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CONTENTS 1. LOVE

2.COMPASSION

3.HEALTH

4.POLITICS

5.MONEY 6.MOTORING

1. LOVE

What is love – can it really be defined and

explained?

With Valentine’s Day approaching, we ask the

experts how they define the most mysterious of

human emotions

How would you define love? Tell us below.

Photograph: Chris Clarke

Martin Belam and Eleni Stefanou

The romantic novelist:

Jojo Moyes is an acclaimed romantic novelist who

has 13 books to her name, and has twice won the

Romantic Novelists Award.

Jojo Moyes

What love is depends on where you are in

relation to it. Secure in it, it can feel as mundane

and necessary as air – you exist within it, almost

unnoticing. Deprived of it, it can feel like an

obsession; all­consuming, a physical pain. Love

is the driver for all great stories: not just

romantic love, but the love of parent for child, for

family, for country. It is the point before

consummation of it that fascinates: what

separates you from love, the obstacles that stand

in its way. It is usually at those points that love is

everything

The insufferably cute kids:

Global News asked some elementary kids in

Canada to go in front of the camera and explain

what love is. Our favourite?

An Edmonton schoolboy talks about love

I guess my best way of explaining what I think

love is would be like the solar system. There are a

bunch of planets that can represent people. And

then of course gravity holds them together. And

gravity is sort of like love. No matter how far

apart people are, love can hold them together

The psychotherapist:

Aaron Balick is a clinician and cultural theorist

who applies contemporary psychoanalysis as a

means of understanding modern life, as

exemplified by his book The Psychodynamics of

Social Networking.

Aaron Balick

Sameness is easy. It’s difference that’s the real

challenge. Romance is captivating, but the

monotony of busy lives can be deadening.

Harmony is mesmerising, but discord and

conflict can feel destructive. Many think that love

is about always being on the same page with our

partner, feeling romantic and living in harmony.

Threats to these experiences can feel like

obstacles that get in the way of love. But love is as

much about the obstacles as it is about the bliss.

Love is accepting difference, recovering from

conflict and tolerating discord. Fundamentally,

love is allowing your partner to be entirely who

they are, even when their very being needles you

to the core. It is a profound acceptance of the

personhood of your lover, while dropping your

need for them to be anything different. Yes, it’s a

tall order. But who said it was going to be easy?

America’s longest married couple:

Ann and John Betar eloped and got married in

1932. Ann says the secret to their successful

marriage is that it isn’t “lovey dovey” all the time,

and that their main interest is raising the

children.

John says that the only thing they ever row about

is the cooking. Ann replies: “See ... that’s what he

thinks.”

Ann and John Betar talk about the secret to a long,

happy marriage.

For Valentines’ Day this year, they will be taking

part in a Twitter Q&A about what keeps a

relationship going as long as theirs, using

#LongestLove. Although they may not know what

they have let themselves in for with that hashtag.

The singer­songwriter:

Howard Jones hit #2 in the UK chart with his

second single What Is Love? in 1983.

Howard Jones

Love is letting each other be who we are without

fear of censure. Love is not wanting the other to

become a clone of ourselves. ‘Other’ offers

resistance, pushing us to find what is self. Love is

actively embracing our equality and pushing

each other to realise our full potential and make

our full contribution to the world. Love is facing

forward, both fighting for a common goal – both

strong, both independent and positively choosing

a knowing dependence. Love is always leaving

the door unlocked and continuing that love when

‘other’ may choose to use the exit. Love is letting

go and wishing well. Love is aching joy. Love is

the safe haven. Love is arriving home

What Is Love? by Howard Jones.

The physicist:

Jim Al­Khalili is a theoretical physicist and

science writer. Speaking in 2012, he said:

Jim­Al­Khalili

Biologically, love is a powerful neurological

condition like hunger or thirst, only more

permanent. We talk about love being blind or

unconditional, in the sense that we have no

control over it. But then, that is not so surprising,

since love is basically chemistry. While lust is a

temporary passionate sexual desire involving the

increased release of chemicals such as

testosterone and oestrogen, in true love, or

attachment and bonding, the brain can release a

whole set of chemicals: pheromones, dopamine,

norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin and

vasopressin. However, from an evolutionary

perspective, love can be viewed as a survival tool

– a mechanism we have evolved to promote

long­term relationships, mutual defence and

parental support of children, and to promote

feelings of safety and security

The poet:

Muneera Rashida is one half of Poetic Pilgrimage,

a hip­hop and spoken word duoand one of the few

Muslim female outfits around.

Muneera Rashida

Love is more than what can be expressed in

words, love is more than grammar and verbs.

Love is compassionate and soothing, love can be

painful and gruelling; but only for growth. Love

is not abusive, love is not vindictive, love is not

selfish. Love will not leave you with a black eye

and hating yourself. Love is the building blocks of

creation, love is the substance from which we are

made. From love, to love, by love

The nun:

Catherine Wybourne is a Benedictine nun.

Writing in the Guardian in 2012, she said:

Catherine Wybourne

Love is more easily experienced than defined. As

a theological virtue, by which we love God above

all things and our neighbours as ourselves for his

sake, it seems remote until we encounter it

enfleshed, so to say, in the life of another – in acts

of kindness, generosity and self­sacrifice. Love’s

the one thing that can never hurt anyone,

although it may cost dearly. The paradox of love

is that it is supremely free, yet attaches us with

bonds stronger than death. It cannot be bought

or sold; there is nothing it cannot face; love is

life’s greatest blessing.

2.COMPASSION

Compassion is the response to the suffering of others that motivates a desire to help.

Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to help physical, spiritual, or emotional

hurts or pains of another. Compassion is often regarded as having an emotional aspect to it,

though when based on cerebral notions such as fairness, justice and interdependence, it may

be considered rational in nature and its application understood as an activity based on sound

judgment. There is also an aspect of compassion which regards a quantitative dimension,

such that individual's compassion is often given a property of "depth," "vigour," or

"passion." The etymology of "compassion" is Latin, meaning "co­suffering." More involved

than simple empathy, compassion commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate

another's suffering.

Compassion is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the

social context as altruism. In ethical terms, the expressions down the ages of the so­called

Golden Rule often embodies by implication the principle of compassion: Do to others what

you would have them do to you.

The English noun compassion, meaning to love together with, comes from Latin. Its prefix

com­ comes directly from com, an archaic version of the Latin preposition and affix cum (=

with); the ­passion segment is derived from passus, past participle of the deponent

verbpatior, patī, passus sum. Compassion is thus related in origin, form and meaning to the

English noun patient (= one who suffers), frompatiens, present participle of the same patior,

and is akin to the Greek verb πάσχειν (= paskhein, to suffer) and to its cognate noun πάθος(=

pathos).Ranked a great virtue in numerous philosophies, compassion is considered in almost

all the major religious traditions as among the greatest of virtues.

Wikipedia

A Theory of Compassion Development

W. David Hoisington, Ph.D.

First draft posted in November, 2007, Last updated March, 2010

Posted on www.CompassionSpace.com (please reference the author and this site)

This paper should be considered a work in progress and is the result of tens of years examining the nature of suffering in our society, and how we face this. Thousands of pages of previous writings by this author underline the components of this theory, yet the theory is very simple in its construction. From one point of view compassion is easy to define: the willingness to reduce suffering. But a closer examination of the literature, biographies, research papers, and common experience indicate that the matter is a bit more complex. There appears to be a broad range of phenomena that fall under the term compassion.

Most of us know from our experiences that some people appear to demonstrate more compassion than others. If we haven’t recognized this then we most assuredly have recognized that there are those who act with less compassion, and we have personally met them. This, in a reverse logical way, also means there are those people who show more compassion than others. We may not have been fortunate to personally met people with well developed compassion, but we may still agree with the premise that compassion is not equally distributed throughout the population.

It is also likely that we know of compassion heroes, such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Jesus Christ, Mother Theresa, and the Dalai Lama. We can add to this list saints, mystics and skilled healers (as I have suggested in my other writings). We may or we may not know the nature of the compassion these heroes speak of, but most of us know that they have lived and died for such a message. They spoke of a compassion space that we can share with others. They spoke of advanced levels of compassion that are potentially available to us. We may not know the nature of these advanced levels but most of us do know that the message has been here for centuries, and continues to be spoken today. It is a message that speaks to us of levels of compassion yet to be developed in the general populace, of a way to shift to a culture of compassion through experiences within the compassion space.

Preliminary research that comes from our basic compassion survey, and our theoretical research (see information on www.CompassionSpace.com), supports the idea that people define compassion in different ways. The survey information also supports the idea that compassion is a relational phenomenon. It is expressed through the ACTIONS that people demonstrate in relationship with other sentient beings as part of their willingness to reduce suffering. One can have empathy without compassion, meaning one can feel the suffering of another without doing anything. Often this can lead to what is incorrectly called “compassion fatigue”. But when people are asked to describe people who they think are compassionate people they do not say “they sat and thought in a compassionate way”. Instead they speak of compassion as having an action component. When people think of compassion heroes they think of people who acted in ways that showed compassion. How would we know if someone was compassionate unless there was action?

Theory of Compassion Development Page 2

The Basic Components of the Theory of Compassion Development

Compassion can be defined as having two basic parts; 1) hearing the suffering of another and 2) acting in some way to reduce that suffering. Using this definition the development of compassion can be simply represented using the following graph:

d

EMPATHY b c

a

WISDOM to ACT

Figure 1: Graph of Empathy versus Wisdom Showing a Few Compassion Phenomena

The vertical axis represents increasing empathy, or increasing the ability to hear suffering. The horizontal axis represents an increase in the wisdom to act for reducing suffering.

On the graph above there are four letters, a through d. These letters represent various points of compassion development. At point “a” the person has developed some empathy (some listening skills to hear suffering) and some wisdom (some ability to act to reduce suffering). At point “b” the person has more developed empathy and more developed wisdom. At point “c” the person has the same level of empathy development as at point “b” but has developed more wisdom (more experience in helping to reduce suffering). At point “d” the person has both advanced levels of empathy and advanced levels of wisdom. These four letters represent only the basic conceptual compassion phenomena.

These four letters represent only the basic possibilities of compassion development, and they mirror common sense. First a person could have low levels of empathy development and/or low levels of wisdom development. This would be a person who appears to lack the sensitivity to hear the needs of others except on the rare occasion. Second a person could have moderate levels of empathy development and moderate levels of wisdom development. Third a person could have moderate levels of empathy development and higher levels of wisdom development. This idea that wisdom in the practice of reducing suffering can develop while empathy development remains constant is important as it may be reflected in the working definitions of compassion spread across the human service profession, philanthropic organizations and religious communities. It is the work done in deeds without the accompanying work on connection through empathy. Finally, a person may develop both advanced empathy and advanced skills in helping people reduce their suffering. They demonstrate advanced compassion phenomena and have been the topic of this author’s research. These people are few, but they have quite a bit to show us about developing and strengthening compassion.

What this simple diagram illustrates is the common sense idea that within the broad population people share, and experience, the compassion space in different ways depending on their empathy and their wisdom.

Theory of Compassion Development Page 3

More Complex Components of the Theory of Compassion Development

Based on my earlier research on advanced levels of empathy, and other research done on the development of expertise (wisdom to act), the above graph can be shown as the following table:

Figure 2: Chart of Empathy versus Wisdom Including Possible Compassion Phenomena

Wisdom Empathy Pre-

Novice Novice Advanced

Beginner Competence Proficiency Expertise

Halopathy d Advanced Skilled x b c Subtle Basic a Instinctual z y

The points labeled “a” through “d” on the graph above are now shown in the table. These four points are meant to serve only as examples of the possible range of compassion phenomena.

It is possible that all 36 spaces in the above table could be represented by some portion of the way we define and experience compassion. Descriptive terms like gut feeling, sympathy, basic listening skills, altruism, helping/giving, strong (or courageous) compassion, cooperation, and radiant compassion could all be put on this table at different places. At this point there is not enough research available to develop a complete description of the range of compassion phenomena. But it is possible to speculate on a few possibilities that might make common sense. At point “x” the person has well developed empathy, very sensitive to hearing the suffering of others, but has little experience in helping people move from suffering into well being. This can lead to feeling quite helpless. Point “y” is nearly the opposite. The person has been practicing helping people (giving, doing) who are suffering, but has not developed empathy. This person does things, deeds that are aimed at reducing suffering – like sending money to a charity. Point “z” might represent someone we may have encountered in our lives. This is a person who has not developed their empathy much, nor their wisdom regarding helping others with suffering. This person has difficulty listening to others and lives mostly within a sphere of self concern. A diagram at the end of this paper extrapolates on these basic ideas, taking a daring leap in offering a possible presentation of how the range of compassion phenomena might fall within the empathy/wisdom axes.

What Does This Theory Mean for Defining the Term Compassion?

Basically this theory proposes that the term compassion represents a spectrum of phenomena experienced within the compassion space. Any proposed theory should predict observed phenomena in the real world. Some of the common sense examples given above suggest that this theory might be able to predict that people develop compassion in different ways and yet all use the word compassion to

Theory of Compassion Development Page 4

describe their efforts. The theory suggests that compassion is developed through both empathy and wisdom, but that people can develop along these two components at different rates. It is not likely that society will develop 36 different words to describe the various developmental forms compassion might assume, but using this theory it might be possible to look at a “portrait” of the most common compassion phenomena. This portrait is shown in a diagram at the end of this paper. Such a portrait might help us move more toward a culture of compassion by 1) helping us to better define the term compassion, 2) design better research, 3) pointing out a direction to take toward stronger compassion and 4) help with teaching others develop their compassion.

One of the most significant aspects of this theory is that each person, no matter where they are on the compassion phenomena diagram, has the potential to improve. But one immediately faces the problem of accepting the idea of compassion improvement, of accepting the idea that your definition, your understanding and your practice of compassion is framed by your current developmental progress. This is sort of a catch-22 because you can only understand compassion from your current developmental level and you can’t fully understand compassion that occurs at an advanced developmental level until you experience it. So your perspective on compassion is shaped by your definition of compassion which in turn shapes how you experience compassion. Yet having an open mind to the possibility of a broad range of compassion phenomena (also termed compassion readiness), will help prepare you for compassion growth.

Compassion is a relational phenomenon experienced within the compassion space, not simply a meditative mind set. Meditation is useful to compassion in many ways that are beyond the scope of this paper, but its practice should not be confused with the relational practice of genuine compassion. This idea of “relational phenomenon” means that we must exist in a relationship with ourselves, someone, or a community, with a combination of empathy and wisdom, to experience genuine compassion.

If you combine the key points of the Theory of Compassion Development with the concept that compassion is relational then it is through compassionate relationships, the compassion space that we can “pass it on”. We develop our awareness, definition and practice, of compassion through our experiences in the compassion space. It is by passing it on that we help others experience levels of compassion beyond their current compassion awareness – provided that circumstances are suitable for such to occur. Then they can pass what they have now learned on to others. But it is also important to help people to be ready to experience levels of compassion beyond their current awareness. This is where compassion discourse, giving compassion a strong voice, becomes important. These are three ways we can move toward a culture of compassion – 1) through discourse that prepares and supports, 2) through the sharing of direct experience within the compassion space and 3) helping people to remove the barriers to compassion readiness. These three paths are represented by three types of relationships (see http://compassionspace.com/Helping_Relationship_Tree_and_C.html) within the compassion space. Underlying the concept of the compassion space is a set of assumptions within a philosophy of compassion.

This theory supports the 7 basic assumptions of compassion proposed on www.CompassionSpace.com. This is a theory and not yet supported by empirical research (although there is other evidence given in

Theory of Compassion Development Page 5

this author’s writings as support). The assumptions are also not yet supported by empirical research, although bits and pieces of research are appearing. Yet both the theory and the assumptions point out directions research can take to help us expand our knowledge and discourse about compassion.

This paper does not address all the possible factors that could contribute to a person’s compassion readiness – or their openness to experiencing the compassion space at levels beyond their current level of knowledge. This includes a wide range of interacting dynamic factors ranging from culture to heredity, to family, training, compassion experiences, divine influence and personal experiences with suffering. How these all interact and relate to the development of compassion remains a topic for further discussion once the construct of compassion has been better defined. This is one of the central goals of this paper and other writings by this author – to more clearly define compassion and the range of developmental experiences people associate with the term. Once we have better clarified how we define compassion then we can move forward to examining the factors that influence its development and its practice. We can then move forward with greater wisdom toward a culture of compassion.

Figure 3: The Theory of Compassion Development – Spectrum of Phenomena

Any research that is done on what we call compassion needs to consider the seven assumptions of compassion and the developmental theory of compassion. These two can be thought of as the first

Theory of Compassion Development Page 6

steps toward a more complete construct definition, which is an important part of research validity – meaning if you have an incomplete definition of what you are researching then your compassion research could be flawed.

The first step is simply knowing that the definition of compassion needs to be improved from what is commonly published. The shift from not knowing to knowing is the first step toward better compassion research and a better understanding of compassion development. This shift needs to start with a deeper understanding of the construct we call compassion. What is proposed here is that the use of the term compassion covers a spectrum of phenomena that are used throughout society in how compassion is defined and practiced. This is the basic assumption of the Theory of Compassion Development and illustrated in Figures 3 and 4.

Figure 3 shows a diagram with increasing empathy on the vertical axis and increasing wisdom on the horizontal. It is proposed that compassion is the ability to hear (empathy) suffering (your own and others) and then to respond to empathy in some way that aims to reduce the suffering (wisdom). Before we can get into a discussion about any thoughtful research done on compassion (and by the way there really isn't that much done) we have to agree on what the term means (called construct definition). As a collective we have not yet reached consensus on the definition. This is the first theory postulate of the theory of compassion development: In our understanding and practice of compassion each of us falls somewhere within the spectrum of compassion phenomena. Our definition of compassion is shaped by the experiences we have within this spectrum.

There are some academic folks looking at both compassion and altruism from a sociobiological perspective. I have made some of this information available on the website www.CompassionSpace.com In summary it is proposed that compassion is a genuine positive human characteristic tied to the survival of the “tribe”, much in the same way that nurturing is. Compassion can also be practiced and developed (as can nurturing) beyond the level of instinct, and thus be of more benefit to the well-being of the collective. The obvious question then comes, “Are we acting for the benefit of the collective to serve our own needs?” Do we nurture our children because of selfish needs? Do we help those who are in distress because of our own needs? Or maybe compassion is a virtue that is not linked to selfish motives.

Consider the following: A young man is driving down the road and sees a car veer off and into a lake. He stops, and sees a woman trapped inside. The car is sinking. He gets out of his car, runs, dives into the water and rescues the woman. Consider also those people who acted a “rescuers” for Jews during WWII. Are these people acing from a place of self-centered gratification. The research on people who show compassion, altruism and heroism suggests that there is little or no thought of self during these acts. The man who rescued the woman for the car did not stop to think, “Is this in my best interest to do this?”

Empathy is simply the ability to hear the suffering of other with the intent to promote well being. Without that intent the listening becomes something else, like interviewing, manipulation or brainwashing. The majority of humans have at least a basic instinctual development of empathy, such

Theory of Compassion Development Page 7

as have a response to seeing an innocent person being tortured or hearing the cries of a child. Such a basic ability may have been necessary to the survival of “the tribe” and part of human heritage, but empathy can be seen as more than instinct. It is commons sense that some people seem to be more sensitive to the feelings of others. Empathy can be seen as having a broad developmental scope, as described in by book “The Healing Relationship” and expanded upon further in the two books “The Mystic Relationship” and “The Ultimate Relationship”. But empathy alone is not the same as compassion. Compassion includes a response to what is heard with empathy. The developmental range of this response can be considered to be governed by wisdom.

The concept of wisdom is one that can be applied within a domain. This follows along the theory of multiple intelligences and brain plasticity. It also is supported by the study of prodigies - who often show proficiency in a given domain (like music). Wisdom is, like many virtue constructs, open to interpretation, but in the case of the domain of compassion the term has specific applications. This is true whenever you apply the term wisdom to any domain. In this case the term wisdom is applied to the domain of compassion, or helping self and others with the relief of suffering.

Figure 4: Theory of Compassion Development -Speculative Location of Compassion Phenomena

Theory of Compassion Development Page 8

A Portrait of Various Compassion Phenomena

Figure 4 should be considered as a “work-in-progress”. A wide range of compassion related phenomena are represented on the diagram within a field of increasing empathy (ability to hear suffering) and increasing wisdom (a response to empathy exhibited as way to reduce suffering). At the lower left is gut feeling and it is assumed to be an instinctual level response accompanied by no action or limited action. Following along the axis of wisdom (or the path of action), with little increase in empathy, the next phenomena is cooperation, followed by helping or giving and then altruism. This proposes the somewhat commonsense idea that people can provide help, at various levels of expertise, without well developed empathy and still have the phenomena fall within the domain of compassion. Such developmental progression is similar to the scheme proposed by Denis Krebs and Frank van Hesteren (1992, cited in Samuel P. Oliner’s book “Do Unto Others”). This developmental path is also similar to some recent work done by Rapgay and Erdynast (paper sent to this author, Nov 19 2007 which is to be printed in the Journal of Adult Development). Next, following up the axis of empathy (from gut feeling), without an increase in wisdom is the phenomena of compassion fatigue followed by boundary issues. This proposes that if empathy is well developed without the wisdom to act then there are associated phenomena that fall within the realm of compassion – meaning that the person is feeling compassionate but doesn’t have any options for making a difference in the suffering. Finally, when BOTH empathy and wisdom are developed together, the sequence of phenomena proposed (moving out from gut feelings) are sympathy, developed compassion, strong compassion, and finally radiant compassion. This developmental path to radiant compassion phenomena, and teaching to promote such development, has been the main focus of this author’s research.

The area covered by the phenomena developed compassion is the largest of the diagram to represent the possible wide variation is how people define and understand developed compassion – from basic developed compassion, using basic listening skills, to more well developed compassion. One more compassion phenomenon has been added to the diagram – creating programs. This refers to those people with strong compassion who create new programs to help others, fighting through all the obstacles that are often present (like the work of Mother Theresa or Clara Barton).

The idea that compassion is a spectral phenomenon has been supported by the work of Erdynast, A. &

Rapgay, L. (2008) in their article “Developmental levels of conceptions of compassion in ethical decision-making of Western Buddhist practitioners” in the Journal of Adult Development. The authors stated that their research of 140 subjects supported the “view of compassion as ‘levels of conception’ rather than as a singular state” (from

their abstract). Preliminary results from our survey on how people define compassion also suggest that compassion should not be viewed as a singular state. This Theory of Compassion Development is offered as a model for discussion and is most definitely a work in progress. But it can be visualized as the foundation for all helping relationships. This is shown at the following link: http://www.compassionspace.com/HelpingRelationshipTree.html

Please feel free to post comments on the community forum. Let us all work together to advance compassion in the world.

"The sage does nothing but nothing is left undone" - Lao Tsu

3.HEALTH

In the past two years, we have witnessed a sea of change in the attitude of Americans toward cannabis. Colorado made history by becoming the first state to completely decriminalize possession and use of the plant, with Washington and other states soon following.

Medical cannabis use is now legal in 23 states, and others will soon be joining that list. Polls find that a solid majority of Americans support cannabis legalization, especially for medicinal use. The Free Thought Project has reported on many incredible ways that cannabis is being used to treat a variety of ailments. Its effectiveness at reducing or eliminating epileptic seizures is nothing short of amazing.

People are also realizing that the war on cannabis—and all drugs for that matter—is a war on people carried out by law enforcement to restrict freedom and to extort millions of dollars for victimless behavior. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) gains a sizable amount of revenue through cannabis seizures. The dried plant also provides ample opportunity for local law enforcement to carry out its favorite, most insidious form of extortion known as Civil Asset Forfeiture.

The good news is that these abuses of human rights are being exposed, and law enforcement is sounding ever more desperate as justification for their actions withers under the advance

of reason and logic. When cannabis is finally decriminalized everywhere, our evolution from the days of Reefer Madness will provide an entertaining yet tragic documentary.

The fight continues, and we must build on the momentum if we are to see it to completion. The arguments for legalization are many, and they are sound. But perhaps the entire narrative needs to be reconsidered as we make the final push.

Daniel Macris, owner of Halycon Organics, suggests that the very idea of “recreational use” is flawed, and actually hampers the progress toward legalization.

““Recreational cannabis use” is the most detrimental phrase our industry faces today. Over half the U.S. population supports “recreational use” of cannabis. Unfortunately, those whose don’t support recreational use, oppose it vitriolically. “Recreational cannabis” is exactly what the opposition is fighting to prevent. The flip side to this is that over 80% of Americans support medical cannabis use and over 85% support freedom in healthcare decisions. All of these statistics are trending upwards. In the South, “recreational cannabis use” is a non­starter and a debate that cannot be empirically won. On the other hand, “medical cannabis use” is a debate we win. And we don’t need to manipulate our messaging to change the debate, we need only to correctly identify ‘medicinal use.’” The basis for this argument lies in our increasing understanding of a part of human physiology known as the endocannabinoid system, which is turning out to be vital to many life­supporting processes.

In 2006, the National Institutes of Health reported

“The recent identification of cannabinoid receptors and their endogenous lipid ligands has triggered an exponential growth of studies exploring the endocannabinoid system and its regulatory functions in health and disease… In the past decade, the endocannabinoid system has been implicated in a growing number of physiological functions, both in the central and peripheral nervous systems and in peripheral organs. More importantly,

modulating the activity of the endocannabinoid system turned out to hold therapeutic promise in a wide range of disparate diseases and pathological conditions, ranging from mood and anxiety disorders, movement disorders such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease, neuropathic pain, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury, to cancer, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, stroke, hypertension, glaucoma, obesity/metabolic syndrome, and osteoporosis, to name just a few.” We have seen an explosion of studies looking at the medicinal use of cannabis and its extracts, and they center on “modulating the activity of the endocannabinoid system” as described above. With modern technology, we are discovering the mechanics of something known to the ancients—cannabis is a medicine. People have used it this way for thousands of years.

We can now extract even non­psychoactive components of cannabis, such as cannabidiol, to successfully treat debilitating conditions such as epileptic seizures. We can find out which phytocannabinoids are the most beneficial to specific diseases, and figure out exactly how much of the extract is needed for best results.

Scientific knowledge will validate what many cannabis users already know—the plant can provide relief from certain ailments and stimulate some of the best human qualities such as creativity and empathy.

Macris has interviewed several people and found they use cannabis for conditions that would otherwise be treated with pharmaceutical drugs in the current paradigm.

“It makes me relax,” “It helps me sleep,” “It calms me down,” “It helps me think,” “It helps my stomach calm down,” and it “It helps me talk to people,” are some of the ways people have said cannabis helps them.

All of these conditions—anxiety, sleep disorder, ADHD, inflamed bowels, and social anxiety—are targeted by pharmaceutical companies that vigorously advertise their manufactured pills with government complicity.

“Recreational cannabis users are using cannabis for medical purposes, they just don’t realize it,” says Macris. When someone says they are a “recreational user,” they should consider saying “therapeutic user.” This will be far more effective in the push to completely decriminalize cannabis, as “recreational” implies that it can be abused on the level of alcohol or other drugs.

Government may insist on keeping the distinction, as they can tax “recreational” use much more than medical use.

In any case, we can garner much more support from fellow citizens when legalization efforts are rightfully carried under the banner of medical use.

4.POLITICS

Greed, fraud, dishonesty, and arrogance: these are the words that best describe the reality of Wall Street today. We can no longer tolerate an economy and a political system that have been rigged by Wall Street to benefit the wealthiest Americans in this country at the expense of everyone else. While President Obama deserves credit for getting this economy back on track after the Wall Street crash, the reality is there is a lot of unfinished business.

That's why I announced my plan for taking on Wall Street. We must break up the banks, end their casino­style gambling, and fundamentally change the approach of the financial industry to focus on helping the American people. When I am president, we will reform Wall Street and our financial system to make it work for all Americans. I want to tell you about what I will do, then ask you to add your name to endorse our plan. To those on Wall Street, let me be very clear. Greed is not good. In fact, the greed of Wall Street and corporate America is destroying the fabric of our nation. And here is a promise I will make as president: If Wall Street does not end its greed, we will end it for them. As most people know, in the 1990s and later, financial interests spent billions of dollars in lobbying and campaign contributions to force through Congress the deregulation of Wall Street, the repeal of the Glass­Steagall Act, and the weakening of consumer protection laws. They paid this money to show the American people all that they could do with that freedom. Well, they sure showed the American people. In 2008, the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street nearly destroyed the U.S. and global economy. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes, and their life savings. Meanwhile, the American middle class continues to disappear, poverty is increasing, and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider by the day. But the American people are catching on. They also know that a handful of people on Wall Street have extraordinary power over the economic and political life of our country. We must act now to change that. Our goal must be to create a financial system and an economy that works for all Americans, not just a handful of billionaires. There are eight points to my plan, and I want to go through each of them here because I think it's important for our campaign to discuss specific policies with our supporters. Some of this may seem a little in the weeds, but I trust our supporters to be able to handle this kind of policy discussion. Here's my plan for what I will do with Wall Street when I am president: Break up huge financial institutions in the first year of my administration. Within the first 100 days of my administration, I will require the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a “Too Big to Fail” list of commercial banks, shadow banks, and insurance companies whose failure would pose a catastrophic risk to the U.S. economy without a taxpayer

bailout. Within one year, my administration will break these institutions up so that they no longer pose a grave threat to the economy. Reinstate a 21st Century Glass­Steagall Act to clearly separate traditional banking from risky investment banking and insurance services. It is not enough to tell Wall Street to "cut it out," propose a few new rules and slap on some fines. Under my administration, financial institutions will no longer be too big to fail or too big to manage. Wall Street cannot continue to be an island unto itself, gambling trillions in risky financial instruments. If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. End too­big­to­jail. We live in a country today that has an economy that is rigged, a campaign finance system which is corrupt, and a criminal justice system which often does not dispense justice. The average American sees kids being arrested and sometimes even jailed for possessing marijuana. But when it comes to Wall Street executives — some of the most wealthy and powerful people in this country whose illegal behavior hurt millions of Americans — somehow nothing happens to them. No jail time. No police record. No justice. Not one major Wall Street executive has been prosecuted for causing the near collapse of our entire economy. That will change under my administration. “Equal Justice Under Law” will not just be words engraved on the entrance of the Supreme Court. It will be the standard that applies to Wall Street and all Americans. Establish a tax on Wall Street to discourage reckless gambling and encourage productive investments in the job­creating economy. We will use the revenue from this tax to make public colleges and universities tuition free. During the financial crisis, the middle class of this country bailed out Wall Street. Now, it’s Wall Street’s turn to help the middle class. Cap Credit Card Interest Rates and ATM Fees. We have got to stop financial institutions from ripping off the American people by charging sky­high interest rates and outrageous fees. In my view, it is unacceptable that Americans are paying a $4 or $5 fee each time they go to the ATM. And it is unacceptable that millions of Americans are paying credit card interest rates of 20 or 30 percent. The Bible has a term for this practice. It's called usury. And in The Divine Comedy, Dante reserved a special place in the Seventh Circle of Hell for sinners who charged people usurious interest rates. Today, we don't need the hellfire and the pitchforks, we don't need the rivers of boiling blood, but we do need a national usury law. We need to cap interest rates on credit cards and consumer loans at 15 percent. I would also cap ATM fees at $2.

Allow Post Offices to Offer Banking Services. We also need to give Americans affordable banking options. The reality is that, unbelievably, millions of low­income Americans live in communities where there are no normal banking services. Today, if you live in a low­income community and you need to cash a check or get a loan to pay for a car repair or a medical emergency, where do you go? You go to a payday lender who could charge an interest rate of over 300 percent and trap you into a vicious cycle of debt. That is unacceptable. We need to stop payday lenders from ripping off millions of Americans. Post offices exist in almost every community in our country. One important way to provide decent banking opportunities for low­income communities is to allow the U.S. Postal Service to engage in basic banking services, and that's what I will fight for. Reform Credit Rating Agencies. We cannot have a safe and sound financial system if we cannot trust the credit agencies to accurately rate financial products. The only way we can restore that trust is to make sure credit rating agencies cannot make a profit from Wall Street. Under my administration, we will turn for­profit credit rating agencies into non­profit institutions, independent from Wall Street. No longer will Wall Street be able to pick and choose which credit agency will rate their products. Reform the Federal Reserve. We need to structurally reform the Federal Reserve to make it a more democratic institution responsive to the needs of ordinary Americans, not just the billionaires on Wall Street. It is unacceptable that the Federal Reserve has been hijacked by the very bankers it is in charge of regulating. When Wall Street was on the verge of collapse, the Federal Reserve acted with a fierce sense of urgency to save the financial system. We need the Fed to act with the same boldness to combat the unemployment crisis and fulfill its full employment mandate. So my message to you is straightforward: I’ll rein in Wall Street's reckless behavior so they can’t crash our economy again. Will Wall Street like me? No. Will they begin to play by the rules if I’m president? You better believe it. That is our plan to create an economy that works for all Americans, not just a handful of billionaires. If you agree with what we want to do, add your name to say that you stand with me. No president alone, not Bernie Sanders or anyone else, can effectively address the crises facing the working families of this country without a powerful grassroots movement. When we stand together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

Thank you for standing with me. In solidarity, Bernie Sanders

5.MONEY

Almost every week some reader asks me to write about Bitcoin, currently the most popular so­called crypto currency and the first one to possibly reach something like critical mass. I’ve come close to writing those columns, but just can’t get excited enough. So this week when yet another reader asked, it made sense to explain my nervousness. Bitcoin is clever, interesting, brilliant even, but I find it too troubling to support.

But first, why should you believe me? You shouldn’t. Though I’m year after year identified by the Kauffman Foundation as one of the top 50 economics bloggers in America, that only means I get to hang out occasionally with the real experts, eating Kansas City barbecue. Unlike them I’m not an economist, I just play one on TV. So don’t take my word for anything here: just think about the arguments I present and whether they make sense to you.

For those who don’t follow Bitcoin, it is both an electronic payment system and a currency invented by someone somewhere (nobody really knows who — the inventor uses a pseudonym that makes some folks think he/she is Japanese but again nobody really knows). Bitcoin’s design purposefully keeps control out of the hands of central banks and governments, avoiding the threats of shutdown and confiscation.

Creating new Bitcoins can only happen once data miners have solved an algorithm called SHA256. It’s simply “here are some bytes, find a SHA256 hash of this byte array that is less than this tiny number. To make it more difficult, we progressively make the tiny number, tinier.” There can be only 21 million Bitcoins

ever found or mined, though once found ,Bitcoins can be divided into 10^8 small subparts called shitoshis which are what’s actually used for buying things.

Bitcoins are not backed by any underlying commodity or government. There’s no full faith and credit clause behind them, but on the other hand Bitcoins are inflation­resistant because of constrained supply and can’t easily be counterfeited, either.

What makes Bitcoins have value is our assigning value to them. If I sell my house for a Bitcoin that doesn’t make a Bitcoin worth as much as my house but it creates a plausible value that can be confirmed if I can in turn use the Bitcoin to buy something else of equal or greater value to my house. And that’s the direction this currency seems to be heading, because it isbeing accepted some places for commerce.

If accepting Bitcoins for payment makes no sense think of those people who start with something mundane then trade and trade and trade until they have turned a paperclip into a house. This is no different.

Much of the attraction of Bitcoins comes from the efficiency with which they can be traded (by e­mail, even anonymously with no postage, taxes, or other fees attached) and their resistance to government meddling. Bitcoins are the bearer bonds of cyber currencies.

All this is good we’re told. Bitcoins are in some ways analogous to gold, which is also seen as having enduring intrinsic value.

So why then do I have doubts? I’ll lay out a bunch of reasons here in no particular order.

1) Bitcoins consistently cost more to generate, find or mine, than they fetch on the open market. People way smarter than me have figured this out and you can see their analysis here(it’s for Litecoins, not Bitcoins, but the same forces are at work). So maybe Bitcoins are analogous to gold, but gold that’s worth less than the cost of production.

This is further confirmed by the robust cottage industry in Bitcoin mining hardware. Mining Bitcoins means running millions of calculations until one of a finite number of successful answers is found. These calculations were first done on CPUs then GPUs then FPGAs and now ASICs. For under $200 you can buy a screaming little Bitcoin mining machine but it won’t earn you $200 in Bitcoins unless they dramatically increase in value down the road. This happens from time to time (the increase in value) but it still doesn’t make sense to build when you can buy for less. So Bitcoins as a production commodity make no sense.

You have to ask yourself why people would sell Bitcoin generators? Why don’t they just use the generators themselves to find more Bitcoins? Because it consistently costs more than a dollar to mine a dollar’s worth of Bitcoins, that’s why and the comparison to gold falls apart.

This is a familiar story with mining. Remember during the California Gold Rush the great fortunes made were those of Crocker (a banker, not a miner) and Stanford (a storekeeper and again not a miner). The only great American fortune ever based on gold mining, in fact, was that of William Randolph Hearst, whose father started the Homestake Mining Company that endures today. Notice, however, that Hearst (the son) wisely decided to diversify his fortune into media and starting small wars.

2) Bitcoins, while possibly uncrackable are definitely not unhackable. Mining Bitcoins requires the validation of 90 other random miners before your Bitcoins are judged real and assignable, but what’s to keep me from owning 90+ Bitcoin mining accounts and gaming the system? Admittedly it’s not that easy: In practical terms I’d need a majority of the world’s mining nodes to make that scam stick and in a rapidly growing market that kind of concentration is difficult to achieve. But it can be done — especially if nation­states are involved. What if China or Russia or the NSA threw its financial and computing power into BitCoin hacking — how long would it take them to accumulate more than 50 percent of all mining nodes? What if Amazon Web Services simply assigned all unoccupied EC2 cores to this task? This is plausible enough that I think we have to expect it will be at least tried.

The Bitcoin hack, then, isn’t cornering the market in a classic sense but cornering enough nodes to control the voting.

3) Bitcoin, as the first crypto­currency, is the one that will be tested in court. Simply outlawing Bitcoins in one country won’t have that much effect on the concept, but given there are other crypto­currencies around, it might hurt Bitcoin, itself. I’d assign the tactical advantage to Litecoins, which are cheaper than Bitcoins and may be able to leverage its second­mover advantage and take the day. Google didn’t invent the search engine nor did Microsoft invent the spreadsheet, remember.

The Winklevoss brothers, who reportedly own one percent of all Bitcoins, should be concerned about being too concentrated in the currency.

4) But my biggest concern about Bitcoin stems from what’s otherwise seen as the currency’s greatest strength — its rational foundation and apparent immunity from government meddling. To hear Libertarians talk about it, the success of Bitcoin will free us forever from the IRS, Treasury Department, and the Federal Reserve. Bitcoin, as a currency without an associated bureaucracy, is immune to political meddling so no stupid government monetary programs that backfire or don’t work are possible. Bitcoin supposedly protects us from ourselves.

That’s fine as far as it goes, but the Bitcoin algorithm has left no place for compassion, either. Governments and treasuries in times of crisis sometimes make decisions that appear to go against the interests of the state . We saw many of those around 2008 — admittedly heroic measures taken primarily to fix dumb­ass mistakes. Bitcoin, for all its digital purity, makes such policies impossible to implement, taking away our policy safety net.

Maybe that’s actually a good thing, but I for one am not yet willing to bet on it.

6.MOTORING

Body: Verde Mantis Colour, Coupe

Fuel type: 98 Petrol

Engine size: 5204 cc

Transmission: Automatic

Transmission Details: 7 Speed Auto Seats: 2

4 Layer Paint, 20 Inch Forged Rims, Black Brake Callipers, Carbon Ceramic Brakes with ABS, ESP, Exterior Styling Package, Transparent Engine Bonnet, Tyre Pressure Monitor, Dynamic Steering System, Nose Lift, Anti­Theft Alarm, Paddle Shift Gearbox, Magneto­Rheological Suspension, Leather Interior with Contrast Stitching, Interior Branding Package, Bluetooth and iPod Connectivity, Front and Rear Parking Sensors, Reverse Camera, Navigation, Leather Multifunction Steering Wheel, Electric Heated Seats. The Huracan is the latest model in the Lamborghini range, fresh from the factory in Bologna. Powered by a 5.2 litre normally aspirated V10 engine, the car produces 610bhp and 560 Nm of torque delivered through a 7­Speed Dual Clutch Gearbox. Together they take the Huracan to 100kph in a brisk 3.2 seconds. With three driving modes the Huracan offers an immersive and incredibly flexible on­road experience that is unrivalled in this segment. Switching through them alters the suspension, steering, throttle and note of the car. Whatever your mood, there is no denying that driving the LP610­4 is a special experience. This car is highly optioned in stunning Verde Mantis exterior and black leather interior. Full warranty applies.

WHAT NOW? Are you ready to help out? Please contact Paul Hickman

paul@creativeaccounting.co.nz +64 (0) 21 033 2510