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.
Exactly. MM is joke in CA.
On Venice Beach I saw them aggressively hawking it on the boardwalk.
Commie hippie subverter! /s
The American Academy of Neurology is as conservative an organization as you will find in Medicine.
https://www.aan.com/Guidelines/home/GetGuidelineContent/651
And they have weighed in on Cannabinoid uses in Multiple Sclerosis
I had a dear friend who just passed away from colon cancer.
We are in California, and she was using medical marijuana.
She was the sweetest person I have ever met, and the most devout Christian.
She was also a nurse.
We laughed about her experiences with medical marijuana. She said the bad kind made her very stoned, and she hated it. The good kind helped her nausea and she was able to eat. She also said it was hard to get the good kind from a reputable source.
I have a daughter with seizures, and there are quite a few reports of medical marijuana helping with seizures without the terrible side effects of abti-seizure medication.
I’m very pro medical marijuana, but against legalizing it for recreational use.
I had a dear friend who just passed away from colon cancer.
We are in California, and she was using medical marijuana.
She was the sweetest person I have ever met, and the most devout Christian.
She was also a nurse.
We laughed about her experiences with medical marijuana. She said the bad kind made her very stoned, and she hated it. The good kind helped her nausea and she was able to eat. She also said it was hard to get the good kind from a reputable source.
I have a daughter with seizures, and there are quite a few reports of medical marijuana helping with seizures without the terrible side effects of abti-seizure medication.
I’m very pro medical marijuana, but against legalizing it for recreational use.
Sorry but you’re ignorant of the facts. I have used pot infused salves for nerve pain due to MS and it, in FACT, does alleviate the pain. True Medical Marijuana is low in THC and high in Cannabanoids so smoking it ain’t going to do much for stoners. Since what I used was external I can’t see as I fall in to that category.
What I am forced to use on a regular basis is Lyrica. This is a controlled rx product which is prone to abuse. The whole “marijuana is a gateway drug” has nothing on this product. I’m supposed to be taking 100mg 3x a day but generally only take it once before bed as it incapacitates me (i.e. not driving or operating heavy machinery).
Marijuana was used extensively for medical purposes before the 1930s when the drug companies started pushing their agendas and has been vilified (and abused) since. But there’s no end to folks that know everything and since they smoked it once in high school they know there’s nothing good that can come from it.
“Many of the pot dispensaries here in California have become criminal hotbeds.”
There was an illegal alien arrested a few months ago for murder. He worked as a security guard at a medical marijuana dispensary.
__
__
NEWS
Man arrested in Hollywood murder worked as security guard
The 31-year-old man accused of shooting a woman in the head in Hollywood worked as a security guard at a marijuana dispensary and offered private security services.
KABC
By Melissa MacBride
Sunday, July 26, 2015
LOS ANGELES (KABC) —
The 31-year-old man accused of shooting a woman in the head in Hollywood worked as a security guard at a marijuana dispensary and offered private security services.
Ezeoma Obioha opened a business two units down from M Barbering on Pico Boulevard and Curson Avenue about six months ago called Hoods Inc., said Moe Manley with M Barbering.
“It was supposed a clothing store and music studio and some other stuff, which was a bit strange because the shop was never open,” Manley said. “He would be there sometimes and sometimes it was closed.”
He also worked as a security guard for the marijuana dispensary next door. Police searched both locations.
Obioha was arrested Friday night for allegedly murdering Carrie Melvin over a financial dispute. On July 5, Melvin and her boyfriend were walking on Sunset Boulevard and McCadden Place, when Obioha allegedly shot her from behind.
People who knew Obioha say he was friendly, but something about him seemed off.
“Sometimes he seemed like a regular guy and other times he seemed a little weird,” Manley said.
THC is a cannabinoid - and has medical uses just as the other cannabinoids such as CBD (aka Charlotte's Web).
Marijuana was used extensively for medical purposes before the 1930s
Yup ... THC and all.
__________________________________________________________________
Kentucky's Incoming Republican Governor Supports Medical Marijuana
His Democratic opponent said letting patients use cannabis for symptom relief would produce a "lost generation" of adolescent potheads.
https://reason.com/blog/2015/11/04/kentuckys-incoming-republican-governor-s
I remember seeing that.
There is no doubt that mm in CA is abused extensively.
Which proves what? Should all restaurants be banned if one restaurant employed a murdering illegal alien?
But still thrashing, sad to say.
Do you agree it is up to the states to decide MM per the 10th Amendment, or do you side with fedgov?
Yes. I agree with that. States rights trump feds. 10th Amendment still very important as far as I am concerned.
Please note, most of my comments have been limited to what I see here in CA.
Agreed.
“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.”
Maybe if the federal government would go back to its enumerated powers and butt out of matters like this that it has no authority over, we could have that debate.
DEA is a criminal organization and their opinion is as good as any other criminal’s opinion. All they do is protect Mexican drug cartels, entrap victims on trumped up changes and fill up the prisons. What we need is border security and interdiction, an end to the Afghan poppy protection program.
Eliminate the DEA and let states decide on drug laws. As far as I’m concerned, if one or a few states go ahead with MM or even recreational marijuana, other states will benefit by studying the results and the people of the states can decide based on the results and their preferences.
“MJ is toxic crap. There are other things you take to relieve pain.”
Yeah, but most of them are opiates, which are much more toxic than marijuana.
I didn't realize it was our general policy to criminalize all dangerous things - I had the strangest notion I'd seen alcohol, rat poison, knives, etc. freely sold.
You could say that about any drug-—such as morphine.
I’m saying mm here in CA is a total fraud and recreational use is total bs. We are becoming a nation of freaking losers thanks all of this stupid crap.
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