Medicinal Marijuana

[ecoli]

Should Marijuana be asubscribed for medicinal purposes?

[jdurg]

Yes. In fact, it already is in the forms of the drugs Marinol and Dronabinol. Those drugs' active ingredient is Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol; the active ingredient in marijuana. So the United States Government is actually hypocritical in calling 'pot' a Level 1 drug. (Level 1 drugs are those substances which have a high potential for physical addiction and no medical use/benefit at all). So in reality, there is no good reason why it shouldn't be legal.

[ecoli]

I heard that there's no evidence that marijuana causes addiction, yet the government keeps telling us it does. Which is the truth?

[fuhrerkeebs]

You can't be physically addicted to marijuana, but you can be psychologically addicted. Of course, people can also be psychologically addicted to TV.

[ecoli]

Oh...That makes a lot of sense. Of course psychological addiction can be every bit as dangerous as a physical addiction, can't it.

[jdurg]

Okay, I need to make a minor correction. There are three criteria needed to make a drug 'Schedule 1'. 1): High potential for abuse. 2): No known medical benefit of use. 3): No safety data about the drug. So actually, physical addiction and mental addiction are considered the same. Now what's really funny is that if you go here http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html you can see the hypocracy of our government. Marijuana and all related compounds are classified as schedule 1. However, plenty of safety data exists about the active ingredients in pot, and there is plenty of confirmed medical benefit. However, drugs like cocain, raw opium, PCP, and some other 'nasties' are in a lower schedule than pot. Meanwhile, the government approves of the manufacturing and usage of Marinol/Dronabinol which is just refined marijuana extract! Sometimes I don't understand this government's reasoning.

[mattd]

i think maurijuana should be completely legalized and available anywhere without a presciption because:

 

1. it's not a bad drug

2. alcohol and tobacco are far worse for you in every aspect

3. it's fun

4. it's never killed anyone

5. the only reason it's against the law is to keep our prisons packed for the profit of a few dummies

6. the stuff you get from your drug dealer might be tainted with other crap, legalizing it would make it safer.

7. only nimrods think otherwise, and are brainwashed to be that way

 

Yes, I smoke pot occasionally, and I don't give a damn if it's illegal or not.

[galaxygirl]

I also think that marijuana should be legalized for medical reasons. In controlled amounts marijuana isn't harmful or addicting. By acting as an antioxidant, marijuana can protect brain cells and help prevent strokes and neurodegenerative diseases. Marijuana is also very effective in releving pain (especially for people suffering from cancer or AIDS), and it is even less addictive than narcotics.

[fuhrerkeebs]

Of course psychological addiction can be every bit as dangerous as a physical addiction, can't it.

 

It depends on how long you've used it and why you use it. If you just smoke it every weekend or so when you're watching a baseball game with your buddies, then there is really no risk. But, if you often use it to relieve the stress of work, it can be very hard to get off of. This is because you've relied on it to help you for so long it would be like taking crutches away from a crippled kid. However, alcohol addiction is far, far worse.

[ecoli]

I woudn't use marijuana anyway. It's still putting foriegn material into your body, I'm sure the smoke still could cause some lung damage. Probably less damaging then cigarettes, but I wouldn't smoke them either.

 

I wouldn't recomend legalizing marijuana for one reason. It will become just another cigarette company. Cigarette companies add tons of crap to tobacco to make them addicting. Some of the chemicals in Cigarettes are Acetone, Ammonia, Arsenic, Benzene, Benzoapyrene, Butane, Cadmium, Formaldehyde, Lead, Propylene Glycol and Turpentine. I can just see new Marijuana cigarette companies adding these chems to marijuana cigarettes. Now marijuana will be legal, and addicting, and just as bad as cigarettes.

[YT2095]

ewww, that`s based soley upon the idea that Delta9THC (the active ingredient) has to be "Smoked" to be of bennefit, it doesn`t

 

and YES, it should be allowed to be used as a genuine medicine, we use Opiates and derivatives of it regulary in hospitals and for patients not in hospital, and that stuff IS Addictive and HAS Killed!

 

so what`s the big deal?

 

 

edit: and no, I don`t/won`t touch the stuff personaly, but that`s my choice and has nothing to do with its medical properties or values for others, it DOES work, I just don`t personaly like its effects on my head, that`s all

[ecoli]

I'm leaning towards that myself now. I see its use for medicinal purposes, but I can't bring myself to believe that it should be legalized (for reasons forementioned)

[YT2095]

well no one said smoking was "GOOD" for you (well not in the 21`st century anyway) LOL

 

those reasons are redundant in this debate, the administration of such medicine would be in the form of a Syrup/Tablet at best guess, never in the form of smoke

[ecoli]

Right, sorry

[YT2095]

no sorry needed, we`re just chatting / discussing

[mattd]

I consider the effects beneficial to my mind and spirit. It helps me meditate and helps me see our universe from a different and a more peaceful perspective.

[slickinfinit]

If people who have severe cancer suffer from lack of appetite and I know from past youth experience (lol) than marjiuana does in fact make u hungry and make u eat more, this single benifit cannot be overlooked because I have seen alot of poeple who have cancer they seemed thinner and less able to hold food down, chemo and the cancer bolth make the patient weaker lowering white blood cell count. Marijuana does not do anything for your blood but give your brain the sense that u need to eat and in eating u fuel your own recovery. My opinion only and I hope the active ingridient is taken in a safer form other than inhaling smoke which can be harmful if use is prolonged, but right now people are in danger of dieing tomorow because they cant eat and I am not saying marijuana will cure them or help tham all but it will help alot.

[fairychild]

you guys should see "american history of marijuana", it's some movie i found across the net. great docu about how weird and - excuse my french - idiotic politics can be..

[ecoli]

Another great, albeit old, propaganda movie about Marijuana: watch "Refer Madness". It's about these kids back in the 40's who get into marijuana. They start to go crazy and murder people. The whole affect is really comedic.

[jdurg]

As has been stated, marijuana does not need to be smoked to be effective. In fact, the drug Marinol and Dronabinol are in pill forms since the gastroentereal absorbtion of it is slower, and over a longer period of time. The only thing that smoking does is allow for a quicker absorption into the body. However, the active ingredient could be designed for administration in a nebulizer form which would remove the harfmul effects of the smoking. (Saying that pot cigarettes aren't as nasty as tobbacco cigarettes is like saying that a pistol shot to the head is less deadly than a rifle shot to your head. Either way, you're dead).

 

For cancer patients with a severe lack of appetite or in severe pain, doctors have prescribed Dronabinol/Marinol to relieve those problems. Sadly, the federal government suggests that other drugs are used since they don't want it publicly known that they approve of a marijuana based treatment. (I only found out while working in a drug testing laboratory. One of the forms where a subject lists all prescription drugs they were on had Dronabinol listed. I looked it up in the big drug reference book and it stated that Dronabionol is a refined extract from the Cannabis plant). So in order for this drug to be approved for use in the USA, the FDA had to have seen clinical trials performed with it. Therefore, safety data does exist for marijuana. This is why having it classified as a 'Schedule 1' drug is completely wrong.

 

In my past, I used marijuana quite a bit. I can see the benefits and drawbacks of having it legalized. That is why I say that if it ever were to get legalized, it would have to be VERY gradually and with a lot of studies. First, limit it to 21+ year olds and only for use in your own home. Any use while driving our out in public would be an arrestable offense. Severely restrict its use at first. Then either keep it strict, or loosen it up. But first, it should be reclassified as a Schedule 2 drug so that more medical studies and general research can be done on it. (Right now, to get approval to do research on a Schedule 1 drug is prohibitavely expensive. All of the licenses and permissions you need to get makes it not worth the trouble. Move it down to Schedule 2 and I think you'd see a lot more research done on it.)

[ecoli]

What is the difference between Dronabinol and Marinol. Everyone seems to be refering to the two drugs together, but they can't be the same thing.

[galaxygirl]

They are the same thing- Marinol is just the brand name for Dronabinol.

[ecoli]

Oh, ok

[5614]

i think (as does, looking at the vote, the majority of people) think that if something is medically prescribed and is medically beneficial then go ahead with it, even it does have a bad reputation.

 

as with anything, it might have a bad rep, but if it helps YOU and it certainly will and the ads are better than the disads then go for it.

[slickinfinit]

Jdurg I think u are in favor of legalization for recreational use as well as medicinal? If so I agree, because having seen to many drunk people do to many stupid things like fall asleep on railroad trakcs which a drunk teen did this summer near my house (he was killed), alcohol is legal and causes over 1000 deaths every year in Canada. So why do we sell this non-medicinal state altering chemical to be consumed? People are attracted by altered states of conciousness and we have left it up to our government to decide and they mostly base their choice on popularity not fact, so wheather they sell u tobacco that kills u and helps nothing they wont let u have marijuana which might help u eat and have a more positive effect than alcohol but they would rather u get sclirosis and beat you wife in a drunk rage, I am not sayin all who drink will do or get these things but I drink and I know alcohol is more harmful than marijuana from experience.