Elizabeth Warren asks CDC to consider legal marijuana as alternative painkiller

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/12/elizabeth-warren-medical-marijuana-painkiller-opioid-abuse ^

[beaversmom]

Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren has asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to consider the role legal marijuana could play in the prescription opioid epidemic.

Warren asked for more research into medical marijuana and painkiller addiction in a letter to the CDC director, Thomas Friedan.

"Opioid abuse is a national concern and warrants swift and immediate action," Warren wrote.

Her request comes as politicians, including the presidential nominees, search for the best response to the opioid epidemic.

The use of prescription opioids doubled between 2000 and 2014, according to the CDC. And Massachusetts experienced its highest number of unintentional opioid overdose deaths in 2014, with nearly 1,100 people succumbing to overdose deaths.

Warren applauded the CDC's actions so far to curb the epidemic but called on the agency to look at whether medical marijuana could be an alternative painkiller.

She also urged the agency to quickly finalize its guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain and called for increased collaboration between the CDC and other federal health agencies to determine the long-term effects of opioid use in children and the increased use of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Nestled in with these recommendations is a call to consider the role of marijuana legalization in the crisis.

Specifically, Warren requested the agency to provide more information on "the use, uptake and effectiveness of medical marijuana as an alternative to opioids for pain treatment in states where it is legal".

She also asked them to look into "the impact of the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana on opioid overdose deaths".

[Marie]

Thank you, love.

IMHO, let the drug addict die. Offer them help, but - if they don’t take it - let them go.

The WOD should never be fought at the expense of those suffering pain. As that’s the only demographic that the gov’t has control over, that’s who gets hurt by these ‘crack downs’. The addict will find another source. The grandmother can’t.

And you’re a very good woman for speaking out.

I’ve seen too many good people reduced to nothing for seeking help. It’s discouraging.

Thank you again, TNG.

[ConservingFreedom]

"In general, cannabinoids seem to be mild to moderate analgesics. Opiates, such as morphine and codeine, are the most widely used drugs for the treatment of acute pain, but they are not consistently effective in chronic pain; they often induce nausea and sedation, and tolerance occurs in some patients. Recent research has made it clear that CB1 receptor agonists act on pathways that partially overlap with those activated by opioids but through pharmacologically distinct mechanisms (see chapter 2). Therefore, they would probably have a different side effect profile and perhaps additive or synergistic analgesic efficacy. [...] the available evidence from animal and human studies indicates that cannabinoids can have a substantial analgesic effect." - Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base (1999)

[beaversmom]

It doesn’t help you two at all, but I feel for the pain you experience.

I know what it’s like to have non-chronic pain...you’ll do anything to feel better. It must be absolutely miserable to have something bothering you all the time.

I’m here in Colorado, and we are lucky here to be afforded the right to use marijuana for medical and recreational purposes.

Since it has become legal, I have tried it (marijuana edibles) a few times to see what it’s like. I’m not a drug taker...prescription or otherwise, but I wanted to at least experience it to know and be able to speak somewhat with knowledge about it.

If I could box up a batch of Colorado pot cookies for each of you to try, and not end up in the hoosegow, I would do so in an instance.

I wish you both the best. I wish you to have the freedom of choice in your lives and freedom from pain.

[beaversmom]

Yeah, me, too even though it’s painful to agree with anyone on the left. ;)

[GunHoardingCapitalist]

I live in Washington, which is pot friendly. I have toked up a few times since the law passed. Depending on the strain it provides better pain relief than the opiates without the side effects of nausia, withdrawal, constipation, erectile dysfunction, kidney and liver damage. But unfortunately work doesnt recognize or approve eventhough I work in Oregon (another pot friendly state). I crushed 3 vertebrae and ruptured 2 disks in a motocross accident when I was 20(I’m 38 now). My quality of life is horrible with opiates(for example having erectile dysfunction during your entire sexual prime), it takes the pain away so I can function but the side effects are not worth it. At least with pot I can get the same relief without the side effects. However because pot is still federally illegal, if I get a medical card the feds can revoke my carry permit and firearm rights for “influence of a controlled substance”. They dont do that for pill prescriptions and that is because the pharmaceutical industry’s influence in government. Big pharma doesn’t want people to grow their own pain relief, they will lose their profits buy forcing people like me to be reliant on their pills.

Its messed up, and I say full legalization.

[beaversmom]

Oh great! I didn’t know you were in a state with legalization. I hope you are able to partake under the radar. I don’t like inhaling anything into my lungs, so I chose to go the edible route when I tried it...gummies then cookies. Found the cookies were better. I agree with you...give people the choice. There are a lot of pain sufferers out there and they have to choose between the pain and putting toxic things into their body. Allow adults to choose. Allow them the choice of something that is less toxic and dependency inducing. It won’t work for everyone, but there are plenty of people that probably could have some relief if they were allowed to have access.