Why The Medical Marijuana Dispensary Movement Should End

[Truth Seeker]

First, I'd like to thank Alltreatment for allowing me this guest post. Their criticism has been a little lax lately regarding medical cannabis. Unafraid of the facts, I offered to balance out their coverage by sharing some of the not-so-glossy truths about marijuana. A blog that purports to share 'drug news' needs to be unbiased. So, kids, gather 'round; let's have the reefer talk.

Marijuana has been around for a long, long time. The venerable Wikipedia reports cannabis was one of five sacred plants in Indian Atharva Veda practices four thousand years ago. Written records describe medicinal marijuana consumption over two thousand years ago in China.

Traces of THC have even been detected in ancient Egyptian sarcophagi (Parsche and Nerlich). With this history, it's easy to assume marijuana has withstood the test of time— that it has even co-evolved alongside us. If it was good enough for the pharaohs, it's good enough for me. I'm here to say: not so.

There were a few other things that were 'good enough' for the pharaohs: mass suicide, slavery, monumental self-absorption. Are we to take our cues from a civilization whose economy revolved around piling multi-ton blocks of sandstone toward the heavens so kings' corpses could lie, gilded and embalmed, below? I think not. And if ancient Chinese or Indian religio-medicinal practices are to inform modern conceptions of health, I suppose the next time my daughter gets an infection I'll shake a maraca and pray.

To be fair, current scientific research is frustratingly inconclusive on the subject of cannabis. Some 'studies' make it out to be a wonderdrug. Relaxation, appetite stimulus, antiemetic, sleep aid, reduced likelihood of certain cancers— 'science' happily offers all of these benefits and more (Benefits of Marijuana).

However, at least as many studies report the exact opposite findings. Marijuana withdrawals cause insomnia. Chronic cough, sputum production, and wheeze all accompany marijuana use to the same degree that they accompany smoking tobacco (Tashkin et al.). In fact, marijuana use worsens specific airway conductance and resistance even more than does tobacco (Ibid.).

Attentional and executive functions reflect significant deficits among moderate to heavy marijuana smokers (Pope and Yurgelun-Todd). Studies over the years have tossed up a slew of other findings, including; long-term memory impairment in adolescents, prolonged psychomotor performance impairment, 600% increases in the incidence of schizophrenia, mouth, jaw, tongue, and lung cancers in 19-30 year olds, fetotoxicity, and non-lymphoblastic leukemia in children of marijuana smoking mothers (Nahas and Latour).

All of this, and yet hundreds of websites and apparently valid studies claim marijuana is good for you. How are we to interpret these opposing presentations of supposed fact?

That's a tough question... but we can be sure that one way we are not to interpret them is by choosing a convenient side and ignoring opposing viewpoints. This is precisely what we see in the pro-medical and -recreational marijuana crowd. Sure, some studies support marijuana for pain relief.

These studies are worth acknowledging. But equally worth acknowledging are the studies which find marijuana to be dangerously destructive for mental and physical health. When an honest person takes the time to consider both the pros and cons measured by marijuana research, the truth quickly becomes apparent: prescribing or otherwise condoning cannabis use is simply irresponsible.

Some people say hell with condoning it, just decriminalize it; as long as people aren't hurting one another, the government has no right to meddle in people's private business. This is a straw man argument. Of course nobody wants 'the government' 'meddling' with anything, but that isn't the discussion. I'm questioning whether research definitively proves that marijuana's benefits outweigh its harms, and that has yet to be established. What research has found is that marijuana significantly damages users' health. As such, governing bodies are obliged not to recommended it for public use. Indeed, considering the panoply of side effects accompanying marijuana use, I'd argue that medical marijuana prescriptions constitute a violation of the hippocratic oath. Of course, with the prevalence of painkiller and stimulant overprescription, and with pharmaceutical giants spending millions paying doctors to promote questionable drugs for unapproved uses, it is high time the hippocratic oath was pronounced dead anyway.

When you look at the issue broadly, the concept of marijuana as a smokeable medicine is frankly ridiculous. The entire bastion of medical marijuana is nothing but a legal veil preserving a destructive and rebellious social practice for a misdirected and even depraved selection of misfits, hoodlums, and youth.

There is nothing medicinal about smoking marijuana. If tetrahydrocannabinol has some positive effects for users, well and good: prescribe applicable patients a THC pill that has a consistent quantity and quality of that molecule without the harmful side effects of smoking. The fact that 'patients' push so heavily for their 'chronic' in plant form is proof that they don't seek THC's medicinal properties at all; 'patients' are just weed smokers looking for a legal excuse to protect their habit.

We could discuss the increased traffic casualties resulting from intoxicated drivers, or the decrease in productivity (among an already decidedly unproductive, undereducated populace) resulting from marijuana's amotivational properties, but that would be a longer debate than this blog will allow.

Here's a final bite of food for thought: how many billions of taxpayer dollars do medicare and medicaid already spend yearly treating tobacco smokers' self-inflicted diseases? Do we really want to create a whole new revenue-suck by prescribing people with the right hand what we'll end up treating them for with the left?

I'll throw the pro-marijuana crowd this bone: marijuana is not a gateway drug. The gateway effect has been resoundingly disproven, and rightly so. Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the United States, so of course addicts to less popular illegal substances will have tried it. The same argument could be applied to alcohol— the vast majority of hard drug users (heroin, cocaine, meth, etc) drank alcohol before they used hard drugs; was alcohol their 'gateway' to these destructive addictions? Nope, and neither was cannabis.

So marijuana isn't at fault for the heroin, coke, and meth addicts thronging American alleyways, treatment centers and prisons. But research certainly does not suggest marijuana is safe enough to condone as a medicine, no matter what janky .org sites claim to the contrary. As a parting note, if you are a member of the scientific community, I'd like to hear the results of this meta-analysis: among 'impartial' marijuana studies, compare each study's results to the personal marijuana habits and views held by each study's researchers.

The conclusions of double blind tests are still written by human hands, and I bet people attracted to researching marijuana are more likely than any control group to have bloodshot eyes. Let's keep this in mind the next time a study touts cannabis as a world-saving wonderdrug stifled by the man.

News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: opposingviews.com
Author: AllTreatment
Contact: Contact Us
Website: Why the Medical Marijuana Dispensary Movement Should End

 

[Aardvark]

To the unenlightened one:

I don't need an analysis or someone else's opinion in order to maintain my own perspective. Stubborn people who are compelled to exert their influence over others without being a stakeholder is just plain wrong, no matter what level of freedoms that are subject for discussion. It is amazing that those people trying to suppress individual freedoms can even take themselves seriously - because we don't. We do, however do whatever we can to defeat that kind of campaign of fear - we don't have to make anything up, though, and evidently the voting public appreciates that because Cannabis is more popular now than ever.

You simply have no say in this matter, and no sway over anyone who has the capability to think in abstract terms. In a court of law, a judge would tell you that "you have no standing" because you are neither a contributing witness, nor would you be unreasonably disenfranchised by the legalization of Cannabis. No, getting your nose out of joint because other people are enjoying themselves in an economical, safer and more fulfilling manner does not mean you qualify as A Potential Victim of Marijuana.

To the casual observer, your position and statements are no different from the mentally challenged person found on the proverbial street corner, wearing a sandwich sign with "The End is Nigh" on it and spouting scripture from a handy bible.

Like other people who love to hear themselves talk [Rush Limbaugh, etc.] and think they too have the right to determine how our freedoms should be restricted, you must be assuming that we take you the least bit seriously. Sort of the way America sees Mitt Romney. Everyone knows he doesn't know dick about foreign policy or working for a living, but it is fun to see him try and reinvent Obama as the boogeyman - pure political fiction.

We don't take that seriously, either. The basic message here is that unless you think you can reverse an upward curve of increasing personal freedoms since the Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, etc. et al, YOU ARE WASTING YOUR BREATH.

Trying to convince others that you deserve the right to arbitrarily deprive anyone from exercising their free will is disingenuous at best, and selfish at the least.

The right of an individual to choose and exercise the right to treat themselves with anything as innocuous as the common Cannabis Weed is just a common curtesy. Have some manners, dude!

Trying to constrain Cannabis is just as effective as trying to keep a handful of sand in your clenched fist; the harder you try, the more gets away. Learn from the lost war on drugs and stop wasting money on this restrictive waste of time. Think about this - there would be no homeless people if we stopped wasting money on the drug war.

 

[4N20Blackbird]

However, at least as many studies report the exact opposite findings. Marijuana withdrawals cause insomnia. Chronic cough, sputum production, and wheeze all accompany marijuana use to the same degree that they accompany smoking tobacco (Tashkin et al.). In fact, marijuana use worsens specific airway conductance and resistance even more than does tobacco (Ibid.).

IF you SMOKE it for a very long time, yes this is possible. This is why I highly recommend a vaporizer, same as my doctor does.
I find cannabis to be very helpful with fibromyalgia pain. It is an anti-inflammatory, pain reliever and muscle relaxer. It also helps my airway open, as it dilates the blood vessels which is good according to my doctor.

Did you ever listen or read all the side effects of Lyrica, a medicine from Big Pharma that suppose to help people with fibromyalgia? My doctor did not even want me to try it, as it is to much of a gamble with one's health! This is one of the finest Psychiatrists in the State of Michigan by the way.

Another thing. I do not drink alcohol anymore since I started using cannabis for my condition. I used to like an occasional beer, but now...I do not get a craving for it. Am I safer with vaporizing cannabis than drinking alcohol? My doctor says I am! Has my life improved since I have been medicating now for three years. Yes it has! No, it is not a cure, but a hell of a lot better than the addictive drugs from BIG PHARMA that doctors do not want to give me because of the possibility of addiction.

There are some good days I feel I do not need to medicate. I have never had insomnia because there is not a withdrawal effect. Where in the hell did you get that from anyway? The only insomnia I get is from the PAIN from FM. I would like you live with pain for as long as I have (15 years) and experience what I have experienced. You would thank God in heaven for the miraculous medicine.

Your letter is self serving and smells like a whole lot of ignorant FEAR to me. If you do not want to use it, fine, but do not condemn those who find it helpful for their ailments. I once believed all the lies being told about cannabis up until the age of 52 years old. I was not a user, now I am and I am a better person now than I was before.

 

[Newfriend]

Well said Aardvark
I am lost for words at least any as well put as yours.
Thanks for a bit of sanity in a world of wanta be controllers.

 

[whodathot]

I'm another fibro patient that gets lots of relief. I use Simpson oil and flowers. I recently tried Ultram- it was awful, I was nauseous every day, with migraines that started about one hour before the next dose.

I've tried nearly every relevant drug, supplement, vitamin, or snake oil for pain, depression, insomnia, specifucally for fibro and off label use. This is the only medication that has no side effects for me.

I'm not a long time mj user. I can't even roll a joint. But I do like being in Control of my dosage and knowing that I can function better when I use it and have better pain control.

I don't care what the studies say -- I'm living proof it helps chronic pain.

 

[Aardvark]

Any attempt to change the behavior and preferences of another person should be considered grounds for determining incompetency, since it is entirely unrealistic on every level. What kind of person believes in a policy that flies in the face of everyday proof?

Reminds me of something about the definition of insanity by Thomas Jefferson. I hope the rumor it is true that he was a head way back then.

 

[4N20Blackbird]

I'm another fibro patient that gets lots of relief. I use Simpson oil and flowers. I recently tried Ultram- it was awful, I was nauseous every day, with migraines that started about one hour before the next dose.

I've tried nearly every relevant drug, supplement, vitamin, or snake oil for pain, depression, insomnia, specifucally for fibro and off label use. This is the only medication that has no side effects for me.

I'm not a long time mj user. I can't even roll a joint. But I do like being in Control of my dosage and knowing that I can function better when I use it and have better pain control.

I don't care what the studies say -- I'm living proof it helps chronic pain.

Thank God someone else here knows exactly and understands what I am saying and feeling.

 

[whodathot]

Thank God someone else here knows exactly and understands what I am saying and feeling.

Blackbird, I had to double check I hadn't written YOUR post. It sounds exactly like me. Insomnia due to pain (tempur-pedic bed is the only one I can sleep on - it is a medical device and covered by some insurances, I got mine 10 years ago), and I have tried all the medicines. I've tried Oxycontin (no effect whatsoever), Duragesic patch (morphine), and all the other drugs they paraded by me. Sometimes the doctors never warned me about the side effects... and boy was I surprised!

I haven't wandered much into the area of medibles but there are options for people like medibles, vaporizing, topicals, candies, lots of different ways to use it. What I've found is just plain firing up some flowers does wonders. My doctor checked me recently and said I have great heart and lungs! I told him if it weren't for being disabled, I'd be damn healthy! LOL

I've done the pharmaceutical route. It didn't work. Going to sleep on a dose of Peanut Butter simpson oil is so much more natural than the muscle relaxers and sleeping pills I've had to use. It's a gentle relaxation unlike the pills that slam you into unconsciousness and steal your dreams.

I have more active days using medical marijuana than I ever did on all the pills. Instant migraine relief for those days when my neck and shoulders are in spasm and tight. Natural sleeping. Pain relief, and yes some mental relief too. When you live with fibro like we have for years and years, you are going to have some stress and downtime. I would love to give up medical marijuana and go back to the profession I am educated and trained for and have a "normal" life. But I deal in reality and the reality is that fibro to this day is uncurable by medical standards and I have to cope Medical marijuana is a safe and reliable choice for me. I will fight to keep my right to use it in this state and anyone who wants to fear monger will just have to do it elsewhere.

 

[4N20Blackbird]

Blackbird, I had to double check I hadn't written YOUR post. It sounds exactly like me. Insomnia due to pain (tempur-pedic bed is the only one I can sleep on - it is a medical device and covered by some insurances, I got mine 10 years ago), and I have tried all the medicines. I've tried Oxycontin (no effect whatsoever), Duragesic patch (morphine), and all the other drugs they paraded by me. Sometimes the doctors never warned me about the side effects... and boy was I surprised!

I haven't wandered much into the area of medibles but there are options for people like medibles, vaporizing, topicals, candies, lots of different ways to use it. What I've found is just plain firing up some flowers does wonders. My doctor checked me recently and said I have great heart and lungs! I told him if it weren't for being disabled, I'd be damn healthy! LOL

I've done the pharmaceutical route. It didn't work. Going to sleep on a dose of Peanut Butter simpson oil is so much more natural than the muscle relaxers and sleeping pills I've had to use. It's a gentle relaxation unlike the pills that slam you into unconsciousness and steal your dreams.

I have more active days using medical marijuana than I ever did on all the pills. Instant migraine relief for those days when my neck and shoulders are in spasm and tight. Natural sleeping. Pain relief, and yes some mental relief too. When you live with fibro like we have for years and years, you are going to have some stress and downtime. I would love to give up medical marijuana and go back to the profession I am educated and trained for and have a "normal" life. But I deal in reality and the reality is that fibro to this day is uncurable by medical standards and I have to cope Medical marijuana is a safe and reliable choice for me. I will fight to keep my right to use it in this state and anyone who wants to fear monger will just have to do it elsewhere.

Thanks for the post. Today is a terrible pain day for me. I am going to have to vaporize earlier than I usually do. That means no driving anywhere today by myself. It is really good to talk to someone else that knows this disease. I get so sick of people saying "oh you do not look like you are disabled" or "you do not look like you are in pain". What in the heck does pain look like??? All I know that it hurts so bad that sometimes I ask God to just take me out of here. At least I have the cannabis to knock much of the pain down. Time to go vape and lye down. Have a good day.

 

[punksunn]

To the unenlightened one:

I don't need an analysis or someone else's opinion in order to maintain my own perspective. Stubborn people who are compelled to exert their influence over others without being a stakeholder is just plain wrong, no matter what level of freedoms that are subject for discussion. It is amazing that those people trying to suppress individual freedoms can even take themselves seriously - because we don't. We do, however do whatever we can to defeat that kind of campaign of fear - we don't have to make anything up, though, and evidently the voting public appreciates that because Cannabis is more popular now than ever.

You simply have no say in this matter, and no sway over anyone who has the capability to think in abstract terms. In a court of law, a judge would tell you that "you have no standing" because you are neither a contributing witness, nor would you be unreasonably disenfranchised by the legalization of Cannabis. No, getting your nose out of joint because other people are enjoying themselves in an economical, safer and more fulfilling manner does not mean you qualify as A Potential Victim of Marijuana.

To the casual observer, your position and statements are no different from the mentally challenged person found on the proverbial street corner, wearing a sandwich sign with "The End is Nigh" on it and spouting scripture from a handy bible.

Like other people who love to hear themselves talk [Rush Limbaugh, etc.] and think they too have the right to determine how our freedoms should be restricted, you must be assuming that we take you the least bit seriously. Sort of the way America sees Mitt Romney. Everyone knows he doesn't know dick about foreign policy or working for a living, but it is fun to see him try and reinvent Obama as the boogeyman - pure political fiction.

We don't take that seriously, either. The basic message here is that unless you think you can reverse an upward curve of increasing personal freedoms since the Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, etc. et al, YOU ARE WASTING YOUR BREATH.

Trying to convince others that you deserve the right to arbitrarily deprive anyone from exercising their free will is disingenuous at best, and selfish at the least.

The right of an individual to choose and exercise the right to treat themselves with anything as innocuous as the common Cannabis Weed is just a common curtesy. Have some manners, dude!

Trying to constrain Cannabis is just as effective as trying to keep a handful of sand in your clenched fist; the harder you try, the more gets away. Learn from the lost war on drugs and stop wasting money on this restrictive waste of time. Think about this - there would be no homeless people if we stopped wasting money on the drug war.

aardvark...WELL SAID!
i think the abovementioned writer has never needed anything other than an aspirin. He wanted to spout quotes, well, here's one:"
The proof is in the pudding! So, the patients (including myself) who achieve positive results when using cannabis responsibly and medicinally are wrong? ...and ya prolly think EVERYONE who uses cannabis is a rain-bow-wig-wearing dufus acting th fool kind of thing.
AARP did a study...of participants who responded to if they used cannabis...70% said they have and of that 70%...more than HALF were able to stop using "man made synthetic" drugs (some if not all) prescribed by their doctors WHO were amazed at the results! My own doctor AND oncoligist (who is director or oncology research) BOTH are amazed at my results alone! AND OTHERS.....wise up!

AND ANOTHER THING....in which my own oncologist informed me....
The National Cancer Istitute (NCI, funded by the GOV) recently opened a "new research department"...dedicated to testing "alternative treatments"...and guess what? They found that vitamin B17 (extracted from apricot pits), vitamin D3 (another natural extract) AND Graviols (extract from amazon tree bark-where harvestig does no harm to tree)...that these 3 ssubstances actually CURE AND PREVENT CANCER!!!! When our immune systems are assaulted by artificial man made substances/synthetics...we WILL get sick....when we keep our immune system healthy...and avoid the synthetic crap...we heal.

COMMON SENSE!....and the big PHARMA cant STAND it because they CANNOT PATENT a natural occuring substance! SUCKS TO BE THEM...heh heh heh! AND...whats even better...is NATURAL SUPPLIMENTS AND VITAMINS ARE NOT EXPENSIVE! Vitamin D3 is about $10 USD for 3 1/2 month of 2000iu strength! Vitamin B17 is about $25USD for 3 1/2 month supply of 100mg! ....and ya DONT need HEALTH INSURANCE OR DRUG COVERAGE to get ANY of them! Take THAT BIG PHARMA!

Cannabis hould be 'regulated' as to keep it out of the hands of children and criminals. Legalization would be insane. Patient/Caregiver method of RESPONSIBLE and MEDICINAL use and distribution TO PATIENTS is what needs to be protected...that is why 16-17 states have provided Medical Marijuana Laws...a good step forward...need i say more?

 

[colitas]

Some articles just dont deserve any response.....P.E.A.C.H.H. 'People Exercising Access to Cannabis Hemp and Herb'.....

 

[punksunn]

IF you SMOKE it for a very long time, yes this is possible. This is why I highly recommend a vaporizer, same as my doctor does.
I find cannabis to be very helpful with fibromyalgia pain. It is an anti-inflammatory, pain reliever and muscle relaxer. It also helps my airway open, as it dilates the blood vessels which is good according to my doctor.

Did you ever listen or read all the side effects of Lyrica, a medicine from Big Pharma that suppose to help people with fibromyalgia? My doctor did not even want me to try it, as it is to much of a gamble with one's health! This is one of the finest Psychiatrists in the State of Michigan by the way.

Another thing. I do not drink alcohol anymore since I started using cannabis for my condition. I used to like an occasional beer, but now...I do not get a craving for it. Am I safer with vaporizing cannabis than drinking alcohol? My doctor says I am! Has my life improved since I have been medicating now for three years. Yes it has! No, it is not a cure, but a hell of a lot better than the addictive drugs from BIG PHARMA that doctors do not want to give me because of the possibility of addiction.

There are some good days I feel I do not need to medicate. I have never had insomnia because there is not a withdrawal effect. Where in the hell did you get that from anyway? The only insomnia I get is from the PAIN from FM. I would like you live with pain for as long as I have (15 years) and experience what I have experienced. You would thank God in heaven for the miraculous medicine.

Your letter is self serving and smells like a whole lot of ignorant FEAR to me. If you do not want to use it, fine, but do not condemn those who find it helpful for their ailments. I once believed all the lies being told about cannabis up until the age of 52 years old. I was not a user, now I am and I am a better person now than I was before.

You tell em!
Has anyone but me noticed that in a 30 second BIG PHARMACEUTICAL teevee ad, the last 10 seconds tell you "you could get kidney, liver damage, miscarry, develope cancer...blah blah...even die....
THAT just speaks VOLUMES to me that the ignorant GREEDY Drug companies just want to profit from people dying......
Nature has provided...education and knowledge is power. ...jus sayin...

 

[Aardvark]

To my fellow self-medicating MMJ patients, I believe the best way to counter this kind of mentality is not to focus on validating the benefits we are enjoying from this simple and effective course of treatments; that much has already been proven by professionals in this field, and we as patients and growers cannot do any better than real science can - and this isn't the most effective argument for accomplishing what we need - safe & legal access to Weed - its more like a distraction, unfortunately because voters are not receptive to sad stories of suffering - unless it is extremely visceral.

Plus, this is "preaching to the choir", because we all know what the benefits are and the Enemies of Weed already know what we are going to say about it being a great alternative to commercial pharmacology - and knowing that they will simply "tune us out", we need to make sure our message is more effective than cheer-leading and always being on the defensive.

We need to characterize this for what it really is - an oppressive attempt to suppress human rights. In other words, it doesn't matter whether it is Cannabis, Sexual Preference or even Religion - it is still oppression and we aren't supposed to let that happen here in America - and I believe that this freedom concept is getting pretty popular in other countries now (or so I hear).

So, instead of always being on the defensive about All Things Weed, we need to turn the argument around on Them by concentrating our efforts to revealing the Truth - put a label on the anti-Weed movement for what it really is - an oppressive theft of our basic rights.

We pretty much know it is predominantly Republicans who oppose Weed. They are also very predictable; so when we are able to turn the subject of discussion from being Weed Rights to Republican Oppression of Rights, they will back down once they realize they have put themselves in a precarious position. This is the way it works and I hope we can fight the fight on their level.

Are you willing to be an effective Weed Warrior? Then stop giving the enemy ammunition; instead, give them hell for being so absolutely un-American!

Like this? Show us some love, baby!

 

[Propa Gator]

420 anecdote trumps AllTreatment's ancient rote.