And I had it suggested to me that medicinal marijuana should be used for my MS. Never did that, though.
Posted on 06/15/2006 4:53:24 PM PDT by Wolfie
The Science of Medical Marijuana Prohibition
USA -- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently opined that smoked marijuana has no scientifically accepted medical uses. The FDA received much criticism for this decision because in 1999 the Federal Government’s own scientists concluded that even in smoked form marijuana has medical uses. At the heart of the debate about medical marijuana is the question of science. But what, exactly, is science? Since modern civilization bases itself on a belief in the ability of science to solve any and all problems (human or otherwise), prudent people are obligated to at least try to understand just where the faith of modernity really rests.
Modern science starts with the concept of “pure reason,” as articulated by the philosopher Descartes—who said, “I think therefore I am.” In short, Descartes argues that the quest for knowledge, i.e., “science,” is based on an objective understanding of that which human beings can see, touch, smell, taste, or hear.
According to the people we call “scientists,” there are three types of activities that pass for “science,” though it is important to note that these activities are inseparably interrelated. First, there is the descriptive method. Second, there is the empirical method. Third, there is the theoretical method.
The descriptive method generally relies on case studies, which amounts to the observation of (either from afar or up close) the behavior of one or more persons and the objective reporting of what was experienced. The benefit of the case study is that a single phenomenon or event can be described “thickly” and in great detail, such that there is a “deep” appreciation for what is being studied.
The empirical method generally takes many individual case studies, gathered either by experiments or surveys, and then uses numbers (statistics) to objectively report or “model” what was experienced. The benefit of the empirical method is that it appears more objective than the case study because it can “control” for confounding explanations. The empirical method is indeed a more precise science; however, the descriptive method is reliable and valid, too.
Literally, behind both methods is the theoretical method, which provides the basis or reason for doing either descriptive or empirical science in the first place. Basically, descriptive or empirical science is a “test” of some particular theory. The irony of the theoretical method is that sometimes what a scientist assumes theoretically is exactly what a scientist finds descriptively or empirically.
In 1937, for example, the 75th Congress theorized that Spanish-speaking immigrants were “low mentally” because of “social and racial conditions” and, since some of these immigrants used medical marijuana, the Federal Government “reasoned” (over the objection of the American Medical Association) that medical marijuana should be criminalized. It is an ugly truth: racism represents the beginning of today’s Federal medical marijuana prohibition.
Anyone doubting whether racism is in fact behind the founding of today’s Federal medical marijuana prohibition should read the legislative history of The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Anyone doubting whether race still plays a role in the war on drugs should read the American Civil Liberties Union’s policy report on race and drug prohibition. That Federal medical marijuana prohibition stems from Jim Crow thinking is beyond doubt to everyone who takes the time to research and consider the issue with an open mind.
Science is only as good as the theory that drives it. Since the FDA operates from a misinformed viewpoint based in large part on the racial stereotypes of 1937, no case study or double-blind experiment could ever show that the marijuana plant in its raw form has medical utility. Why? Follow the money.
The FDA is politically prohibited from recognizing the value of a medicine that can be grown by people for free because the agency has such close ties to the pharmaceutical industry. This is my “theory” because shortly after the FDA said that marijuana has no benefit in smoked form the agency recognized the medical efficacy of a pill-based marijuana medicine. Is it a coincidence that the FDA discourages the use of a medicine that can be grown for free, but endorses the use of that same medicine if produced synthetically for profit?
Soon the 109th Congress will vote on an amendment that would recognize, under Federal law, the legitimacy of the medical marijuana programs in the various states that have passed medical marijuana laws. Let’s hope—a bold hope, in these partisan times—that a majority-of-the-majority in Congress will finally end a 69-year-old error and thereby follow a more factual and compassionate theory when it comes to medical marijuana.
Call your representative now and instruct him or her to support the Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment. In a sense, the future of science is at stake.
Kenneth Michael White is an attorney and the author of “The Beginning of Today: The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937” and “Buck” (both by PublishAmerica 2004).
The arbiter of conservativism has spoken.
lest anyone think I was serious.
I am not typical of anything. Your mileage may vary.
But, I dare say that the majority of those on this FR thread, against your WOsD), fit a similar profile!
You aren't aware of much reality, dude! You seem to wish to force yours on everyone else! We don't need you, and don't want to hear from you. You are worthless in this conversation.
Start your own threads, and see who shows up! You can always invite that cal gal.
Oh, you bet it does equal that and it always has
Nope, your thinking of Totalitarianism.
Someday, we will celebrate the attainment of a risk-free society, and promptly be arrested for it.
Show us some proof.
"You tell me. Why shouldn't marijuana have to go through the same approval process as any other prescription drug? Why is marijuana so special?"
I have been telling you for years now!
Because it is an herb!
THAT's one I haven't heard before.
Show us where ANY source lists marijuana as a herb.
The government of Louisiana has.
http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=288583
And I had it suggested to me that medicinal marijuana should be used for my MS. Never did that, though.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a system where, every two years, we could throw out those bureaucrats who write laws the citizens don't want?
Wait a minute ...
You're confusing a form of government with a political philosophy.
But if you wish the rest of us to accept it, then there's a process.
Why didn't grain squeezings make that list?
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a system where, every two years, we could throw out those bureaucrats who write laws the citizens don't want?
Wait a minute ...
You are correct, so you don't mind if I push for state's rights, legalize cannabis initiatives, and try and make the citizens aware that our governments have been exaggerating the dangers of cannabis for decades - do you?
Be my guest. As long as you don't mind me pointing out your errors -- if you make them.
But if you wish the rest of us to accept it, then there's a process.
Quote from news article below:
Posted on Friday June 16,2006
Deaths rise from addiction, misuse of painkiller patch Overdoses of fentanyl become more common as addicts chew, inject gel from patch made to ease pain for cancer patients By Jeff Douglas ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS -- Justin Knox bit down on the bitter-tasting patch, instantly releasing three days' worth of a drug more powerful than morphine. He was dead before he even got to the hospital.
The 22-year-old construction worker and addict was another victim in an apparent surge in U.S. overdoses blamed on abuse of the fentanyl patch, a prescription-only product that is intended for cancer patients and others with chronic pain and is designed to dispense the medicine slowly through the skin.
"I cannot tell you the amount of people I've seen and the creative ways they abuse this drug," said Dr. Scott Teitelbaum, director of the Florida Recovery Center in Gainesville, Fla. "Fentanyl has been abused for years. But recently there has been an increase. I've seen more chewing, squeezing of the drug off the patch and shooting it up."
Fentanyl, a synthetic narcotic, was introduced in the 1960s, but it was not until the early 1990s that it became available in patch form. Last year, the first generic versions of the patch hit the market.
At least seven deaths in Indiana and four in South Carolina since 2005 have been blamed on abuse of the fentanyl patch, along with more than 100 deaths in Florida in 2004. About a week after Knox's death in Farmington, Mo., in March, a second man in the same county was prescribed the patch legally and died after injecting himself with the gel that he had scraped from it.(snip)
How many overdose deaths can be blamed on cannabis?
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