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Scientists believe cannabis could help prevent and treat coronavirus .

NY Post: Scientists believe cannabis could help prevent and treat coronavirus.

A team of Canadian scientists believes it has found strong strains of cannabis that could help prevent and then treat coronavirus infections, according to interviews and a study.

Researchers from the University of Lethbridge said that a study in April showed at least 13 cannabis plants high in CBD that appeared to affect the ACE2 pathways that the bug uses to access the body.

“We were totally stunned at first, and then we were really happy,” one of the researchers, Olga Kovalchuk, told CTV News.

The results, printed in online journal Preprints, indicated hemp extracts high in CBD may help block proteins that provide a “gateway” for COVID-19 to enter host cells.
[.]
Stressing that more research was needed, the study gave hope that if proven to modulate the enzyme it “may prove a plausible strategy for decreasing disease susceptibility” as well as “become a useful and safe addition to the treatment of COVID-19 as an adjunct therapy.”

Cannabis could even be used to “develop easy-to-use preventative treatments in the form of mouthwash and throat gargle products,” the study suggested, with a “potential to decrease viral entry” through the mouth.

More: Smokers Appear Less Likely to Be Hospitalised with COVID-19.

San Francisco delivers alcohol, tobacco and teh pot to quarantined addicts.

Omaha.com (AP): San Francisco gets alcohol, tobacco for addicts in hotels.

San Francisco is using private donations to deliver alcohol, tobacco and medical marijuana to a few dozen people dealing with addiction as they isolate or quarantine in city-leased hotel rooms during the pandemic, officials confirmed Wednesday.

There are about 270 people, mostly homeless, staying in hotel rooms to recover from COVID-19 or to wait out possible exposure to the virus. Nearly a dozen people have received alcohol and more than two dozen have received tobacco, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

City officials said that private donations pay for the items, and that helping manage nicotine, opioid and alcohol cravings ensures that recovering people don't go out and possibly infect others.

Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco's public health director, said the harm-reduction approach is widespread and based on decades of sound public health policy.

"...decades of sound public health policy." Okay, then.

Washington Times: Nancy Pelosi; Let them eat ice cream.

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Omaha.com Archived

Smokers Appear Less Likely to Be Hospitalised with COVID-19.

Bretibart: Study: Smokers Appear Less Likely to Be Hospitalised with COVID-19.

    Smoking increases susceptibility to respiratory infections and media reports suggest that it may increase the risk of being infected with acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 is known to use the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a receptor for cell entry, and there is evidence that smoking down-regulates ACE2 expression in the lung and other tissues.

Their findings, though surprising, appear to be supported by the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These too show that – contrary to expectations – relatively few smokers and ex-smokers have been hospitalised with COVID-19.

    CDC is gathering information about underlying conditions and Covid-19 diagnoses. Smoking status numbers are *very* interesting.https://t.co/iv0FpfPSHy pic.twitter.com/5ojmWcpu91

    — Phil (@phil_w888) March 31, 2020

I knew smoking would have an upside.

New, disposable vaping bars not covered by flavor bans.

I heard this vaping device referred to as a "bar" - as in candy bar...or ice cream bar, because of its short, flattish, stick-like appearance.

From "The Legal Circumvention Department" files:

Market Watch: Young people have moved on to a new kind of vape not covered by the flavor ban: disposables.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government on Thursday began enforcing restrictions on flavored electronic cigarettes aimed at curbing underage vaping. But some teenagers may be one step ahead of the rules.

Parents, researchers and students warn that some young people have already moved on to a newer kind of vape that isn’t covered by the flavor ban.

These disposable e-cigarettes are sold under brands like Puff Bar, Stig and Fogg in flavors such as pink lemonade, blueberry ice and tropical mango.

Critics of the FDA policy fear teens will simply switch to the cheaper disposables, which are widely available at convenience stores and gas stations.

“They are very accessible and seem to be the new buzzy product,” said Dr. Karen Wilson, a tobacco researcher and pediatrician at Mount Sinai’s medical school in New York.

The FDA confirmed that the flavor restriction won’t apply to “self-contained, disposable products,” but only to rechargeable ones that use pods or cartridges prefilled with a nicotine solution.

A "buzzy product." I can't stop laughing at that.

Well, you HAVE TO BE a certain age to LEGALLY purchase tobacco and all its related products. How are those under-age obtaining these products? THAT is such a mystery. It must be like all the criminals who pass background checks on the guns they legally purchase. Because, there's no other way to obtain anything other than legally, is there?
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Market Watch Archived

Who will Al Franken endorse?

Disgraced, resigned, ex-Senator Al "The Groper" Franken endorsed Hillary in 2014. I imagine his endorsement is much sought-after by all the DEMS running and that it carries a lot of weight.

Al Franken, Serial Groper. Another new accuser in FrankenGroperGate.

The Cut: Was It Worth It?

I was just out of college in my first job, working for U.S. senator Patty Murray. Al Franken was the guest speaker at an event in 2006. I was working the photo line, and he pulled me in. Murray said, “Let’s take the picture.” And he puts his hand on my ass. He’s telling the photographer, “Take another one. I think I blinked. Take another one.” And I’m just frozen. It’s so violating. And then he gives me a little squeeze on my buttock, and I am bright red. I don’t say anything at the time, but I felt deeply, deeply uncomfortable.

KSTP News 5:  New unwanted touching allegation raised against former Senator Al Franken.

An anonymous woman alleged Al Franken groped her buttocks in 2006, while she posed for a picture with him at an event two-years before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in Minnesota, according to an article published Monday in New York Magazine.

5 EYEWITNESS News reached out to Franken’s spokesperson for comment on Monday but have yet to hear back.

“Two years ago, I would have sworn that I’d never done anything to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but it’s clear that I must have been doing something. As I’ve said before, I feel terrible that anyone came away from an interaction with me feeling bad,” Franken said in the New York article about the recent allegation.

In the article, the unnamed woman who now works at a major progressive organization, said 14 years ago, she was just out of college and working for a U.S. senator Patty Murray at an event when the alleged incident took place in a photo line.

This is the ninth woman to come forward alleging unwanted contact by Franken.

The previous allegations led Franken to resign his U.S. Senate seat in 2017.

Last week, Franken appeared on the Conan O'Brien Show making some of his most public comments to date about resigning from Congress after other unwanted touching allegations surfaced.

"People who know me know I'm not that guy that 36 of my colleagues demanded I go and put pressure on me that in no uncertain terms that I had to go," Franken said.

Carlton College political science professor Steven Schier said the new allegation doesn’t help Franken convince voters for a second chance if he decides to run again.

"I think it's a problem for him," Schier said. “I think Minnesota Democrats who have a strong feminist orientation --many of them---are not going to be happy about Al Franken becoming the public face of the party with these allegations still surfacing."

Franken over the weekend launched a new radio show on SirusXM radio.

"If he truly believes in his own innocence, I'm guessing this latest allegation won't do much to dampen his future ambitions," said Dr. Julie Dolan, Macalester College professor. "But for voters, I think it's a different story, especially for Democratic women. He'll have an uphill battle convincing them that he's the best candidate for the job."

Actual photo.

Breitbart: Franken gropes Leeann Tweeden during USO Tour.

Leeann Tweeden, a journalist who anchors the morning news at TalkRadio 790 KABC in Los Angeles, California, is accusing Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) of fondling her while asleep and shoving his tongue down her throat without her consent.

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KSTP Archived

Al Franken Profits from Tobacco

Minnesota Senator, the Liberal Al Franken thought he'd put on a show during confirmation hearings for the nominee of Department of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price, a Republican from Georgia.

"You personally benefited from tobacco sales," Franken said to Price. "How do you square reaping personal financial gain from the sale of an addictive product that kills millions of Americans every decade?"

Price defended himself from Franken's accusations, noting that his financial holdings are mostly organized through mutual funds[.]  Price then suggested that Franken most likely holds stock in a tobacco company through pension funds or mutual funds.

"I find it very hard to believe that you did not know you had tobacco stocks. I find it a little hard to believe in the questions of your stock portfolio that you did not know things," Franken said, interrupting Price's answer.

Later in the hearing, [Republican Johnny] Isakson used his time for questioning to inform Franken that he owned stocks in tobacco-related companies.

"Any of us could make the mistakes that are being alleged," Isakson said. "I'm sure Sen. Franken had no idea that he owned part of Philip Morris when he made the statement he made about tobacco companies."