420 Hemp Shop is a retail store located on the Sunshine Coast at the heart of Sechelt British Columbia. Since it officially opened on April 20, 2002 it has established itself as a responsible and conscientious member of our business community. We also maintain an open and honest presence for Cannabis on the Sunshine Coast by providing a friendly atmosphere, access to resources, answers to questions, knowledgeable staff and quality products.

Our mission is to promote cannabis
as a versatile and sustainable resource,
capable of providing for our most basic needs
while addressing our planet's most pressing issues.

Hemp & Marijuana Links

A Quick Guide to Hemp
an introduction to the many uses of hemp

The Emperor Wears no Clothes
the extensive and well-researched full text of the book that helped start the modern hemp revolution, in print since 1985

Environmental Benefits of Hemp
a summary of the many environmental benefits of hemp from McGill University, including agricultural factors such as how hemp benefits the soil

Industrial Hemp - an alternative to our problems?
an excellent article on the uses of hemp from a British progressive business magazine

North American Industrial Hemp Council
information about industrial hemp from an agricultural association

Basic Uses of Industrial Hemp: Food, Fuel, Fiber
description of the basic uses of hemp from a hemp trade association

Medical Marijuana Links

Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine
http://www.rxmarihuana.com
The companion site to a book about medical marijuana written by two Harvard Medical School professors, including excerpts, articles by the authors, and an extensive collection of anecdotal evidence written by patients.

Medical Marijuana Testimonials
http://www.medical-marijuana
-testimonials.org
Research summaries and patient testimonials on medical marijuana for a variety of conditions.

Hot Topics: Marijuana as Medicine
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
science/hottopics/
cannabis/medical.shtml
A page from a resource guide on Cannabis from the BBC's Science and Technology website.

Marijuana as Medicine: Consider the Pros and Cons
http://www.mayoclinic.com/
health/medical-marijuana/
GA00014
An article from the Mayo Clinic about medical marijuana.

Waiting to Inhale
http://www.waitingtoinhale.org
Website for a documentary about medical marijuana, including scientific references and an online video preview of the film.

MedicalMarijuanaProCon.org
http://www.medicalmar
ijuanaprocon.org
A listing of the pro and con arguments for the use of medical marijuana with further information on both sides of the debate.

The Emperor Wears no Clothes
http://www.jackherer.com/
chapters.html
The extensive and well-researched full text of a book on hemp and marijuana, including chapters on
The Body of Medical Literature
on Cannabis Medicine
and The Therapeutic Use
of Cannabis.

Antique Cannabis Book
http://antiquecannabisbook.com
History of the use of cannabis as medicine, including images of antique bottles of cannabis medicines.

Health Canada: Medical Uses of Marihuana
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/
dhp-mps/marihuana/
index_e.html
More information about current Canadian government medical marijuana regulations.

Medical Use of Cannabis and Cannabinoids: Review of the Evidence
http://www.parliament.the-
stationery-office.co.uk/pa/
ld199798/ldselect/ldsctech/
151/15106.htm
A report from the British Parliament on medical marijuana and marijuana derivatives.

British Medical Association: Therapeutic Uses of Cannabis
http://www.bma.org.uk/
ap.nsf/Content/
Therapeuticcannabis
The BMA's official report on cannabis which states, "The report underpins the policy of the BMA that certain additional cannabinoids should be legalised for wider medicinal use. It sets the research agenda and identifies the legal steps that need to be taken before new treatments can be developed."

American Medical Association: Medical Marijuana
http://www.ama-assn.org/
ama/pub/category/13625.html
The AMA's official report on medical marijuana which states, "The AMA calls for further adequate and well-controlled studies of marijuana and related cannabinoids in patients who have serious conditions for which preclinical, anecdotal, or controlled evidence suggests possible efficacy and the application of such results to the understanding and treatment of disease."

National Institutes of Health: Workshop on the Medical Utility of Marijuana
http://www.nih.gov/news/
medmarijuana/
MedicalMarijuana.htm
A workshop put together by the American NIH that concluded that marijuana therapy was good for many conditions but bad for the lungs recommending "the development of insufflation/inhalation devices or dosage forms capable of delivering purer THC or cannabinoids to the lungs free of dangerous combustion byproducts."

World Health Organisation: Cannabis: A Health Perspective and Research Agenda
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/
hq/1997/
WHO_MSA_PSA_97.4.pdf
A WHO report that concludes, "There is a clear need for both epidemiological and applied research on cannabis and its derivatives. There are important gaps in knowledge about the health consequences of cannabis use which need to be addressed by well-controlled studies."

Citations from Scientific Journals

The Therapeutic Potential of Cannabis
Lancet Neurology. 2003 May;2(5):291-8.
http://www.waitingtoinhale.org/
science_news/
cannabis_therapeutic.pdf
An examination of the therapeutic properties of marijuana which states, "even if the results of these studies are not as positive as many expect them to be, that we are only just beginning to appreciate the huge therapeutic potential of this family of compounds is clear."

Cannabis in Painful HIV-associated Sensory Neuropathy: a Randomized Placebo-controlled Trial
Neurology. 2007 Feb 13;68(7):515-21.
http://www.neurology.org/
cgi/content/abstract/
68/7/515
A study of smoked marijuana in HIV patients that concluded, "smoked cannabis was well tolerated and effectively relieved chronic neuropathic pain from HIV-associated sensory neuropathy."

Preliminary Assessment of the Efficacy, Tolerability and Safety of a Cannabis-based medicine (Sativex) in the treatment of pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatology (Oxford). 2006 Jan;45(1):50-2. Epub 2005 Nov 9.
http://rheumatology.
oxfordjournals.org/
cgi/content/abstract/45/1/50
A study that tested the effects of a cannabis-based medicine on arthritis which concluded that, "disease activity was significantly suppressed following Sativex treatment."

Cannabinoids: Potential Anticancer Agents
Nature Reviews, Cancer. 2003 Oct;3(10):745-55.
http://americanmarijuana.org/
Guzman-Cancer.pdf
The full text of a review article about the use and research of marijuana in cancer treatment which concludes, "cannabinoids exert palliative effects in patients with cancer and inhibit tumour growth in laboratory animals."

Anti-tumoral Action of Cannabinoids: Involvement of Sustained Ceramide Accumulation and Extracellular Signal-regulated Kinase Activation
Nature Medicine. 2000 Mar;6(3):255-6.
http://www.nature.com/nm/
journal/v6/n3/abs/
nm0300_313.html
A study that showed cancerous tumors in animal studies were reduced in size with cannabinoid treatment.

Randomized, Controlled Trial of Cannabis-based Medicine in Central Pain in Multiple Sclerosis
Neurology. 2005 Sep 27;65(6):812-9.
http://www.neurology.org/
cgi/content/abstract/65/6/812
A study on marijuana and Multiple Sclerosis which states, "cannabis-based medicine is effective in reducing pain and sleep disturbance in patients with multiple sclerosis related central neuropathic pain and is mostly well tolerated."

Cannabinoid Pharmacology: The First 66 Years
British Journal of Pharmacology. 2006 Jan;147 Suppl 1:S163-71.
http://www.nature.com/bjp/
journal/v147/n1s/
full/0706406a.html
The full text (with linked references) of a review article on the history of medical marijuana research that outlines scientific discoveries about the plant and offers suggestions on areas for further research.