis had stopped and the youngster had been living a normal life, able to attend school and even learning to swim. But at 1.01am Billy suffered a telltale seizure associated with intractable epilepsy. He cannot come out of the fits himself and needs medicated to try to bring him around. Charlotte said: "Thank God he survived the seizure but he could have another any moment and each one could kill him "He would not be having seizures if he was on his oil. It was confiscated and his medication halted without warning or weaning and that is not medical protocol by any stretch of the imagination." Today mum Charlotte and other family hope to meet government ministers again to urge them to return Billy's medication. A spokesperson for the Home Office said on Sunday: “We are sympathetic to the difficult and rare situation that Billy and his family are faced with. ‘While we recognise that people with debilitating illnesses are looking to alleviate their symptoms, it is important that medicines are thoroughly tested to ensure they meet rigorous standards so that doctors and patients are assured of their efficacy, quality and safety.” The latest radio news ~CBD oil works best when a little bit of THC is added as they work best combined.
  11. Medical information disclaimer 1. Credit 1.1 This document was created using a template from SEQ Legal (https://seqlegal.com). 2. No advice 2.1 Our website contains general medical information. 2.2 The medical information is not advice and should not be treated as such. 3. No warranties 3.1 The medical information on our website is provided without any representations or warranties, express or implied. 3.2 Without limiting the scope of Section 3.1, we do not warrant or represent that the medical information on this website: (a) will be constantly available, or available at all; or (b) is true, accurate, complete, current or non-misleading. 4. Medical assistance 4.1 You must not rely on the information on our website as an alternative to medical advice from your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. 4.2 If you have any specific questions about any medical matter, you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider. 4.3 If you think you may be suffering from any medical condition, you should seek immediate medical attention. 4.4 You should never delay seeking medical advice, disregard medical advice or discontinue medical treatment because of information on our website. 5. Interactive features 5.1 Our website includes interactive features that allow users to communicate with us. 5.2 You acknowledge that, because of the limited nature of communication through our website's interactive features, any assistance you may receive using any such features is likely to be incomplete and may even be misleading. 5.3 Any assistance you may receive using any our website's interactive features does not constitute specific advice and accordingly should not be relied upon without further independent confirmation. 6. Limits upon exclusions of liability 6.1 Nothing in this disclaimer will: (a) limit or exclude any liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence; (b) limit or exclude any liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (c) limit any liabilities in any way that is not permitted under applicable law; or (d) exclude any liabilities that may not be excluded under applicable law.
  12. Instead of shaming them, this woman stepped up and helped 2 boys about to break the law Click for a video on youtube, we all deserve a happy ending! Originally written by: Hope Schreiber Writer Yahoo Lifestyle June 12, 2018 https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/instead-shaming-woman-stepped-helped-two-boys-break-law-231707501.html Instead of letting the children fail, or shaming them, one Twitter user stepped into a situation to help two young boys. Nanasia Music posted a thread onto her Twitter account detailing how she stepped up and possibly saved two black boys from a police encounter. It was her way to pay it forward and to help the young boys the same way someone helped her when she was younger. Nanasia begins her story by approaching the two boys who were trying to steal from a Walmart. Instead of talking down to them she chose to help instead. While it was a simple act of kindness, it obviously meant a lot to the boys. It also speaks volumes about how we never truly know another person’s struggles. These boys were just 13 and 14 years old, barely even teenagers. They had lost their mother and felt guilty asking their grandmother for a product they needed. Of course, the security guard who was following the boys was not happy with her interference. Ma’am he gave me a look of such anger like I took a notch off his belt that day I smiled and said not today not today u can’t have them https://t.co/60qTKangAf — Silent but Loud (@NanasiaMusic) June 11, 2018 For Nanasia, this was just the way she grew up. She believes in guiding youth in the right direction, not waiting for them to mess up. Young people should be led in the right way when they need to be corrected, or in this case when they need help. I’m just from the generation where adults didn’t pull out camera phones and tape the demise of a young blk male… they took the time to step in before it got way out of line … somebody did it for me so it was only right to redirect them …. — Silent but Loud (@NanasiaMusic) June 11, 2018 Even Walmart tweeted her, cheering on her good deed. We offer this video by the Strumbellas, NanasiaMusic is a hero to me and we at cultural healing and life respect her and her actions. She illustrates how we as a society should help heal our society instead of furthering suffering.
  13. The Tale of a loving mother, an epileptic child, a plant medicine and a government. The following are news articles illustrating the story of a loving mother fighting for her son, fighting for his life and fighting his epileptic seizures that tormented him daily and caused his life to be more torture than enjoyment. The mother took her child across the pond to Canada and found legal medicine in Canada but not in the UK as it is made from cannabis and the laws of politics and prohibition without genuine merit in this situation cruelly force physical torturous suffering on a small child and mental anguish only a parent and mother could know. I ask what is gained by forcing such a condition on a child rather than doing the right thing. The following video was made specifically for such situations and I ask that you say a prayer or give a positive thought for Billy and his loving mother Charlotte so that the powers that be will find a way to allow the effective medicine to free those who suffer these conditions! One Drop Forward The Articles Castlederg woman to fly medical cannabis to UK for epileptic son Original article: By David Hunter http://www.goqradio.com/belfast/news/q-radio-local-news/castlederg-woman-to-fly-medical-cannabis-to-uk-for-epileptic-son/ The mother of Billy Caldwell says she will openly 'smuggle' medicinal Cannabis into the UK today. The 12 year-old from Castlederg, Co.Tyrone, suffers from a severe form of epilepsy. He received cannabis treatment in the U.S for several months last year after medical specialists in the UK said they couldn't help. Doctors say the cannabis oil reduced the frequency of his Billy's dangerous and exhaustive seizures , which Charlotte Caldwell said happened hundreds of times per week. He became the first person in the UK to be given a prescription last year. However, Home Office officials told Billy's Doctor to cancel the script last month, saying he could be struck off. Charlotte travelled to Canada last week, where the medicine is legal, as Billy's supplies ran out. She's told the Daily Mail she'll fly into Heathrow today with a six month supply and will beg customs to let her through. "I hate having to do this" she said to the newspaper. "For a mother to be pushed into breaking the law to keep her son alive is horrendous. But this drug has given me hope and given my son back his right to life. "Of course I worry about breaking the law – but I want my son illegally alive rather than legally dead." Billy Caldwell's cannabis meds battle may end in arrest for mum at Heathrow Original By Jilly Beattie 22:24, 10 JUN 2018 UPDATED 23:02, 10 JUN 2018 https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/billy-caldwells-cannabis-meds-battle-14767713 Charlotte Caldwell flies into London on Monday carrying outlawed medicinal cannabis and will face arrest or change history in the UK. The mum from Castlederg, Co Tyrone, traveled to Toronto last Thursday to source the oil her son Billy has relied on to keep potentially deadly epileptic seizures at bay for months. Now doctors in Canada’s leading children’s hospital have placed Billy on a clinical trial of the medication which is awaiting peer review. Richard Pengelly, the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Health in Northern Ireland, and the Chief Medical Officer were furnished with the full documents of clinical trial data and the ingredients in the doses on Sunday night. The Canadian trial is ongoing but early data supports the use of medicinal cannabis oil for patients like Billy. The 12-year-old made history when he became the first UK recipient of an NHS prescription for medicinal cannabis last year. Charlotte giving Billy his first dose legally in Canada But the Home Office put a stop to the prescriptions last month and with just one dose left, Charlotte and Billy flew to Canada desperate for help from specialists at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. And last night they were booked onto the 9.55pm flight from Toronto Pearson International Airport to Heathrow terminal 5, due to land on Monday at 10.10am. If they make it through customs, immigration and security, and are allowed to pass go after declaring the oil, Charlotte and Billy will be joined by 10 other families who say they need medicinal cannabis. Then together they will make a public statement urging the Home Secretary to trigger a change in the law. Speaking to Belfast Live from Toronto, Charlotte said: “I have no choice. I’ve been prevented from giving Billy the medication that keeps him seizure free. Faceless civil servants did that to Billy. I’m worried about breaking the law but I’d rather have Billy illegally medicated and alive than unmedicated and legally dead. What mother should have to make that choice?” This will be the second time Charlotte Caldwell will have openly carried illegal medicinal cannabis into the UK. In May last year the pair flew into Dublin and drove across the border into Northern Ireland after declaring the full spectrum and THCa cannabis oil at customs in Ireland. Billy Takes 2 drops a day Last week Charlotte and Billy attended a meeting at Stormont where she was assured of support by every political party in Northern Ireland except the DUP. And it was shortly after she invited the DUP to the meeting that her GP received an email from the Home Office ordering him not to write any more prescriptions for Billy. The same GP was then invited to a hotel in Belfast to attend an un-minuted meeting with civil servants from the Department of Health’s Drug Enforcement Agency. A source said: “The meeting was particularly uncomfortable for the doctor. He had no choice but to comply. The prescriptions stopped there and then.” Charlotte said: “Members of the DUP initially said they would support us but the support was retracted. They do not support Billy and they do not support my work to keep him alive and well. Charlotte's campaignis supported by parents and all of Northern Ireland's political parties except the DUP “If I had been offered an abortion I would have refused it and protected Billy’s right to life and so would the DUP by all accounts. "Well I’m doing my bit. Where are they? I believe their stance on this is hypocritical." A spokesperson for Tilray, the British Colombia manufacturer of the trial drug oil, said: “Currently, the study drug used in the clinical trial is only authorized for use by patients participating in the trial. "Once authorised for sale, this would be the highest concentration of cannabis-derived CBD found in a medical cannabis product legally available to Canadian patients. “After the product is authorized for distribution Tilray will first make it available to patients who participated in the trial. As we are able to increase supply, we hope to make it available to patients outside of the trial.” The Trial Drugs from Tilray On Wednesday, Charlotte hopes to bring Billy’s six month trial doses home to Co Tyrone via Heathrow. The situation presents Home Secretary Sajid Javid with a dilemma over whether tomorrow Charlotte should be: arrested and detained, arrested and cautioned and allowed to retain the oil, arrested and cautioned and the oil confiscated, or allowed to pass freely through the airports in London and Belfast She said: “I can only ask to keep the drops to keep my son alive and well. “I don’t know if they'll let me. I don’t know if they'll arrest me and confiscate the oil and sign Billy’s death warrant. But I do know that Billy needs it and I’ll make sure one way or an other that he gets it. “Not only that I want to make sure that everyone who needs medicinal cannabis oil, gets it too.” Charlotte has support from the UUP, SDLP, Sinn Fein, Alliance and the Green Party and now includes a former Tory Health Minister in her group of backers. Former NI Health Minister David Ford attended the meeting with Charlotte and backed her Dr Dan Poulter works part-time in mental health services and recently started an all-party parliamentary group supported by three other doctors at Westminster, pushing to legalise medical cannabis in the UK. He said: “The current law is ridiculous. There is growing evidence cannabis products used medically can be helpful in a number of conditions.” He urged that Charlotte and Billy should be allowed into the UK with the oil and said: “This is both medically the right thing to do and humanely the right thing to do.” Billy has been through so much to get to where he is today A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “We are sympathetic to the difficult and rare situation that Billy and his family are faced with. ‘While we recognise that people with debilitating illnesses are looking to alleviate their symptoms, it is important that medicines are thoroughly tested to ensure they meet rigorous standards so that doctors and patients are assured of their efficacy, quality and safety.” THE mother of a severely autistic boy has accused the government of signing her son's "death warrant" after she had cannabis oil which she claims can help soothe his seizures confiscated at Heathrow Airport Original: By Erica Doyle Higgins 11th June 2018, 1:03 pm Updated: 11th June 2018, 6:22 pm https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6500494/billy-caldwell-cannabis-oil-confiscated-heathrow-airport/ Their is a video at the link above from the original article, a must watch! Charlotte Caldwell, from Tyrone, Northern Ireland, travelled to Canada last week for the oil after the Home Office banned her son Billy's GP from prescribing the life saving medication. Mum Charlotte had said she would return to the UK with six month's supply of cannabis oil, but customs officers confiscated the oral drops at Heathrow this afternoon. Ms Caldwell accused Home Office Minister Nick Hurd of having "likely signed my son's death warrant" before heading to a London meeting with him. "It's Billy's anti-epileptic medication that Nick Hurd has taken away, it's not some sort of joint full of recreational cannabis. "Let me tell you something now: we will not stop, we are not going to stop, we are not going to give up, we have love, hope, faith for our kids and we are going to continue." She said Billy was due his next dose at 3.30pm, and warned of the dangers of missing his first treatment in 19 months. Charlotte Caldwell returned to the UK from Canada with the cannabis oil but had it confiscated as she arrived at Heathrow "The reason they don't do it is that it can cause really bad side-effects - they wean them down slowly. So what Nick Hurd has just done is most likely signed my son's death warrant." It's not some sort of recreational cannabis, it is his anti-epileptic medication he has taken off me today. "I'll go back to Canada and I'll get more and I'll bring it back again because my son has a right to have his anti-epileptic medication in this country and his own home." She said customs officers were "conflicted" about removing the medication from her. She added that doctors are trialling the oil in Canada and it's been "very successful." The mother pledged to go back and try again to get her son the prescription she believes will help him "I'm not at all interested in recreational use.. It's not something I've ever had an interest in, and for me it's a small bottle of oil that's keeping my son alive, it's anti-epileptic medication. It keeps his life-threatening seizures at bay, it's keeping him alive," she said. Billy, 12, was given a prescription for medicinal cannabis oil last year to help treat his epilepsy - in a case similar to that of six-year-old Alfie Dingley, who met with Theresa May in March in a bid to help change the law around the drug. He has a form of the condition meaning he cannot get help through medication or diet. He used to suffer up to 100 seizures a day until he began treatment with cannabis oil in the US, where medical marijuana is legal, in 2016. Charlotte has fought to get her son Billy the treatment she thinks can help calm the number of seizures he suffers She said she would be meeting Mr Hurd at the Home Office on Monday afternoon to plead to him "parent to parent" to get the oil back. The Home Office has defended the seizure of cannabis oil from a mother who attempted to get it into the UK to treat her son's severe epilepsy. A spokesman said: "The Home Office is sympathetic to the difficult and rare situation that Billy and his family are faced with. "Whilst we recognise that people with debilitating illnesses are looking to alleviate their symptoms, Border Force has a duty to stop banned substances from entering the UK. Ms Caldwell has, therefore, had cannabis oil seized this morning at Heathrow Airport upon landing from Canada. "The Policing Minister will meet Ms Caldwell this afternoon." What is cannabis oil and why does Billy Caldwell need it? Billy Caldwell can suffer up to 100 epileptic seizures in a day, and his mother Charlotte previously got cannabis oil for Billy’s treatment from the US. This medicine reportedly had stopped Billy’s seizures but when they were unable to travel for a new supply, she took Billy to their GP. Recognising this as a “unique” case, Dr Brendan O’Hare prescribed the medicine to Billy, but was told last year by the Department of Health and the health board he should not continue to do so. Cannabis oil is a medicine containing a part of the cannabis plant called cannabidiol (CBD). It does not contain the ‘psychoactive’ part of cannabis – the part that causes the feeling of being high. Last year, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) classed CBD as a medicine in the UK, but it has not been licensed as a medicine. The agency has said that CBD products must be licensed as this means they “have to meet safety, quality and efficacy standards”. In 2017, he became the first person in the UK to receive a prescription after his local GP Brendan O'Hare began writing scripts. The doctor was summoned to a meeting with Home Office officials recently and told to desist. Ms Caldwell is worried the cycle of fits "will eventually kill him", and has struggled to contain her son's seizures without access to the cannabis oil. She said Billy has been free of the debilitating episodes for a considerable period since the treatment. Charlotte said the oil is keeping her son's life-threatening seizures at bay The Department of Health in Northern Ireland said it did not comment on individual cases, but added that Cannabis is a Class B controlled drug and has not yet been licensed in the UK as a medicine. "However, an application made by a specialist clinician based in the UK to prescribe a Schedule 1 controlled drug on the basis of relevant medical and scientific evidence and guidance may be considered within existing legislative provisions and appropriate clinical supervision arrangements. "No such clinically supported applications have been received by the department," it confirmed.
  14. Multimillion-dollar hydroponic pot bust is one of Miami-Dade's largest ever, cops say http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/homestead/article212762259.html BY DAVID J. NEAL dneal@miamiherald.com June 07, 2018 09:05 PM A nearly 200,000-square-foot patch of South Miami-Dade zoned for agriculture contained 1,692.5 pounds of marijuana in two grow houses, according to Miami-Dade police. Thursday's seizure of 192 plants was "one of the largest marijuana hydroponics seizures in the history of Miami-Dade Police Department," said a police statement. Miami-Dade police placed the street value of the marijuana seized at $3.8 million. Miami-Dade property records say the property at 16901 SW 200th St. has been owned since October 2015 by The Nursery Spot, a business formed in September 2015. The only agent for Homestead-based The Nursery Spot is Raimundo Rodriguez. That's not Homestead resident Juan Oliva-Villar, 49, who was arrested on charges of marijuana trafficking. According to the search warrant, a confidential source tipped police that a pair of marijuana hydroponic grow houses sat on the land. A detective approaching on May 30 wrote that he saw "two large black nursery style mesh canopies (shade houses) amongst the trees, which appeared to be covering two unknown style structures." Strolling to the edge of a neighbor's land, the detective said, he could see that same kind of mesh covering a corner of the structure. Also, a smell gave him olfactory encouragement that his tipster was correct. On the property, the detective and a sergeant saw a man. "The unknown male was asked if he was the owner of the property and he advised that he was not and did not know who was," the search warrant read. "[The sergeant] asked the unknown male to walk to the front gate of the premises where he would be greeted by additional officers. The unknown male walked away toward the front gate and walked into one of the shade houses. A few minutes later he walked out of said shade house then walked into the second shade house where he remained. Several attempts to have him exit the premises were attempted via loud speaker; however, he never came out." That was Oliva-Villar. “The success of this investigation, the arrest of the defendant and the seizure of such an enormous amount of illegal drugs was due to the close collaboration between Miami-Dade County Police Department Narcotics Bureau and the State Attorney’s Office Narcotics Unit," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "Drug traffickers should recognize that doing business in Miami-Dade’s neighborhoods will put them behind bars." Some of what Miami-Dade police say is 1,692 pounds of marijuana seized from a South Miami-Dade grow house. Miami-Dade Police Department
  15. In UK news! Billy Caldwell: GP says 'ethical issue' in not allowing cannabis BBC News https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-44194042 In 2017, 12-year-old Billy Caldwell became the first person in the UK to receive the NHS prescription. Dr Brendan O'Hare said there is an "ethical issue" in not allowing Billy to have medicinal cannabis. His mother, Charlotte Caldwell, said his seizures had dramatically reduced while taking the cannabis oil. Last week when she went to renew the prescription she was told it would not be possible. After initially prescribing the medicinal cannabis, Dr O'Hare had been told by the Department of Health and the health board last year he should not continue to do so. The Department of Health in Northern Ireland said it did not comment on individual cases, but added that Cannabis is a Class B controlled drug and has not yet been licensed in the UK as a medicine. "However, an application made by a specialist clinician based in the UK to prescribe a Schedule 1 controlled drug on the basis of relevant medical and scientific evidence and guidance may be considered within existing legislative provisions and appropriate clinical supervision arrangements. "No such clinically supported applications have been received by the department," it confirmed. Dr O'Hare reiterated that his initial prescription was "not a support of the irresponsible use of products for ailments for which there is no evidence". But he said in this specific case, this child has benefited and "the reduction in his fit frequency is huge". "This is not to open the floodgates for products, it's about one individual child," he added Billy Caldwell was first given the treatment in the USA by an epilepsy expert.His mother told BBC Radio Five Live that until that point Billy was having up to 100 seizures a day. Ms Caldwell said the effect on her son was "miraculous". "For Billy it's controlling his life-threatening seizures. That is what a small bottle is doing for him." CBD and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are two types of cannabinoids found naturally in the resin of the marijuana plant. Unlike THC, pure CBD oil is not a psycho-active ingredient associated with the "high" in marijuana. There is no restriction on the personal use of CBD oil. However, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is of the opinion that CBD products, used for a medical purpose, are medicines. CBD oil has not yet been licensed in the UK as a medicine but can be prescribed by doctors in special circumstances. The oil containing the THC chemical is illegal the under misuse of drugs legislation. "I am a single mummy and he sleeps beside me and goes everywhere with me. I go to school with him. "He is just my life," she added. When Billy first got the treatment in the United States, Ms Caldwell said it helped the "brutal condition". "I remember sitting up watching him at night in Los Angeles and touching him to make sure he was still breathing in case I had missed a seizure." She said her "heart sunk" when she heard the news. "I know if he hasn't access to this medicine his seizures will return," she said.
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