Black Tie Magazine Dean Petkanas, CEO, KannaLife: "Our exclusivity is narrowly focused" Exclusive Interview: Dean Petkanas, CEO, KannaLife(The Company Just Awarded An Exclusive Cannabinoid License By The Federal Government)The exclusive rights to apply the cannabinoids found in marijuana as therapeutic agents awarded by the U.S. federal government to the firm KannaLife only apply to one specific medical condition, KannaLife's CEO told Toke of the Town Monday night.
Dean Petkanas, chief executive officer at KannaLife Sciences, told us that the exclusivity applies only for the development and sale of cannabinoid based therapeutics as antioxidants and neuroprotectants for use in the treatment of hepatic encephalopathy."It is narrowly defined exclusivity, in that field," Petkanas told us. "Our exclusivity is narrowly focused."Asked if KannaLife planned to get exclusive rights to develop cannabinoids to treat other conditions, Petkanas answered, "At the present time, we have no desire to do that."In fact, the CEO told me, even if KannaLife wanted to target another condition or conditions for cannabinoid therapy, they'd have to start back at Square One in the application process, a marathon for which he seemed to have little enthusiasm.
Google+ Petkanas: "People think I'm breaking laws, but I'm not breaking any laws" But as far as the specific application covered in the exclusive rights -- for treating hepatic encephalopathy -- Petkanas was animated."Phytomedicines are the the forefront of treating many diseases," Petkanas told us. "We're looking for specific endpoints."According to the CEO, the controversy that erupted over the weekend, particularly after a Friday Toke of the Town story, has been a learning experience for him."Maybe it was God's will that I've had to fight salvos from the friendly army today, yesterday and Saturday," he told me Monday night. "The obstructions up until this point have been mainly related to political and religious dogma.""Friends laugh at me and say, 'You're in the pot business,' " Petkanas said ruefully. "I'm not in the pot business."People think I'm breaking laws, but I'm not breaking any laws," he told me. "We're not breaking any rules, but the perception that we are is a serious obstacle."
KannaLife According to Petkanas, such misperceptions about the nature of both cannabis as medicine and the legal status of particular cannabinoids can make it very challenging to recruit financial backers for KannaLife."People look at me like I have three heads," Petkanas said. "I've had hedge funds and private equity funds basically snub their noses at me. It's taboo."According to Petkanas, American society got more restrictive throughout the 20th Century, bringing us to the current tension between further development of marijuana's medical potential and the taboos associated with societal fears and superstitions."We got more dogmatic over the years," he said. "There was more and more control through the 1950s and 60s, and at the apex of stupidity, President Nixon felt he could control this outgrowth, this 'problem' that existed."Our policies in this country are almost humorous when it comes to the concept of the war on drugs," Petkanas said. "Marijuana is a states' rights issue."
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Cannabinoid Patent Exclusivity Only Applies To One Condition - Toke of the Town
Interview with a pepper-sprayed UC Davis student - Boing Boing
Interview with a pepper-sprayed UC Davis student
By Xeni Jardin at 1:58 am Sunday, Nov 20
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
22-year-old UC Davis student W. (name withheld by request) was one of the students pepper-sprayed at point-blank range Friday by Lt. John Pike while seated on the ground, arms linked and silent.
W. tells Boing Boing that Pike sprayed them at close range with military-grade pepper spray, in a punitive manner. Pike knew the students by name from Thursday night when they "occupied" a campus plaza. The students offered Pike food and coffee and chatted with him and other officers while setting up tents. On Friday, UC Davis chancellor Linda Katehi told students they had to remove their #OWS tents for unspecified "health and safety" reasons.
"Move or we're going to shoot you," Pike is reported to have yelled at one student right before delivering pepper spray. Then, turning to his fellow officers and brandishing the can in the air, "Don't worry, I'm going to spray these kids down."
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
XJ: So, we see in the videos and photos that you were one of the students pepper-sprayed by Lieutenant John Pike yesterday. How are you doing today?
W: I still have a burning sensation in my throat, lips and nose, especially when I start coughing, or when I'm lying in bed. Everyone who got sprayed has sustained effects like this.
XJ: Can you tell us how it happened, from where you were sitting?
W: I'd pulled my beanie hat over my eyes, to protect my eyes. I received a lot of pepper spray in my throat. I vomited twice, right away, then spent the next hour or two dry heaving. Someone said they saw him spray down my throat intentionally, but I was so freaked out, and I was blinded by my hat, so I can't verify. I did get a large quantity of pepper spray in my lungs.
Another girl near me who has asthma had an attack triggered by the pepper spray, and she was taken to the hospital.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
He used military grade pepper spray on us. It's supposed to be used at a minimum of 15 feet. But he sprayed us at point blank range. Another student, 20 years old, who was sprayed and then arrested—instead of receiving medical care for the pepper spray exposure, he was made to wait in the back of a police car. His hands were sprayed, and he had intense burning in his hands throughout the evening while he was being held. He asked a police officer what they could do to stop it, and they refused to give any advice.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
XJ: Take us back to what led up to that moment. Friday's protest wasn't an isolated expression, or the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement on the university campus, right?
W: We'd been protesting at UC Davis for the last week. On Tuesday there was a rally organized by some faculty members in response to the brutality on the UC Berkeley campus, and in response to the proposed 81% tuition hike.
One of the reasons I am involved with #OWS, and advocating for an occupy movement on the UC campus, is to fight privatization and austerity in the UC system, and fight rising tuition costs. I think that citizens have the right to get an education regardless of economic condition. Most people are not going to get a job where they can afford to pay off student loans. But to exclude people from knowledge is unconscionable.
The #OWS movement is global, but it's expressed locally in ways that are relevant to each city. People who are in NYC go to Wall Street. Oakland takes the port. At Davis, we have a university.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
So the Tuesday protest was one of the biggest rallies on the campus since tuition hikes in 2009. That protest ended with a march around the campus, which led us to the administrative building. Sort of spontaneously, we all decided to occupy an area on the grounds and we stayed the night. The administration allowed it. I had a wonderful conversation with Lieutenant Pike that night. I dialogued with him for a while. He was cordial to me. He knew me by name. We offered him coffee and food.
We have a food collective, and we are organizing to feed the occupiers with food we grow at the student farm. It was all really lovely.
On Wednesday there was the big protest in San Francisco, and striking at the UC regents meeting over the proposed 81% tuition increase next year. The regents actually canceled their meeting because they knew we were coming, and they have since decided to do it by teleconference next Monday so we can't disrupt them.
UC Davis police cleared out the 15 or so protesters who remained in Mrak Hall while the rest of the occupiers had left for the demonstration in San Francisco.
We had another rally on Thursday, with a big General Assembly. We decided to have an occupation against the injustices we were facing, and on Thursday night there were 35 tents set up, with more planning on coming.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
It was beautiful. We we had food, we sang songs, students were tutoring other students. We were talking about important issues, dialoguing over issues affecting our campus.
Chancellor Katehi agreed to let us waive the "no camping on campus" policy that night, and allowed us to stay there.
That same night, we went to the associated students of UC Davis student government meeting on campus, and we asked them for a resolution for peaceful protest without police intervention. We wrote it, they passed it, and we now had the support of the student body to have this protest, which was great.
The next morning we woke up, made breakfast, and had a lovely morning.
Pretty early on, before noon we got a letter from chancellor Katehi to please remove our tents, citing health and safety reasons, but not saying what those reasons are.
We took the letter, and replied more or less: look, we understand we're in violation of the camping code. But we believe that this is superseded by our first amendment rights.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
On Friday, they delivered another letter: at 3pm your tents will be taken down. This letter was not signed, it was just one paragraph in a big ugly font. Not on letterhead.
"We are demanding you remove these tents by 3pm," it read, "You need to move to another area on the campus so we can remove these tents, and if you do not comply you will be arrested."
We talked amongst ourselves, and decided that we were going to stay. We spent the next few hours talking about tactics so our tents wouldn't get stolen. Maybe we'd go to the Occupy City of Davis camp, and just keep migrating so they couldn't take us down.
And then, at around 330pm Friday, riot police. A lot of them showed up. We saw them and put our tents in the middle of the area. We'd been keeping the paths clear keeping space immaculately clean, feeding everyone who was hungry who came by... we tried to talk to the campus groundskeepers and tell them that we understood they need to do their job. We offered to move our tents so they could water the lawn. We wanted not to disrupt unnecessarily.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
When the riot police came, we put our tents in a circle. We walked around in a circle, and said nothing hateful towards the police. Maybe one guy chanted, "Fuck the police" a few times, but it died down right away. None of us wanted to chant against the police.
And then the police officers rushed in.
We were chanting so loud we couldn't hear any order to disperse. And with no warning, moving incredibly violently, they seized a few students.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
They handcuffed the students so tightly. One kid, later on they were unable to cut off his ties, they'd been tied so tight. One of the other students couldn't feel his hands they were so purple, his circulation was cut off so badly for so long. He took himself to the hospital after he was released from the zip-tie restraints. They told him he had nerve damage and not to expect to be able to feel his hands for the next week. He has to come back next week to see if there was permanent nerve damage in his wrists.
We came back to the area after that round of arrests. That's when the recording for most of the video you see on the internet was started.
We yelled, "clear these tents," we didn't want them to take our tents. Aside from refusing the order to disperse, the only rule we were breaking was camping on campus. But since we had the first night waived by Chancellor Katehi, we really hadn't even broken university policy, she waived the code.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
So, everyone removed the tents, and they were in the process of arresting more people. A collective decision was made on the fly to just sit in a circle arms linked legs crossed, with police officers and "prisoners" in the middle because we didn't want them arresting only 3 of us. It wasn't fair that 50 of us were there, and only a few arrested who hadn't volunteered to be arrested. There was still one walkway open that the police were going to use to walk the arrestees out. I saw some friends of mine sit down there, and they were my friends, so I joined them. We linked arms, legs crossed.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
We were never warned that we were going to be pepper-sprayed.
Lt. Pike walked up to my friend, and I am told that he said, "Move or we're going to shoot you."
Then he went back and talked to a few of his police officer friends. A couple of other officers started to remove people who were sitting there, blocking exit. Pike could have easily removed us, just picked us up and removed us. We were just sitting there, nonviolent civil disobedience.
But Pike turned around and I am told that he said to the other officers, "Don't worry about it, I'm going to spray these kids down."
He lifts the can, spins it around in a circle to show it off to everybody.
Then he sprays us three times.
As if one time of being sprayed at point blank wasn't enough.
I was on the end of the line getting direct spray. When the second pass came, I got up crawling. I crawled away and vomited on a tree. I was yelling. It burned. Within a few minutes I was dry heaving, I couldn't breathe. Then, over the course of the next hour, I was dry heaving and vomiting.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
More people were arrested, then. One other person told me he was pepper sprayed while he was on the ground subdued. They tried to go up his shirt, because he'd pulled his shirt over his face to protect himself. So they aimed it up his shirt to spray him, to make sure he got it.
XJ: Chancellor Katehi finally gave a press conference tonight about that incident.
W: I was the first one there. I went right up to her and introduced myself. "I'm an undergrad here. I'm a victim of police brutality," I told her. "The police sprayed pepper spray down my throat. I do not feel you have done your job protecting me on your campus. I hold you personally responsible for inflicting pain on me."
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
XJ: What do you want from Katehi, and the UC system?
W: I can't speak on behalf of the movement, I can only speak on behalf of myself. But I personally request that Chancellor Katehi and Lt. John Pike resign. We have a petition out there already. I request that a mechanism be set up for the impeachment of chancellors, and a system for democratic election of our chancellors. There is no good reason why students and faculty don't make that decision. Even when a chancellor makes a decision likes this, they feel safe, because they've been appointed by the regents, and the goal of the regents is to make more money. They sit on the boards of big institutions like Bank of America, they are the richest of the 1%, and they're using this institution to fatten their pockets and they're putting students into debt to do that.
There will be a large rally on Monday at UC Davis, and I invited her to take part in our GA, if she's willing to speak to us on our terms and operate on consensus method with no power dynamics.
She made a promise right there, on video, to come to our meeting.
I think she has done a terrible misdeed and that she and Pike should resign immediately so we can figure out a better way to run this institution.
XJ: Any final thoughts you'd like to share with the world about what this day meant to you?
W: I would like to note the beautiful way that the protest ended. My adrenaline was raging but in between hacking coughs I raised my fist in solidarity with the students peacefully chanting the officers off of the quad. Even in the face of brutality we remained assertively passive. I have no doubt that the world community will come to our aid so that this inclusive movement can not be defeated.
Imagine a chancellor running on the platform of banishing monsanto and defense development from their campus. Or perhaps, a chancellor who was merely a facilitator of a university-wide GA. We cannot let this occupation, or the public's concern over the situation, be limited the police brutality. Police brutality is just a symptom of systemic failure.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
Photo:Brian Nguyen/The Aggie.
via boingboing.net
Internet shut down and foreign journalists expelled from Wukan - IFEX
20 December 2011Alert
Internet shut down and foreign journalists expelled from Wukan
(IFJ/IFEX) - 19 December 2011 - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the shutting down of internet services by Chinese authorities and the forced expulsion of journalists covering protests in Wukan village, in Lufeng County in China's southern Guangdong Province.Incident details
Expulsion
Lam Kin-Seng, Journalist
On December 18, a number of journalists, including the Hong Kong-based Cable Television journalist Lam Kin-Seng and his three colleagues, and three journalists from the Japanese national public broadcaster NHK, were forced to leave Lufeng County by Chinese government officials. The excuse given for the journalists' removal was 'personal safety'.
Lam has said he was stopped by five or six plain-clothes police as he was about to leave a restaurant, where he had written an article. They asked him to leave Wukan because the "village has internal conflict" and "for protection of his personal safety". Despite Lam's insistence that he felt no threat to his safety, he was encircled by police and forced to leave. Officials from propaganda departments of Lufeng county and Guangdong Province were also present.
Some foreign media, including the UK Daily Telegraph, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), New York Times and Agence France-Presse are still able to report from Wukan, though their movements have been restricted by the heavy police presence.
IFJ sources said local internet service providers received an order from authorities to shut down all internet services in Wukan village today. This response is similar to the approach taken by the Chinese government in response to riots in Xinjiang province in July 2009. In that case, the Xinjiang Government shut down all internet and telephone services within the province, effectively isolating the population.
Protests in Wukan were initially sparked by the discovery that 500 hectares of village land had been sold to developers without any compensation being paid, and by allegations of political interference in the election of village representatives. The situation escalated with the death of Xue Jinbo, who died in police custody after three days of detention.
More than a thousand police have surrounded Wukan village after protesters barricaded themselves in the village in response to Xue's death. It is reported that the villagers are now facing food shortages as the siege enters its second week.
Xue's family members suspect that he was beaten to death, as he suffered multiple bone fractures and extensive bruising. However, government officials maintain that Xue died of a heart attack, based on an autopsy conducted by the Zhongshan University forensics medical center.
Reporting in the Chinese media of events in Wukan was censored immediately following Xue's death. The only published reports have reproduced information from an article which appeared in Xinhua, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, on December 14. The English-language edition of an official Chinese Communist Party news portal, Global Times, was the only media outlet to report the case the next day.
"'Personal safety' continues to be used as an excuse by Chinese authorities to prevent journalists from reporting on politically sensitive issues in mainland China," IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said.
"For many journalists investigating stories of great public interest, such as the events in Wukan, the greatest threat is not from protestors but from the authorities themselves."
The IFJ demands Chinese authorities rescind any order restricting internet access in Wukan.
The IFJ also calls for Premier Wen Jiabao to honour his promises on press freedom made after the Olympic Games, where the State Council of China issued new regulations stating clearly that all overseas, Hong Kong and Taiwanese media had the right to report freely in China with the consent of the interviewees.
Source:
International Federation of Journalists
International Press Centre, Residence Palace
Bloc C, second floor, Rue de la Loi, 155
1040 Brussels
Belgium
Phone: +32 2 2352207
Fax: +32 2 2352219
via ifex.org
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Front Line Defenders: Bahrain: Free Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja – End the Violence against human rights defenders | Bahrain Center for Human Rights
16 Dec 2011
On the occasion of Bahrain's National Day Front Line Defenders renews its call for the release of human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-khawaja with the unveiling of a 2,500 square foot banner in St Stephen's Green in the centre of Dublin."It requires no commissions or lengthy deliberations to set free those who have been systematically tortured and denied a fair trial," said Front Line Defenders' Executive Director Mary Lawlor in Dublin today, as she called on King Hamad to free Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, the organisation's former Protection Coordinator for the Middle East who was sentenced to life imprisonment after a grossly unfair trial during which the judge refused to deal with the issue of his brutal torture while in custody.
"Front Line Defenders is also deeply concerned at reports received today of excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators during which Zainab Al-Khawaja, daughter of Abdulhad was arrested. We call for her immediate release", added Ms Lawlor.
This latest violent crackdown further underlines the urgent need for King Hamad and the Government of Bahrain to end the violent repression of human rights defenders and begin the process of reform.
King Hamad has made a commitment to implement significant political and social reforms in response to the findings of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Enquiry (BICI) report which confirmed the systematic torture of detainees and the denial of basic fair trial measures but there has been little progress on practical implementation until now.
“Front Line Defenders is calling on the King to release all human rights defenders currently in detention or facing charges on the basis of their peaceful activities,” said Ms Lawlor. "Sentences handed down against medical professionals following grossly unfair trials should also be quashed."
Front Line Defenders welcomed the publication of the BICI report and the Bahraini Government's proclaimed commitment to implement reforms to end torture. The Government has replaced the Head of National Security and instigated investigations into the behaviour of some low level officials. They have also sought to appoint a National Commission to implement the recommendations of the BICI report, however, until now they have not been able to get broad engagement with this process.
The brutal repression of regular protests has continued. “The credibility of King Hamad's commitment to reform is undermined by the continued detention of human rights defenders whose sentences were based on confessions extracted under torture and secret evidence which was not made available to the defence lawyers for rebuttal”, said Ms Lawlor.
A case in point is the 28 November hearing in the proceedings against the doctors (three of whom trained in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin) who had been sentenced to prison terms of between 5 and fifteen years because of their work treating injured demonstrators. The hearing was adjourned as the prosecution attempted to introduce new evidence for the prosecution in breach of all accepted trial procedures.
“If King Hamad does not honour his commitment to reform his statements to date will be seen as mere public relations. The first step to establishing the credibility of his commitment is to order the release of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja”, concluded Ms Lawlor.
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