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 could be right, as I don’t even ask about his personal life, let alone his meds.
It just seemed too coincidental, he had several years with increasing trembling, feebleness, and haggard look. All understandable, as my mother went through the same thing years ago. Then, suddenly, within months of passage of legal medical pot use he was the picture of health
I think so.....
The Old Man of the Mountain and his “Hashashin”. True.
Yes. THC concentrations are key, that and acclimation.
I just use it so that I can pack 4 hours of reading FR into 30mins.
BTW, forgot to add that I know that whatever my doctor is doing hasn’t cured him, but it certainly has improved the quality of his life 10 fold for my observations.
Neither does it square with the known pharmacology of both agents, the way they are assimilated and metabolized by the body and their area of pharmaco-action.
The medicinal crowd are amateurs in any of this knowledge and bypass it regularly on their way to head shop profits. Can’t fault the small business initiative— just the kind of business. Weaponized THC could be very useful vs. motivated enemies.
Many layers to the “medicinal” effort.. mostly tax based.
Lifestyle comments he made were spot on. Lot’s of low level dopers who wangle a way to keep getting it without as much effort or risk. But of course one couldn’t say they were— addicted (LOL).
Yes, I do. I've had druggies "brag" about getting their medical marijuana card so they can smoke dope with impunity. My son-in-law has a drug addicted brother who gets medical marijuana because he's "depressed". He sells it to another brother. This is reality. conservatives who buy into this nonsense are simply being used as tools of leftists.
When Obamacare is repealed, and I no longer have to pay for your healthcare (or any other pothead’s healthcare), then I’ll take a more libertarian stance on weed.
You said that and yes you have no idea what you are talking about.
I’m not necessarily for legalizing it nationwide, but if they do, I’m buying a ton of stock in Frito-Lay and Nabisco.
Your analogy is completely specious. What medicinal qualities are they extolling with regards to beer? The pothead community claims wonder-drug properties for weed, but they refuse to advocate a pill with all the positive chemicals, but with the negative chemicals eliminated.
If you really want to stick with the irrelevant beer analogy, why are open container laws not your focus then? Or drunk driving laws?
5) MONEY. The war on drugs enriches politicians, lawyers, bankers, drug lords, the drug rehabilitation industry, suppliers of goods and services for law enforcement, and private prison corporations. It provides high salaries and great benefits for DEA agents and law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, prison guards, probation officers, etc., etc.
6) EMMANUEL GOLDSTEIN. The war on drugs creates enemies upon which the people can direct their hate. Not only does this distract the public from government malfeasance, it is source of a large fraction of Hollywood scripts that make a lot of money and reinforce the perceived need for the war on drugs. Most importantly, it creates the impression that government is actually doing something constructive to address the real and tragic problem of drug abuse.
7) ASSET FORFEITURE - The war on drugs has created a huge revenue stream that bolsters state and federal coffers as well as funding military hardware and other toys for local law enforcement.
8) EASE OF PROSECUTION - It is hard work to prove guilt in real criminal cases. But every drug possession is an easy case to prove since the crime is defined by the evidence. This greatly simplifies the work of prosecutors and boosts their conviction rates.
Certainly you don’t want to deprive our public servants, and those who serve them, from these benefits.
There are other benefits, of course, such as affording sociopaths the opportunity to kill pet dogs at will. But these are too numerous and specific to be included in a short list.
They say correlation does not mean causation, but I would bet a ton of money that far more libs smoke dope than conservatives. So I proffer the admittedly not-proven theory that too much dope can cause liberalism. I rest my case.
Sure I do. It's easy to recognize leftist policy. Making pot legal has always been a dream of leftists. A doped up society is an easy society to dupe. Bread and circuses my friend....
The problem will arise when they are state-subsidized.
But that will never happen. The legalizers’ plan is to tax the bejeezus out of it like liquor and cigarettes.
In fact, in some occasions, it may be worse than cocaine.
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Since you used the plual form of occasion, I’m wondering if you could please document 3 occasions in which pot is worse than cocaine.
Some can make exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother; but the other 99% of abortions are in every case uncalled for.
Same case always with pot. OK for those who have major issues that are real and not part of recreational use. The rest are all involving recreational use of losers and acceptance of pot will make kids thing it is safe and you increase the gateway drug issue.
Hurts kids, society at large and creates more problems for generations of people down the line.
The issue is how recreational drug users find ways on the pot band wagon for trivial reasons as an excuse. No one is bothered by someone with cancer using pot.
The rest though are just losers.
Once again you state medical marijuana is a hoax crock leftest plot whatever and no you have know idea what you are talking about when it comes to the medical use of marijuana
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