Archive for February, 2018

23 Businesses Selling CBC Products Closed Down in Tennessee in Candy Crush Raids

CBD supporters question Operation Candy Crush raids

By Larry Flowers
Published: February 13, 2018

http://wkrn.com/2018/02/13/cbd-supporters-question-operation-candy-crush/

RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) – The Tennessee Hemp Industries Association is speaking out against Rutherford County for closing 23 businesses for selling CBD products.

The nonprofit says the DA and law enforcement could be misinformed.

Tennessee Hemp Industries Association President Joe Fitzpatrick believes they do not quite understand the difference between CBD derived from Hemp plants and THC from marijuana.

“I think the most important distinction to make is what product is derived from industrial hemp and what products are derived from marijuana because if they are derived from industrial hemp Governor Haslam signed the bill and it had unanimous support in both chambers of the state legislature to make any product derived from industrial hemp legal for ingestable or topical use. And marijuana products are simply not legal,” Kirkpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick said he’s been in communication with an attorney for one of the manufacturers of CBD products, who says they can prove their product is made from the Hemp plant.

“The attorney for the manufacturer is claiming that the product, that they can prove a chain of custody that will show the products that were seized in these apparently legal businesses were padlocked were carrying a product that is derived from industrial hemp making it fully and completely legal and safe,” he said.

Rutherford county lawmen from Smyrna, La Verne and Murfreesboro raided 23 business in the county Monday.

Undercover officers purchased CBD based oils and gummies laced with cannabidoil.

“The TBI has certified it as containing a Schedule VI controlled substance,” Rutherford County District Attorney General Jennings Jones said.

News 2 was able to obtain several copies of the judge’s petition which allowed the businesses to be padlocked.

Included is an official forensic chemistry report, that determined four of the products tested from Cloud 9 Hemi contained Cannabidiol, and listed it as a Schedule VI drug, but doesn’t give the amount contained.

Another TBI forensic report tested Gummy frogs which apparently contained Cannabidiol but the analysis couldn’t determine what schedule drug it contained.

An officer still wrote in a petition that the business Enchanted Planet offered edible CBD gummies that is a Schedule VI controlled substance.

“Our Forensic Scientists’ jobs are to objectively identify compounds that are present in evidence submitted to our lab and report out the schedule as indicated in the Tennessee Code Annotated,” said TBI spokesperson Josh Devine. “We make no determination as to the legality of these compounds. Instead, the District Attorney General determines whether the law has been broken, based upon the circumstances of each case.”

“Industrial Hemp is any cannabis product that has less than .3 of one percent which is a microscopic level of THC,” Kirkpatrick said.

“CBD keeps me seizure free, and the other side, shame on you Rutherford County,” CBD product user John Horton read from a homemade sign he was carrying.

Horton let his frustration be known, by walking around the historic Rutherford County Courthouse showing his disappointment in authorities for closing the businesses.

He suffers from seizures, but for the past two years he said he’s been seizure free since he started using CBD products.

“It’s been a life saver, I’m able to drive again, wasn’t able to drive because of the seizures so CBD has saved my life so I’m able to work and live like a normal person,” Horton said.

Since CBD products are also sold in Davidson County, News 2 reached out to District Attorney General Glenn Funk’s office, “Our office is aware of the Rutherford County CBD product sales,” said Chief of Staff Dorinda Carter. “We are monitoring the situation but we cannot comment on any possible investigation in our jurisdiction.”

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For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/09/28/cbd-for-pain/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/19/november-madison-lyme-support-group-meeting/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/11/14/hemp-oil-presentation/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Hemp Oil, Herbs

Killer Green The Musical – Coming Up March 3 & 4

Ava KG

Show Description:  Killer Green follows the lives of two pivotal couples in different stages of life as the two lead female character battle a widely ignored chronic illness.  Based on biographical accounts, this musical attempts to uncover the dark truth behind how Lyme Disease affects its victims, educate viewers on the reality of these stories, and expose the widespread ignorance of the medical community.

This show was graciously funded by The Wisconsin Lyme Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness for this cause.  https://wisconsinlymenetwork.org/

Warning:  Killer Green depicts suicide, depression, and topics that viewers might find disturbing but Lyme patients struggle with daily.

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Written, choreographed, and directed by Audra Cashman, a student graduating in Musical Theater at Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee for her Senior Honors Project.
Ms. Cashman’s parents both have Tick borne illness and her mother heads a local support group for patients. Killer Green draws upon personal experience and the experiences of many local Wisconsin patients.

See you there and wear your green!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Psychological Aspects

Bb in Small Kentucky Mammals

Borrelia burgdorferi in small mammal reservoirs in Kentucky, a traditionally non-endemic state for Lyme disease

Buchholz MJ, Davis C, Rowland NS, Dick CW.
Parasitology Research, online first 2018 Feb 7.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-5794-xhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-5794-x

Abstract

The incidence of tick-borne zoonoses such as Lyme disease has steadily increased in the southeastern United States. Southeastern states accounted for 1500 of over 28,000 confirmed cases of Lyme disease reported in the United States during 2015. Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, is maintained in small mammal reservoirs and vectored to new hosts by ixodid ticks.

This study examined ecological relationships of the B. burgdorferi/vector/reservoir system in order to understand the dynamics of Lyme disease risk in Kentucky. Small mammals were captured using live traps from November 2014 to October 2015. Ticks were removed and blood and tissue collected from small mammals were screened for B. burgdorferi DNA by PCR with primers specific to the OspA gene.

Prevalence of B. burgdorferi (21.8%) in Kentucky small mammals was comparable to the lowest recorded prevalence in regions where Lyme disease is endemic. Moreover, infestation of small mammals by Ixodes scapularis, the primary vector of B. burgdorferi, was rare, while Dermacentor variabilis comprised the majority of ticks collected.

These findings provide ecological insight into the relative paucity of Lyme disease in Kentucky.

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**Comment**

The conclusion of this study is all wrong.  Bb was found Kentucky mammals.  That in itself is important.  Also, the fact the preponderance of ticks were dermacentor variabilis (wood tick or American dog tick) which supposedly has not been proven to be a competent vector of Bb as supposedly it doesn’t efficiently pass Bb from inside the tick to humans or other hosts), it does transmit Tularemia and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

BTW:  these transmission studies given as references for this fact were done from 1997-2006.  It’s now 2018.  http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/wisconsin-ticks/wisconsin-ticks/dermacentor-variabilis/  Notice it states, “It doesn’t efficiently pass Bb.”  What if it passes it inefficiently?  It still passes!

Regardless of whether the wood tick can transmit Bb or not, they do transmit pathogens.  The fact that nearly 22% of small Kentucky mammals have Bb due to the black legged deer tick and most of the ticks they picked up were wood ticks, those deer ticks were particularly infected.

Hear ye, hear ye, the South has Lyme.

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/06/remembering-dr-masters-the-rebel-for-lyme-patients-who-took-on-the-cdc-single-handedly/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/09/24/arkansas-kids-denied-lyme-treatment/  According to Dr. Naveen Patil, Director of the Infectious Disease Program, ADH,

“We don’t have Lyme Disease in Arkansas, we have the ticks that transmit Lyme Disease but we don’t have any recorded cases of Lyme Disease.”

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/03/02/hold-the-press-arkansas-has-lyme/  A news report emphasizing the CDC’s belief Arkansas is a “low incident” state in regards to Lyme Disease, is countered by the Arkansas Lyme Foundation that claims at least 150 cases, and they just started counting. http://www.thv11.com/news/local/arkansas-lyme-foundation-claims-over-150-lyme-disease-cases-in-state/414489522 (Video here)

“People are dying and I’m not exaggerating, people are calling us every week in desperate situations,” said Sikes.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/24/no-lyme-in-oklahoma-yeah-right/  Last summer, a friend who lives in Oklahoma found a classic bullseye rash on her seven-year-old daughter.

“That’s a spider bite,” a local pediatrician told her. “We don’t have Lyme in Oklahoma.”

The doctor was wrong. Had my friend taken his advice, her daughter would not have been diagnosed in a timely fashion and she would likely have developed symptoms over the next few months or years. She probably would have become severely debilitated, and the infections might have crossed the blood-brain barrier and become chronic.

Get the picture yet?  Lyme/MSIDS is everywhere.

Quit saying it’s rare!

Category:

Lyme, research, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ticks, Transmission, Tularemia

Borrelia Miyamotoi in CA: Serodiagnosis is Complicated by Multiple Endemic Borrelia Species

Human Borrelia miyamotoi infection in California: Serodiagnosis is complicated by multiple endemic Borrelia species

Krause PJ, Carroll M, Fedorova N, Brancato J, Dumouchel C, Akosa F, Narasimhan S, Fikrig E, Lane RS.
PLoS One. 2018 Feb 8;13(2):e0191725. eCollection 2018.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191725

Abstract

To determine whether human Borrelia miyamotoi infection occurs in the far-western United States, we tested archived sera from northwestern California residents for antibodies to this emerging relapsing fever spirochete. These residents frequently were exposed to I. pacificus ticks in a region where B. miyamotoi tick infection has been reported.

We used a two-step B. miyamotoi rGlpQ assay and a B. miyamotoi whole-cell lysate (WCL) assay to detect B. miyamotoi antibody. We also employed Borrelia hermsii and Borrelia burgdorferi WCL assays to examine if these Borrelia induce cross reacting antibody to B. miyamotoi. Sera were collected from 101 residents in each of two consecutive years.

The sera of 12 and 14 residents in years one and two, respectively, were B. miyamotoirGlpQ seroreactive. Sufficient sera were available to test 15 of the 26 seropositive samples using B. miyamotoi and B. hermsii WCL assays. Two residents in year one and seven residents in year two were seroreactive to both Borrelia antigens.

Although discernible differences in seroreactivity were evident between the B. miyamotoi and B. hermsii WCL assays, infection with one or the other could not be determined with certainty. Sera from two Borrelia burgdorferi /B. miyamotoi seropositive subjects reacted strongly against B. miyamotoi and B. hermsii WCL antigens. Ecological, epidemiological, and clinical data implicated B. miyamotoi as the probable cause of infection among those whose sera reacted against both antigens.

Our findings suggest that human B. miyamotoi infection occurs in northern California and that B. hermsii and B. burgdorferi infections produce antibodies that cross-react with B. miyamotoi antigens. Health care professionals in the far-western United States should be aware that B. miyamotoi disease may occur throughout the geographic distribution of I.pacificus and that improved relapsing fever group spirochete antibody assays are urgently needed.

 

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**Comment**

This study points out one the biggest reasons we are in this quagmire:  poor testing and cross reactivity of antigens.  Remember, testing for miyamotoi is new so folks could have been infected with this pathogen for a long time and it flew under the radar. They got tested for borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme) with a test that misses over half of all cases, and are sent home and told, “Go home and be well.”  

There very probably are other strains and pathogens we don’t have testing for yet.

It also demonstrates Tick borne illness is everywhere, despite Speilman’s maps:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/01/19/how-ticks-find-you/  (Scroll down to comment section after article)

 

 

 

Category:

Borrelia Miyamotoi (Relapsing Fever Group), Lyme, research, Testing, Ticks

Third TBD Meeting – Mostly Procedural

https://www.lymedisease.org/tbdwg-third-meeting/

Third meeting of TBD Working Group was mostly procedural

The third meeting of the federal Tick-Borne Disease Working Group was held February 12. This was a virtual meeting–an online webinar that the public could participate in.

Most of the session dealt with procedural items–how the various subcommittees would meet (by phone), how often (variable) and what their work product would be (reports to the whole committee).

There were a few people who made public comments. (Pre-registration was necessary, and eight people were selected.)

For Tweets of the proceedings go to blue link above.

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**Comment**

I was thrilled to see Dr. Michael Farris (JD) at the meeting for a number of reasons.  He recently stepped down from ParentalRights.org, an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of parents regarding their children.  Prior to that he was Founder and current chairman of Home School Legal Defense Association, an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of parents in their choice of home schooling.  He is also the founding president and Chancellor of Patrick Henry College in Virginia, teaching Constitutional Law and coaching the PHC Moot Court Team which won the national ACMA championships in 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2010 and defeated Oxford before two of he highest judges in Britain and in a repeat match before the Supreme Court of Virginia.  He is the founding pastor for Blue Ridge Bible church.

Farris chaired the Governor’s Lyme Disease Task Force in VA and organized public hearings.

He and his wife have ten children, seven of which have Lyme.

For more on the Parental Rights Amendment:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/04/20/why-we-need-the-parental-rights-amendment/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/02/21/parental-rights-in-medical-settings/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/10/refusal-to-vaccinate-child-gets-mom-jail-time-a-deeper-analysis/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/12/parental-rights-come-from-the-state-says-law-professor-james-dwyer/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/11/17/parental-rights-amendment-introduced-in-u-s-house/

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme