Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 12:43:17 -0400
From: Dana Beal
Subject: MMM 2004 #44: Gallup Faking Bush Numbers; Fayetteville, Missoula,
Rapid City Make 34 Cities on the March May 7, '05!

Important: get your city on the list for May 7, 2005!

So far we have confirmed 31 cities:

Albany

Athens

Asheville

Auckland

Burlington

Christchurch

Cincinnati

Detroit

Dublin

East Lansing

Eugene

Fayetteville

Hatchita

Lexington

Missoula

Montreal

Moscow

New Paltz

New York

Nimbin

Oslo

Paris

Philadelphia

Phoenix

Prague

Raleigh

Rapid City

Spokane

Stavanger

St. Louis

Toronto

Trondheim

Tucson

Washington, D.C.

There is also some international MMM networking going on at
this CannabisCulture.com message forum:

http://www.cannabisculture.com/forums/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=current

-------------------------

Why You Should Ignore The Gallup Poll This Morning - And Maybe Other Gallup Polls As Well

This morning we awoke to the startling news that despite a flurry of different polls this week all showing a tied race, the venerable Gallup Poll, as reported widely in the media (USA Today and CNN) today, showed George W. Bush with a huge 55%-42% lead over John Kerry amongst likely voters. The same Gallup Poll showed an 8-point lead for Bush amongst registered voters (52%-44%). Before you get discouraged by these results, you should be more upset that Gallup gets major media outlets to tout these polls and present a false, disappointing account of the actual state of the race. Why?

Because the Gallup Poll, despite its reputation, assumes that this November 40% of those turning out to vote will be Republicans, and only 33% will be Democrat. You read that correctly. I asked Gallup, who have been very courteous to my requests, to send me this morning their sample breakdowns by party identification for both their likely and registered voter samples they use in these national and I suspect their state polls. This is what I got back this morning:

Likely Voter Sample Party IDs - Poll of September 13-15
 Reflected Bush Winning by 55%-42%

Total Sample: 767
 GOP: 305 (40%)
 Dem: 253 (33%)
 Ind: 208 (28%)

Registered Voter Sample Party IDs - Same Poll
 Reflected Bush Winning by 52%-44%

Total Sample: 1022
 GOP: 381 (38%)
 Dem: 336 (33%)
 Ind: 298 (30%)

In both polls, Gallup oversamples greatly for the GOP, and undersamples for the Democrats.  Worse yet, Gallup just confirmed for me that this is the same sampling methodology they have been using this whole election season, for all their national and state polls.  Gallup says that "This (the breakdown between Reeps and Dems) was not a constant. It can differ slightly between surveys" in response to my latest email.  Slightly? Does that mean that in all of these national and state polls we have seen from Gallup that they have "slightly" varied between 36%-40% GOP and 32%-36% Democrat? I already know from an email I got from Gallup earlier in the week that in their suspicious Wisconsin and Minnesota polls they seemingly oversampled for the GOP and undersampled for the Dems. For example in Wisconsin, in which they show Bush now with a healthy lead, Gallup used a sample comprised of 38% GOP and 32% Democratic likely voters. In Minnesota where Gallup shows Bush gaining a small lead, their sample reflects a composition of 36% GOP and 34% Democrat likely voters. How realistic is either breakdown in those states on Election Day?

According to John Zogby himself:

If we look at the three last Presidential elections, the spread was 34% Democrats, 34% Republicans and 33% Independents (in 1992 with Ross Perot in the race); 39% Democrats, 34% Republicans, and 27% Independents in 1996; and 39% Democrats, 35% Republicans and 26% Independents in 2000.

So the Democrats have been 39% of the voting populace in both 1996 and 2000, and the GOP has not been higher than 35% in either of those elections. Yet Gallup trumpets a poll that used a sample that shows a GOP bias of 40% amongst likely voters and 38% amongst registered voters, with a Democratic portion of the sample down to levels they haven't been at since a strong three-way race in 1992?

Folks, unless Karl Rove can discourage the Democratic base into staying home in droves and gets the GOP to come out of the woodwork, there is no way in hell that these or any other Gallup Poll are to be taken seriously.

How likely is it that the Democrats will suffer a seven-point difference against the GOP this November or that the GOP will ever hit 40%?

Not very likely.

 The real problem here is that Gallup is spreading a false impression of this race. Through its 1992 partnership with two international media outlets (CNN and USA Today), Gallup is telling voters and other media by using badly-sampled polls that the GOP and its candidates are more popular than they really are. Given that Gallup's CEO is a GOP donor, this should not be a surprise. But it does require us to remind the media, like Susan Page of USA Today, who wrote the lead story on the poll in the morning paper, and other members of the media who cite this poll today, that it is based on a faulty sample composition of 40% GOP and 33% Democrats.


 There's A Problem With The CBS News/NYT Poll As Well

I've had several people send me notes tonight and in the comments section trying to undo my argument against the Gallup Poll sampling today by pointing to the just-released CBS News/New York Times poll out tonight, which shows that amongst registered voters Bush holds an 8-point lead over Kerry (50%-42%). The contrary argument from these folks apparently goes that if Gallup is wrong, then CBS News/NYT shows a similar large lead for Bush.

Not so fast. Check out the sampling used by CBS News/NYT in their poll, and again, then compare it to the recent party IDs in the last two presidential elections.

Total Respondents: 1287

Weighted GOP: 426 (34%)
 Weighted Dem: 399 (31%)
 Weighted Ind: 462 (36%) ?

Again, I'll ask my question from this morning all over: If the Democratic Party ID from the last two presidential elections was 39%, and the GOP party ID was no higher than 35%, then:

-Why is CBS even using a sample that reflects a 3% GOP lead over Dems?

-Why is CBS using a sample that shows Indies higher than they have been in recent presidential elections?

 This CBS poll shows Bush with a 50%-42% lead over Kerry, yet as Ruy Teixeira of Donkey Rising says far better than me, if this poll had been reweighted to reflect more closely the actual turnout of the 2000 election, Bush's 8-point lead evaporates into a 47%-46% tie.

This is not a complex issue. I don't pretend to be a polling expert, so I don't get into discussions about arcane things like when in the poll the pollster asks the respondent what their party ID is. To me, I'm still back to Square One: why trumpet a poll as being representative of registered voters when it clearly undersamples Democrats and in this case grossly oversamples independents?

As I said this morning, the bigger problem is that media outlets splash these polls across their front pages without questioning whether or not the samples used in these polls are reflective of a likely presidential turnout in two months. And the only way to deal with this is to write the paper in this case and ask how they can run a poll with a 3% Democratic deficit against the GOP and with Independents coming in at 36%. For more, go to http://www.theleftcoaster.com/

*****!!!Cannabis Liberation Day--May 7, 2004:  Updates,  Reports!!!*****

__________________________________________________
Pot Compounds Halt Spread Of Known Cancer Causing Virus, Study Says
   
Tampa, FL:  Compounds in marijuana inhibit the spread of several forms of
herpes known to cause cancer, according to clinical findings published
this week in the journal BMC Medicine.

Researchers at the University of South Florida Health Sciences Center
determined that the cannabinoid THC selectively prevents the activation
and replication of gamma herpes viruses.  The viruses, which can lie
dormant for years within white blood cells before becoming active and
spreading to other cells, have been shown to increase an individual's
chances of developing cancers such as Karposis Sarcoma, Burkitts
lymphoma, and Hodgkins disease.

Researchers found that THC protected cells infected with a mouse gamma
herpes virus from reactivation.  Cells not cultured with THC died when
the virus was reactivated.  The results may "provide the foundation for

the development of antiviral strategies utilizing ... derivatives of
THC," authors concluded.

Scientists noted that THC did not prevent the spread of herpes simplex-1,
the virus responsible for cold sores and genital herpes.   

In August, clinical data published in the journal Cancer Research
determined that pot's constituents selectively inhibit the growth of
malignant brain tumors in animals and in human tissue.

Previous research has also shown cannabinoids to selectively target and
halt the proliferation of other types of cancerous cells, including skin
carcinoma, prostate cancer and breast cancer.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy
Analyst, at (202) 483-5500.  Abstracts of the BMC Medicine study are
available online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/2/34/abstract

New Listings--

Fayetteville, Arkansas;  Rev. Tom Brown, revtombrown@...  (479) 251-1780; First Church of the Magi, P.O.Box 2827, 72702; or Rev. Nancy Harris, nharris@... ; Sacred Truth Mission at (479) 582-4138

Rapid City: Bob Newland <newland@...> 605-255-4032 website: http://www.sodaknorml.org/  300 marchers in '02. [Bob Newland, H C 89 Box 184A, Hermosa, SD 57744]

Missoula: John Masterson, Montana NORML 406 542-8696 [613 De Foe St. Missoula MT 59802]

-------------

Sukoi

 Sep 14 2004, 04:35 PM

 

Some EXCELLENT news from Alaska:
QUOTE
Court Chooses Privacy Over Pot

Posted by CN Staff on September 14, 2004 at 08:57:43 PT
By Beth Ipsen, Staff Writer
Source: News-Miner 

 The Alaska Supreme Court denied on Thursday a petition by the state attorney general's office seeking reconsideration of a decision allowing personal marijuana in the home.
The Supreme Court upheld last year's Court of Appeal unanimous ruling in Noy v. State of Alaska that solidified the argument a person's constitutional right to privacy is greater than a voter initiative making marijuana illegal.

The Court of Appeals decision was based largely upon a controversial 1975 Alaska Supreme Court opinion handed down in Ravin v. State allowing adults to possess marijuana for personal use in their home.

In 1990, voters passed an initiative on a 55 to 44 percent tally making it illegal to possess any amount of marijuana, but last year the appeals court not only ruled voters didn't have the authority to change the state constitution, but defined 4 ounces or less of marijuana as permissible for personal use at home.

"Noy basically restored Ravin and reaffirmed the right to privacy," said attorney Bill Satterberg, who filed the appeal. "People don't realize the purpose of the court is to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority."

The ruling closes a case that began when North Pole police and drug agents arrested David Noy at his Parkway Road house July 27, 2001.<snip>

Continued http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19488.shtml

********************

*****BUSHWHACKED!!*****

***********************

From the National Archives: New proof of Vietnam War atrocities
Swift Boat Swill
by Nicholas Turse

September 21st, 2004 11:40 AM

John Kerry is being pilloried for his shocking Senate testimony 34 years ago that many U.S. soldiers-not just a few "rogues"-were committing atrocities against the Vietnamese. U.S. military records that were classified for decades but are now available in the National Archives back Kerry up and put the lie to his critics. Contrary to what those critics, including the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, have implied, Kerry was speaking on behalf of many soldiers when he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971, and said this:

 They told stories that at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam, in addition to the normal ravage of war and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

The archives have hundreds of files of official U.S. military investigations of such atrocities committed by American soldiers. I've pored over those records-which were classified for decades-for my Columbia University dissertation and, now, this  Voice article. The exact number of investigated allegations of atrocities is unknown, as is the number of such barbaric incidents that occurred but weren't investigated. Some war crimes, like the Tiger Force atrocities exposed last year by The Toledo Blade, have only come to light decades later. Others never will. But there are plentiful records to back up Kerry's 1971 testimony point by point. Following (with the names removed or abbreviated) are examples, directly from the archives:

"They had personally raped"

On August 12, 1967, Specialist S., a military intelligence interrogator, "raped . . . a 13-year-old . . . female" in an interrogation hut in a P.O.W. compound. He was convicted of assault and indecent acts with a child. He served seven months and 16 days for his crimes.

 "Cut off ears"

On August 9, 1968, a seven-man patrol led by First Lieutenant S. entered Dien Tien hamlet. "Shortly thereafter, Private First Class W. was heard to shout to an unidentified person to halt. W. fired his M-16 several times, and the victim was killed. W. then dragged the body to [the lieutenant's] location. . . . Staff Sergeant B. told W. to bring back an ear or finger if he wanted to prove himself a man. W. later went back to the body and removed both ears and a finger." W. was charged with assault and conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline; he was court-martialed and convicted, but he served no prison time. B. was found guilty of assault and was fined $50 a month for three months. S. was discharged from the army before action could be taken against him.

 "Cut off heads"

On June 23, 1967, members of the 25th Infantry Division killed two enemy soldiers in combat in Binh Duong province. An army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) probe disclosed that "Staff Sergeant H. then decapitated the bodies with an axe." H. was court-martialed and found guilty of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline. His grade was reduced, but he served no prison time.

 "Taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power"

On January 10, 1968, six Green Berets in Long Hai, South Vietnam, "applied electrical torture via field telephones to the sensitive areas of the bodies of three men and one woman . . . " Four received reprimands and "Article 15s"-a nonjudicial punishment meted out by a commanding officer or officer in charge for minor offenses. A fifth refused to accept his Article 15, and no other action was taken against him. No action was taken against the sixth Green Beret.

 "Cut off limbs"

A CID investigation disclosed that during late February or early March 1968 near Thanh Duc, South Vietnam, First Lieutenant L. ordered soldier K. to shoot an unidentified Vietnamese civilian. "K. shot the Vietnamese civilian, leaving him with wounds in the chest and stomach. Soldier B., acting on orders from L., returned to the scene and killed the Vietnamese civilian, and an unidentified medic severed the Vietnamese civilian's left arm." No punishment was meted out because none of the "identified perpetrators" was found to be on active duty at the time of the June 1971 investigation.

 "Blown up bodies"

On February 14, 1969, Platoon Sergeant B. and Specialist R., on a reconnaissance patrol in Binh Dinh province, "came upon three Vietnamese males . . . whom they detained and then shot at close range using M-16 automatic fire. B. then arranged the bodies on the ground so that their heads were close together. A fragmentation grenade was dropped next to the heads of the bodies." B. was court-martialed, convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to a reduction in grade and a fine of $97 per month for six months-after which time he re-enlisted. R. was court-martialed and found not guilty.

 "Randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan"

While a U.S. "helicopter hunter-killer team . . . was on a recon mission in Cambodia," its members fired rockets at buildings and "engaged various targets [in a small village] with machine-gun fire. Gunship preparatory fire preceded the landing of a South Vietnamese army platoon, which had been diverted from another mission. A U.S. captain accompanied the platoon on the ground in violation of standing orders. The South Vietnamese troops, reconnoitering by fire, did not search bunkers for enemy forces, nor were enemy weapons found. . . . Civilian casualties were estimated at eight dead, including two children, 15 wounded, and three or four structures destroyed. There is no evidence that the wounded were provided medical treatment by either U.S. or South Vietnamese forces. . . . Members of the South Vietnamese platoon returned to the aircraft with large quantities of civilian property. . . . The incident was neither properly investigated nor reported initially." Letters of reprimand were issued to a lieutenant colonel and a major. The captain received a letter of reprimand.

 John Kerry made it clear when he testified more than three decades ago that what he told the Senate was the cumulative testimony of well over 100 "honorably discharged and many very highly decorated" Vietnam vets who gathered in Detroit in early 1971. Calling their gathering the Winter Soldier Investigation, they were trying to raise awareness of the type of war they said America was waging in Southeast Asia. They were trying to demonstrate that the shocking My Lai massacre on March 16, 1968, of 567 civilians in a Vietnamese village-a barbarism unknown to the American public until late 1969-was not an isolated incident in which rogue troops went berserk, but simply one of many U.S.-perpetrated atrocities.

 All these years later, neither the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) nor the media feeding their allegations about Kerry's supposedly "false 'war crimes' charges" even broaches the subject of Vietnamese suffering, let alone talk about Kerry's exposition of large-scale atrocities, such as free-fire zones and bombardment of villages-gross violations of international law cannot simply be denied or explained away.

 Having worked for nearly five years doing research on post-traumatic stress disorder among Vietnam vets, I understand the intense trauma experienced by many of them. However, having also spent years working with U.S. government records of investigations into atrocities committed against the Vietnamese by U.S. soldiers, it is patently clear which country suffered more as a result of the war, and it isn't the U.S., which tragically lost just over 58,000 soldiers. It's Vietnam. Perhaps as many as 2 million Vietnamese civilians died during the war, and who can even guess at the number wounded-physically and psychologically.

 On its website, the SBVT tries to debunk the Winter Soldier Investigation by using the same rhetoric that apologists for the Vietnam War have long employed: They paint the vets who attended the Detroit meeting as a parade of fake veterans offering false testimony. "None of the Winter Soldier 'witnesses' Kerry cited in his Senate testimony less than three months later were willing to sign affidavits, and their gruesome stories lacked the names, dates, and places that would allow their claims to be tested," the SBVT claims. "Few were willing to cooperate with military investigators."

 While numerous authors have repeatedly advanced such assertions, U.S. military documents tell a radically different story. According to the formerly classified army records, 46 soldiers who testified at the WSI made allegations that, in the eyes of U.S. Army investigators, "merited further inquiry." As of March 1972, the army's CID noted that of the 46 allegations, "only 43 complainants have been identified" by investigators. "Only" 43 of 46? That means at least 93 percent of the veterans surveyed were real, not fake. Moreover, according to official records, CID investigators attempted to contact 41 people who testified at the Detroit session, which occurred between January 31 and February 2, 1971. Five couldn't be located, according to records. Of the remaining 36, 31 submitted to interviews-hardly the "few" asserted by SBVT. Moreover, as Gerald Nicosia has noted in his mammoth tome Home to War, "A complete transcript of the Winter Soldier testimony was sent to the Pentagon, and the military never refuted a word of it."

 The assertion that the vets proved uncooperative and refused to provide useful, identifiable information has also been a typical device used to refute the WSI. In this case, the Winter Soldiers themselves played directly into the hands of their detractors by trying to have it both ways: They wanted to expose atrocities as a product of command policy while denying individual soldiers' responsibility in committing the crimes.

 At the WSI, veteran after veteran told of brutal military tactics, like burning villages and establishing free-fire zones. They offered blunt, graphic, and often horrific accounts of murder, rape, torture, mutilation, and indiscriminate violence. But when it came to perpetrators, the soldiers did not name names. From the outset, they made it clear that they would not allow their testimony to be used to, as they put it, scapegoat individual G.I.'s and low-ranking officers when, they said, it was the war's managers-America's political and military leadership-who were ultimately to blame for the atrocities. Because of this stance, some veterans told investigators after the WSI that they would not offer any further testimony or would only speak before Congress or a congressional committee. This stance became a convenient way for the military to stop work on cases and ignore the charges the anti-war vets had made.

 But in fact-and despite later claims to the contrary by their pro-war critics-most of the Winter Soldier participants had publicly given accounts with their own names, unit identifications, dates of service, and sometimes rather detailed descriptions of locations-namely, all the information needed to proceed with investigations. In practically all the specific Winter Soldier cases, such probes were never done. 

--------

What if Bush Wins?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.bushforum.html

The Mess in Iraq:

http://www.iht.com/articles/539597.html

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17406

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/from_our_own_correspondent/3675538.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5016994-103677,00.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0920/p01s01-woiq.htm

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1101040927-699341,00.html

http://abbaskadhim.blogspot.com/

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/print/2004/708/re11.htm

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FI03Ak01.html

------------

Secret Papers Show Blair was Warned of Iraq Chaos
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091904Y.shtml

U.S. Military Running Out of Guard, Reserve Troops

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091704W.shtml

From: billder@...

The Price of American Cowardice

AIPAC's Power, or America's Cowardice?
Charley Reese - AntiWar.com September 13, 2004

It was 1996, and Bill Clinton was president. To give the rascal his due, he was

laboring mightily to make the Middle East peace process work. That same year,

three American neoconservatives produced a policy paper for the newly elected
Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The neocons were Richard Perle, Douglas Feith and David Wurmser. Their policy

paper recommended to Netanyahu that he abandon the peace process, reject "land

for peace" and strengthen Israel's defenses in order to confront Syria and Iraq.

The document said, "This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power

in Iraq - an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right." It also
recommended that Israel use pretexts for preemptive attacks.

Now, if all of this sounds familiar - and it should - that's because Perle,
Feith and Wurmser joined other neocons in the Bush administration. Perle was

especially vocal in pushing the war on Iraq. They had two pretexts: the attack
of Sept. 11, even though Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with it, and the
mythical weapons of mass destruction.

Netanyahu, by the way, did abandon the peace process. And, at a cost of $200
billion and nearly 1,000 American lives, Israel did achieve its "strategic
objective in its own right" - removing Saddam from power. Unless Perle and

his buddies were paid for their advice, it didn't cost Israel one shekel or one

life.

Furthermore, if you stretch your memory, you will recall that until Iraq blew up

in its face, the Bush administration was laying the groundwork to attack Syria,
the other country Perle and his crowd named as a target for Israel. It has

already imposed sanctions on Syria despite the fact that, according to our own
intelligence people, Syria had been cooperating with the war on terror. The
other target of the Israelis - excuse me, the Bush administration - is Iran.

If you want more details on these neocons, I recommend Secrets and Lies, by

Dilip Hiro, a distinguished Middle East scholar, and James Bamford's A Pretext
for War.

When President Bush first started talking about terrorism, he use to say
"terrorists with global reach" to distinguish between al-Qaeda and strictly
local outfits with local agendas. That did not suit the Israelis and their
American supporters. They wanted Israel's enemies to be our enemies, and so

the distinction was soon dropped, and Israel's enemies were added to the

official list of terrorist organizations.

The problem is that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are Palestinian organizations

fighting for independence. True, they have used terrorist tactics, just as the
Jewish organizations - the Stern Gang and the Irgun - did when they were

fighting the British occupation of Palestine. But their target is the Israeli
occupation, not us.

Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization that has also used terrorist tactics,

including attacks against Americans in Lebanon, when it figured we were helping
the Israelis in their occupation of Lebanon. But there again, its quarrel is
with Israel.

I have long since given up the hope that Americans would wake up and resent

the manipulation of their government by a foreign country. The Israeli lobby has

been so successful in labeling any criticism of Israel, no matter how justified,

as anti-Semitic that most Americans prefer to stick their heads in the sand. For
sure, American politicians and much of the media seem to be terrified by the
Israeli lobby, which says more about their cowardice than it does about the
power of the lobby itself.

So, suit yourself. Go ahead and spend American blood and treasure for the
benefit of Israel.

Just remember, the United States has one, and only one, legitimate interest

in the Middle East, and that is buying oil that everybody who has it wants to

sell. It doesn't matter whether we buy it from a dictator (we bought plenty from

Saddam) or from a democratic government. It doesn't matter to us if the country
that sells us oil likes or hates Israel.

This whole mess, including the war in Iraq and the terrorist attacks, is a

result of the American government's involvement with Israel. It's a dangerous

and unhealthy state of affairs that will not be cured until Americans find the
courage to have an open and honest debate about our foreign policy in the

Middle East.
www.antiwar.com/reese/?articleid=3551

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Join the Kerry Marijuana Decrim Thread:

http://forum.johnkerry.com/index.php?showtopic=61002&st=150

Marijuana-like chemicals bring hope to epileptics

DrugResearcher.com
September 17th, 2004


New research in the US, focusing on the pharmacological aspects of smoking marijuana, are closer to understanding how the drugs active ingredients exert its effects, paving the way for drugs that selectively bind and block subtypes of cannabinoid receptors on one type of cell but not another.

The research holds promise as it implies there may be one way to harness the medically useful aspect of marijuana without causing the associated brain-altering side effects.

Such research could produce drugs that could be useful in treating epilepsy. A drug that blocks cannabinoid receptors on some types of inhibitory interneurons might allow them to continue quieting the seizure-inducing pyramidal cells during periods of intense activity.

In previous work, other researchers had found that pyramidal cells manufacture and release cannabinoids that bind to a receptor on the membrane of interneurons.

The cortex contains two major types of nerve cells. Pyramidal neurons that excite both local and more distant neighbours, and inhibitory interneurons that act as local dimming switches, shutting down the activity of nearby brain cells. The inhibitory interneurons prevent the brain from taking in and responding to every thought, sight or sound it encounters. They also protect against runaway excitation such as that seen in epilepsy.

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine discovered the drug's active ingredients tetrahydrocannabinol and related compounds, called cannabinoids inhibit the group of interneurons that act as information gatekeepers in the brain's major information processing centre, called the cerebral cortex.

These interneurons also release cannabinoids that quiet their own activity. This form of self-inhibition is a novel way for neurons to regulate their own ability to send messages to their neighbours. Tetrahydrocannabinol from marijuana may work its brain-altering magic by binding to these same cells.

The research headed up by David Prince and Irene Thiele Pimley, Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences is published in the Sept. 16 issue of Nature.

The class of interneurons, the "LTS cells" of the cerebral cortex, manufacture and release cannabinoids that bind to their own cannabinoid receptors and shut down their ability to signal other neurons. By shutting themselves off, the interneurons block their quieting action on the excitatory pyramidal cells. Without the quieting effect, pyramidal cells signal more intensely, triggering a higher level of activity in circuits of the cortex.

Prince commented: "A loss of inhibition in pyramidal cells could produce changes in perception, in motor function and in everything the cerebral cortex does."

During an epileptic seizure, Pyramidal cells are among those that fire out of control during a seizure. One reason these cells fire so rapidly may be that interneurons get shut down.

With 300,000 people in the UK suffering from epilepsy (40 million people worldwide), the need for specialised but effective anti-epileptic drugs (AED) has never been more called for.

The identification of SV2A as the binding site for AED Keppra provides an innovative and unique drug discovery platform to identify new drugs with improved characteristics. It also provides molecular evidence that Keppra is different from all other anti-epileptic and CNS drugs. No other known anti-epileptic drugs (AED's) bind to SV2A.

Climbingthegreatbluecliffs

 Yesterday, 01:35 AM
 

Drug abuse, and addictive behaviors are definitely a problem.

ibogaine is a indole alkaloid isolated, most commonly, from the tabernanthe iboga shrub. Used ritually in Africa for religious purposes for an unknown amount of time, it has also found a place in psychotherapy and addiction treatment. Due to its hallucinogenic effects it is a schedule I substance in the USA. In the mid nineties trials were terminated, the subject of which was the use of ibogaine and its non-hallucinogenic analog 18-MC in the treatment of drug addiction. One might think this was because of its ineffectiveness, but countless reports of unprecedented success in treating all sorts of addiction, with just one application are available. Its easy to imagine what it, and/or 18-MC could add to a treatment program. The trials were terminated, it seems, chiefly because it was perpendicular to the status quo. Once you admit this hallucinogenic has psychotherapeutic value, you have to admit that the full range of them do. In fact LSD and psilocybin both were originally used in psychotherapy, and were popularized by Harvard University psychology teachers. Quickly they became a part of the counter culture, 'expanding your mind' was definitely bad for those benefiting from minds being just the way they are. In a now effective attempt at social engineering, following the court decision on the 1937 marihuana tax act, the CSA was passed, creating the present federal scheduling system.

 In my opinion the government's policy on illicit psychoactives is ripe with flaws, lies and half-truths. The scheduling of marijuana and most hallucinogenic as  schedule I, despite their medical value. In fact many of these scheduled substances should be all the way down to [url=] http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/law/la...5.shtml] schedule V://http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives...tml] schedule V. Check out the  ONDCP's MJ fact sheet.

-cannaboids do not stimulate the production of dopamine (although the user might do so by their own perceptions)
-marijuana does not cause the heart rate to double, that is unless someone is robbing you at gun point
-marijuana stays in the system for up to 60 days. Is it any wonder it is 'involved' in traffic accidents?
-marijuana does not make you a delinquent, but many delinquents use marijuana
-not everyone who uses psychoactives (licit and illicit) needs treatment
Also look  here (check out numbers 4 and 8 at the bottom too).
The  DEA's version is even betterŠ
-the amount of carcinogens used in their figures is often based off those in leaves vs. those in the female flowers, but irregardless making available vaporizers and cheap high quality marijuana would lessen the cancer causing potential
-its highly unlikely marijuana causes impaired brain or muscle function in adults.
-legalizing marijuana would allow the smoke to be filtered, thus reducing carcinogen/tar content
-people arrested for MJ use, or caught by 'brainwashed' parents who don't actually have a drug problem contribute an enormous amount to the people receiving/who received treatment for MJ use.
-[url=http://www.lycaeum.org/drugwar/marijim.html] reviewing the t-cell claim[\url]
-marijuana 'contributes' to crime, if at all, because its illegal

But why all this? Its simple really, originally it was to galvanize support against the counter culture as earlier drug laws were designed to galvanize support for racism.

Marijuana presently is possibly much more dangerous than it would be if legal. Lack of standards and improper and dangerous techniques of production, drying and storage can produce everything from high concentrations of pesticides to mold and mildew with a variety of negative effects, all due almost entirely to the current policy of criminalization.

Ecstasy, cocaine and herion bought illegally have all sorts of dangerous. Varied and unknown quantities, dangerous adulterants and ignorance of the user produce most of them. Meth is in the same boat, but contains further risks from improper manufacture.

Criminalization provides a multi-billion dollar market for criminals (and potentially terrorists) to deal in. Money for guns, guns to get money. People end up dead, and you have a murder rate several times higher than most western and northern European nations. Another interesting side effect seems to be the call for gun control. Since there is no worry about communists stock piling arms anymore something else had to be though up.

With the prices found in the black market, its no wonder we experience approx 36 billion in drug related crime every year. That price tag comes with 40+ billion spent in enforcement annually.

Than there is prison overcrowding, and corruption, as went on in Mena, AR in the eighties and early nineties.

****!!!IBOGAINE TREATMENT NOW $1500 IN HOLLAND--CALL SARA, 0113134-624-1770 !!!****

From: HSLotsof@...

In a message dated 9/15/04 4:12:32 PM, ibogaine@... writes:


>>In fact, by the time the metabolite washes out of the receptors from the
>>ibogaine treatment the craving will not come back because the underlying
>>cause has been addressed.


Francesco,

Not really in response to your subject but, I am uncertain that the
metabolite, noribogaine has been shown to be long lasting.  Possibly, Patrick or
someone else can direct me to a publication showing the administration of
noribogaine to be long lasting.

In a personal communication I was informed that the administration of
noribogaine in rats shows the drug is cleared quickly and that the long lasting
activity associated with ibogaine is likely due to ibogaine being sequestered in
fat and converted to noribogaine by the liver at is released.  Noribogaine
levels as a metabolite are higher in plasma than ibogaine and that may be the
reason noribogaine is detected for longer periods after administration of the
prodrug ibogaine.

Any clarification of this matter appreciated.

Howard

See Glick below.

Life Sci. 1996;58(7):PL119-22. 
 
Tissue distribution of ibogaine after intraperitoneal and subcutaneous

administration.
Hough LB, Pearl SM, Glick SD.
Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Albany Medical College, NY
12208, USA.
The distribution of the putative anti-addictive substance ibogaine was
measured in plasma, brain, kidney, liver and fat after ip and sc administration in
rats. One hr after ip dosing (40 mg/kg), drug levels ranged from 106 ng/ml
(plasma) to 11,308 ng/g (fat), with significantly higher values after sc
administration of the same dose. Drug levels were 10-20 fold lower 12 hr after the same
dose. These results suggest that: 1) ibogaine is subject to a substantial
"first pass" effect after ip dosing, demonstrated by higher drug levels following
the sc route, 2) ibogaine shows a large accumulation in adipose tissue,
consistent with its lipophilic nature, and 3) persistence of the drug in fat may

contribute to a long duration of action.

From:  ptpeet@...

>I think this list is about hope and getting the word out there to help

people in desperate need.
                                                 Thats all. Still with
smiles Jasen >

Right on. I can live with this definition, sans problem.
smiley thing right back attacha Jasen.

Carla asked >Is it a
traditional group or different and why do you not want
to go Preston?<

A few different reasons.
One, I'm mad at myself for paying the counselor some here in NYC are meeting
with $60 freakin bucks that I coulda spent much better elsewhere the one
time I did meet with her. No offense to her but I was really bothered that I
paid her that money after listening to her talk about herself most of my
session with her. I guess that helps us get to know one another, but she
coulda told me the stuff she did on the phone, and I could have used that
$60 bucks on a lot of other things, like a great bag of pot even, which
woulda been much better for my psychy than my meet with her.
Two, I've suddenly realized that I don't wanna hear any more war stories, or
at least, I don't wanna talk about them vocally right now. Not others'
anyway. I read a lot of them every single day as I work, and I'm rewriting a
manuscript of my own that's chock full of horrific war stories that are
already kicking up a lot of shit in my mind and heart. I seem to feel like
using everytime I start trying to hear others' war stories too. Plus,
there's the whole issue of "I'm not trying to stop using, I'm trying to use
responsibly" and I don't know many others who are likewise doing this. I
mean, I know a couple on this list who are chronic pain patients, but don't
know any here in NYC, not who've used ibogaine anyway. So my goal is not to
stay clean, it's to keep my pain at the least bothersome levels however I
can. And that involve opiates. Therefore I also do not think it very smart
or considerate of me to go to a meeting and vent about this, that and the

other to people who are trying NOT to use opiates at all. Everytime they see
or hear me, I'm pretty sure they have the thought go through their mind, or
would were I to attend, that "this guy has opiates/is on opiates/damn I want
some." Of course, I'm using other people as an excuse here, so perhaps
that's not really my reason.
    What is my reason?
    Hmmm.
    Um, I just don't like groups. I don't wanna vent in public, at least not
verbally. In print is fine- it's kinda anonymous (lol- I'm seeking
anonymity) this way, sorta.
    I have noticed that the ibo wore off very, very quickly. Maybe it's just
me, but it feels almost like I've forgotten everything already that I
thought I learned. That's not really true, but it feels that way. I mean,
I'm still eating better (but for the past week not much better as my teeth
are fucked and I can't get the wisdom tooth that's been killing me since
Sunday taken out until tomorrow. Grrrr. Paid another freakin $90 bucks
yesterday for a visit to NENA's dentist at the community clinic near my
apartment, only to be told they don't have an oral surgeon on site so they
had to refer me out- to just as expensive dentists are the private one- and
I ain't going to NYU Dental, after they slaughtered a couple of my teeth

already in the past there), taking baths almost every day, listening to
music (but I've started watching a little tv again, mainly c-span at this
time of the morning while I work), but still, I'm kinda feeling blue, even
angry feeling, a bit nervous and frustrated, a lot of the time, and have
very little idea why.
    But I don't want to go discuss it in a group. I use this list (and
sometimes drugwar, but not as much) for that, as a "group." You also asked
what I'm doing instead. Working. Being grumpy. Ummm, grrrr, outta words
here.
   So let me leave it at that for now.
    Love to all.

Preston

"Madness is not enlightenment, but the search for enlightenment is often
mistaken for madness"
Richard Davenport-Hines



----- Original Message -----
From: Jasen Chamoun
To: ibogaine@...
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2004 9:53 PM
Subject: Re: [ibogaine] aftercare, a discussion


Dear Preston,
This is what I thought this list was about.(under Francesco post)
I almost didn't post what I wrote yesterday,because of fear of rididcule.
However I am glad I did.I assumed this list was about getting help from
people that have experienced Ibogaine,
and talking to providers.
When someone feels like shit and they are at there wits end,they come to
this list for hope,for converstation with
people that understand.
You are right in saying that with a list,people often go off track,hey thats
conversation,..great.I simply mean that I did not expect all this
conflict,you don't want to go to a list to get help and sign off feeling
like shit.

I have been a member of another list for some years now(non drug related)and
yes,we do speak of other things,of course,otherwise sometimes there would be
no posts,you can make good friends from conversation.But when one of us are
pissed off at another we deal with it offline so that others don't have to
walk through our conflict.Although at times it does still happen.

I am sure there were others also yesterday that left the list feeling down.

This list has given me hope and a plan with the help and kindess of people I
have spoken to.

I think this list is about hope and getting the word out there to help
people in desperate need.
                                                 Thats all. Still with
smiles Jasen

----- Original Message -----
From: ibogaine@...
To: ibogaine@...
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 7:31 AM

Subject: [ibogaine] aftercare, a discussion

Hello everyone,
                         I'd like to discuss the subject of aftercare
because, for me, at this point, after practicing for six years, and after
witnessing the dynamics of process with over 700 people there are some
conclusions that are very evident.  Yet at the same time, i could say that
the more treatments i'm involved with, the less i know.  The reconciliation

of this apparent paradox is where the utter joy is for me, but i already
digress.  No doubt if attention deficit disorder was epidemic 40 years ago
and parents who find it easier to take prosac and rationalise placing their
kids on medication happened then, i would have been one of the fallen.  Just
a bit of an introduction..
                       So we did 33 hours of documentary film in N.Y.C. and
one of the things we filmed was a guy shooting up and beautifully
articulating the moment to moment onslought of Peace.  It blew me away and
confirmed some things for me.  For one, addicts are more sensitive and
intelligent than most other folks walking around.  If addicts weren't, they
wouldn't need to anesthetize. Also, the draw, the relentess desire to be at
rest, to come home is, at least equal to any sadhu/true seeker.
Osho/Rajneesh very best friend was a heroin addict who overdosed.  Now some
of you characters may be saying, " Yeah, of course.  What else is new?"
Well, it wasen't until a few years ago that i realised there are only a
handful of people on the planet who aren't addicts.
                        There's a particular type of person who must
spiritualise the mundane otherwise they're fucked. The American dream of
lovely family, home, good job just doesn't cut it.  These people need to

access a level of causeless joy, beyond the highs and lows of our good and
bad days to make it all worthwhile.  This necessitates what i feel is a
certain level of teaching, the last leg of the spiritual equation which is
certainly beyond belief and beyond time.  It has nothing to do with trying
or doing or identifying with the contents of our minds.  If there is
interest we could pursue this line of discussion.  At least there is a list
of a few authurs who very clearly express this subtle but very powerful
teaching, but i want to touch upon something i've come across which has more
weight to it .
                         I'm not the only ibogaine provider who has noticed
that most of the people who come to us have an adandonment issue with the
same sex parent.  And there is actually a differentf dynamic with the
stimulants and opiates.  Whereas with the opiates there is more physical
abuse or the same sex parent just wasen't around, the stimulants often arise
out of the parent being a workaholic/alcaholic and consequently not
emotionally available at all.  This may be why inadvertently in the 12 step
process when a person  finds a sponsor who they really admire and respect in
makes all the difference.  This is why when a person has the fortitude,
courage, etc. to find a same sex therapist to immediately go into therapy
with after their ibogaine, the wide  range of emotions are explored that
weren't able to be during the years as a child.  But this meeting requires
the  letting go of the propensity to find someone comfortable.  When i ask a
person if they are doing therapy and they tell me they are and they've been
in therapy for years and they are completely comfortable with their
therapist then i know they are not doing therapy .  They've just got their
therapist rapped around their finger.  Because, again, addicts are smarter,
brighter and more sensitive than most therapists.  There are a deep range of
emotions which need to be explored and the only way this will happen is if
you admire and respect your therapist.  Then the necessary transference of
role model to this person happens and through the exploration of anger,
love, intimidation, fear, longing, trust, healing happens.  And when this
connection is made therapy doesn't need to take a long time.  In fact, by
the time the metabolite washes out of the receptors from the ibogaine
treatment the craving will not come back because the underlying cause has
been addressed.  The initial hole that was created by the abandonment  is
resolved.
                      Just some thoughts.  Have a good meeting in N.Y.

Love,

Francesco

From: ptpeet@...

Patrick noted >But, uhm, to just SHARE my own personal subjective
observations...  If
you have relatively low bodyfat levels, that NEAT glowy feeling, seems

to do an exit stage left, after a few days.  Maybe a week, 10 days
tops.  And 10 days is stretching the boundaries of Wishful Thinking.<

And what do you know, I have extremely low body fat. In other words, I ain't
fat by any stretch of the imagination and have no fat on my body anywhere at
all. (I'm lucky to even have the teeny buttcheecks I have now. And they're
new too.)
;-))
But I Have to say, I am STILL getting trails at odd moments. Real trails,
not just traces but trails. They don't last long, usually only a second or
three, but they are very apparent when they happen.
    That said, back to the body fat/no glow feeling in very short order
equation. I have been feeling angry and irritable and unsociable and
frustrated....But I guess I already said this in the last note, so never
mind.

Peace and love,
Preston

From: ms_iboga@...

Hi group,

I agree with this statement.  I'm also a skinny minny,
and found the effects of the drug exited quite fast- I
had expected to feel great for a month, was more like
7 days, tops.  I'm wondering if my metabolism was also
the cause for the mediocre results I achieved with
Ibo.

I found, for some strange reason, ALCOHOL consumption
could restart some of the trails and visual
hallucinations; methadone, interestingly enough, does

NOT.

Julie

From: myeboga@...

Hi there,

I would like to share a few thoughts that come to mind on the Eboga healing mechanism based on intensive personal use over a period of 6 years with a previous record of undergoing Primal Therapy, some counselling and emotional release work (Holotrophic Breathwork):

1. Intention is everything:

If we are not centered in ourselves as to why we seek healing and what we are aiming for we are like a boat without a rudder going with the wind and the tides.

The energy of intention helps the Eboga energy to connect to the person. Eboga does not heal a person independent of that persons inner intentions. That would be an insult to the person's freedom of choice in the development of their inner self. Eboga extends its help when asked with sincere intention.

2. Willingness to change:

Part of the problem is that often we will not want to accept the truth about ourselves and our behaviour as that can require a painful letting go and a painful acceptance of the truth of another persons mental health also. Without realising it we are not willing to change. The deep pain that this truth touches in us for the other person is often masked by our natural love for that person, such as a parent, and the notion that we really want to see them well and happy. Thus we sabotage our own health to maintain the pretense and denial of the reality of their effect on us, i.e. codependency where we use whatever love they give us to hold the problem in place. (sometimes also avoiding the problem as we are too afraid not to be codependent and are manipulated by misplaced guilt). Once this obstacle is overcome Eboga can then complete the healing of that issue and the natural love we feel becomes channelled into constructive compassion for the other. We also  no longer live in the fear of losing their love

Other more classical reasons for not being willing to change is basically an arrogant attitude that wants it all but does not want to lose anything that one already has - the 'I can have it all' mentality which advertising is based on. Yes, we can have it all but first we need to understand what 'all' really means.

If we are unwilling to accept the truth at a deep level then the healing will not complete (we stand in its way through our unacknowledged intention) and life will probably take a turn for the worse in the area we are in denial as that is the way our eyes are opened to return to eboga to complete the task. Watch out for the emotional blows!

3. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Eboga is not a commodity that can be bought and sold. It is an agreement between yourself and the spiritual world. The journey to healing is one where we come closer to ourselves and in turn it comes closer to us. That is in part why it helps. If we wish to have our head fixed by a session, have a therapist work out the problems shortly thereafter and then walk back to a sorted selfish life, we have a better chance at setting up a beach resort on Mars for Summer 2005 and thereafter commuting on a bi-annual basis. Eboga is working for the light, not the dark.

One session is just the start. The real change is deep inside and thinking it out is only useful in terms of an action plan / insight and fortifying our intention. It does not heal the problem at the end of  the day but it can be part of the spur that resolves us to move on and complete the healing.

We do have to take action and that can mean selling up, changing jobs, moving home, leaving partners, ...... ..... Eboga guides us in this.

4. Healing is an ordered process.

There are many layers in the healing journey and it is impossible to fix all things at once as we need to go deeper and deeper once each issue is resolved in order to get to those deeper still. Hence if an issue is not yet integrated, understood and resolved how can we go even deeper to something that requires understanding of that above it? Once an issue is resolved it empowers us and Eboga to go deeper. That is what part of the purpose of integration is about.

Each area of pain has its own set of faulty ideas and issues to be dealt with. Of course many issues are inter-connected. In a given moment though, it is, generally speaking, one issue or another that is dealt with.

5. Eboga releases pain.

When childhood traumas are released pain is also released from the emotional body and this takes time to heal. Hence only so much can be dealt with at once as there is a physical limit to what we are capable of sustaining in any give period. The pain can be intense and at times overwhelming - hence a healing program requires the use of eboga in small quantities (approx. 6mg/kg) to act as pain relief as it is not anaesthetic to the psyche and its drive to wholeness and self-knowledge. Medication is highly suspect. These mini sessions also come with psychological insight and resolution. We get what we need. Further major sessions may also be required.

6. Primary issues created secondary ones.

While our primary problem may have been with a given parent there are numerous other problems which result from this. Single issue healing and then back to life whole and healthy is a nice idea sold by shrinks but in the real world it doesn't hold water.

7. Fortune favors the brave.

Once you get on the eboga healing wagon be prepared. It can be a helleva bumpy ride if you want to get anywhere. Establish a solid source of supply and consider the use of mini-sessions as a must if you intend healing through eboga. Become empowered.

8. Events depicted in sessions about what may happen can be a very long way off - years.

9. Post session therapy

A good thing - emotional release / wise counselling - insight leads to action.

10. Post session life changes and set backs

After a session we may feel we have the answers to our life. Later we discover we made changes which were catastrophic. Later still we realise Eboga led us to these changes & crises as a precursor for the final wake up call to what is really going on in certain areas - necessary if deep down we were not willing to accept the truth in those areas. That is when the inner healing is about to fully complete in those areas.

11. Know what you seek.

Eboga may not be for you (apart from addiction interruption) if you do not have a personal agenda towards wholeness.

Get on the eboga/ibogaine train if you wish. But after it pulls into the first station it drops off the passengers who are not interested in the rest of the journey - a  journey destined for the mountains and valleys of your life under its stewardship.

That is why Eboga is a spiritually guided process of personal transformation.

I hope you don't mind if I finish on a question:

Do you believe that you can ever live a life of personal inner freedom?

Safe journey,

Lee

http://www.myeboga.com

From: nick227@...

Hi Lee,
 

I would certainly agree that intention is everything, but intention also develops naturally with awareness. Just taking ibogaine with very little awareness or intention can still catalyse massive change. It did for me in my first iboga experience. It's great if you have the intention to heal, and I guess most people would not be drawn to use ibogaine were that not at least partially present, but to say it is needed is going too far.

In my experience, the word "healing" itself is paradoxical in nature. The only healing exists is the total personal acceptance that there absolutely is NO HEALING - that everything experienced is simply who you are and that there never was and never will be any possibility of escape from this. Iboga, like therapy, and like addiction itself, are mere avenues that the psyche voyages down in the belief that there is some escape. When travelled, and seen for what they are, an acceptance, and a healing, may take place. The travelling is important. Whilst the belief that escape from ourselves is possible, it must be followed.

with love

Nick

From: myeboga@...

Hi Nick,

While I agree completely with the case where one unexpectedly gains a great deal with so called little intention, I would argue that intention can exist without one being consciously aware of its depth or without understanding that we actually do have the right intention as we may not be clear on what that all amounts to. (Classically we confuse our negative thoughts with who we are out of self hatred.)  In my book I think what I wrote here is born out by the story, the analysis and the insights.

Assuming you dump that last paragraph completely, for arguments sake. I can tell you this much. The completion of my healing is only working because I have the fullest intention to enter the deepest part of my pain in order to find what I seek and in doing so I am embraced more and more by the healing Eboga Spirit. This intention has manifested itself in a number of drastic changes I made to my life which come out during the story behind the books. I gave up pretty much all I had materially and emotionally and held onto the minimum. It was extremely painful but utterly necessary.

Perhaps one can say that Eboga will give everyone something - as they say: the first taste of the Grail is free but the second one comes at a price, i.e., Intention manifested by action.

OF COURSE: Just because nothing may happen in a given session does not mean one has bad intention. But intention that brings us into a daily inner dialog as we unravel, will also reap reward in the session. There are many factors to consider, not least whether you use capsules or powder... ... I include the idea of intention to empower, not to judge.

I dont analyse my intention. I just live it as best I can in my commitment to the process. Its what has kept me going.

In my experience, the word "healing" itself is paradoxical in nature. The only healing exists is the total personal acceptance that there absolutely is NO HEALING - that everything experienced is simply who you are and that there never was and never will be any possibility of escape from this. Iboga, like therapy, and like addiction itself, are mere avenues that the psyche voyages down in the belief that there is some escape. When travelled, and seen for what they are, an acceptance, and a healing, may take place. The travelling is important. Whilst the belief that escape from ourselves is possible, it must be followed.

I except this is your experience and whatever you have done has worked for you. In my book I add that there is more than one way home. This I simply deduce from the laws of probability and the creative nature of the Universe.

However I do not agree when you say there is no possibility of escape from this state of unhealing. Nick I almost faught with therapists who tried to get me to believe the same and also told me to control the child in me. Had I done so I would be perhaps now dead as I have undergone multiple serious abuse and personal isolation over many years and suffered very deep pain. I have also explored the world of belief that says nothing can be done except to accept.

I have in the past 6 years experienced real deep connected healing and self awareness resulting from 12 major sessions and over 30 mini sessions. I have seen each abuse slowly unravelled. I have gone from year to year deeper shocked by the truth of what I found and the deep pain it left me. This pain is stored in the body and slowly I let go of it through the time of integration. I have seen my life change incredibly because of my attitude. So something is working for me. I am also guided by the spiritual realm and keep a dream journal etc as I have received various instructions or confirmations this way.

BTW:

Pain is stored in the body emotionally, mentally (ego) and spiritually (soul).

Reality is about a balance between the ego and the soul and hence personal liberation in this life only comes through the healing of all parts. The ego is very important but it cannot be free until all the pain it suppresses is healed. I stand for freedom. And I work from the ground up unprejudiced and open to every possibility.

Dont believe me but this is what I believe and what I am experiencing.

I will say this though: It is F***King x 2 hard but not impossibleŠŠ

never will be any possibility of escape from this

There is the question. I believe for me I am well on the way. But every soul is different and I cannot speak for everyone. Each path is different and each has their own relationship to God. I can only put my own experience across. And given the way Eboga has encouraged and inspired me endlessly in my writing I assume it agrees too with some of what I am writing - at least between the lines. What you say here reminds me of all the people I have known who kept telling me to settle down and get married before I really knew what I was looking for.

It certainly is difficult when we vehemently believe something. But it is not about blind belief. It is about faith first and foremost and with the proof of the pudding comes belief. Faith comes before Belief. My beliefs took 6 years to develop + a lifetime before. And, if there is nothing really to lose for someone in a miserable existence and all to gain, why not go for it? After my first session I had all the faith I needed to get started and maybe I should add another number now to my list:

The first session may give you the faith to do another.

With respect,

Lee

 
 

From: HSLotsof@...

In a message dated 9/16/04 2:58:17 PM, sjonnygee@... writes:

<< If someone after having Ibogaine treatment were (theoretically) to take
20/50mg hcl daily as a minor prolongation of their original dose, how long would
you expect them to do this and is there any danger of residual build up in
such a small amount ? (I understand everyone will have differing
results/experiences but I want to know if their are studies about this, does anybody use
these doses already?) I'm going to be treated with Ibogaine in the near future and
so it's for myself that I'm asking about this - I want to be able to talk to
my provider about possibilities regarding this... Sjonny >>

Low dose ibogaine therapy has been experimented with since ibogaine's
discovery as an antiaddictive agent in the 1960s.  I believe that Sara may use low
dose therapy as an adjunct to full therapeutic doses and I believe low dose
therapy was used at the Iboga Therapy House as well.  There is some discussion of
this in the Manual for Ibogaine Therapy http://www.ibogaine.org/manual.html in
the Discussion section that can be found by viewing the table of contents. 
Then select. Treatment Regimen and Dose.

Low dose iboga administration has been used in Africa most likely for 100s of
years as an aspect of participation in Bwiti rites.
http://www.ibogaine.org/fernandez.html

The effects of ibogaine as with all drugs should be monitored by the patient
and provider.  There are no classical scientific studies of low dose ibogaine
therapy.  If you are taking ibogaine only I think the there would be little
danger of residual buildup for most patients taking 25mg to 50mg per day. 
However, as you indicate every patient is different and if you observe effects that
give you concern discontinue administration immediately and talk to your
provider. There may be a danger is you return to drug use while on low dose
therapy.  One persons pleasure may be another's poison.

Your provider may have experience with low dose therapy.  Let us know what
they say.  There are many approaches to ibogaine therapy. How long you continue
low dose ibogaine therapy would be determined by the intent of the therapy and
the effects seen.

Howard

From: UUSEAN@...

Hey Preston.
,

Wherever you choose to grumble is a very personal decision I think.:) I find this list to be a great support as there are no harm reduction groups in the city, and I am sure not going to 12 step.  They will tell me that because I smoked weed tonight, it is no better than if I smoked crack, or shot heroin.

I went to the city, met friends of ibo, met Dana and Paul D,.and took the last bus back to joisey.  Before ibo, and harm reduction, I would have thought this impossible.
I was in the mindset one toke weed=permission to binge for three days.   Maybe I'm finally ready to growup up a little too (at 39) but I can no longer hide behind, "I'm powerless.  I have all the power there is over my choices in fact.

Oh yeah, and I had really intense therapy session too.  Anyway, it's last. Will respond more tomorrow to other's posts.  Time to get four hours sleep.

Sean

To join the Mindvox ibogaine list just send an email to ibogaine-subscribe@... if you please.

Nothing more to it. You don't have to write anything in the subject or text area.

-------------------------------------------------------------

From: tents444@...

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MMM. All cities 1999 to date. Million Marijuana March. Global Cannabis Liberation in May. Worldwide since 1999. Cannabis events on the first Saturday in May, or that weekend, or thereabouts. Marches, meetings, rallies, raves, concerts, festivals, etc..

******************************************************************************

To get on the poster for 2005--update your contact details & add yr city to this New List:

[---snip---]

----end of forwarded email----

The detailed MMM 2005 city list at the end of the above
forwarded email has been deleted since it has some private
postal info, etc. in [brackets].
Go to cures-not-wars.org (eventually) for a detailed
MMM 2005 city list for May 7, 2005! Cannabis Liberation Day!
http://www.cures-not-wars.org - Million Marijuana March.
MMM webform for adding or updating MMM cities worldwide:
http://corporatism.tripod.com/webform.htm
A basic MMM 2005 city list with links:
http://www.corporatism.netfirms.com/mmm2005.htm

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