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Conference Reviews
Santa Cruz Expo
The Santa Cruz Hemp Expo held in California in March was a
wonderful display of hemp products, including rugs, paper, fabrics, clothing,
accessories, body care products, foods, toys, pet products and other industrial
applications from over 60 vendors. Over 4,000 visitors viewed samples of wild
hemp from Nebraska and a boat made of hemp. Also highlighted was the "Room
Full of Hemp", demonstrating how living with hemp is a complete experience.
The Santa Cruz Industrial Hemp Expo provides a positive basis
for public support of hemp reintroduction, with an open-to-the-public,
trade-show based setting that is well organized and effectively promoted. Live
music, a hemp fashion show, a hemp house, hemp foods and beverages, educational
and historical exhibits, workshops, videos, speakers and panel discussions were
featured.
Speakers on topics ranging from products to politics were
presented and recorded on audio tapes and video footage. There was a panel
entitled "A Woman’s Perspective in the Hemp Business." Others
touched on the Media and its perceptions and portrayals of hemp; on plant
genetics and cultivation; on the making of paper and fiberboard; and on
cosmetics and foods.
The street in front of the Civic Auditorium was closed and a
tent was set up for hemp beer, hemp wine and hemp food offerings. Music was
interspersed throughout the event.
Pine Ridge Reservation dignitaries led everyone in an opening
prayer of peace for the hemp plant. Crucial Creations set up a hemp fiberboard
coffee shop, a la Amsterdam. Coming from the farthest away was an Amsterdam
company, Euro-American Marketing with Eco Himal Bunai from Kathmandu, Nepal
presenting beautiful hand-knitted hemp hats and bags.
Rousing crowds cheered for the daily hemp fashion show, and
later shopped for hemp bathrobes and lollypops, among hundreds of products. The
historical display was educational, and full of awe inspiring facts. The Human
Rights Exhibit choked you up, if you were brave enough to read the stories that
went with it. The Video Marathon was a great addition to the show and was
featured on the local television station for the whole weekend. You could go to
your hotel room after a day of hemp shopping and sit back and watch educational
hemp TV! The following videos played in rotation throughout the weekend:
"Hemp Revolution" by Anthony Clark (Australia & U.S.) 1 1/4 hrs.
"Hemp The Crop" by Hempflax Company (Holland) 12 min.
"Hemp Fiber Production" by Canada Kenex
"Hemp Hackling" by Mackie, Inc. (Ireland) 10 min.
"Hemp Particle Board In Hungary" by Jeffrey Stonehill (U.S.)
"When Hemp Comes, It’s Here To Stay" by Moral Oath Productions (Canada) 1 1/4 hrs.
"Hemp For Victory" by the USDA 14 min.
"Chris Conrad At 5 Branches" by Tim Rinker (Santa Cruz) 85 min.
"Green Gold: Lynn And Judy Osburn at Gateways Books" by Tim Rinker (Santa Cruz) 1 1/4 hrs.
"Cooking With Hemp Seed With Alan Brady" by Tim Rinker (Santa Cruz) 30 min.
"Billion-Dollar Crop" by Barbara Chobocky, Michael Cordell, Jeffrey Bruer (Australia) 54min.
"Health Beat" by Portland, Oregon NORML 35 min.
"Pretzel Making Video" by Hempzle, Inc. (Pennsylvania) 2 min.
"Jack Herer’s First Santa Cruz Appearance" (Santa Cruz)
"Roberta Hamilton at UCSC Quarry" (Santa Cruz) 20 min.
This was a great multicultural event for hemp consciousness. Next year will be the third annual Santa Cruz Industrial Hemp Expo. It is scheduled for May 13-14, 2000. For more information, go to http://cruzexpo.com or contact Bob@cruzexpo.com
- Susan LaPolice, Candi Penn and Annie Riecken
International Cannabinoid Research
Society Symposium
At the 1999 International Cannabinoid Research Society
Symposium held June 18-20 in Acapulco, Mexico, several potentially important
advances were reported in the area of signal transduction. Alynn Howlett
identified a peptide fragment on the CB1 receptor, 14 amino acids long, that
appears to be its active site. Michelle Glass of the National Institute on
Deafness and Other Communication Disorders determined that the various agonists
create different conformations of the CB1 receptor and activate different
G-proteins within the cell. She found that whereas HU-210 induced a receptor
shape that maximally stimulates Gi and Go proteins, WIN 55212 and anandamide
only partially activate Go. "It is possible," Glass concluded,
"that by understanding the abilities of the receptors to couple to
different G-proteins, and the ability of different agonists to direct this
coupling, ligands may be developed that enable specific signal transduction
pathways to be selectively targeted."
Diana Cichewicz and Sandra Welch of Virginia Commonwealth
University described a study in which mice were given low doses of THC and
morphine in combination for eight days. Analgesia was achieved without
side-effects, suggesting a method to prevent morphine tolerance. The
investigators called for clinical trials in which cancer patients with chronic
pain are treated with a THC-morphine combination.
Walter Fratta and co-workers at the University of Cagliari
reported that mice will self-administer cannabinoid agonists (the WIN compound
and CP55940) as well as opioid agonists (although they abjure pure THC).
Pretreatment with SR141716A completely prevented self-administration of both
agonists, suggesting that cannabinoid reinforcing effects are specifically
mediated through CB1 receptors. Pretreatment with naloxone (an opioid
antagonist) blocked the desire for cannabinoid drugs, and the CB1 antagonist
blocked morphine self-administration. These results point to crosstalk between
the endogenous cannabinoid and opioid systems.
Raphael Mechoulam and colleagues at Hebrew University in
Jerusalem reported finding high concentrations of 2-AG in mammalian milk,
suggesting that cannabinoids might play a role in maternal-offspring bonding, as
well as appetite stimulation.
Vincenzo Di Marzo, who previously had found that anandamide
and 2-AG inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation in vitro by acting on
CB1 receptors, reported that the endocannabinoids inhibit proliferation of
prostate cancer cells by the same mechanism. They also inhibit the proliferation
of cancer cells induced by nerve growth factor. Di Marzo concluded, "These
findings suggest that novel anti-tumor drugs may be developed from these
endogenous compounds."
A team headed by Michael Hill of the University of Manchester
reported that anandamide and 2-AG in the basal ganglia may be involved in the
control of movement and in the generation of Parkinson's disease symptoms.
Lester Bornheim and Michael Reid of the University of
California at San Francisco reported that pre-treatment with CBD markedly
increases brain levels in mice of subsequently administered cannabinoids and
other drugs, suggesting that sequenced delivery could lead to lower effective
doses.
CBD has shown potential as an anticonvulsant in animals and
an antiepileptic in humans. Its antioxidant and neuroprotective properties were
described at the 1998 ICRS meeting by Aidan Hampson of the National Institute of
Mental Health, who determined that rats treated with CBD suffer milder damage
when strokes are induced. This year Hampson examined the effect of CBD on
enzymes that involved inflammation. (Inflamed nerve sheaths apparently play a
role in stroke.) He found that CBD selectively inhibits some, but not all,
subtypes of lipoxygenases which make inflammatory mediators called leukotrienes.
Fay Guarraci and colleagues reported that the CB1 receptor
antagonist, SR141716A, also improves retention of conditioned fear, thus giving
more support to the hypothesis that blocking endogenous cannabinoids may improve
memory.
Taken together the data presented this year suggest a role
for endogenous cannabinoids in memory formation, the reduction of pain,
inhibition of tumor growth, and treatment of movement disorders.
On the clinical front, Tod Mikuriya, MD, provided an overview
of medical use of Cannabis in California since the passage of Proposition
215 in November, 1996. As a result of federal pressure on physicians, many have
been reluctant to recommend Cannabis in the treatment of conditions other
than AIDS or cancer. Mikuriya has interviewed some 1800 patients who had been
self-medicating with Cannabis for 94 distinct conditions (defined by ICD
number), including chronic pain and post-traumatic arthritis. "There are a
lot of people out there who are suffering needlessly as a result of inadequate
medication", according to Mikuriya. Usually the history involves some sort
of misadventure with prescribed medication, such as GI bleeds from non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs or significant incapacitation from antispasmotics and
benzodiazopenes. Cannabis appears to be a unique immunomodulator
analgesic that is useful in the control of autoimmune inflammatory diseases
throughout the body. He also recommends it as "a gateway drug back"
for alcoholics and heroin addicts.
A report in March by the Institute of Medicine recommended
development of alternative delivery systems to exploit the therapeutic potential
of cannabinoid drugs without exposing patients to smoked marijuana. Wilson and
colleagues reported on an aerosol system that successfully delivered
cannabinoids to rats. G.W. Pharmaceuticals, the British firm that is producing Cannabis
plant extracts under license from the Home Office, is developing a
microchip-controlled nebulizer that will enable patients to inhale without
smoking, according to director Geoffrey Guy.
Guy was an interested auditor at the ICRS meeting. His firm
has produced extracts with four different cannabinoid ratios for use in upcoming
clinical trials involving patients with neurogenic pain. Guy said he would have
results to report at next year's meeting in which case the cannabinoid field,
having moved away from the plant itself for a decade, will return to its roots.
Fred Gardner
The Synapse
University of California - San Francisco
E-mail: fgardner@osrmail.ucsf.edu
Hemp: the Nutraceutical rich in
essential fatty acids
Natural Products Expo West, March 13, 9:30 - 11:00 am.
Sponsored by the Hemp Industries Association and the North American Industrial
Hemp Council.
Speakers: Don Wirtshafter of Ohio Hempery, Rees Moorman of
Spectrum Naturals, Richard Rose of HempNut Inc., Cynthia Thielen of Hawai'i
State Legislature and John Roulac of Hemptech.
Rees discussed the role of EFAs in the body, that EFAs are
the building blocks of life and critical to virtually every aspect of human
metabolism. Richard spoke on types of hempseed foods available and their
applications. Don was introduced by Richard Rose as one of the pioneers of
hempseed oil in the US natural food market, and he discussed legislation and
trends. Cynthia discussed legislation, particularly in Hawai'i. Roulac showed
slides on cultivating hemp for fiber.
Attendance was approximately 75, mostly people involved in
technical applications that could use hemp, or those with a personal interest.
Expo West is a well-established national natural products trade show.
The seminar was a sponsored event coordinated by Monica Emerich of Natural
Information LLC, a public relations firm.