Mucho info! :) Re: acne and marijuana (peeling the health onion)

One thing to keep in mind in your researching (that's not necessarily liver related) is that cannabis is seriously tough on the immune system. It's healing benefits come stopping nausea, increasing appetite, and certain types of nerve pain...but can play hell with the immune system & hormone balancing.

Most regular smokers are very susceptible to common colds, flu's and various problems; I seem to recall from my past research that cannabis depletes the body of Vitamin C (or something similar). When I smoked daily, I noticed a MAJOR positive difference in ALL types of immune function (including acne) when I took a 1000-3000mg of good Vitamin C daily.

In regards to acne, you probably already know that Acne usually indicates either a bacterial infection that the immune system cannot seem to beat, OR the presence of too many toxins/acids in the bloodstream (or a combination of both). The organ known as the skin is like a thermometer; it tells us a LOT about what's happening in our body. If all organs are cleansed and the diet is pure, we generally have no odors or inflammations coming through the skin, but when the immune system can't beat an infection... or the toxin load is too big for the cleansing organs to handle ...or the body isn't receiving optimum digestible nutrition... or any of the major organs/digestive tract is toxic/clogged/sluggish, then we see Acne (and all sorts of various skin disorders). Of course, even if the liver in it's optimum state, it won't be able to rid the body of ALL toxins & bacteria...ESPECIALLY if the intestinal tract is full of 'em.

Since you didn't mention ever doing a complete and thorough bowel cleanse, my first thought goes there (and just fyi, I'm not talkin' a couple of weeks of 'magic bowel pills' to get your goin', I'm talking about a deep THOROUGH bowel cleanse. One or two weeks of bowel cleansing accomplishes about as much as one or two liver flushes...it's just not enough to get out the deeply imbedded, toxic junk).

There are two main issues with bowel cleansing, regular bowel movements and Acne (three for women, because the colon wraps right around the ovaries/uterus, and when the colon is clogged/swollen, it can seriously affect hormone production, which affects acne).

#1 A human should have 2-3 bowel movements daily (one for each major meal ingested). If that's not happening, there's way too much rotting food in the digestive tract; there should never be more than 2-3 'meals worth of food' in the digestive tract at one time. If there is, this will cause (amongst other things) a pot belly; rancid/putrefying foodstuffs releasing all kinds of gas & toxins as it continues to break down (the toxins WILL absorb into the bloodstream through the lining of the digestive tract), and the colon (which is swollen because of WAY too much food inside) presses abnormally on each organ it contacts (and that is all of them), causing the other organs to be squeezed, shoved and compacted unnaturally (which of course, affects all the other organs productivity and function adversely).

#2 Build-up of toxic junk, mucoid plaque and layers upon layers of old, putrefied fecal matter in the colon (virtually all adults that ever ate a SAD diet have this to varying extremes). Not only does this cause the sluggishness and slowness of the digestive tract (and the issues above), but it also mean that each and every nutrient you eat, has to soak through all that junk before it's aborbed into the bloodstream...and that means a CONSTANT 24 hour barage of toxins into the bloodstream, as well as the nutrients not being properly aborbed in their natural state. And we certainly can't expect all the organs to stop dealing with these toxins to fight a bit of bacterial infection that's causing zits, eh? In fact, the presence of acne means that the organs are overloaded, and the skin has been called into play to help release acid/toxins.

So, when you add all of that to the weakened immuned system of a daily pot smoker, you get skin symptoms (or at least, that's bound to be a major part of the issue). My research showed that it's not the pot that actually causes the acne, rather the weakened immune system caused by the pot (along with all the other toxicity), means the skin has to be involved getting rid of bacteria & toxins. Some folks can do a few Liver Flushes and see a fairly complete relief of symptoms, but most all people desperately need a thorough Bowel Cleanse to achieve that glowing perfect state of health.

If you have ANY questions about how bowel cleansing affects the human body, here's two VERY good articles to read & research:

http://www.risingstarlc.com/schulzecolon.htm
Dr. Richard Schulze 's March 2001 Bowel Newsletter

http://thedoctorwithin.com/index_fr.php?page=articles/journey_colon...
Journey to the Center of your Colon - t h e d o c t o r w i t h i n

If you want to 'test out' my theories, here's what I'd suggest doing:

The best immune system enhancer is, bare none, Echinacea!! So, if you want to test how much your immune system is affecting your acne, take one weeks worth of Echinacea, note the results, and go back to your normal diet/habits for another week...and compare the results. (I've posted the best sources I've found below my sign off).

Then, do a week of P&B shakes (or an intenstinal cleanse with both P&B pre-mixed -or in capsule form, which is my preference by far). The P is for Psyllium, the B is for Bentonite. Psyllium is a fiber that will swell and dig deep into the junk lining of the colon. Bentonite is a clay that aborbs toxins. When you do the two together, the result is a removal of the toxic junk in the colon AND a neutralizing of the toxins being released (I do NOT like bowel cleansing products that don't utilize some type of "toxin absorber"...they loosen up all those toxins, and they get reabsorbed into the bloodstream). You can get Psyllium and Bentonite at virtually any health market/store (but I added my personal favorite to the list below, because it's in capsules and has the addition of several other herbs for cleansing & neutralizing toxins). Note: When taking P&B shakes (or P&B cleansing) the following is IMPERATIVE!!:

Consume 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water daily (so if you weigh 150 pounds, divide that by two, for 75 ounces of water daily). That is what you should drink every day WITHOUT bowel cleansing. When taking P&B you must drink AN ADDITIONAL 8-12 ounces of water WITH EVERY DOSE of P&B!! If you don't do this, you can end up with a MAJOR CLOG of toxins, clay & fiber...and you'll feel like a dog, for sure.

Then, after you've done P&B cleansing for a week and noted the results, stop that, and see what happens then.

By the time you've done a week each of both those things and seen the results, you'll have durn good idea of what's actually at the root of your issues. More than likely, both things will bring a major relief of symptoms.

'Hope this all helps you on your wonderful 'research road' to good health :)

Flush ON!

Unyquity

Echinacea sources:
http://www.botanicals.net/
Southern Botanicals
(tincture only)

http://www.gaiaherbs.com/
Gaia Herbs: Official Site
(tincture & capsules)

http://www.herb-pharm.com/
Herb Pharm: Manufacturers of Organic Liquid Herbal Extracts
(tincture & capsules)

http://www.dr-schulze.com/abp_800x600.asp
DR. Richard Schulze 'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE
(tincture only)

Intestinal Cleanse (Intestinal Formula #2)

http://www.botanicals.net/
Southern Botanicals

http://www.dr-schulze.com/abp_800x600.asp
DR. Richard Schulze 'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE