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?
Ok, it stinks like shiite, that is enough for me :)
That sort of confirms a question I've had.
My doctor suffers from Parkinsons, trembling hands and all that.
However, his symptoms disappeared soon after pot was legalized here in CO.
In fact, when I saw him a couple of months ago he looked so healthy that when he asked me how I felt, I responded with "I feel OK, but you look great, I need whatever it is you're taking!".
He actually got an embarrassed look, mumbled something like 'I'm not sure you do' and moved on.
Makes me chuckle, as he seems to be as conservative as I am, and I've never 'partaken'.
I'm sure happy for him though, he looked terrible before.
I don’t understand how anyone can smoke that stinking weed
Bruce is equally adept in the worlds of politics and musicology. Now that I think of it, inspired by your cruelly accurate post, Bruce actually has many more chords under control than Obama.
Perhaps it is he who should have run for President?
...so, you have the munchies, do you? [*^')
>>So why is Washington still waging a war on weed?<<
It is needed to keep the needlessly high numbers of judicial officials employed with taxpayer funds. It is needed to keep penal institutions operating at full capacity and it is a good control measure on the population at large.
“SO, whatever is in marijuana cant be isolated and turned into a pill with the same properties? Very unlikely that it cant.
But thats not what the pothead lobby wants. They want to smoke it, not actually do research on what could REALLY be helpful.”
Why not convert beer to pill form then, as well?
That is NOT TRUE! I simply happen to be inordinately fond of popcorn. And Cheetos. And wheat thins. And Oreo cookies. You don't happen to have any Oreo cookies on you, do you?
You are bringing anecdotal information to an educated discussion. If your point is that in over 99% of situations I am right and you are wrong, you have succeeded.
Then again, lots of people smoke over 40 cigs a day. Not even Willie smokes 40 joints a day. Even anecdotally you failed.
no
Real question: does Marinol deliver the same buzz as smoking weed?
You got the munchies too, man?
Dr. Gupta is disingenuous and misleading.
The risks of “smoking” marijuana far outweigh the benefits and may lead to disease. In fact, in some occasions, it may be worse than cocaine.
Now, if you infuse Olive oil or other cooking oil with it, and administer it as an oil, you, then, have a powerful healing medicine without the negative effects. This can be manufactured and distributed, rather easily, but cannot be patented, per say. However, the process of “infusion” can.
Everyone I know from family and friends are messed up or gone from their use of Marijuana. It is the first step for many, and not condoning will only open the door to more widespread use, thus more social problems and feminizing of men, as it raises estrogen and decreases progesterone and testosterone. Come to think of it, maybe that is what they are truly after?
Pray for America!
I try not to have oreo cookies "on me". If there were any, it would be a sign I missed (and was making a mess). Besides, I much prefer Chip's A'hoy, Pecan Sandies and few others --- and try to not have any of those "on me" either.
Now if the right gal came along and just insisted I have some on me, I might be able to make an exception to the rule. Probably best only after becoming married, of course. Which brings up a whole entire other set of considerations. Like --- does she like peanut butter, or not? You know, important things like that...(if she does, then good, if she doesn't, then more for me! hurray)
All that said, I might be able to hook you up with a supplier, for a small fee, like possibly just a few cookies...which I think it best for all concerned for me to just take and consume privately, being as after this conversation...we possibly shouldn't be trusting one another beyond securing primary supply.
No offense intended...but I do tend to be choosy about who I share cookies with. The NSA is everywhere nowadays.
If the 1st Wookie gets wind of who is doing all the cookies, then cookies will likely be forbidden, or only allowed to be supplied through through some synthesis of Union Cartel & International Banking Syndicate, passing themselves off as innocent "bakers".
Those Keebler Elves? Their product is like crack, but still not as bad as the potato chip cartels output. (psst...I know some guys who stashes of that stuff too, just let me know and I'll hook you up)
I think the wookie wants them all for herself and her friends, and only those who vote for her husband making her proud to be an American (for the first and last time). She is trying to cut out the schoolkids from having access...from cookies. This is where it starts.
Did they get to Orville Redenbacker for not donating to the "right" (I mean "left") political causes, or not donating enough? Drowned in his jacuzzi? Uh-huh.
Be careful. And eat all the popcorn before they find you, get to you, and you end up dying. You can't take it with you, you know?
Would you have preferred an anology comparing the relative negative impacts of alcohol and marijuana?
One has killed millions worldwide and contributed to countless violent confrontations. The other has caused some people to say “relax, man”, and tends to make folks calm rather than combative.
I am not against the consumption of alcohol but comparing it to pot is like comparing a nuclear bomb to a kid’s cap pistol.
In what way is pot worse than cocaine? I know it is impolite to say, but that is an awfully ignorant statement.
Already has, and for some time. The prescription product is derived from a DEA approved and guarded plantation in Mississippi. It is THC in a pill form, and is branded
as Marinol. Look it up— in the US pharmacopaeia. USP in other words.
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