Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

August 6 and August 9 will mark the 60th anniversaries of the US atomic-bomb attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A tiny group of US rulers met secretly in Washington and ordered and had carried out the two worst terror acts in human history.

Three days after Hiroshima's destruction, the US drooped an A-bomb on Nagasaki, resulting in the deaths of at least 70,000 people before the year was out.

Since 1945, tens of thousands more residents of the two cities have continued to suffer and die from radiation-induced cancers, birth defects and still births.

A tiny group of US rulers met secretly in Washington and callously ordered this indiscriminate annihilation of civilian populations. They gave no explicit warnings. They rejected all alternatives, preferring to inflict the most extreme human carnage possible. They ordered and had carried out the two worst terror acts in human history.

The 60th anniversaries will inevitably be marked by countless mass media commentaries and speeches repeating the 60-year-old mantra that there was no other choice but to use A-bombs in order to avoid a bitter, prolonged invasion of Japan.

On July 21, the British New Scientist magazine undermined this chorus when it reported that two historians had uncovered evidence revealing that “the US decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ... was meant to kick-start the Cold War [against the Soviet Union, Washington's war-time ally] rather than end the Second World War”. Peter Kuznick, director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at the American University in Washington stated that US President Harry Truman's decision to blast the cities “was not just a war crime, it was a crime against humanity”.

With Mark Selden, a historian from Cornell University in New York, Kuznick studied the diplomatic archives of the US, Japan and the USSR. They found that three days before Hiroshima, Truman agreed at a meeting that Japan was “looking for peace”. His senior generals and political advisers told him there was no need to use the A-bomb. But the bombs were dropped anyway. “Impressing Russia was more important than ending the war”, Selden told the New Scientist.

While the capitalist media immediately dubbed the historians' “theory” “controversial”, it accords with the testimony of many central US political and military players at the time, including General Dwight Eisenhower, who stated bluntly in a 1963 Newsweek interview that “the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing”.

Truman's chief of staff, Admiral William Leahy, stated in his memoirs that “the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.”

At the time though, Washington cold-bloodedly decided to obliterate the lives of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children to show off the terrible power of its new super weapon and underline the US rulers' ruthless preparedness to use it.

These terrible acts were intended to warn the leaders of the Soviet Union that their cities would suffer the same fate if the USSR attempted to stand in the way of Washington's plans to create an “American Century” of US global domination. Nuclear scientist Leo Szilard recounted to his biographers how Truman's secretary of state, James Byrnes, told him before the Hiroshima attack that “Russia might be more manageable if impressed by American military might and that a demonstration of the bomb may impress Russia”.

Drunk from the success of its nuclear bloodletting in Japan, Washington planned and threatened the use of nuclear weapons on at least 20 occasions in the 1950s and 1960s, only being restrained when the USSR developed enough nuclear-armed rockets to usher in the era of “mutually assured destruction”, and the US rulers' fear that their use again of nuclear weapons would led to a massive anti-US political revolt by ordinary people around the world.

Washington's policy of nuclear terror remains intact. The US refuses to rule out the first use of nuclear weapons in a conflict. Its latest Nuclear Posture Review envisages the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear “rogue states” and it is developing a new generation of ‘battlefield” nuclear weapons.

Fear of the political backlash that would be caused in the US and around the globe by the use of nuclear weapons remains the main restraint upon the atomaniacs in Washington. On this 60th anniversary year of history's worst acts of terror, the most effective thing that peace-loving people around the world can do to keep that fear alive in the minds of the US rulers is to recommit ourselves to defeating Washington's current “local” wars of terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.

From Green Left Weekly, August 3, 2005.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

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Fresh fears raised about aspartame

Ajinomoto SaiNaRa!

Manufacturers dispute study into lab rats fed sweetener.

The European Food Safety Authority is reviewing "as a matter of high priority" the results of a large new study into aspartame, the artificial sweetener consumed by millions of people worldwide and used in more than 6,000 food and drink products.

Researchers at the Ramazzini Institute for cancer research in Italy say their study shows that aspartame causes lymphomas and leukaemia in female laboratory animals "at doses very close to the acceptable daily intake for humans". The authors of the study also say that while rats fed aspartame ate less food, there was no difference in body weight between treated and untreated animals.

One of the largest manufacturers of aspartame, the Japanese multinational Ajinomoto said the allegations made by the Italian study were "not consistent with the extensive body of scientific research which already exists on aspartame".

It questioned the methods used and the record of the institute. It pointed to four previous studies into the carcinogenicity of aspartame that had found no relationship between aspartame and any form of cancer. It added that aspartame broke down in the body into the building blocks of protein that occur widely in the rest of food.

It also helped people reduce their calorie intake. This contribution to cutting obesity helped to prevent cancer, a spokesman said.

The Ramazzini Institute has sent its first results to the European Food Safety Authority. EFSA confirmed yesterday that it would be asking its expert scientific panel on food additives to review the results "as a matter of high priority, in the context of the previous extensive safety data available on aspartame".

EFSA added that until that review had taken place it did not have a basis for recommending that consumers change their diet in respect of aspartame.

Although it had been presented with an outline of the findings by the institute in June, it is still waiting for the full pathology reports from the researchers. The review will also take into account all the other studies and data available.

"This will probably take several months," an EFSA statement said.

The institute said the full data would be published in six weeks' time. Aspartame is widely used to sweeten chewing gum, soft drinks, yoghurts and desserts and other low-calorie foods, and medicines including syrups and antibiotics for children.

Aspartame has been authorised for use in foods for a long time in many countries but has "a controversial history", according to EFSA. Since its approval, the safety of aspartame and its breakdown products has been widely discussed in the press and among scientists. "Up to now aspartame has been considered safe, based on the studies available."

The new study was conducted on 1,800 rats during their full lifespan. Six different dose levels were tested against a control group. The institute said the study, which is to appear in its own publication, the European Journal of Oncology, had been peer-reviewed by seven international experts "in anticipation of controversy".

Ajinomoto said it welcomed the decision by EFSA to review the claim made by the Ramazzini Institute objectively.

By Felicity Lawrence posted 16 July 05

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UN links herb smokers to terrorism?

UN links herb smoker...?

Antonio Maria Costa: "We know that even the occasional marijuana smoker is a link in a much longer and more dangerous chain."???

Lighting a cigarette--linked to bushfires!

Motor vehicles emissions--linked to cancer!

Alcohol linked--to corporate takerism!

Would you mind telling us why other dangerous products and legal drugs are not included in the UN'shit list?

Big Pharma linked to--WHOM?

Ford and Holden linked to--WHOM?

Mazda linked to--Zoom, Zoom Zoom!

Oil linked to-- greed and war!

And he tipped his hat and said 'happy motoring'...

ABC - SPECIAL: The United Nations drug agency has warned that even occasional use of marijuana is a link in a long and dangerous cycle of crime, degradation and terrorism.

I can see the versatility with those links now? All pot smokers are urban terrorists? Great way to curb the habit? Lock em all up and rendition them to china?

ABC: "The links between organised crime, drug trafficking, drug consumption, drug money, arms trafficking and terrorism become clearer every day," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

But not the link between organised governments, oil, corporations, big pharma, breweries, and tobacco? I wonder why that is?

Antonio Maria Costa: " We know that even the occasional marijuana smoker is a link in a much longer and more dangerous chain."

Just like a rock-- is linked to an-- earthquake?

We also know that even the occasional driver, pill popper, smoker and drinker is linked in a much longer and more dangerous chain. So what! All matter is linked no doubt.

In a message to mark an international anti-drug day, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan warned that drugs are "little more than tickets to a dead end."

Just like Central Governments, Wars, Big Phama, Texico Oil, Holden, and Ford perhaps, and also like some other corporate media giants.

Governments marked the day with drug bonfires, and, in the case of China, by executing convicted drug traffickers.

Beauty? We could start with hoWARd?

Is this another attack on the indigenous people of Afghanistan or what?

In Afghanistan, where the UN has warned that narcotics trafficking is undermining the country's fragile security, officials put almost 60 tons of opium, heroin and hashish to the torch, according to General Mohammad Daud, the deputy minister for counter-narcotics.

What has that got to do with smoking herbs you might ask?

Afghanistan is the world's largest drug producer and supplies almost 90 per cent of the opium used to make heroin.

In Burma, the world's second largest drug producer, the military regime used the occasion of the anti-drugs day, as it does every year, to burn a huge stash of opium, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines at a ceremony attended by diplomats and foreign journalists.

In China, still conditioned by the awareness that opium ravaged previous generations and opened the door to foreign imperialists, the Government marked anti-drug day by executing dozens of traffickers.

Is that a joke son? Perhaps Geoff Raby can put that on his Human Rights agenda with Minister Shen Guofang in the current discussions about Australia and China's human rights records.

In the southern city of Guizhou, 24 people were convicted of trafficking this weekend, and five were immediately executed with a bullet in the neck, according to official media.

The Vienna-based UNODC, which was to publish its annual report in Stockholm on Wednesday, estimates that 200 million people are users of illicit drugs around the world, with 40 million of those chronically addicted.

But killing people is good way to solve the problem? Immediately executed, but I wonder, 'were they given a fair trial'? That's what you call setting an example?

Thought police

Illicit drugs don't include central governments, corporations, big pharma, oil companies? The tobacco industry? Or even the Alcohol industry? Mmmmm!

'Tickets to a misinformed end me thinks'

ABC: In his message, Mr Annan said that drugs "might have names that sound colourful or enticing, such as crack, pot, junk, crystal meth and disco biscuits".

"But these are little more than tickets to a dead end," he said.

But not unlike illegal and degrading wars? Inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners, torture, and the Coalition of the Killing I suppose? As well as george w bushit, tony blurter, john hoWARd, oil, plonk, fags, diazepam, piss, Johnny Walker, Jack Daniels, or even margaritas? Not even a Tooheys or two?

But at last some good advice

As one means of combating drugs, Mr Annan recommended "participation in sports to improve health and well-being, teach the value of teamwork and discipline, and build self-confidence".

As long as it's not military training in the special-forces or army to improve teamwork, discipline, and to build self-irrationalism then that's okay!

All things in moderation can help as well and also to stay away from things that might harm you if you know about it that is?

A good place to start would be to stop illegal and degrading wars, killing, maiming and torture, motor vehicles, harmful products and some of the legal drugs first so the government's and corporations can set an example for the rest of us?

War in Afghanistan

ABC: "In Afghanistan, last year's poppy crop was the largest in history "because everyone thought they could grow poppy with impunity," said Habibullah Qaderi, the minister in charge of counter-narcotics.

He said that Afghanistan had "turned the corner" in the fight against drug trafficking, but Mr Costa said recently that while the area planted with poppies was shrinking, the productivity for each hectare was increasing.

Afghan and Western officials have said several senior officials, including provincial governors and police chiefs, were involved in the narcotics business.

Mr Costa, who also heads the UN's Vienna office, said "traffickers, warlords and insurgents in Afghanistan control quasi-military operations" in a trade that last year was estimated to be worth $A3.6 billion.

Burma, where the ruling military is accused by the United States of participating in the drugs trade, says it has destroyed drugs with a street value of almost $19.5 billion and slashed its production of opium.

Nevertheless, UNODC says at least 1.15 million people still depend on poppy crops, and narcotics produced in Burma continue to flood Asian markets, Europe and North America.

Despite draconian punishments for traffickers, the drug problem is getting worse in China, and contributing to the spread of AIDS through the sharing of contaminated needles.

The official China Youth Daily said the number of drug addicts in China reached 791,000 at the end of last year, an increase of 6.8 per cent on a year earlier.

But the official figure is "just the tip of the iceberg," legal scholar Pi Yijun told the Beijing News. The real figure, he said, is "shocking".

Still, the drugs agency was able to point to a few successes in the war against drugs, including Laos, which for the first time in many years is no longer consider a supplier of illegal opiates to the world market."

But what has all that got to do with smoking herbs in Australia? Nothing! Just more propaganda so the government can send troops to Afghanistan to help out with the occupation and to get everyone else hooked on legal drugs that they benefit from and can procure.

By Bud Hemp and Bongo Jack 27 June 05

Related:

Howard off to US, UK - part 5
PART-5- PRIME minister john hoWARd will meet US president george w buSHIT, British prime minister tony blair and queen 'imperialism' herself during a 10-day visit to the United States and the UK next month.

Searching for resistance in Afghanistan
Tribal leaders listen in a meeting in Miana Shien, Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, on Saturday in an attempt to end the fighting that has killed more than 175 freedom fighters since Tuesday.

Court: Patients May Not Use Pot Legally?
US: WASHINGTON - People who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, overriding medical marijuana statutes in 10 states.

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THE DEATH PENALTY - WORLDWIDE
During 2004, at least 3,797 people were executed in 25 countries. At least 7,395 people were sentenced to death in 64 countries. These figures are only reported cases - the true figures were certainly much higher - many countries continue to execute people in secret.

Thailand's Hilltribe Prisoners

Sakhon Kirikamsukh died at 1 a.m. on 13th January 2005 at Youth Central Prison in Pathumthani just north of Bangkok. He was a 29-year-old Akha man from Doi Chang, Chiangrai Province serving a life sentence for drugs.

Together with many other prisoners Sakhon had been transferred from Bangkwang Central Prison, block 1, a few months previously.

Conditions at the new facility are reported to be even worse than at notorious Bangkwang. Sakhon had suffered a long time from a stomach ulcer, but otherwise had appeared to be healthy. However, he had no visitors and was very homesick.

There is some concern about 38-year-old Rassamee Wannasan, whose Akha name is Mee Ju Maw Po Ku, from Maesai in Chiangrai Province. She was taken to Klong Prem Prison Hospital with a stomach problem in early October 2004. She later returned to Lard Yao women's prison, but as of mid-January 2005 she was back in hospital again. Mee Ju is serving a life sentence for heroin.

Ah Naung Cher Mue, a 30-year-old Akha woman, died with AIDS at Lard Yao women's prison on 23rd April 2004. Ah Ba Yer Sor, another 30-year-old Akha woman, died at the same prison probably with TB on 6th April 2003.

Bu Yuen Cher Mue, a 35-year-old Akha man from Maechan in Chiangrai Province, died in Bangkwang Prison hospital on 26th December 2003 after being diagnosed with HIV.

These are just a few cases which reveal serious health problems for hilltribe prisoners in Thai prisons. TB and HIV are of particular concern, but many prisoners have stomach problems due to poor food and dirty water.

There are woefully inadequate doctors and medical facilities for prisoners, who are anyway expected to pay for medicines. Hilltribe prisoners held in facilities far from home are usually not visited or supported by their relatives or friends at all, as they are often too poor, and may not even have papers enabling them to travel in Thailand.

Another concern at this time is the cold weather in northern Thailand where hilltribe prisoners at Chiangrai Central Prison have died in previous years from the cold. Prisoners sleep on the floor, and are expected to provide, or pay for, their own bedding.

Law Reforms Needed

Last year there was much hope for a widely publicised Queen's amnesty for prisoners on 12th August 2004, Queen Sirikit's 72nd birthday. However, there was a bureacratic mix-up, and few prisoners were actually released. Some who fulfilled certain conditions received reduced sentences. The King, on his 5th December 2004 birthday, apparently had no good news for prisoners.

Horrendously long sentences in Thailand, especially for drugs cases, mean that prisoners put a lot of hope in Royal amnesties or pardons. For many it´s their only hope of seeing the outside world again. However, there are some indications that the Thai government is considering law reforms to bring sentences more in line with those in western countries.

Following Taksin Shinawatra´s overwhelming election victory on 6th February, his government now has the ability to carry out needed law reforms. The burgeoning prison population of 300,000 or more is a strain both on Thai correctional facilities and officials, as well as on prisoners who suffer inhuman conditions. It is hoped that sentences will be reduced, especially for drugs cases, and that the death penalty will be abolished.

Tawn Luang Sae Tein is a Yao man from Klong Lan in Kamphaeng Phet Province. He is in Klong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok with a 25-year sentence for drugs. His 32-year-old wife, Khet Fei Sae Tein, is in the nearby Lard Yao women's prison with a life sentence in the same case. She received a longer sentence because she pleaded innocent, while her husband pleaded guilty and says his wife is innocent.

Many hilltribe people, and others, in Thailand are confronted with this choice of pleading guilty so as to receive a reduced sentence. When this can mean the difference of the death penalty or life, it requires much courage to plead innocence and stand up for truth and justice. The system especially works against poor, oppressed hilltribe people in Thailand who do not have the resources to defend themselves. It is all the more unjust when it is openly admitted that corruption is rife among police, judiciary and officials in Thailand.

Two Akha women, Nong Khrang Kavin, whose Akha name is Mee Taw Cher Mue, and Mee Yo Mah Yer, were both sentenced to death although they plead their innocence in the same drugs case. They are awaiting their appeal. They are both in Lard Yao women's prison in Bangkok, far from their homes and families.

Hilltribe Prisoner Transfers, Change of Prison Directors

Many hilltribe prisoners have been transferred between prisons since mid-2004. Bangkwang had a terribly overcrowded inmate population of about 7,000 in early 2004. About 10% were hilltribe men, a disproportionately large number compared with the approximate 2% of the general Thai population who are hilltribe minorities. An official plan to reduce Bangkwang inmates to 5,000 had lowered the number to 5,403 as of late December 2004.

By September 2004, due to planned renovations all prisoners were moved from Bangkwang block number 5, where many hilltribe men were previously held. Some ended up at the Youth Central Prison in Pathumthani where Sakhon died on 13th January. As of mid-January, block 1 at this apparently new facility held 45 Hmong, 27 Akha, 20 Karen, 10 Lahu and 3 Leesaw hilltribe men amongst its inmates. Figures from other blocks are not known. The director´s name is Marootta Pantong.

The new director at Bangkwang since mid-2004 is Sowpon Gititammupak, who was previously posted at Bombat Prison.

There was also a new director posted in mid-2004 at Lard Yao women´s prison. Her name is Ang Hka Nueng Leib Nak.

In 2003 the director of Klong Prem Central Prison, Reung Muengmunechai, was removed from his post and put under investigation for graft. He was replaced by Prayad Jingjitt from Nakhon Ratchasima.

Prison System Corruption Hits Poor Hilltribe People Hardest

Prisoners are extremely reluctant to speak about labour exploitation in Thai prisons due to the fear of reprisals. However, those without money or outside support are effectively forced to work, because nothing is free in Thai prisons. Prisoners must even pay for the privilege of not working, and pay for materials to clean cells.

Inmates are often not paid, or receive only a pittance for the work they do. This is usually insufficient to pay for decent food, soap and toothpaste at inflated prison prices. Many prisoners run up debts, which can cause serious problems.

The reasons for this atrocious situation can be explained by the follwoing four points: 1. A lack of sufficient government funding to run prisons. This is partly due to the traditional system in Thailand whereby government officials paid the King for their positions, which then allowed them to levy whatever they could from the general populace. Such a system is bound to cause hardship to the poor, who have nowhere to turn for justice and human rights. 2. There has been a recent rapid rise in the prison population in Thailand without a corresponding rise in government funding for prisons. 3. Diversion of funding by officials for purposes other than prisoner facili ties and welfare. 4. Commercial deals between prison officials and business people to exploit captive prison labour.

Taksin Shinawatra likes to proclaim that Thailand is not a poor country, and that it does not need foreign assistance or aid. His government claims to be helping poor Thai farmers and rural people. However, there are very many issues still to be addressed effectively by the Thai government, such as its treatment of minorities, including hilltribe and moslem people, refugees from neighbouring countries such as Burma and Laos, and the large and rising prison population.

Draconian Thai government attempts to stamp out drugs and terrorism are more widely understood to be aggravating, rather than improving, the situation. Pouring government funds into military, police and official agencies, which are often corrupt themselves, is not proving to be an effective way to combat drugs, terrorism or crime.

Is it not preferable to tackle the root of the problem? To support the livelihood, welfare and rights of the poor and oppressed? Would this not be more likely to reduce pressures in society for people to turn to drugs, terrorism and crime? However, it is quite clear that vested interests, and the powers-that-be, are not easily convinced by this argument, especially if their job in an anti-drugs or anti-terrorism agency may be at stake.

Hilltribe Prisoners Down-Trodden by System of Discrimination

Below are the names of some hilltribe prisoners and the prison addresses they are currently held at in Thailand. If you are able to write to any of them, or even to visit them, they will be very grateful for your concern and support.

Chit Win Sein, (He is a 26-year-old Akha man from Burma. His Akha name is Aryoke Chermegu.) Klong Pai Central Prison, Building 3, 300 Klong Pai, A. Sikiu, Nakhon Ratchasima 30340 THAILAND

Apha Mopogu, (He is a 32-year-old Akha man from China.) Youth Central Prison, block 1, room 30, 22 / 4 M. 3 T. Klong 6, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120 THAILAND

Bue Mue Emily Soe, (She is a 54-year-old Akha woman from Burma.) Central Women Correctional Institution, building 5, room 3, 33 / 3 Ngam Wong Wan Road, Lard Yao, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900 THAILAND

Sila no sakul, (She is a 35-year-old Lahu woman from Burma.) Chiangrai Central Prison, block 4, room 10, P.O. Box 221, Doi Hang, A. Muang, Chiangrai 57000 THAILAND

Chamnan Chewchan, (He is a 38-year-old Akha man from Chiangrai Province.) Chiangrai Central Prison, block 2, room 4/5, Doi Hang, A. Muang, Chiangrai 57000 THAILAND

Kenny Lee, (He is a 32-year-old Akha man from Phamee, Chiangrai Province.) Bangkwang Central Prison, block 4, 117 Nonthaburi Road, Suan Yai, Nonthaburi 11000 THAILAND

Songsak Wangnapalai, (He is a Hmong man from Chiangrai.) Bangkwang Central Prison, block 2, 117 Nonthaburi Road, Suan Yai, Nonthaburi 11000 THAILAND

By Anon posted 14 February 05

Picture: The prison

Prisoners describing the conditions in Bangkwang (1998):

"At present the one meal a day provided by the prison for only Western foreigners consists of a small plastic bag of rice along with an inedible stew, that is not fit to sustain an animal.

The prison is overcrowded: in 1998 there were 140,000 prisoners in Thailand in prisons that were originally built to only house 90,000 with an available budget for only 70,000 prisoners.

Prisoner sleep shoulder to shoulder. There are no clean sanitary facilities available, the water is filthy because it is pumped from the nearby river.

Prisoners suffer from the isolation from their families and friends. There are no telephones available."

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PLANNING TO TRAVEL OVERSEAS? BEFORE YOU GO, READ THIS!
Currently, 214 Australian citizens are languishing in prisons around the world. The majority of these having been convicted of drug-related crimes.

Medical trials of cannabis show positive results

UK: Call for further drug research on multiple sclerosis

Research could soon show that cannabis could be a helpful long-term treatment for multiple sclerosis sufferers. Patients who took part in a 15-week study - published in the Lancet last year - went on to try the effectiveness of the banned drug, [herb], for a 52-week course, John Zajicek of the Peninsula medical school told the British Association science festival which ended in Exeter.

"Initial results of the longer-term study are positive and will be published in the near future. In the short-term study, there was some evidence of cannabinoids alleviating symptoms of multiple sclerosis; in the longer term there is a suggestion of a more useful beneficial effect, which was not clear at the initial stage," he said in a statement.

"I hope these results will encourage support of further studies of cannabinoids in multiple sclerosis and, potentially, other diseases."

Cannabis has been used as a medical treatment for at least as long as it has been a recreational drug, [herb.]

Queen Victoria is supposed to have used it for period pains. It was sometimes used in childbirth and a poignant archaeological discovery in the Middle East revealed cannabis remnants near the body of a young woman who probably died in childbirth 5,000 years ago.

Cancer patients have claimed that cannabis could help suppress nausea after chemotherapy. Glaucoma sufferers have claimed it relieves pressure on the eyeball and delays the onset of blindness. Animal experiments have suggested the drug slows nerve cell death. And many multiple sclerosis sufferers have been using it, illegally, to relieve the pain and stiffness of their slow progression towards helplessness.

Once it became clear that cannabis-like chemicals were produced naturally in the human nervous system to control appetite and facilitate nerve cell communication, researchers began to understand why a folk remedy could be medically effective. But clinical evidence in randomised double-blind trials has been rare. "We set out to establish whether there was any scientific truth behind that," Dr Zajicek said.

A total of 667 patients took part in a short-term study. More than 500 agreed to go on to longer trials. The patients were given either capsules containing cannabis extract, an active component of the drug called THC, or sugar pills. The chief aim had been relief of muscle stiffness.

"But we also wanted to look at the other symptoms, including pain, bladder disturbance and measures of disability," he said. "From the patient's symptomatic point of view there was beneficial effect but we couldn't prove that from an independent assessment by a physiotherapist of muscle stiffness."

So they continued the trials: the results could be published in a few weeks' time. Researchers are notoriously unwilling to discuss results before they have been reviewed by their peers and published formally in a scientific journal. "What I can say at the moment is that there does seem to be evidence of some beneficial effect in the longer term that we didn't anticipate in the short term study."

By Tim Radford posted 13 September 04

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Petrol stations linked to leukaemia

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French scientists who carried out a study of more than 500 infants found that a child whose home was near a petrol station or vehicle-repair garage was four times as likely to develop leukaemia as a child whose home was further away.

The research published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that the longer a child lived nearby, the higher the risk of leukaemia seemed to be.

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Few clear risk factors have been identified for the childhood variant but exposure to benzene in the workplace has been identified as a possible factor in leukaemia in adults, the authors say.

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Heroin: Hazy logic dictates a painful prohibition

Between moments of pungent humour, The Barbarian Invasions is a confronting movie. Facing a painful death to cancer, Remy, a self-described "socialist, hedonist lecher", accepts Montreal's crumbling, cramped public health system as his left-wing fate.

Until his estranged son, a rich investment banker - a "capitalist, ambitious prude", says Remy - jets in from London to make his father's last days more comfortable.

Sebastien learns from a doctor friend that heroin will be "800 per cent more powerful" than morphine - the standard fare dispensed by doctors to cancer patients. And so he seeks out the dealers and users necessary to secure heroin for Remy.

When it comes to helping those with painful terminal illness, the story will be sadly familiar to many in Australia. My father died of cancer, like more than 35,000 Australians each year. And like many others, he died in pain. It is hard to know what hurt him most. The pain that grew in his spine and, in the end, seemed to rack his entire body. The pain that he would never see his family again. Or the knowledge that we would watch his painful demise.

Like Remy, doctors only offered my father morphine to relieve his pain. Different sorts with different names, my family and I administered it to him in ever increasing doses, doubling, sometimes tripling what doctors advised. Morphine chased his pain. And sometimes caught it. When it didn't, it was dreadful. If minutes were like hours for us, I cannot imagine how it was for him. I know one thing: he needed more than what doctors offered him. Watching The Barbarian Invasions, I felt I had failed him for not traipsing the streets for heroin. If it could have relieved his physical pain or stoic mental suffering, that would have been a godsend.

Australia has an irrational history when it comes to using heroin for those dying in pain. In May 1953, the Menzies government prohibited its importation after pressure from the World Health Organisation, in turn under pressure from the US, where a burgeoning drug problem was emerging. Yet in Australia there was no drug problem to speak of; instead heroin was used to manage serious pain, especially for the terminally ill.

The ban went ahead despite objections from the director-general of health in NSW that "heroin ... is quite effectively controlled in this state and ... I see no justification to enforce absolute prohibition". And despite similar protests by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the predecessor to the Australian Medical Association, then the Australian Federal Council of the British Medical Association.

Ever since, heroin has been lost to the moral battlefield of illicit drugs.

Once banned, it was a drug with no legitimate role, one that junkies use and drug criminals deal in. What strikes me as more criminal is that, in 2004, the terminally ill still die in pain. Irrational responses get in the way of treating their pain. On the one hand, politicians parade their massive heroin hauls, piles of white bricks, as wins in the tough war on drugs. On the other, they help drug addicts on the street shoot up, providing them with clean needles and clean rooms. Those left out in the cold are the terminally ill.

It does not require much nuance to understand that allowing doctors to administer heroin to the dying is not a slippery slope to its legalisation. Nor will it lead to a nation of addicts. Doctors prescribe prohibited substances by the hundreds. Why is heroin different? A stubborn, unthinking abstinence lobby. That is the difference.

It does not require much compassion to understand that a fear that someone you love, dying of cancer, may become addicted to heroin is less important than ensuring they are relieved of terrible pain.

Why the irrational fear? Addiction as a moral evil has little resonance for those in pain.

It does not require much political courage to suggest that if British doctors can use heroin for those dying in pain, why shouldn't Australians facing a similar fate have the same choice? Granted, prominent doctors in both Australia and Britain point to doubts about whether heroin provides better pain relief than morphine. Nurses who have given heroin to the dying have fewer doubts. I am with the nurses. They are at the coalface of suffering.

It is true that morphine is a derivative of heroin, otherwise known as diacetyl-morphine. But heroin is more soluble, entering the body faster, absorbed quickly into fatty tissue like the brain. Heroin users talk about feeling a "rush". After that initial euphoria, heroin causes an alternately wakeful and drowsy state.

I don't want junkies determining drug policy but that they favour heroin over morphine suggests that the terminally ill might also prefer it. Euphoria is the wrong word for those dying of cancer, but if heroin can offer any kind of relief, mental or physical, why not offer it?

If we do more to ease the pain of the terminally ill, it may take much of the heat out of the euthanasia debate. That too is a good thing. In the end, Remy dies at home surrounded by those who love him most, and free from pain. My father was less fortunate. His family was there. But so was that unwelcome intruder, pain. With an ounce of common sense, compassion and political pluck, perhaps it need not have ended that way.

By JANET ALBRECHTSEN 16 June 04

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Medicinal cannabis trial approved or not marijuana still remains a big hit!

THE nation's first trial of cannabis for medical relief will begin in NSW by the end of the year, a move that Premier Bob Carr said yesterday would stop decent people feeling like criminals.

Cannabis is a herb that came from the Universe and that seed was planted on this earth for medicinal purposes, for all the people who enjoy a freedom of choice about what herbs they like to consume.

Why did and why does the government make all decent people who choose to take this herb not only feel like criminals but make them pay fines and penalties?

Carr seized on the pleas from a 62-year-old bowel cancer sufferer and an 80-year-old prostate cancer sufferer, who used the drug to relieve pain and nausea, to push the scheme in parliament.

"No decent government can stand by while fellow Australians suffer like that, while ordinary people feel like criminals for simply medicating themselves," he said during question time.

And so say all of us said Mr Bill Joint from Not Enough Isn't Enough.

"We are old enough to make the choice. Some of us middle aged and some of us towards the end of our life on this earth. Suffering like dogs because of some hypocrites who smoke behind closed doors and stand up in the house knocking the herb like it caused more problems than alcohol", he said.

Under the four-year plan, the Government will establish a new Office of Medicinal Cannabis within the Health Department.

Patients would have to register annually and would need a doctor's certificate advising that conventional treatment would not relieve their suffering.

People with minor convictions for personal drug use would be eligible to apply. But those with more serious drug convictions, or who are on parole, pregnant or under 18, would be banned.

People suffering from cancer and AIDS, nausea from chemotherapy, severe and chronic pain, spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis would be eligible.

But the questions of who will pay for the drug, and its form of distribution, are yet to be finalised. A draft bill will be presented to parliament within weeks.

Options include tablets and a special cannabis inhaler being trialed in Britain.

In authorising medicinal cannabis use, NSW will be joining countries such as the US, Canada and The Netherlands.

The plan, which follows a working party on the issue in 2000, was approved by cabinet on Monday and is understood to have received the broad approval of caucus yesterday.

It also drew in-principle support from Liberal leader John Brodgen and National Party leader Andrew Stoner, with strict conditions. The NSW Greens wanted the trial to be expanded to include children dying of degenerative disease and for non-hallucinogenic varieties to be used.

The announcement had the support of HIV sufferer Justin Brash, who began using cannabis in 1988 after his infection was diagnosed, in the hope of ending his nausea and restoring his appetite.

"I was down to 58kg and I was vomiting about six times a day," he said yesterday. "Then a friend suggested I try some marijuana. Soon after I had a smoke, the nausea was gone and I ate two bowls of noodles within about 20 minutes.

"I'm now up to a healthy 75kg and I believe that's because I'm smoking cannabis, but I'm not happy about having to use the black market to make me feel less ill."

Mr Brash, 47, said he was relieved the NSW Government had recognised the plight of sufferers of serious and terminal illnesses by offering them medicinal cannabis for pain and nausea relief.

The Greens went one step further, asking for the trial to be extended to include children with degenerative diseases and the development of non-hallucinogenic varieties.

"It is time to move beyond drug hysteria and allow sick people access to cannabis as it is the best treatment for their pain," Greens MP Lee Rhiannon said.

By Joe Bud 21 May 03

KOALA BEAR: Why discriminate about who can make a choice by the time they are 18? Why should a sick or dying person who has been convicted of a drug offence be banned from treatment if they have a history of a drug conviction? That is discrimination!

What if you happen to be in a position to be allergic to alcohol? Alcohol gives me a migraine headache, yet cannabis agrees with me and gives me a free high, that is if I don't pay $50 for it. Of course cannabis can give me a headache but only when I am in the police cells and look like getting a criminal conviction.

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