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” is just cover to push recreational use into acceptability.
MM is any oxymoron.
horsepoop. MJ is toxic crap. There are other things you take to relieve pain.
Prohibition was cover for paper fiber over hemp and racist views about users.
Ignorant nonsense - the lethal dose of THC is 240 joints.
There are other things you take to relieve pain.
Those other things are, in fact, toxic.
And criminalizing recreational drugs is nothing but a way for the government to use its iron fist to take away your freedoms.
KEEP THE FREAKING GOVERNMENT OUT!
Has recreational use of hydrocodone been pushed into acceptability by its accepted medical uses?
Here in CA, MM is a total joke and a fraud. Check out the dispensaries. You have a sore leg. They give it to you.
Meanwhile try lighting up a regular cigarette, they call the SWAT team out on you. Total BS if you ask me.
It seems to have been in Colorado.
Still not a joke in other states, nor to those in CA with genuine medical need.
It seems to have been in Colorado.
Recreational use of hydrocodone is accepted in Colorado? Evidence?
And all of them more toxic than marijuana.
That said, my youthful experience did not note any pain relief qualities.
But I do know a bunch of Vets who use it for PTSD and get very good results...if for no other reason than keeping them off the bottle.
That’s the fraud. It is not genuine medical need. It is fraud and abuse here in CA. Many of the pot dispensaries here have become criminal hotbeds.
My view on the whole MM issue is its legalization is an incremental step to recreational legalization. I will also say that the vast majority of MM users are just potheads.
However, for many it is helpful. BTW I tried it in the 60’s, but never developed a fondness for it. My mother, however used it in teas, brownies, etc. (never smoked it) for her cancer and chemo treatment issues. It did wonders for her and made things bearable.
On the HBO series Entourage they made California medical marijuana into a running joke and a scam where potheads were easily able to buy their sacred “herb” at dispensaries with a doctors note from a pro-marijuana MD.
“horsepoop. MJ is toxic crap. There are other things you take to relieve pain.”
Well I beg to differ. My wife, who is 73, suffers from back pain (she has had one surgery and may have to have two more), and she is alegic to opioids. She has never smoked her entire life, but she has gotten some relief from her pain using marijuana. So unless you’re a doctor with some evidence to the contrary, your comment is the “horsepoop” here. 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.
Some of it isn't and some of it is - the latter is not fraud.
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