Posted on 11/11/2015 11:22:02 AM PST by ConservingFreedom
Another day, another controversy. Medical marijuana activists are rightly upset over comments DEA head, Chuck Rosenberg, made to reporters last week.
During a Q&A, he talked about his stance on medical marijuana.
"What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal because it's not. We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don't call it medicine -- that is a joke."
Right, so you want to have an intellectual debate prefaced with medical marijuana is a joke. Want to clarify that bit a more?
"There are pieces of marijuana -- extracts or constituents or component parts -- that have great promise," he said. "But if you talk about smoking the leaf of marijuana -- which is what people are talking about when they talk about medicinal marijuana -- it has never been shown to be safe or effective as a medicine."
I'm with the activists who point to study after study showing it helps with chronic pain, muscle spasms and other ailments. In fact, here's an analysis of 79 studies from JAMA pointing to "moderate-quality evidence to support the use of cannabinoids for the treatment of chronic pain and spasticity."
Damn, here he is making a blanket statement and along comes science...
No. I get the frustrations of medical marijuana activists. They have turned to change.org demanding his resignation. As of today, the petition has gathered nearly 16,000 signatures.
Nothing wrong with voicing frustration at the DEA head, but it's empty. The DEA works like every other agency in the executive branch. It enforces the law. Well, sometimes...
23 states and DC have passed some form of marijuana legalization. Specific medicinal uses all the way to recreational. One problem, none of the state laws trump federal law.
And yes, the DEA is a federal agency. Chuck Rosenberg isn't a fan of marijuana. Even if he was on the side of legalizing it for everyone, he can't do anything. His job is to enforce the law as directed by the President.
Notice the raids have quieted down on dispensaries across the 23 states? Rosenberg may think it's a joke, but the latitude given to the states is telling. Politicians make bombastic statements, but state after state is flipping green.
The FDA is moving to give researchers more room to study the drug. The JAMA study above? 79 studies. That's it. In 2013, 16,000 people overdosed from opioid painkillers. How many died from overdosing on marijuana? Oh right... Zero.
Other studies have shown a decrease in painkiller overdose deaths when medical marijuana was accessible.
It isn't just pain where marijuana plays a significant role. Seizure disorders have been treated with various strains. Who knows what researchers could unlock in the future?
Is it time to open the doors and make it legal? For medicinal use? Definitely. Recreational? Soon, but it needs tight regulation to prevent a wild west of potent strains and no oversight. In Colorado and Washington, the results are still early, but you cannot call it a failure.
Is it a joke? Maybe to Chuck Rosenberg and others. Should he resign or be fired? Of course not.
To the people medical marijuana helps? They aren't laughing. And it's a shame they get targeted. But, the tide is turning. The American people are with them. State governments are increasingly with them. The Federal government? One day you'll wake up to a simple voice vote that finally ends the debate.
Medical Marijuana=Gay civil unions
Backdoor legalization, the endgame is Cheech and Chong.
“Sometimes there are not “other things†to relieve pain, and in point of fact, “pain management†is one of the medical travesties of our time. The fact is, the medical profession has not done a decent job of understanding and successfully treating pain.”
Agree wholeheartedly.
I will also add that I don’t have a problem with someone with cancer smoking marijuana if it gives them any relief.
My problem is that in California MM is basically a way of people getting it for recreational use. The shops are sleezy, and the product is unreliable.
I’d rather it be dispensed like other meds. Of course getting drugs approved by the FDA is a whole other mess.
You mean the guy who started this thread, Einstein?
Have anything to say about the issue at hand, or just here to be the peanut gallery again?
Many medicines have negative side effects - should they all be banned?
Stoners going to "clinics", getting pot and sitting around smoking pot are not medicating.
How is that relevant to your original point about the risk of respiratory disease?
Since young people report that they can get pot more easily than beer or cigarettes, it seems that the best way to keep pot out of their hands is to legalize it for adults; sellers of legal drugs typically card minors, whereas sellers of illegal drugs never do.
Qualifications for employment? Professional licensing?
Matters for employers and licensers, not government.
That's why nobody smokes pot, right? ROTFL!
“Lyrica did nothing...zero...zip for me.
The only relief I got was from Norco and I damn well know how it can make one feel.
So, seriously, how does one abuse Lyrica?”
Everyone reacts differently to different drugs. I was on Neurontin for 4 years and it kept getting less effective until I was up to 1200mg 3x a day. I talked to a couple of people who were on less than 100mg a day (TOTAL) and they said they couldn’t function.
Lyrica for me basically feels like I’ve had about 3 beers in rapid succession. Being someone that has about 3 beers a year, each separated by several months, means I feel rather tipsy. Taking several Lyrica at once would amplify that.
The propensity for abuse is the reason the pharmacy has to check your id and log it when it’s purchased. I can’t see that I’d abuse it but then I’ve never tried drinking cough syrup for the side effects either but some people do.
So even though you’ve been told not to ping us, you continue to stalk and ping us Einstein?
2014 signup. Troll.
Obviously the potheads of America figured out that shoving medical marijuana bills past state legislatures was the best way to get pot legalized state by state. Marijuana, the drug that gradually makes you an idiot. Pot and other drugs are a big factor in giving us more tax sucking losers and parasites
Maybe I should just bow out and let both of you discuss...
Frankly, I have no position in this, other than the obvious. I think it should be illegal
I don't have any problem making it illegal. I have serious problems with the idea that embracing the New Deal "substantial effects" interpretation of the Commerce Clause in order to make it a federal issue is worth the collateral damage.
Not familiar with the issue...Is not illegal enough?
Just thinking briefly about this, I don’t understand why commerce would even be a issue with a drug that simply needs to be put on the class or schedule whatever list...which I assume it is...
If the problem is the smokable form, them maybe they should just allow that form of the substance and dispense it through the normal pharmacy distribution network with a doctor prescription.
Then get rid of all this medial MJ nonsense. and laws like Colorado’s which is just plain nuts.. After which you have a legal pharmaceutical the is regulated the same way as Oxycontin. Thus it would still be illegal to grow, but they will still do it, however it will be readily available via prescription.
That’s the only answer to this mess...But I don’t use the stuff...smoked it when I was a 60s hippy wanna-bee, but I note that todays MJ is nothing like the weak pot, we had back then. This new stuff is closer to a good hashish. Had a smoke a few years ago, it almost made me unconscious. It needs to be regulated.
The question is, by who and on what authority.
FDA
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