Cannabis-using mother convicted of breast feeding cannabis to her baby - yet the cannabinoids are already in us naturally!

In the last feed days the world press have been reporting that a New Zealand mother has pleaded guilty to supplying cannabis to her baby through her breast milk.. yet most have failed to report another recent press article that claims that cannabinoids are natural constituents in breast milk.  In fact the claims go further than suggesting that cannaboinds are present naturally and claim  "If it were not for these cannabinoids in breast milk, newborn children would not know how to eat, nor would they necessarily have the desire to eat, which could result in severe malnourishment and even death. Believe it or not, the process is similar to how adult individuals who smoke pot get the "munchies," as newborn children who are breastfed naturally receive doses of cannabinoids that trigger hunger and promote growth and development." ( see below)


First, the nonsense: The New Zealand Herald wrote:

"A woman has been convicted of giving cannabis to her 3-month old baby through her breast milk, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in New Zealand.

"The 29-year-old Wanganui woman was charged with administering a class C controlled drug, namely cannabis, to a person under the age of 18.

"She pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Wanganui District Court last week to six months' supervision."

adding a comment from Allison Jamieson, a Plunket clinical adviser, who said ..

"organisation advised mothers against using cannabis, tobacco and other drugs.

"Most drugs, including cannabis and P, pass through the breast milk and are known to affect babies.

"It is safest for breast-feeding mothers to avoid smoking and taking drugs because the long-term effects of this on the baby are unknown." she said.

This of course, has been jumped on and repeated my many other news agency around the world.

Now the facts:

However, just a few weeks earlier, seemingly unknown to the mother, her legal representatives that afiled to do their jobs, the courts or the press, it was claimed that cannabinoids are in fact present naturally in all of our bodies including breast milk:

Cannabinoids, like those found in marijuana, occur naturally in human breast milk
Jonathan Benson
Natural News
Friday 20 Jul 2012

Woven into the fabric of the human body is an intricate system of proteins known as cannabinoid receptors that are specifically designed to process cannabinoids such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), one of the primary active components of marijuana. And it turns out, based on the findings of several major scientific studies, that human breast milk naturally contains many of the same cannabinoids found in marijuana, which are actually extremely vital for proper human development.

Cell membranes in the body are naturally equipped with these cannabinoid receptors which, when activated by cannabinoids and various other nutritive substances, protect cells against viruses, harmful bacteria, cancer, and other malignancies. And human breast milk is an abundant source of endocannabinoids, a specific type of neuromodulatory lipid that basically teaches a newborn child how to eat by stimulating the suckling process.

If it were not for these cannabinoids in breast milk, newborn children would not know how to eat, nor would they necessarily have the desire to eat, which could result in severe malnourishment and even death. Believe it or not, the process is similar to how adult individuals who smoke pot get the "munchies," as newborn children who are breastfed naturally receive doses of cannabinoids that trigger hunger and promote growth and development.

"[E]ndocannabinoids have been detected in maternal milk and activation of CB1 (cannabinoid receptor type 1) receptors appears to be critical for milk sucking ... apparently activating oral-motor musculature," says the abstract of a 2004 study on the endocannabinoid receptor system that was published in the European Journal of Pharmacology.

"The medical implications of these novel developments are far reaching and suggest a promising future for cannabinoids in pediatric medicine for conditions including 'non-organic failure-to-thrive' and cystic fibrosis."

Studies on cannabinoids in breast milk help further demystify the truth about marijuana
There are two types of cannabinoid receptors in the body -- the CB1 variety which exists in the brain, and the CB2 variety which exists in the immune system and throughout the rest of the body. Each one of these receptors responds to cannabinoids, whether it be from human breast milk in children, or from juiced marijuana, for instance, in adults.

This essentially means that the human body was built for cannabinoids, as these nutritive substances play a critical role in protecting cells against disease, boosting immune function, protecting the brain and nervous system, and relieving pain and disease-causing inflammation, among other things. And because science is finally catching up in discovering how this amazing cannabinoid system works, the stigma associated with marijuana use is, thankfully, in the process of being eliminated.

In another study on the endocannabinoids published in the journal Pharmacological Reviews back in 2006, researchers from the Laboratory of Physiologic Studies at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism uncovered even more about the benefits of cannabinoids. These include their ability to promote proper energy metabolism and appetite regulation, treat metabolic disorders, treat multiple sclerosis, and prevent neurodegeneration, among many other conditions.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014299904007423
http://pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/content/58/3/389.full
http://pharmrev.aspetjournals.org/content/58/3/389.full#title49
http://www.whattoexpect.com
http://bioteaching.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/cannabinoids-and-cannabis/

Lancashire Police Arrest more Youths for a Crime without a Victim.

quote: "They show that last year 127 youngsters were charged with possession of the drug, 124 of them male."

I don't suppose it matters to the law whether or not those 127 did any harm to anyone but it matters to the cause of JUSTICE.

Cannabis - being a substance illegal to possess, grow or supply (without a license) is highly attractive and highly profitable to people of all ages.  Every use is exposed to the world of crime, hard drugs and profiteering, without any restrictions or controls whatsoever.

I have heard that the minimum age for buying cannabis in the UK is £10, whereas through Dutch Coffeeshops it is 18, and they do not have the same sort of problems there.

Furthermore, the attempts at enforcing drug prohibition in the UK costs the UK taxpayer over £16 Billion annually.

Samantha Jones from the Lancashire Drug and Alcohol Action Team said: “We know that, far from being a ‘safe’ drug, cannabis can be very destructive and lead to mental illnesses."

It is a shame that she could not tell the truth, which is that in fact a very small number of users experience serious problems with cannabis (apart from getting arrested) - and of course those people need to be aware of the risks and discouraged - but the FACT is that many MILLIONS of users claim to benefit - and the law does not even attempt to distinguish between them.  Whether a person benefits or suffers they are arrested and treated the same.

And what good does this expensive and unjust prohibition do?

Well it keeps people employed at public expense in the criminal justice industry, boosts profits for pharmaceutical companies and enables untraceable and un-taxable profits from unscrupulous criminal suppliers

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/teenage_drug_use_rises_1_3126043

Lancashire Evening Post, February 28 2011
Teenage drug use rises

Hundreds of cannabis users caught by police in possession of the drug are children, it was revealed today.
In the past three years, officers in Lancashire have charged more than 350 under-18s with possession of the class B drug.
And, over the same period, 17 children aged between 10 and 17 have been charged with DEALING the drug.
Today, the figures were met with alarm by health bosses who warned of the potential effects of cannabis use.
The figures were revealed to the Lancashire Evening Post following a Freedom of Information Act request – and show an increase on two years ago.
They show that last year 127 youngsters were charged with possession of the drug, 124 of them male.
That compares to 76 in 2008, although the figures have fallen since 2009, when there were 146 youngsters charged with the offence.
Samantha Jones from the Lancashire Drug and Alcohol Action Team said: “We know that, far from being a ‘safe’ drug, cannabis can be very destructive and lead to mental illnesses.
“Not only does it cause short-term memory loss and lethargy, which can have a negative effect for young people studying at school or college, but it also increases the risk of cancer and lung disease.
“In Preston, Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancashire, Youngaddaction Central Lancashire is commissioned to provide substance misuse support to young people up to 21-years-old.”
A police spokesman said: “Clearly, the issue of a child as young as 10 being caught in possession of cannabis is of concern.
“However, this is rare amongst children this young and the overall annual statistics of cannabis possession are low when you consider the number of people across Lancashire in this age category.
“We are aware that young people do experiment with cannabis and we regularly run policing operations and employ stop and searches to address the issue. We combine these tactics with targeted operations aimed at identifying the cultivators and dealers of cannabis and other drugs.”