The Effects of Marijuana on the Body – Should We?

marijuanna_plantThere is a growing movement in Barbados to free up the weed. BU sees compelling arguments for and against. There is the economic argument to support decriminalizing/legalizing marijuana will go along way to relieving congestion in the court system. Then there are the touted medical benefits -many of us have seen the miraculous recovery on CBS documentaries and other  media. The following is reproduced from Healthline Website to stoke discussion. Should we?

The Effects of Marijuana on the Body




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  • Well Well & Consequences

    Most doctors recommend you drink the tea because of the effects associated with smoking, which is not good for anyone.


  • We love to follow USA,so why not legalise it and allow commercial production to start here in the abandoned cane fields,which they are already using by the way.

    Every one from the minister back down is clamering for more farmers when we already have a set of knowledgeable individual practising the science of growing this plant succesfully against the odds.

    People have to take responsibility for themselves,the same way some die of alcohol which is legal some will die of drugs.It is legal in the Netherlands and has been for years,last I knew the population had not decreased nor was it a country of zombies.Always remember all drugs were legal 120 years ago.

    The benefits will be that the Police and BDF,will no longer waste time on them unfortunately the price will go down which will in turn mash up our black economy which is the only reason Bim survived the wrecking ball of this govt.


  • The local price might go down, and the government could make sure that it stays reasonable. But the best approach is to legalize the plant and the product, and establish it as the best ganga in the western hemisphere. Bajan ganga could become a premium commodity, available on the world market at a premium price. That will rescue the farmers, who should also, of course, be required to continue growing vegetables and fruit for the nation. The result: improved currency reserves, a healthier economy, and a healthier country.


  • TAXES,Taxes wont have to raise vat or drive expats and investors out. readily available on any beach in bim,regulate, get rid of the crims.crack down onhard drugs c,h, speed


  • Next thing we will be told that’s good for Bimshire or Little England, is casino gambling.
    Imagine the heady mix of alcohol,ganja, casinos and the DLP!


  • Any political which genuinely cares about the number of youth made into criminals by a bad law will make decriminalization of marijuana with attendant laws a priority.

    Oh how drunkards drive cars and kill people while drinking to a drunken stupor is accepted.

    How much does alcohol related ailments cost the QEH?

    What is the total number of days lost to Barbados due to alcoholism?

    Lets us have the statistics on marijuana also of the above questions so a fair comparison can be done!


  • The 1000 lbs recently intercepted by the police can fetch more than a million dollars if we can just stop being sheeple for once.

    CBD the pharmaceutical extract can be a major export of Barbados thru some smart partnership with Pfizer.

    Perhaps, a marijuana microfibre under the Ganja brand just as Sea Island cotton is world renowned.

    Why are we just contented to follow and never take the road less travelled?


  • Kammie Holder January 21, 2016 at 9:29 PM #

    I am lost/confused …..are you for or against legalising ganja and other drugs?


  • @Kannie and Vincent, as well as Well Well.
    More Zombies, less healthy middle aged; if they live that long, More chronic illnesses related to lung disease, and fare more important, who will be making the dealers richer? Our own black children brothers sisters and friends. Few white people, because they will be encouraging the same black people to make themselves poorer. I will not go into the medical aspects of marijuana usage, but I would advise government to increase the amount of money supplied to the Psychiatrict hospital because the numbers committed there will rise exponentially.


  • The marijuana debate is now old. As always , we are the last to arrive at the party. In a country where the consumption of alcohol is almost a religion( I, myself a regular consumer), we refuse to ignore the uniformed, negative propaganda about a plant that most serious researchers have concluded has tremendous health benefits. Well the: okra, breadfruit, pomegranate, sweet potato, tamarind , ackee, coconut and coconut water, and mango have now been firmly established as excellent sources for good health. In the meantime, we have land wasting ,that could have been bringing in millions of dollars in foreign exchange, if we had developed our agriculture beyond sugar cane. Where there is no vision the people STARVE, become UNHEALTHY and then PERISH. On my last trip to St. Andrew, I was stunned to see mangoes on the ground;a few years ago in Trinidad, I saw pomegranates suffering the same fate. Time long past to free up de herb.


  • The problem with weed in Barbados is the people that DONT smoke. The market is saturated to the point that weed is more avaible that a newspaper. But if you don’t smoke you will never know. If weed is send people mad then the half of Barbados that watch foot ball would be mad. The most important question I have is who is going to take care of all these push a men when they get old? I don’t think that pay NIS. But the truth is the juridical system in Barbados makes to much money from weed being illegal. And if weed was legal the police would have to shift their attention from the boys on the block to blue and white collar crime.



    Sensory distortion
    Poor coordination of movement
    Lowered reaction time
    Increased heartbeat (and risk of heart attack)

    All similar to the effects of alcohol a drug which was made legal and for the worst has now shown to be one of the number one killers in society

    LONG-term effects of marijuana


    Suppression of the immune system
    Growth disorders
    Increase of abnormally structured cells in the body
    Reduction of male sex hormones
    Reduced sexual capacity
    Study difficulties: reduced ability to learn and retain information
    Apathy, drowsiness, lack of motivation
    Personality and mood changes
    Inability to understand things clearly

    As the body ages these high risk factors increase and decrease the body ability to perform at an optimum level


  • It comes back to social norms. We accept alcohol don’t we? The bigger issue is that other countries are prepared to adopt a different approach, Barbados because of our conservative nature is prepared to wait. Our research shows there is no preponderance of evidence that marijuana is significantly harmful than alcohol. Are we prepared to remove the emotionalism and list the pros and cons? Many of our leaders in Barbados and overseas have taken a puff or two of weed.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Alvin… really want to see zombies, check this article out.

    Someone with lots of money and good overseas contacts is importing crystal meth into Barbados, the police on the island would be hesitant to dig up these people’s home and arrest them. No poor or middle class person would have access to that type of money for importing this deadly drug.

    In you infinite wisdom in demonizing weed, tell us how dangerous crystal meth is vs marijuana or the contactd to pay for getting it into the island…that is where you will see the real decaying zombies Alvin…..


  • Take it easy David those other countries i suspect you are speaking of dominant international countries who are still lagging and debating the benefits and negatives of marijuana on society
    Also note worthy these countries have given limited support on marijuana specifically for medicinal purposes which speaks to the mind set for these forward thinking countries whereby they see and forecast a down effect that would socially and economically impact their country negatively long term ,
    The question being ::Can these small island nations bear the social and economic long term cost which will be a derivative of having another legal drug especially knowing and seeing the negative impact on individual lives
    Why not face reality instead of being followers of our own fate why not be cautious in or thinking and be slow in our guidance towards a repeat of another legalities to failure


  • Well Well & Consequences

    I am not debating marijuana with you Alvin, I said it all in my first post….doctors more qualified than you tell people the safest way to use marijuana and there has been no complaints, you could advise the government all you want, they are just like you….I know one old lady years ago who smoked marijuana, in my opinion not the safest way, until she was 103 years old, so explain that medical miracle Alvin.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Ready Done…you are quite correct, the authorities would be hesitant to shift their focus from arresting the boys on the block to arresting the real criminals with titles the ceos who are the real criminals and have access to all the funds needed to import drugs, guns, the new crystal meth, the money laundering and the oversea contacts to bring them all in and export them to other islands and countris, no small, poor person can do that, the police overlook these people for obvious reasons….and of course they make tons of money locking up poor people for crap.


  • Thus same conversation was had during the days of prohibition.


  • And if anything learned it is the socio economic fall out that have taken a financial cost on society in health related issues and cost of innoncent lives after the lifting of a ban on alcohol


  • Why is it we hardly hear of persons caught with cocaine the drug of the wealthy.

    UWI has done extensive research on the pharmaceutical potential and extracts of marijuana, however its not shared with the public.

    CBD extract can bring in millions, we need to look at the good of the plant and not only the zombies it can produce.


  • Bernard Codrington.

    I wonder which nameless medical scientists are these who stated that there are no negative consequences for the social use of marijuana? This is yet another case of misinformation being spread through this medium.


  • @Well Well:
    We start out discussing Marijuana, and you bring in the importation of Crystal meth. I don’t care if other countries decide to provide their own citizens with deadly drugs. It does not mean we must do the same. You mention the lady who smoked weed and lived to 103 years, what about all those centenarians who have never smoked weed and have lived just as long. Your arguments are just like the smoke, blowing in the wind. I already asked, who will purchase the drugs? Our own “boys on the block”, our own CEOs, our own children, our own people. In other words we will make the conscious decision to put our own selves back into slavery, the slavery to drugs. There is no logic reason why people HAVE ri smoke; neither cigarettes nor weed. We choose to because we want to be “part if the crowd”. Being a slave to drugs, is thew worse kind of slavery because we would be doing so voluntarily.However you paint it is is SLAVERY. Why do it?


  • @Kammie,
    YOU may not have heard or read but persons caught with Cocsine have been given extensive sentences, and had their property confiscated. If you take a dive in carlisle bay you will see the wreck of an inter island ship on which cocaine was discovered, it was confiscated; as the law allows, and sunk in the harbour to create a wreck for divers. Check.
    Why do we; or at least some of us, find or try to make excuses for what is wrong. Don’t we have enough examples of people who have been harmed by marijuana? As the song asks; “How many more/”


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Alvin… usual you can only see what your masters tell you, am sure exporting marijuana for medical purposes is now paying your pension in Canada, but you are too dumb to even articulate this, so why bother.

    Cocaine been around longer than you, misused it’s dangerous, however, most of your medications contains the derivatives.


  • The so called medical scientist only interest is in self preservation linked to financial sucess and not in the long term decay of anti social effects conducive to a break down of society behaviour


  • Well Well,

    All I have to offer is my personal experience with two mild-mannered Rastafarians whom I was supervising. One morning I issued instruction to one of them in my usual polite way and was shocked when I was met with such belligerence and tongue-lashing that all I could do was gape like a fish. The other fellows told me that I shouldn’t take it personally since he had just come from smoking a joint on his break. Normallly he would have smoked it before leaving home. This was one of the most respectful of all the guys who erupted in a most uncharacteristic way. He later apologized even after he was fired.

    A few months later the next most respectful fellow reacted in the same manner to my polite instructions. Again the fellows informed me that he had just come from smoking a joint on his break. Normally he would have smoked it before leaving home.

    These were both Rastafarians who ONLY SMOKED MARIJUANA.

    I am certain that certain extracts of marijuana have some health benefits if treated and used in the right way but its widespread and unfettered use I would not recommend.

    I too am concerned that the only people getting locked up in Barbados are the foot soldiers. Where are the officers and generals? The foot soldiers know that to tell would only end in their death and the continued amassing of wealth of the commanders who I would guess are some of the prominent people in society and therefore beyond the clutches of the law. Why don’t these young people realize that they are being exploited worse than if they worked in a cane field? Selling themselves into slavery, I say.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Donna, that is why it’s advised that the drug not be smoked, the suppliers saturate it with formaldehyde in an attempt to preserve the potency. Growers are now monitered to keep certain properties that can be harmful, out of the plant, before reaping……..misuse can cause problems. I don’t even think it should be used fir rcreation, but that is a matter of choice, I don’t use it, but have seen many people do for years, without abusing it, with no adverse effects.

    Contrary to the crap some spout, though containing healing properties, it’s not a religion and should not be smoked religiously, causing hallucinations….abuse of anything is dangerous.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Donna….the authorities know only too well that it’s the minorities bringing all the drugs, guns, now meth into the island, they have the money, resources and contacts….did one from Belleville not get caught with marijuana and a gun last year, given bail and was dead in some accident just before Christmas.

    They know exactly who is doing it but refuse to do anything…….maybe Alvin should ask the politicians why nothing is being done, since he is in a position to advise them…..the commissioner of police keeps complaining while they keep tying his hands.


  • We will always have abuse of any drug. What we need to do is prepare a national cost benefit cost analysis to inform intelligent conversation.


  • David January 22, 2016 at 11:19 AM #

    As I had said before it has been legalised in a number of places for decades,all that has to be done is some research in areas of interest for us like crime,effect on the police force,where did the black marketeers go,increase in health clinics,trade figures,etc,etc


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Fantastic information Hants.


  • “Abuse of every drug” what kind of a compelling argument is that? Certainly not one that supports a wholesome necessity for legalisation of the drug Marijuana.
    The evidence is already there to show that the economic benefits does not out weigh the negative social impact
    Govts role is not only to make financial gains by any means necessary but to act as a buffer against those financial gains that present or act contrary against the moral fibre of siciety.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    So AC….why is the government doing nothing about the corruption destroying the island, why aren’t the bribers and bribees not locked up… save the fibre of society from more decay…don’t they care about that.


  • “Marijuana and alcohol are often pitted up against each other in an effort to determine which one is the healthier vice. Marijuana smokers are usually quick to cite smokers incur fewer deaths than drinkers, which is to say there are currently no reported deaths from simply smoking weed. The Huffington Post cited “a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times the amount of THC in a joint in order to be at risk of dying.”

    This isn’t the case for alcohol. The World Health Organization (WHO) found 3.3 million deaths in 2012 were attributed to alcohol consumption. And recently, a comparative assessment published in Scientific Reports found alcohol to be 114 times more deadly than marijuana.

    That marijuana doesn’t lead to as many deaths as alcohol does doesn’t mean it’s without any serious side effects. At the end of the day, both are considered to be psychoactive drugs that affect mental processes and cognition when taken or administered, WHO reported.”



  • My issue with Marijuana is not opposing to the “feel good euphoria ” which the drug supposedly can affect on an individual mind but the long term effect of an overall social displacement which can be catastrophic to individual lives and govts having to intervene by distribution of necessary funding which could have been allocated to other social programs
    It would be of interest to know if or when marijuana is legalized how many are willing to pay the price of the social decay that impact society when drugs of this nature is easily available to society


  • @Well Well ,Vincent and Kammie,
    For your information (cut and pasted)

    Two people face multiple charges for drug trafficking and possession after Toronto police raided a Danforth Avenue marijuana cafe and vape lounge.

    Christopher and Erin Goodwin, owners of the Good Weeds Vapor Lounge on Danforth near Donlands Avenue, were arrested Thursday evening at the cafe. Their business, one of the first of its kind in Canada, sold marijuana, cannabis resins and extracts, which could be used in vaporizers at the cafe.

    The lounge, which opened on Christmas Eve, is part of the Good Weeds chain, which has numerous locations in B.C. and another Toronto location on College Street.

    Jaime McConnell was one of about 15 to 20 customers in the cafe on Thursday when, he said, “six drug squad and about six uniforms walked in the front door.”

    Good Weeds Lounge / Facebook
    Good Weeds Lounge / FacebookA Facebook posting showing dabs — or a concentrated marijuana extract that can be smoked or vaped — at the Good Weeds Lounge on Danforth.
    The police executed a search warrant, questioned customers and handcuffed the Goodwins and McConnell, all of whom were behind the bar. They took the Goodwins into custody, but released McConnell without charge.

    Cst. Caroline de Kloet said the search warrant was the result of “a community complaint that led officers to this location.”

    McConnell said he believes the raid was prompted by a video posted online on Jan. 12 by Vice News Canada, which identified the lounge as a “totally illegal” marijuana dispensary.

    Chris Goodwin told Vice “we elected a Liberal government that’s moving toward legalizing recreational cannabis, and we take that announcement to mean that it’s here now.”

    Both Goodwins are charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking marijuana, possession for the purpose of trafficking cannabis resin and possession of the proceeds of crime. Erin Goodwin also faces a charge of possession of marijuana.

    Don Briere, co-owner of the Good Weeds Lounge, says the raid of the store is “outrageous” considering the government announced they would be legalizing marijuana.

    Google Maps
    Google MapsTheir business, one of the first of its kind in Canada, sells marijuana, cannabis resins and extracts, which can be used in vaporizers at the cafe on the Danforth.
    “We the people voted in a government that said the cannabis wars are over,” he said.

    Briere believes that the police are using “willful blindness and negligence,” in raiding the shop and enforcing laws which he says are based on complete lies and misconceptions.

    “Why are you doing this?” he asked, “The laws are changing.”

    Briere said the Goodwins have been released from police custody.

    “They’re out and they’re totally annoyed and miffed about this”

    Briere said the shop will re-open as soon as possible.

    “They’re going to come out swinging,” said Briere, “they’re going to be talking about criminal misuse of resources and I’m going to back them up on that.”
    Twitter Google+ Reddit Email Typo? More
    Topics: Canada, News, Toronto, Marijuana

    You see Well Well, proceeds from Marijuana do NOT pay my pension. The drug still is not legal in Canada. Why do we have to make it legal? Why do you think people should profit from the destruction of other people’s brains? What is the percentage of our population that would NEED to use medical marijuana, and for what purposes? There are enough medications on the market for all kinds of illnesses that can be cured without resort to marijuana. I am not going to argue with you much on this subject, because we had lengthy discussions on it in 2013 and 2014. Why do you people keep bringing it up? Just so that you can boast “we defeated the establishment? If it against the law, why not accept it and obey the law? It is against the law to steal. Just because a small number of people like to steal, should we say and advocate relaxation of the law on stealing? Give me a logical answer.


  • Strongly oppose to legalizing marijuana. After ruining thousand of lives and families; after fulling the prisons and turning prisons into private businesses, ‘society’ now wants to cash in by making marijuana legal.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Alvin, ya got the whole thing wrong, you can cut and paste all the court cases you can find, it won’t change anything….Canada has a thriving export market for marijuana destined for medical purposes. So does Jamaica, so does the US, so does….you have no clue what generates your pension money, what are you Canadian Finance Minister.


  • I have never seen a person stumbling around and behaving aggressively after smoking weed but I have seen a lot of men become aggressive and “igrunt” after a few drinks.

    I am yet to be convinced that weed is as dangerous as alcohol.

    Weed generally makes you sleepy and ravenously hungry. At least that is what it did to my friends.


  • Some uh wunna canabajans mixing up weed as medicine and weed for recreational purposes.


  • millertheanunnaki

    @ Alvin Cummins January 22, 2016 at 6:52 PM

    And your point is, Alvin? It was once ‘within’ the law to keep slaves like you. It was once against the law for people of your race and colour to participate in many aspects of the social and economic life of Barbados and other countries controlled by whites whether in the majority or minority.

    The use of marijuana in whichever form (except for industrial and medicinal purposes) only became an “Illegal” activity within the last 80 years mainly to protect both the once dominant tobacco and the reformed bootleggers (licensed alcoholic beverages producers and distributors) industries.

    Unsophisticated Third World governments like Barbados will find it rather difficult if not impossible to impose any so-called sin tax on the use of marijuana as they easily can on processed (refined) tobacco and alcohol.

    My friend A C, that is the only reason governments are unwillingly to “legalize” the use of marijuana. Would the State- and by extension politicians and bureaucrats- benefit from such a move?
    What would there be in it for them other than having to reduce the number of law enforcement officers and associated judicial and prison resources? Some of these ‘saved’ resources would have to be allocated to the remedial treatment of those psychologically inclined to abuse any activity whether illegal or illegal. Why do you have Alcoholic Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, the many “Quit Smoking” groups and organizations or even Sex Anonymous?

    Why would you in your ignorant arrogant supercilious attitude believe that the average Bajan who currently does not drink or smoke will all of a sudden, on the decriminalization of the use of marijuana’ engage in the widespread consumption of marijuana on any large scale to pose a major health problem to the dwindling resources of the country? Would you and your ilk do it? So why would ordinary people do it, other than those suckers inclined in the first place?

    Why aren’t there a greater number of alcoholics and ‘hooked’ tobacco smokers in Barbados to be a considered a major health hazard like diabetes, hypertension, AIDS and the many viruses that will soon be reaching epidemic proportions?

    Why should a normal otherwise law-abiding person who wishes to grow marijuana plants in his garden to use as a culinary herb and herbal infusion i.e. tea (just like any of your God-created herbs and plants) be demonized and made into a criminal because special interests groups want to protect their profits while bribing the politicians and bureaucrats to keep those silly outdated prejudicial laws against marijuana on the Statute book?


  • millertheanunnaki

    @ Hants January 22, 2016 at 11:17 PM
    Weed generally makes you sleepy and ravenously hungry. At least that is what it did to my friends…..”

    You need to finish your sentence, Hants. ‘At least that is what it did to my friends AND TO ME’.
    Sleep and hunger are urges which one must experience personally to understand their full effects. We are all human and speaking from personal experience is the most convincing and is the best testimony of the truth.


  • @millertheanunnaki,

    I only smoked weed twice and I did not like it.

    I preferred to drink Scotch…


  • Reading in the Nation, the article states that a Verdun House spokesperson as saying that recent addicts have been taking Crystal Meth.

    It is IMERATIVE, that authorities shut this drug / drug source down immediately and crush down on those importing / manufacturing (more likely manufacturing it here as it can be done in a home lab) it.

    Five years in jail for being a manufacturer or trader in the drug sounds like a good sentence.

    This drug DESTROYS people.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Hants…did you inhale…my daughter said while at university, she tried it and did not feel anything, wondered if it was really a drug. I guess it affects different people in different ways.

    BTW…I posted a Canada Health link for Alvin’s benefit re medical marijuana just last week, I specifically stated, in my opinion, weed should not be smoked, but him and AC are all revved up, energized and vibrating to deceive anyone dumb enough to believe their nonsense…regurgitating their masters agenda, most of whom am sure smokes the damn weed.


  • @Hants, Well ‘Well, and Miller.
    I do not smoke anything, and I drink alcohol very sparingly,
    Having worked in the medical field for over fifty-eight years; many years spent dissecting tissue from corpses for laboratory analysis;chemical, microscopic, and macroscopic, I can testify to the effects of alcohol use; short term and long term, smoking; tobacco and marijuana, on various tissues of the body, but more particularly, the tissues of the liver, the heart, the lungs and the brain. I can educate you on the microscopic and macroscopic effects of these drugs on the body, that lead to the many illnesses they cause, and the resultant deaths.
    For example. Long term and incessant use of alcohol, results in gradual loss of the cells of the liver, impairing their ability to detoxify the poison of alcohol. As a consequence it results in cirrhosis of the liver. Any one who buys or feels liver knows how supple that tissue is. A cirrhotic liver is not only hard, and crunches when it can be cut, but instead of being red is pale white or grey and is almost solid.
    The lungs of a tobacco smoker instead of being supple and red, is almost black from the carbon particles trapped in the tissue. It can no longer perform its function of oxygen transfer. COPD renders the patient unable to breathe.Marijuana affects the lungs in the same way. The brain tissue of marijuana smokers at the microscopic easily shows the effect of the THC on the brain tissues at the microscopic level.
    The human body is finely balanced with each organ performing specific functions and depending on each other to perform its own particular function. Thus the liver performs like a chemical plant, detoxifying the poisons we put into our bodies. If that function is disturbed it has an effect on the entire system. the kidneys do not detoxify like the liver, but it filters some of the bad things.Anything that does not belong in the body is bad for its functions. Marijuana, is bad for the body, Alcohol is bad for the body, but the effect of alcohol can be countered by giving the liver a chance to do it’s job of detoxification. Liver cells can grow back and resume their function if given the chance.This is why some drinkers can drink alcohol for a lifetime without lasting damage to the liver. Thus an alcoholic can recover. Marijuana destroys brain cells, which do not grow back. The cumulative result is thus much more detrimental.
    Well Well always accuses me,constantly, of writing rubbish, and I am often tempted to keep my knowledge and experience to myself, but my conscience does not allow me to read what is written; unlike Well Well, I read everything, and come to my conclusions when I have finished, and do nothing about it. To my way of thinking that is the only way we can understand what the writers’ motivation is. I thus have to counter the contributions that I deem to be misleading, whether others agree with my contribution or not.As a consequence I find myself on these blogs all the time.I have to try and teach others what I have learned over the years.
    Unfortunately, having learned, I cannot unlearn.


  • @Alvin

    Your last comment makes sense, let us see if rebuttals are devoid of emotion and attach your position.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    So Alvin…how would you define ACs brain. Anyway as we can all agree abusing anything is dangerous, I could swear it is the overuse of cocaine permanently kills brain cells, will check it out later. I am sure you know what renowned researches say about the effects of one thing today, within 2 years they reverse their conclusions based on more refined and defined research, so whatever you may have learned about individual substances 50 years ago will certainly not apply today and sticking to something outdated can be just as dangerous. The researches and scientists of yesteryear did not have the technology and tools of those of today, they have gotten better at extracting toxic properties…heck….they can actually remove potential anything from a foetus before it’s birth. So removing dangerous properties from a plant is nothing….Alvin you are watching unstoppable evolution right before your eyes…live with it.


  • Well Well & Consequences


    FEBRUARY 5, 2015


    Is an egg frying in a pan a good representation of your brain on drugs? Evidently not! University of Louisville sports fans, stay tuned because the neuroscience department at that school just cleared all pot smokers of their paranoia concerning losing brain cells by smoking marijuana.

    If someone tells you that you are killing brain cells by smoking marijuana, you can now tell them with science that they are wrong. A new study published in late January 2015 proves that marijuana does not kill brain cells. This serious research may come as a surprise to some considering most marijuana headlines have to do with older people that drive around in a van with weed in it for almost a decade.”

    Alvin…..see for yourself, your information is outdated, based on studies 50 years ago, you need to be brought into the 21st century instead of spreading disinformation. You can google university information.


  • millertheanunnaki

    @ Alvin Cummins January 23, 2016 at 8:13 AM

    Alvin, your ‘sober’ rebuttal only reinforces the reason why marijuana, alcohol and tobacco should be put on equal footing before the LAW. They all have negative effects on the human body and mind, if abused. But why see alcohol and tobacco as ‘legitimate’ but vicious children while mary jane is let out as a bastard of the poor man and the ‘un-taxable’ prostitute of Dionysius.

    Your case for the continuing ‘illegitimization’ of this child of both go(o)d an(d) evil is deeply flawed if you can only see the negative effects in the form of the smoking of marijuana.

    Alvin, the man seen about town, why do you only see marijuana as something to smoke? Why not see it as an herb or plant for multiple uses as your God intended? You say you do not smoke. So why not try it in its natural form as your Creator intended and use it as a herb for culinary and medicinal uses or even as a simple infusion (tea) instead of Red Rose, Typhoo or even PG Tips or Nescafe?

    Isn’t alcohol (in its many dimensions) a product of both Evil and GOOD?
    Also, you need to check out the “Original” use of the tobacco and coca plant before the involvement of the European to chemically exploit both for commercially profitable outcomes.


  • Whether it is legal or not the amount of Marijuana being used will remain constant…….let those against it deal with that fact. i surmise their is not a police on this island that does not know someone that smokes weed.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    I am sure Alvin downed gallons of Coca Cola but could never understand or explain why he was addicted and would have probably been in denial, that without his knowledge, it contained a cocaine derivative. Is his attitude a side effect from permanently damaged brain cells as a result, he is the microbiologist, he should know.

    I take serious issue with you as a retired microbiologist which would put you in the category of a scientist, making the same mistakes many Ph.Ds do, they have learned everything about their disciplines and in their minds, even retired, they have no need to update their knowledge and end up spreading bad information…..what you are now spreading 50 years after your matriculation re marijuana are your personal opinions and have nothing to do with science, science has moved on as it should.

    Personally knowing, as you know I do, of what obtains in Canada, you could never impose your warped and outdated views on the Canadian people as you make it a habit to do on your own people in Barbados, it is mystifying that you want to keep the island and it’s people stuck in a mental time warp from 50 years ago, that’s called stagnating progress, the young people will move on because they read and comprehend that you build on your knowledge to achieve progress. I was still taking university courses at age 46, if you know New York, you should know if you want that knowledge, continuing education is the only was to go.and that is despite experimenting with marijuana from my 20s to 30s. Misinformation can be dangerous.

    AC I can understand, she displays all the symptoms of having been dropped on her head, whenever, so can be easily ignored, but you should know a whole lot better, yardfowlism not withstanding.


  • @David “many of us have seen the miraculous recovery on CBS documentaries and other media.”

    Yes David, but the truth is that before most people start consuming marijuana they are as healthy as a horse and so are not in need of a miraculous recovery.

    Isn’t it strange that those same people so eager to use marijuana for non-existent sicknesses will not use their hypertension and diabetes medicine when they do become sick?

    And hypertension and diabetes are real sicknessess and real killers in Barbados.

    Few people in Barbados have grand mal seizures.

    Most people use marijuana not because of sickness but simply because they want to indulge themselves.

    We already have more than enough people indulging themselves (and neglecting their responsibilities) with alcohol.

    No need to add marijuana to the mix.


  • What a generalization.


  • @Tom Rieke January 21, 2016 at 6:28 PM “The local price might go down, and the government could make sure that it stays reasonable.”

    A Simple Response: I do not want my government to use my tax money to provide financial support to marijuana farmers.

    @Tom Rieke January 21, 2016 at 6:28 PM “That will rescue the farmers.”

    A Simple Response: How can farmers who are not currently growing fruits and vegetables be rescued? Rescued from what? Right now nobody is preventing the marijuana farmers from growing fruits and vegetables. Barbados has a high, high, high food import bill. Some of our infants and young children are only marginally nourished and yet our marijuana farmers choose to grow marijuana for self indulgent adults rather than fruits and vegetables for vulnerable children. Why?

    @Tom Rieke January 21, 2016 at 6:28 PM “The result improved currency reserves, a healthier economy, and a healthier country.”

    A Simple Response: I don’t know what you are smoking, but if Barbados cannot compete with the U.S. in growing carrots, sweet peppers and tomatoes (and if we cannot grow enough carrots, sweet peppers and tomatoes for local consumption) I don’t know why you expect that we will be able to compete in growing marijuana. And if we increase our local marijuana consumption and we are all chilled out how will that increase our productivity in other areas?

    I think we are being seduced by foolish reasoning. Farmers in Barbados should concentrate on growing traditional ground provisions, fruits, vegetables, eggs, poultry, mutton, pork, milk, beef, and on our fisheries so that every Bajan infant, child, woman and man is well nourished. I can’t imagine that we are talking about growing marijuana when during the long summer vacations some of our children barely survive on heavily salt laden cheap imported ramen.

    Are we mad people?

    Don’t we love our own?

    Why do we so consistently set up ourselves so that other people exploit us?


  • @ Well Well & Consequences January 23, 2016 at 5:13 AM #
    Hants…did you inhale…

    Yes I inhaled and they were both big spliffs. I just did not like the “high” I got . I did enjoy the “high” I got from booze.

    Quit drinking 2 years ago because I am taking medication daily for high cholesterol.

    Just one point. I have never seen anyone falling down and puking from smoking weed.


  • @Kammie Holder January 21, 2016 at 9:18 PM “Any political which genuinely cares about the number of youth made into criminals by a bad law will make decriminalization of marijuana with attendant laws a priority.”

    @Kammie Holder January 21, 2016 at 9:18 PM “Oh how drunkards drive cars and kill people while drinking to a drunken stupor is accepted.”

    A Simple Response: No. It is NOT accepted. NOBODY accepts when their parent, spouse, child or other relative is killed by an impaired driver. We are haunted by the death for the rest of our lives. HAUNTED KAMMIE. It NEVER goes away. There is NEVER acceptance.

    @Kammie Holder January 21, 2016 at 9:18 PM “How much does alcohol related ailments cost the QEH?”

    A Simple Response: Too much. Way, way too much. But my question to you. Do you want to double the amount of money we already spend on treating alcohol related illnessess at the QEH and at the Psychiatric Hosptal?

    @Kammie Holder January 21, 2016 at 9:18 PM “What is the total number of days lost to Barbados due to alcoholism?”

    A Simple Response: Too many. Way, way too many. Me. I spent nearly 50 years in the work force and when I checked the NIS site prior to retiring I found that as I thought that I had claimed ZERO sick days. I’ve NEVER used marijuana. I rarely use alcohol. I smoked one cigarette once, then wondered why was I rolling up my money to smoke it and never smoked another.


    Nobody is making the youth into criminals Kammie. Youngsters are choosing to have themselves criminalized. Youngsters can choose to indulge in illegal activity, or they can chose NOT to indulge in illegal activity.

    And remember way back in the day when I was young the unemployment rate among youth was way higher than it is now.

    Dear Kammie: Love yah. But on this ya wrong.

    Nobody ids victimizing us. We are victimizing ourselves.

    We are our own worse enemy.

    Self discipline Kammie. Self discipline.

    That is what Barbados needs more than anything.


  • @Kammie Holder January 21, 2016 at 9:29 PM “The 1000 lbs recently intercepted by the police can fetch more than a million dollars… thru some smart partnership with Pfizer.

    Why would Pfizer buy petty amounts of marijuana from us when if they wanted to they could more econmicaly produce it on the vast acreages available in the U.S.?


  • @Ready done January 22, 2016 at 5:54 AM “The most important question I have is who is going to take care of all these push a men when they get old? I don’t think that pay NIS?

    There is NOTHING stopping the push a men from paying NIS.

    When on occasion the push a men are taken to court they are proud to describe themselves as “businessmen”.

    Well tell them that first thing Monday morning go to NIS, take their ID card, describe themselves as businessmen, register for, and apply for an NIS number, and start paying their NIS contributions.


    I have relatives who are self employed and diligently once a month they go to NIS and pay in their NIS contributions.

    What is stopping the push A men from doing the same.

    Or do they think that their mummies will take care of them when they are old.

    Tell them that their mummies’ breast milk has already dried up and that by the time the push a men are old we their mummies will ALL be happily dead. And when you are dead you no longer if your children and grandchildren are sick or well, living or dead, in the mental hospital or not, starving to death or not.

    Tell the push a men to start looking out for themselves right now.

    And if they start paying some of their money into the NIS, maybe, just maybe the NIS can afford to give me a raise on my pension NOW.



    Nobody is victimizing the push a men. They are victimizing themselves.

    They are their own worse enemies.

    Self discipline ready done. Self discipline.

    That is what the push a men need more than anything.

    Self discipline yaself to pay ya NIS every week.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Hants….here is where life slaps you around, I stopped smoking marijuana decades ago because I became aware that long term smoking can and does damage lung tissues, so here is where I can advocate for not smoking marijuana.

    Some years ago an accident saw me suffering spinal nerve damage, there are all types of conventional drugs for this, not only are they only temporary pain relief but the side effects would cause onset of the worse types of unwanted illnesses, so my doctor suggested I use the marijuana tea to alleviate pain. Now if Canada and the US had not relaxed their stances re medical marijuana, just imagine me stuck in Barbados and getting arrested for trying to alleviate pain by buying marijuana that is easily available on the island.

    Not making marijuana available for medical use will in no way cut down on the current supply or future importation, since the authorities can see no way to stop either. Misuse and abuse of the plant is counterproductive, so is misuse and abuse of alcohol and food.


  • @David January 22, 2016 at 6:25 AM “It comes back to social norms.”

    Dear David: When it comes to social norms, why do we always have to be bottom feeders?



    A Simple Response: It could only fetch a million dollars if foolish lower class Bajans willing removed money from their families and put that money into the pockets into the pockets of upper middle class drug dealers.

    Otherwise it is worth as much as a 1,000 pounds of candle bush.





  • @David January 22, 2016 at 6:25 AM “Many of our leaders in Barbados and overseas Many of our leaders in Barbados and overseas have taken a puff or two of weed.”

    O Lord. Looka I quoting by nemesis Bush Tea.

    But David you know as well as I do that many of “our leaders” in Barbados and overseas are a bunch of BRASS BOWLS.

    Why would any sensible person follow them?

    I don’t know if these people have taken a puff of the weed. But I certainly don’t want to go down the death road like thease our late leaders: Bree St. John, Errol Barrow, David Thompson, Tom Adams. You get my drift?

    Honestly David what could any of them fellows teach us about taking care of our health?


    Just because a fella decide to go into politics does not mean that he can lead on health.

    He is a politician that’s all.

    He is NOT a health leader.


  • @Kammie Holder January 22, 2016 at 9:02 AM “Why is it we hardly hear of persons caught with cocaine the drug of the wealthy.”

    That is because the poor ‘rass weed smokers don’t even have a house to live in. They can’t afford to buy or rent their own place, but they can afford to use an expensive illegal drug? You don;t think that something is missing there?

    Tell them to gett offa the blocks smoking marijuana in public and smoke it in their own home where the smoke and the littering offends the rest of us. And tell them as well, like the wealthy do to pay for their own health care (but we had someone on this block wondering if the rest of us are contributing to NIS on behalf of the push a men who refuse to pay their OWN NIS contributions.

    Bunch a snivelling sissies who hope to suck their mothers breasts until they are 65, and then to suck the breasts of the NIS.

    My people gone mad.

    I am tired of having to pick up marijuana butts offa my property…the nasty b!tches don’t even have the mind to clean up after themselves. If as frequently happens there are unused marijuana cigarettes in the litter I discard those too.


  • @Well Well & Consequences January 22, 2016 at 10:59 AM “did one from Belleville not get caught with marijuana and a gun last year, given bail and was dead in some accident just before Christmas.

    A Simple Response” And good riddance to bad rubbishh.


  • millertheanunnaki

    @ Simple Simon January 23, 2016 at 11:01 AM


    So how would your attitude(s) change when the use of marijuana is decriminalized?
    Why do you feel you are more compos mentis than other people who currently don’t use marijuana? Who says the average Bajan would turn to the use of marijuana? Because you are so gung-ho in your moral straightjacket you cannot see that marijuana users are being made into criminals for using a simple plant created by your God while alcoholic consumers are given social acceptance once they pay the excise taxes and duties (unless you are a guest at Sandals).

    If you think that criminalizing young people would deter them and future generations from engaging in this recreational activity why not make having sex before ‘marriage’ a crime? That should certainly deter the young ones from having lots of children out of wedlock, eliminate the scourge of STDs and create a society full of responsible fathers. What do you think?

    BTW, the reason why farmers would produce marijuana before other crops is purely based on profitability. It is because of the illegality of the plant that makes it extremely profitable.
    Just decriminalize its growth (take the large profits out of the trade) and you would see how many go out of business. Just like the growing of canes to produce rum.
    Why is the business of operating rum shops dying out in Barbados in spite of the fact that the production and consumption of rum is legal and socially accepted? There is no bloody profit in it; that’s why!

    Why not do the same to the simple plant called Cannabis Sativa (ganja)?
    Maybe the business people who make money out of the misery of people would turn to another substance but must first influence (in exchange for fees aka bribes and kickbacks) the political class to make it illegal in order to create an artificial profit element.

    The use of poor mary-jane, the harlot of illegal substances, is becoming rather passé to a modern bored generation raised on synthetic foods and substances.
    What’s next in Bim? Crystal meth?


  • @Well Well.
    I am an advocate of, and adherent to continuing education’ I am constantly studying; reading medical and scientific papers, and up to a few years ago, just before I became ill, I was conducting research at Cave Hill. I contribute to scientific journals and know how to access the latest information. I am not stuck in past ages as you so presumptuously assume. I know about nerve damage and pains,from personal experience because because when I was diagnosed with Lymphoma (Non-Hodgkins) I had nerve damage and lost the use of one of my hands. My treatment enabled me to regain the use of my hand, but I still suffer from pain, numbness and other signs of nerve damage. It may be permanent, but I do not resort to something which will replace my nerve damage, with something that will give me brain damage.The centre of nerve function is the brain. Should I take the chance to damage any portion of that permanently? You stopped smoking because you feared lung damage, so you replaced something that would damage your lungs with something equally bad, that is known to have a negative effect on your brain.. When you extract the chemicals in the marijuana by infusion, do you know the percentage of each of the chemicals in the weed that is extracted? The weed contains many different chemicals, you have no control on what is extracted.Any substance that is mind altering is bad because it disturbs the balance that obtains in the human body. If you want to know how the brain functions go to and order there series on The Brain. You have no idea how complex it is and how fragile the balance is and how easily it can be disturbed.
    I see my purpose as one where I can pass on my knowledge, whether or not it is accepted. That is what I studied for.

    By the way Kammie, if someone brings a million dollars worth of “WEED” from another place, whether another island or country, where did they get the money to purchase it, even at wholesale prices? When they sell it, who is going to be buying it? Are you telling me that the “boys on the block” who are the distributors have so much cash (in foreign exchange) that they can afford it? If they have it where did they get it? Are all of you,especially the boys on the block,and non-workers, aware that with every breath you take you get older, and when you have breathed long enough you wii reach an age and stage where you can’t work any longer? There is no longer any automatic pension when you reach sixty five, who will supply you with food, and the necessities of life?
    Just asking.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Then Alvin… should have known about the current publications from universities in the US, where you studied, that debunks previous studies that marijuana kills brain cells in users permanently. This information is coming from accomplished and published scientists, which makes your credibility very suspect.

    You are passing on knowledge whether or not it is true and expect other people who know better to ignore current updated information and believe your outdated rhetoric that has been reduced to mere personal opinions by new age technology…..laws change from time to time in the legal field and everyone has to comply, so too would medical information in the medical field, you do not want to acknowledge that your fellow medical colleagues who are now of a newer, much younger, more knowledgeable generation, are right and expect everyone in Barbados to fall under your spell, believing everything you say, but here’s what, most people now have access to the internet and are quite capable of googling anything, just as I did this morning and making their own informed decisions.

    That is despite those with their ulterior motives who were calling for the internet to be removed from Barbados to keep the people misinformed. I would advise people to always double check information and google updated sites so they are never misled.


  • millertheanunnaki

    @ Alvin Cummins January 23, 2016 at 12:55 PM

    Alvin, do you see how incisively smart you can be at times? It only shows your brain has not been totally destroyed by prescription drugs provided by patented drug pushers called medical doctors.

    Those so-called ‘boys on the block’ are just minions (equivalent to waiters in restaurants) in the chain of the illegal drug trade. The real importers, wholesale distributors and financiers of the trade live not on the blocks but in so-called respectable upscale places of residence having friends in high official places and access to foreign exchange.

    The growers of marijuana and its exporters and the foreign processors and suppliers of cocaine do not accept mickey-mouse Bajan currency. Preferably US dollars, C.O.D. Now how many two-bit boys on the block can control such a sophisticated trade and secure protection from those in authority?
    Why not decriminalize the trade, remove the huge profits and put many out of business?


  • And Kammie. Yes I think that we sHould have long had breathylyzer legislation on the books.

    And we should have long had RIGID, RIGID enforcement.

    If we had done so hundreds of Bajans would not haVe died prematurely.

    Thousands of family members would not have been traumatized.

    Many, many children would not have been orphaned.

    And many middled aged mothers and fathers would not have weeped over their children’s graves.

    THINK ABOUT IT. AND THEN ACT. Make your MP do something. Make your voting conditional on legislative change designed to stop substance impaired drivers from going on the road. All substances. I do nt pick and chose.

    And for miller etc. For me substance is NOT a moral issue. It is a practical issue. I do not like to see young children being deprived of the care of their parents, or being deprived of their parents entirely.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Miller…some people are unable to process information at that level….their prejudices and dislikes begin and end at the boys on the block, how come they got a thousand dollars or where they got the money from….they can never embrace the thought that those in Club Morgan with their homes surrounded by closed circuit cameras and bank accounts in the multi millions are the real benefactors and instigators of the same drug trade, so too those in Seaview St. James, so too those in Belleville, Husbands Heights and St. Thomas, whom the authorities are well aware of but hesitant to touch…the boys on the block are their whipping boys, easily available and the bane of their existence, it’s a shame.


  • millertheanunnaki

    @ Simple Simon January 23, 2016 at 1:27 PM

    But S. S., that is exactly what is happening under the current regime which makes the use of marijuana a criminal offence.

    Why not take some of the “mystique” out of the simple plant unless you see it as the tree of knowledge of good and evil as depicted in the Judeo-Christian book of laws against moral turpitude.
    Why not take the profit out of the trade and you will see that it would have as much commercial attraction as the sale of parsley or joni juice.

    Why not let us put our business brains together and come up with a plan to promote the use of whitehead bush to cure erectile dysfunction in Bajan males riddled with diabetes and hypertension? Now should that bush be made illegal?


  • Well Well & Consequences

    The myths have finally run their course, at one time the by products of marijuana was used for any and everything, until some now long dead person came up with the idea to criminalize the plant which then saw certain people becoming billionaires just from that decision…..if it ain’t one thing, it’s another, the next generation will experience something else, just as the previous generation experienced prohibition and we experienced marijuana criminalization.

    Our governments keep buying into these schemes….more the fool.


  • Thanks Hants, an interesting case.


  • @Tom Reike “and establish it as the best ganga in the western hemisphere. Bajan ganga could become a premium commodity, available on the world market at a premium price.”

    The legal growers in the US may be ahead of you. There is a small flow of marijauna from the north (US) to the south Mexico.

    “El M says he doesn’t know where his product comes from. But law enforcement agencies, as well as expert analysts, think they do. They’re placing the origin of this premium weed in the crops of U.S. legal-marijuana states, such as Colorado.

    Reverse trafficking, from Denver to Mexico (reverse flow)

    Last July, a Mexican customs agent at the Ciudad Juárez checkpoint found more than five kilos of marijuana in the luggage rack of a Honda Accord coming in from Texas.”

    Legalizing marijuana may not be a magic bullet …


  • Well Well & Consequences

    “Marijuana laws obsolete and ridiculous!

    Legalize Marijuana
    Legalize Marijuana

    Judge Pierre Chevalier just issued a stunning statement on marijuana prohibition. He said in unequivocal terms, that a man brought before him for the “crime” of growing 30 marijuana plants at his home, should face no more than $1.30 fine.

    The ruling was symbolic, but it went beyond the mere gesture when the judge said point blank that the rules prohibiting the man’s action are “obsolete” and “ridiculous.”

    Mario Larouche, 46, had been facing possession charges for the 30 marijuana plants kept at home. The Canadian judge’s ruling was in line with what the new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his party have said about legalizing marijuana.

    The Quebec judge said this about it all:

    We are in a society where people are accused of possession and use of marijuana while more than half the population has already consumed. These are laws that are obsolete and ridiculous. When one is in the presence of laws which would have more than half of the population has a criminal record in Canada… And probably most Crown Attorneys and defense, and perhaps judges, but I will not comment on it.
    Then Judge Chevalier explained that “46 year old Mario Larouche had tried numerous times to get a prescription for medical marijuana, unsuccessfully”

    There are “so few doctors are willing to prescribe marijuana for pain relief, despite the mountains of evidence proving its effectiveness without the disastrous side effects of prescription painkillers. This forced Mr. Larouche to break the law in order to treat his pain.”

    Chevalier said the system itself is broken.

    “Monsieur is in a broken system where it does not give people access to a natural medicine that goes back centuries, millennia.” (Source: ConcurrentNews)

    Alvin….Justin Trudeau agrees, the younger generation understand the fraud perpetrated on the world for over 50 years and are working on reversing the injustice of not only criminalizing a plant but putting people in prison for it’s use.


  • Challenge question.

    If the two main pushers of illegal drugs were David and SImple SImon, how long before they would be held and charged?

    Ha ha.

    Answer that and then draw your conclusions, or draw your conclusions based on your reasoning.

    What does that tell you?


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Looks like anything they put in front of pere Trudeau, he took a pull….lol


    Not surprised at the article. After all this publication or at least web site, is lobbying to have pot legalized, and at the same time trying to get more people hooked and on their side. Probably owned by very rich folks. Your friends?


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Alvin….everyone is quite capable of making informed decisions, the same way you swallowed hook, line and sinker the propaganda for the last 50 years, 2 generations of people, that criminalized the plant, imprisoned people, destroyed people’s reputations and made the same people who brainwashed you billionaires……to the point that you are unable to reverse those lies and brainwashing…..the same way too, people will make informed decisions going forward as to the best way they should use the plant for their benefit…..right.


  • @Crusoe January 23, 2016 at 9:20 PM “Challenge question. If the two main pushers of illegal drugs were David and SImple SImon, how long before they would be held and charged?”

    Don’t call my name nor even my pen name when talking about illegal drugs.

    I have never used, bought, sold, given away nor solicited nor accepted any illegal drug.



  • I have however found marijuana growing on my premises and I’ve cut down the marijuana tress and thrown them into the nearest 300 feet well.


  • Well Well & Consequences

    Irionic is it not, coming from a Caribbean prime minister.


  • Thanks for sharing the marijuana effects on the body, I am happy to have found this information on this article. I’m looking to read more blogs from you.






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