I FIND it totally pathetic for most of mainstream media, including the usual suspects, to focus and milk dry for any news value the comment of President Duterte last Monday night that he offered to resign out of exasperation over the seemingly unsolvable corruption problem.
Don’t hold your breath. He’s not doing it. He’s just playing you as usual.
And that gave them a glimmer of hope only to wake up the morning after and Duterte is still President.
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COVID-19 cases in Iloilo (province and city) continue to rise and here’s one classic example why.
The Vice Mayor of Pototan, Lito Ilisan, had a holiday in Boracay last weekend with his family together with Sangguniang Bayan member Palpal Cordero and family, and Sangguniang Kabataan president Donabelle Mendoza and family.
The holiday would probably not raise anyone’s eyebrow except for the fact that a certain Berto was also with them. Being a direct contact of a COVID-19 positive co-worker whose father died from the same virus, didn’t he breach quarantine protocols?
This Berto is an employee of the Iloilo Provincial Hospital and as such he should be aware of the protocols.
Recklessness and stupidity. This is why the infection continues.
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Meanwhile, this quarantine brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has created resurgence in the interest of gardening and plants, so much so that we now have online sale and barter of all kinds of plants.
Moi is not into it but if I were I’d probably be more into the edible kind, you know, vegetables, and including also the medicinal ones. Certainly not the ornamental kind.
So while we’re into plants, let’s talk about probably the most misunderstood one in the world. It has been vilified and criminalized not because of scientific and medical research resulting into conclusive empirical data but because of racism, politics, ignorance, greed, and stupidity.
We are, of course, talking about cannabis sativa or more popularly known as marijuana a.k.a. weed. And yes, contrary to popular and stupid belief, it is a plant like your alugbate or talong and not a drug.
It is still illegal here in the Philippines since 1972 by virtue of Republic Act No. 6425, or the Dangerous Drugs Act of1972.
There is currently in Congress waiting for approval House Bill 180 or the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act. Considering the hypocrisy and stupidity amongst politicians in this country, I say good luck in having this bill passed.
Marijuana is now legal in most First World countries i.e. Canada, United States, Spain, Netherlands, Australia to name a few. It is expected of course as these countries are more sophisticated and not perverted by stupidity.
Just recently marijuana became legal in Thailand.
Here, tobacco is legal while marijuana is not, which is ironic considering these facts (www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/): Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including nearly 42,000 deaths resulting from second-hand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day. On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than non-smokers.
Andherb.co says: How many people have died overdosing on marijuana? The short answer is Zero.
Unsurprisingly to marijuana lovers around the world, there has yet to be a single reported death linked to cannabis overdose. In fact, you would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times your average dose in order for marijuana to kill you. That would be about 1,500 pounds of marijuana in 15 minutes.
Smoking 800 joints in one sitting would put you at risk of dying from carbon monoxide poisoning. But, that isn’t exactly the plant’s fault, is it?
According to www.njweedman.com: Marijuana is not addictive. Most users are moderate consumers who only smoke it socially occasionally to relax. On a relative scale, marijuana is less habit-forming than either sugar or chocolate
Marijuana does not cause violence. The only crime most marijuana users commit is using marijuana.
The simple fact is that marijuana does not change your basic personality.
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In the race to develop a vaccine or treatment against COVID-19 a recent finding shows that marijuana could very well be the one. Excerpts from a May 12, 2020 article on www.labroots.com:
Study Shows Cannabis May Block COVID-19 Infection
Researchers from the University of Lethbridge, Canada, have found that cannabis may be able to block COVID-19 infections. In findings published in a preliminary research paper, they hope that their findings encourage further research into the possibility of cannabis-based treatments for the virus.
For the study, the researchers led by Dr. Igor Kovalchuck developed over 800 new cannabis sativa lines and extracts. They worked to develop strains high in anti-inflammatory cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD), as the compound has been proposed to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. They then used simulations to map out how each strain may impact COVID-19 infections in human oral, airway and intestinal tissues. In particular, they monitored each strain’s ability to modulate ACE2 levels, an enzyme previously linked to COVID-19 infection.
In the end, the researchers identified 13 CBD extracts that are able to modulate ACE2 levels. Their data also suggested that some strains were also able to down-regulate serine protease TMPRSS2, another protein critical for COVID-19 to enter host cells and spread throughout the body.
So stop the hypocrisy and stupidity. Legalize marijuana./PN
