Posted on 08/27/2013 8:15:53 AM PDT by Kaslin
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta admitted earlier this month that he had been wrong in his opposition to medical marijuana during the rollout for his documentary "Weed." Gupta reported on research that demonstrated the proven benefits of marijuana in treating neuropathic pain. Medical marijuana was the only drug that helped a 5-year-old girl with Dravet syndrome live without constant seizures. It calmed the constant hiccuping of a 19-year-old. Israelis use it to treat Parkinson's disease and other ailments.
Gupta took on the federal government's classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug, which has no accepted medical use but has a high potential for abuse. (Heroin also is a Schedule I drug. Methamphetamine is Schedule II.) Gupta now believes that classification is an outrage.
The doctor didn't say marijuana is all good. He cited research that found that regular use by teens can lead to a permanent decrease in IQ. But Gupta could find no documented case of a death from a marijuana overdose, whereas someone dies every 19 minutes from a prescription-drug overdose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 80,000 Americans die each year from excessive alcohol use.
Last week, Gupta's sentiments were echoed on the right when columnist Charles Krauthammer, a former psychiatrist, told Fox News that alcohol is much more harmful than marijuana. Quoth Krauthammer: "If I were starting a society from scratch and had to choose the intoxicant, I would outlaw alcohol and I'd allow marijuana." (Side note: But seeing as he can't reset the world, Krauthammer said he wouldn't legalize pot.)
Gupta's about-face might well signal a sea change in how this country looks at marijuana. Gupta told CNN's Erin Burnett that he used to look at medical marijuana advocates as "malingerers" who are "just looking to get high." But he came to see that cannabis not only helps severely ill people but also averts the dangerous side effects of more potent pharmaceuticals.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy announced Monday that his committee will hold a hearing Sept. 10 about the correct federal response to state laws legalizing the use of medical marijuana and, in the cases of Washington and Colorado, recreational use of marijuana.
Is President Barack Obama paying attention? Reporter Jessica Yellin asked White House spokesman Josh Earnest last week whether the administration was considering changing marijuana's Schedule I designation. Earnest responded with a long-winded no.
Before the American Bar Association recently, Attorney General Eric Holder delivered a speech that was supposed to signal big changes in the administration's approach to nonviolent drug offenders.
But he didn't mention marijuana enforcement, even though his Department of Justice has waged a ruthless war against medical marijuana dispensaries. Federal prosecutors have not only sent registered California dispensary operators to prison but also gone after their landlords, their bankers and contractors.
Listen to Gupta and Krauthammer and it's fair to surmise that marijuana is the least harmful of all controlled substances. It's less toxic than alcohol, which is legal. It's less lethal than prescription drugs.
So why is Washington still waging a war on weed?
You got that right, bud.
But did you also know?
Marijuana can make stronger and lighter concrete products,
10 times more paper / acre than southern yellow pine,
fine textiles and clothing that wears and breathes better than cotton,
as a source of dietary fiber there is no equal for effective results yet no stomach discomfort,
as a drug treatment for anything that ails ya = the list of cures can not be topped by any other drug and there is no way possible to overdose with marijuana.
And I forgot to mention marijuana has become the most effective drug for treating seizures.
Why should there be a pill? So the drug companies can profit from a weed that can grow upto 18 feet in 6-9 months? Are you serious? Come on man - think!
Busted ....again. DuPont was nuttier than Auntie Laura's Christmas Fruitcake and a heavy drinker, too. Maybe this indicates that cannabis should be available ONLY on a dr's prescription.
Anyway, how are we going to handle the recreational user? Is it going to be available as tobacco is now? I am against wholesale use by the young, because they are quite stupid enough already and cannabis is a stupifacient.. However, I ain't agin cannabis as a legal experience, I am just uncertain as to the process and policy ... if any.
Wow are you serious?
Legalizing pot is gonna ‘create’ all these problems?
Yet while pot has been illegal for some 80 years the Demo lefties commie pinkos have not already succeeded with every one of the 10 communist planks and added a few extras [healthcare, abortions, and every sexual deviancy and perversion known to man]. Yeah weed is the problem, dope.
Probably about as much as it took the Kennedy’s to make MaryJo Kopechne go away.
I do not have time to respond, yet. But I will. Mr. Simpson, mostly recommends the use of oil infusion as a healing technique. Which is in part of what I posted. People can do what they want, but desiring a false sense of euphoria, using toxic and physiological altering chemicals is not a good practice, if you want to live a long, wholesome disease free life. Nor is it the most prudent way to lower the costs of health care and prevent societal suffering.
The hidden danger of marijuana and what makes it, potentially, more destructive than cocaine is its half-life. Many pharmacoligical studies have concluded such. For instance,
Cocaine primarily affected the ability of AMs to kill bacteria and tumor cells, likely by suppressing their ability to generate effector molecules such as NO. In contrast, marijuana use had a broader range of effects on AMs including suppression of phagocytosis, inhibition of bacterial and tumor killing, and a reduction in their ability to produce inflammatory cytokines. In considering the different effects of these two drugs, we should not exclude the possibility that our methods underestimate the impact of cocaine. Cocaine is rapidly inactivated by plasma pseudocholinesterase, while ?9-THC has a long half-life in tissues. In vitro, cocaine needs to be repeatedly replenished in order to observe its full suppressive effects.
Cocaine may destroy quicker, but quicker is not always more dangerous or destructive. A slow suffering and disarray has a grater ability to bring long term suffering and cost to loved ones and society.
God Bless America!
Yes, you can poison pot. You can poison anything. This does not make pot toxic.
Saying pot causes violent behavior akin to alcohol is a wonderful theory based on nothing. Millions have died as a result of alcohol. Thousands have died as a result of pot. Far more have died from eating peanuts.
Can you cite any studies of a connection between pot and violence?
I have two close friends who are daily users of pot. One is the head of a large law firm. The other made millions rising through the ranks of a corporation you are familiar with.
Yes, some potheads are lazy and non-productive, just like some who drink.
Mexican violence is because pot is illegal not because of anything else.
Not sure what most of your veiled post means.
That may be, but it appears to be non-sequitur with regards to the previous comment.
Arrays of disconnected soundbites is not the stuff of effective discourse.
A good conservative is aware of history and how it affects topics like prohibition and drugs.
Lots of my college buddies are very talented and highly successful in their fields and they have never stopped using it to my knowledge.
Why should there be a pill? Because smoking weed has *proven* harmful side effects. It’s extremely damaging in many ways. If it is possible to isolate the positive medicinal qualities of weed without all the bad stuff, *of course* there should be a pill.
So, yes, I’m serious. I can’t believe I have to explain this. I am the one thinking here. Doctors and drug companies should always seek to treat illnesses with as few negative side effects as possible. Do no harm, right?
And, by the way, your post sounds *just* like a liberal. The only thing you were missing was the word evil:
“So the eeeeeevil drug companies can have eeeeevil profits...”
It’s like you hate profits. Are you a socialist? It’s called supply and demand. If they can make a pill that people demand, then *YES* they should profit. Why should bread companies take in eeeeeevil profits for a grain that grows freely in open plains! EEEEEEEVIL!
Oh, I know, I know. The profits in this case are eeeeeevil because the government has outlawed the weed from being smoked freely. So the demand is a false demand, caused by government “overreach.” As I said in another post: I’ll worry about the more important overreach FIRST. Namely, when I don’t have to pay for lazy potheads’ welfare healthcare, I’ll take a more libertarian view of weed. Eliminate those things first and we can talk about legalizing marijuana. In the meantime, I could give a crap about this *inflated* libertarian issue when the welfare state threatens to crush us.
But, there are soooo many who will gladly argue endlessly for the legalization of pot while bigger issues loom. As if this will somehow be a victory for conservatives. Guess what? The liberals will *gladly* give you this victory so they can distract you from the...
* Erosion of REAL freedoms
* Rise of the welfare state
* Expansion of federal power
So, keep fighting the good fight for weed (and against eeeeeevil corporate profits) while we lose all the important battles!
I'll take that, as long as "legalization" is accomplished by overturning Wickard v Filburn.
This is an erosion of real freedoms and mj is something that can boost the economy in numerous ways but then you are probably also annoyed that I bought a homemade breadmaker - gasp! oh the horrors!!!
I have nothing against profits per se just those that make s-—loads by lobbying congress for extra-special treatment.
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