[Source: Denver Westword Blog]
Leadville in the 1880s was a tough town populated by mining tycoons, the
poor miners that made those tycoons rich and the businesses that
supported the industry. Okay, there were also a bunch of bunch of
thieves, cheats, hookers, gamblers, drunks, visiting opera singers and
(apparently) drug addicts around, too.
Our story this week finds us at the intersection of two such groups
almost 126 years ago to the day, with a pharmacy at the center of the
action.
Taylor's Drug Store was located in the Vendome Hotel Building -- now
known as the Tabor Grand. At the time, the town was booming and owner
George Taylor was seeing all types in his store. Apparently, a reporter
caught up with him one morning when he was on a tear about them.
"You talk about cranks," Taylor told the reporter, who added that
"the druggist has not only his full share but a great deal more in the
way of idiots who bother him."
[SOURCE: www.marijuana.com]
In the early 1960s, a young postdoctoral student stumbled onto something that puzzled him.
After reading the literature on cannabis, he was surprised to see
that while the active compound in morphine had been isolated from opium
poppies 100 years before and cocaine isolated from coca leaves around
the same time, the active component of marijuana was still unknown.
This simple observation launched his life’s work.
That young Israeli researcher, Raphael Mechoulam,
is now a heavily decorated scientist, recently nominated for the
prestigious Rothschild Prize. More than 50 years ago, however, he had
trouble starting his scientific journey.
For starters, he needed cannabis to study and didn’t know how to
obtain it. Eventually, he obtained his research supply from friends in
the police department. The young scientist was in a hurry, and didn’t
want to wait to cut through the red tape required by Israel’s Health
Ministry.
“Yes, I broke the law,” he told me when I met with him in
Tel Aviv last year, “but I apologized and explained what I was trying
to do.”
It’s a good thing the Israeli government didn’t stall his progress, because Mechoulam was moving at breakneck speed.
By 1963, he determined the structure of cannabidiol (CBD), an
important component of marijuana. A year later, he became the first
person to isolate delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive
ingredient in marijuana. Over the ensuing decades, Mechoulam and his
team continued to isolate numerous compounds from the cannabis plant.
Whole story here: ‘The Entourage Effect’ of Medical Marijuana'
[Source: CNBC Prime]
If the legal sale of marijuana is revolutionary, the growth around
Colorado's pot industry may be equally groundbreaking as hundreds of
companies vie for a share of the state's projected $800 million
marijuana market.
How overwhelming will the state be with applications and new residents?? Only time will tell...Check out the video and be part of history!!!
Video here: The Green Rush Colorado
