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.
Yes, but I would lobby for decriminalization.
P.S. As long as civil forfeiture was not used by the states.
"Until a nonsmoked rapid-onset cannabinoid drug delivery system becomes available, we acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana, such as pain or AIDS wasting." - Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base (1999), Institute of Medicine
I have none. I saw hydrocodone and thought 'marijuana.' My bad.
Prior to federal government stopping hemp production through the misapplication of the Marijuana Tax Act, cannabis was prescribed for a variety of maladies. It was not smoked, but prepared as a tincture by soaking in grain alcohol.
Instead of cutting and pasting pro-pot propaganda try reading the article.
From the article:
"CONCLUSION: Numerous studies suggest that marijuana smoke is an important risk factor in the development of respiratory disease."
From the same article:
RECOMMENDATION 6: Short-term use of smoked marijuana (less than six months) for patients with debilitating symptoms (such as intractable pain or vomiting) must meet the following conditions:
· failure of all approved medications to provide relief has been documented,
· the symptoms can reasonably be expected to be relieved by rapid-onset cannabinoid drugs,
· such treatment is administered under medical supervision in a manner that allows for assessment of treatment effectiveness, and
· involves an oversight strategy comparable to an institutional review board process that could provide guidance within 24 hours of a submission by a physician to provide marijuana to a patient for a specified use.
NONE of these things are even close to being done for the so called "medical" marijuana. While you may think you have a good argument you're really only supporting a bunch of stoned leftists who want to normalize their deviant behavior.
Many medicines have negative side effects - should they all be banned?
From the same article:
RECOMMENDATION
A recommendation is not a fact. And whether marijuana should be tried before or after another medication should be up to doctors in consultation with patients, not politicians or bureaucrats.
“MM is extensively abused here in CA.”
And EVERY other Rx prescription drug is more toxic, more addictive and abused more. Anyone with an injury or surgery gets synthetic heroin thrown at them (by doctors who get perks/kickbacks from pharma firms).
Used to be, when you stopped by a small pharmacy in the morning you’d see a line of addicts. Far worse junkies than anyone you’d see in front of an MM clinic. Today the “regulars” get their tax-payer funded pills delivered straight home. Less visibility and less questions.
We’re already paying for addicts and MM does not make anything worse. All it does is give another option besides truly addictive, toxic drugs. It also reduces the amount of taxpayer money going to big pharma and big insurance.
The point is you're playing fast and loose with the facts and the truth. You quote a paragraph from an article that out of context seems to recommend that smoking pot is great medicine. But when one actually reads the article the exact opposite is true and when they "recommend" it it's only under very stringent guidelines that NOBODY follows in the "medical" marijuana industry.
No, that's your functional illiteracy at work.
"CONCLUSION: Numerous studies suggest that marijuana smoke is an important risk factor in the development of respiratory disease."
Many medicines have negative side effects - should they all be banned?
Certainly there should be research into vaping. If I needed it, I would if at all possible vape, assuming someone was producing a reliable vaping liquid.
The problem, as best I have heard, has been reefer madness. Getting official blessing to have studies has been deliberately made like pulling hen’s teeth, in an eternally self fulfilling prophecy. MM as we know it in “Mile High Colorado” doesn’t open that up because it is a specific exemption for personally smoked pot.
Stoners going to "clinics", getting pot and sitting around smoking pot are not medicating. They're sitting around getting stoned. They're doing the same thing they always have but now (wink wink) it's "medicine"....
Hey man...more weed...yeah.
Let’s see if sh*thead from the other thread tries to be a hardsss here too.
Pass the Twinkies, it’s “munchies” time...
No, that's you cutting and pasting pro-pot propaganda and not knowing or caring about context.
The only thing that MM laws did was to open up personally smoked pot. AFAIK if one tried to make vapes in such a regime, it would still be banned.
Don’t blame the shadow for being the shadow if you are blocking the light.
I think you may be correct. My friend was on a pill.
I just know you can’t get it from a regular doctor which is a shame.
That’s a reasonable proposition.
Next, we have to address the numerous externalities of recreational drug use, which are many. Exposure to children? Qualifications for employment? Professional licensing? Are all these affected?
How does she ingest it?
And there will be regulation required because society contains innocent children, who will be affected.
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