Posted on 02/16/2007 3:23:59 PM PST by cryptical
The cannabis plant has been used as a medicine for thousands of years. In the United States, doctors could prescribe marijuana cigarettes to patients for a variety of conditions until the 1940s, when it was banned. Marijuana's status as an illegal drug has removed it from the official medical arsenal, but its therapeutic power is still attracting attention, especially its pain-killing properties.
About 30 percent of HIV patients develop painful nerves during the course of their illness, and this neuropathy is extremely difficult to treat with standard pain medications. Dr. Donald Abrams, of the University of California at San Francisco, studied the use of marijuana for relief of their discomfort. "We've known for along time that cannabinoids, the active ingredients in marijuana, can be involved in modulation of pain and the response to pain," he explains, adding that the body has its own cannabinoid system. "We make natural substances called endo-cannabinoids and it's felt that one of the main roles of these endo-cannabinoids is in our processing of painful stimuli." Abrams studied 50 patients who had suffered nerve pain for an average of 7 years. He gave half actual marijuana cigarettes to smoke three times a day, the other half smoked placebo cigarettes. He found the patients smoking the marijuana had significantly greater pain relief, and it was almost immediate. "After smoking the first cigarette on the first day," he recalls, "we asked patients what had happened to their pain. Those smoking the actual marijuana cigarette, their pain reduced 75 percent; where those smoking the placebo, their pain reduced less than 20 percent." These results were consistent throughout the study.
Abrams says there is a pill on the market containing the most active ingredient of marijuana, called tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. But he says smoking the actual plant works better than taking the pill, because THC is only one of the components present in the plant. "The plant has over 400 chemical compounds, many of which also have medicinal value. Many of those compounds in the plant also offer a balance to the side effects of the THC alone. So when you take a pill that's just THC, some people have more adverse effects than actually smoking THC as part of marijuana."
The research appears in the February 13th issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Not in the slightest. Let me remind you of your own statement:
A good bit of modern pharmacology was built on research that started with studies done on peole who were "smoking opium".
So do you want opium smoking legalized as well? Or have you abandoned your position already?
Quote one, please.
I never had that position, if I did it would be off topic to bring it up. The article is about research on cannabis, not legalizing opium smoking.
Now, why are you trying to attribute to me a position I never took?
"You're an inventive liar."
-Roscoe
2. I never had that position, if I did it would be off topic to bring it up.
You are the one who brought it up.
That was decription of your behavior, not an equation of drugs and firearms.
Dishonest thread jumping.
Not me. It came to this thread by your hand. Why?
That was a quote from a bureaucrat who wants it all. That's what you asked for.
Its so funny that the lefty's are for legalised marijuana but they will fight tooth and nail against smoking in a restraunt or bar. What is the difference?
Yes, you.
Let's review:
A good bit of modern pharmacology was built on research that started with studies done on peole who were "smoking opium".
It's a very transparent endorsement of smoking opium. Have the courage of your convictions.
No, it wasn't. Though your reply is an inventive lie.
You feel free to present that argument to anyone you want. In fact I believe the forum has some pretty explicit rules about advocating drug use. You want to make that accusation official?
You hung yourself.
Can you prove that?
We'll see.
Prove that I'm not a bureacrat? Rather than demanding that I prove a negative, shouldn't you prove your lie?
Nope. I'm waiting to see if my account gets nuked for "advocating smoking opium".
Rose Hoban put down her stethoscope (as a nurse), picked up a microphone and enrolled in UC Berkeley's journalism school where she concentrated in radio.
Before coming to WUNC (National Public Radio (NPR) and North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC), Rose aired stories on Living on Earth, the California Report and KQED FM news. She's also published in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Contra Costa Times and the Anchorage Daily News.
Fake quote. Inventive lie.
Her leftist credentials are in order.
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