Posted on 04/24/2018 4:07:27 AM PDT by Magnatron
Dear Honorable Jeff Sessions,
I feel obligated to share the results of my five-year-long investigation into the medical benefits of the cannabis plant. Before I started this worldwide, in-depth investigation, I was not particularly impressed by the results of medical marijuana research, but a few years later, as I started to dedicate time with patients and scientists in various countries, I came to a different conclusion.
Not only can cannabis work for a variety of conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and pain, sometimes, it is the only thing that works. I changed my mind, and I am certain you can, as well. It is time for safe and regulated medical marijuana to be made available nationally. I realize this is an unconventional way to reach you, but your office declined numerous requests for an interview, and as a journalist, a doctor and a citizen, I felt it imperative to make sure you had access to our findings.
Mr. Sessions, there is an added urgency, as we are in the middle of a deadly opioid epidemic that has been described as the worst self-inflicted epidemic in the history of our country.
The drug overdose scourge claimed about 68,000 US lives in 2017, just over 45,000 of them from opioids alone. Every day, 115 Americans die from opioid overdoses. It has fueled a decline in an entire country's life expectancy and will be remembered as a sad and tragic chapter in our collective history.
These are desperate times, and while some may consider making medical marijuana widely available to be a desperate measure, the evidence has become increasingly clear of the important role cannabis can have.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
You have nothing to say worth hearing after your venal, intellectually dishonest, “nails in the road” analogy.
You SHOULD be ashamed of yourself.
The bottom line is - loads of people are benefiting from the medical research and medicalization of marijuana.
And this wouldn’t have happened if the world were guided by views like yours.
And - you’re chasing squirrels with your foxglove remarks...the point is - I choose what to grow - and by doing so - I know the product is pure and not some street concoction. The perceived level of danger is irrelevant.
And - really - since you CAN grow Foxglove and castor and not kill yourself apparently - should’t the same be true for Marijuana?
[[ “Just smoke a few extra cigarettes - they think nicotine may reduce symptoms of schizophrenia.” ]]
LOL ~ There’s a great idea! Personally, it took me seven years to give up cigarettes. That was back in ‘75. What a heinous addiction.
Don’t see it in my experience. Most opiate users are free range when it comes to marijuana. Legal and illegal users. Most also use ETHOH.
I understand the concept, don’t see the benefit in practice. Too many different receptors involved.
[[ “If I throw nails in the road, and five cars that drive by on that road get flat tires the same day, I will not get very far telling the police that correlation is not causation.” ]]
We’ve had our own flat tires (explosions!) [from “nails in the road”].
I understand what you are saying while realizing, at the same time, one’s mileage may vary. We have a friend who partakes in medical marijuana and he feels it does him some good.
But in our own bloodline, the intake of marijuana (not CBD oil with the THC removed), has been an ongoing nightmare for us as a family.
All those wishing to partake in marijuana for its health benefits, might seek out the possible side effects first, checking to see if it’s a worthwhile venture for them.
I appreciate your posts!
Evidence?
What's the evidence for these two claims?
Thanks for the ping.
While I detest CNN, in this one instance they got a story right. One of their rare “stopped clock” moments I wager.
Before I started using cannabis in 2015 I was severely depressed, eat up with anxiety & I weighed 289 lbs courtesy of zero energy or drive to do anything remotely resembling physical activity, let alone exercise. I was on multiple medications for depression, anxiety & insomnia. I was miserable & so was my wife who had to endure my unpredictable moods & by her own admission walked on eggshells for many years due to my illness.
I started using small amounts of cannabis daily in Feb 2015, By the end of 2015 I was off the antidepressants. By the end of 2016 I was off the benzo’s for anxiety. By the end of 2017 I was off the insomnia meds.
As I got better in 2015 I became aware of my physical body again & immediately started a low card diet & began walking every day. Since I began using cannabis in 2015 to this very day I have lost 93lbs of flab & I walk over 130 miles a month now on average. Physically, I’m in the best shape of my life since I was in my early 20’s & my mental state is vastly improved. After many years of my mood being in the ditch I am now able to experience joy & happiness once more.
Since Florida’s voter driven MMJ program came online I have had the opportunity to meet some incredibly awesome people. The majority of them are Trump supporters, no less. I see & hear from other patients who talk about how much better their lives are since they began using cannabis medicinally.
I’d love nothing more than to see some of FR’s vocal cannabis prohibitionists come to our town & meet me & these folks whose lives have been changed dramatically for the better by using cannabis to treat their ailments & diseases. Even more, I’d like for them to hear 1st hand my non-using wife’s account of how cannabis has helped me & by extension improved our life together in a wonderful way.
For many of us walking this earth cannabis is a wonderful medicine. Period.
As I recall, I have provided plenty of links in previous threads to actual results of real medical research. You choose not to believe the empirical evidence, but instead to believe the claims of those like NORML who have a lot to gain financially by pushing the false belief that marijuana is perfectly safe.
You have a problem, and there is nothing I can say or do to motivate you to get help. So, why should I bother?
Just because people are lining up to profit from it does not mean that there is any bona fide medical use for marijuana.
One of my researchers is actually researching potential medical benefit from an extract of marijuana. So far, no benefit. I've seen pretty much the same results published in the medical literature. As more research takes place, the more bad effects are documented--but actual benefits are simply not materializing.
And - really - since you CAN grow Foxglove and castor and not kill yourself apparently - should’t the same be true for Marijuana?
It isn't the growing of it that kills you. It's the ingestion of it.
Here is just one report, out of many catalogued at www.pubmed.gov: Verbal Memory Performance and Reduced Cortical Thickness of Brain Regions Along the Uncinate Fasciculus in Young Adult Cannabis Users.
The cortical thickness is reduced because either cells are not growing properly, or they are dying.
There are many other articles on PubMed. My search phrase was "marijuana effect on brain."
And thank you for your kind words in another post. I try to raise awareness that there are no harmless drugs, with the hope of encouraging people to "just say no." Obviously, the addicts don't want to hear that they are damaging themselves--addiction is a relentless master. But the people who could become addicted, maybe they will find the strength to resist that first use once they understand the dangers.
Something's been messing with your memory - I never "choose not to believe" your links but sometimes have pointed out that they don't support whatever claim you were making at the time.
but instead to believe the claims of those like NORML who have a lot to gain financially by pushing the false belief that marijuana is perfectly safe.
More memory failure - I've pointed out to you several times that NORML explicitly does not say that marijuana is perfectly safe.
But it seems you do know you were wrong to claim "Marijuana causes overdose deaths" because you're squirming so hard to not provide evidence for that claim.
[[ “I try to raise awareness that there are no harmless drugs, with the hope of encouraging people to “just say no.”” ]]
Great idea; I’m thinking of getting on the “please don’t do benzos” trail, after peeling myself off klonopin one painful day at a time. I only took them for a few months and at a dosage I felt was low enough to get off of with ease, but I don’t know if there is such a thing. Never again!
Keep up the great work!
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