Are there medical marijuana users in Ireland?/ Getting high, on the sly

oneintotwo

Given all the stuff going on in the states with California and Oregon getting full legalisation on the ballot and a few more voting on medical marijuana legalisation in 2010, I've been wondering why Ireland has been so quiet on the medical issue.

I'm aware of Noel Mccullagh, the MS sufferer from Ballinasloe who has been forced to live in Holland to have any quality of life, but haven't heard much else from anyone.

PeakOutput

because our country is backward and our politicians have no balls

orourkeda

We'll have a country of sick stoners.

As if things werent bad enough already. Make them neck a litre of vodka instead.

Prof.Badass

Nope. Scumbags and teenagers are the only people who'd know where to get weed in this country :rolleyes:.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

It helps me sleep. No recommendation from the GP or anything of the sort. It will be legalised, but it's going to take a very very long time... Hopefully it happens before I am an OAP...

oneintotwo

PeakOutput wrote: »

because our country is backward and our politicians have no balls

Doesn't change the fact that there seems to be nobody speaking out

minidazzler

oneintotwo wrote: »

Doesn't change the fact that there seems to be nobody speaking out

They hold marches every now and then, but people are WAYYYY Too stoned to actually march....so it just becomes a networking exercise, finding new dealers and such.

TBH, if people want it for medicinal, why not grow your own? It's not too difficult or expensive really!

genericguy

minidazzler wrote: »

They hold marches every now and then, but people are WAYYYY Too stoned to actually march....so it just becomes a networking exercise, finding new dealers and such.

TBH, if people want it for medicinal, why not grow your own? It's not too difficult or expensive really!

nope, it's because some of us have professional careers and the stigma of being a "junkie weed smoker" would adversely affect our career prospects.

ireland is a country of superstition and anecdotal evidence, not of science - a certain fat geebag who is in charge of the health service executive has been quoted as saying she will never approve its application as a therapeutic, irrespective of any benefits that have been proven.

and if you grow your own for medicinal purposes, you run the risk of being caught, and the penalty for this is a conviction for intent to supply.

Sanjuro

vinylmesh wrote: »

Nope. Scumbags and teenagers are the only people who'd know where to get weed in this country :rolleyes:.

Well that's a ridiculous generalisation to make.

MaybeLogic

I use it for stress.
I'm very stressed.

Rented Mule

minidazzler wrote: »

TBH, if people want it for medicinal, why not grow your own? It's not too difficult or expensive really!

This is the 'A' answer.

You can get started growing you own for less than the price of an ounce of weed in Ireland.

With the current budget crisis(es) going on in every department of government, you would think that the HSE would be more than willing to get a few people off of the books.

biko

oneintotwo wrote:

Are there medical marijuana users in Ireland?

No, the current legal position in relation to Cannabis in the Republic of Ireland is that it is a scheduled substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. This means that if you are caught with any amount,however small, you can be prosecuted and fined. It is also an offence to grow cannabis plants and on summary conviction for this offence, you could be liable for a fine not exceeding €1,270 or a prison sentence of up to 12 months.

Lone Stone

My ma smoke's hash for multiple scleroses the difference it make's is shocking it should be legal for medical needs.

Truley

vinylmesh wrote: »

Nope. Scumbags and teenagers are the only people who'd know where to get weed in this country :rolleyes:.

Wow doesn't take much to be a 'scumbag' these days does it :rolleyes:

discus

Can't blame Harney for not legalising it.

Right now, knackers can basically intimidate or coerce GPs into diagnosing them as 'disability' cases so that they can claim disability off welfare. Depression, back back, etc. All "no work ever again" situations.

Do you really want it so that knackers can do the same, and start claiming Hash Allowance off the Dept. of Social Welfare?!

MaybeLogic

discus wrote: »

Do you really want it so that knackers can do the same, and start claiming Hash Allowance off the Dept. of Social Welfare?!

Yes.
I'd much prefer to live in a cannabis-based society than in an alcohol-based one, anyday.
Bring on the hash-vouchers.

ScumLord

I watched that "super high me" and the doctor pretty much dismisses the medical cannabis argument, while being pro recreational use.

He says there's no way on earth he'd advise a patient to smoke a spliff to cure anything. It makes sense you don't know the exact strength, that's varies from batch to batch, unless it's refined properly it's not a medical drug, it's more of a remedy.

MaybeLogic

ScumLord wrote: »

I watched that "super high me" and the doctor pretty much dismisses the medical cannabis argument, while being pro recreational use.

He says there's no way on earth he'd advise a patient to smoke a spliff to cure anything. It makes sense you don't know the exact strength, that's varies from batch to batch, unless it's refined properly it's not a medical drug, it's more of a remedy.

A doctor can prescribe heroin, coke, amphetamines (or some of their derivatives) but can't can't prescribe weed. Go figure.
Canada, the most sensible nation earth, imo, okayed it for medical use and that's good enough for me.

My name is URL

The illegality is only one aspect of the whole thing. There's plenty of 'synthetic' drugs being studied atm.. that suits the pharma companies better.. why allow people to use something that costs next to nothing to produce yourself?

tim_holsters

PeakOutput wrote: »

because our country is backward and our politicians have no balls

Never a truer word spoken or typed.

Pace2008

If smoking till I pass out on the couch watching Reeling in the Years can be considered medical use then I suppose I'm a medical user.

ScumLord

MaybeLogic wrote: »

A doctor can prescribe heroin, coke, amphetamines (or some of their derivatives) but can't can't prescribe weed. Go figure.
Canada, the most sensible nation earth, imo, okayed it for medical use and that's good enough for me.

They're controlled drugs, administered in highly controlled doses. I just don't believe smoking weed can be considered medical.

The medical uses of cannabis in Canada and the US is a joke, even the users will joke about how easy it is to get cannabis for just about anything, it's just a back door for the legalisation of weed.

People do get pain relief from the high, I think the mistake medical companies are making is to try and separate the high from the medical benefits.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

MaybeLogic wrote: »

I use it for stress.
I'm very stressed.

It's great for that, but it can also make people anxious

biko wrote: »

No, the current legal position in relation to Cannabis in the Republic of Ireland is that it is a scheduled substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. This means that if you are caught with any amount,however small, you can be prosecuted and fined. It is also an offence to grow cannabis plants and on summary conviction for this offence, you could be liable for a fine not exceeding €1,270 or a prison sentence of up to 12 months.

How much do you get in jail per day? Do you know?

Truley wrote: »

Wow doesn't take much to be a 'scumbag' these days does it :rolleyes:

I think he was joking, or at least I hope he was :P

My name is URL wrote: »

The illegality is only one aspect of the whole thing. There's plenty of 'synthetic' drugs being studied atm.. that suits the pharma companies better.. why allow people to use something that costs next to nothing to produce yourself?

Now we're talking... It's not so much that the drug will benifit the end user, nobody gives a shít about that, it's all to do with how much money can be made from it not being legalised. The pharma companies will be up in arms if this keeps up around the globe.

Harney is an ignorant, superstitious, bakwards fool who refuses to even look at the benifits of this drug because her pea-like brain refuses to believe that the propoganda she read in school when she was a kid was a fcuking lie... She's a gobshíte, may the fat bítch find herself stranded in a remote village somewhere in Somalia, they'd feed off her for months.

Pete M.

I'd be a lot more pissed off depressed if I didn't smoke, so I guess that could be seen as medical use.
My Old Man, who is pretty ill, has had a couple of well appreciated tokes with me.
The mother-in-law has MS but wouldn't consider using it, just because it is illegal, which is sad because anything that could help should be considered.
Her choice though.

But yeah, grow your own is the way to go. No dealing with scumbags, no chemicals, nice bit of gardening required and a fine harvest to enjoy, all good.

dasdog

Lone Stone wrote: »

My ma smoke's hash for multiple scleroses the difference it make's is shocking it should be legal for medical needs.

Mothers tend to be good at indoor cultivation. Maybe have a word because hash has all sorts of crap melted in with it to bulk the weight en route from Morocco and other places.

My name is URL

Trenton Warm Spit wrote: »

Now we're talking... It's not so much that the drug will benifit the end user, nobody gives a shít about that, it's all to do with how much money can be made from it not being legalised. The pharma companies will be up in arms if this keeps up around the globe.

Harney is an ignorant, superstitious, bakwards fool who refuses to even look at the benifits of this drug because her pea-like brain refuses to believe that the propoganda she read in school when she was a kid was a fcuking lie... She's a gobshíte, may the fat bítch find herself stranded in a remote village somewhere in Somalia, they'd feed off her for months.

Tbh, I'd say the same stance on the subject would be taken regardless of who the Health Minister was. Look at what's happening in the UK for example.. people resigning from highly esteemed positions on the main advisory board on drugs.

Governments are in cahoots with the Pharma industry.. they all benefit from people's suffering and the money they're willing to pay to ease it. I know it's conspiracy theory stuff, but of all conspiracies it's the most believable, imo

I have little doubt that drug companies are playing a part in keeping Marijuana down.. just like the cotton industry did in the past

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

My name is URL wrote: »

Tbh, I'd say the same stance on the subject would be taken regardless of who the Health Minister was. Look at what's happening in the UK for example.. people resigning from highly esteemed positions on the main advisory board on drugs.

Governments are in cahoots with the Pharma industry.. they all benefit from people's suffering and the money they're willing to pay to ease it. I know it's conspiracy theory stuff, but of all conspiracies it's the most believable, imo

I have little doubt that drug companies are playing a part in keeping Marijuana down.. just like the cotton industry did in the past

That is true, but it's hard to like that woman. I guess I was a bit hard on her, but she has made some really stupid decisions in the past. Not difficult, but stupid.

It's like the oil industries, or forestry, or any other industry that lobbies a government and keeps certain goods as contraband. Imagine what it would be like if we grew hemp and replaced wood and other materials?

I just think of the publicans and the power they have in government, I wonder is it the same for the pharma companies?

ScumLord

Trenton Warm Spit wrote: »

It's like the oil industries, or forestry, or any other industry that lobbies a government and keeps certain goods as contraband. Imagine what it would be like if we grew hemp and replaced wood and other materials?

Why we're not growing hemp is beyond me, you can't even get high off it but the blanket ban means we're missing out on using one of the most useful plants fibres we've ever known. It's a perfect example of just how stupid and uninformed the anti drugs lobby is.

Fallen Buckshot

I think the biggest problem is that most people only see it as a drug and not all the other products that can be made not only from stalks but seed etc. Prohibition is what has and always will kill progress and advancement

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

ScumLord wrote: »

Why we're not growing hemp is beyond me, you can't even get high off it but the blanket ban means we're missing out on using one of the most useful plants fibres we've ever known. It's a perfect example of just how stupid and uninformed the anti drugs lobby is.

You can buy lots of hemp products such as hemp tea, clothes and books, but the problem is this stuff is not produced on a large scale, it is expensive and the stigma is still there, "Hash t-shirts, Jaysus mary, that's disgraceful"...

Here's an informative site that might interest some.

Linky

Red Hand

ScumLord wrote: »

Why we're not growing hemp is beyond me, you can't even get high off it but the blanket ban means we're missing out on using one of the most useful plants fibres we've ever known. It's a perfect example of just how stupid and uninformed the anti drugs lobby is.

Trenton Warm Spit wrote: »

You can buy lots of hemp products such as hemp tea, clothes and books, but the problem is this stuff is not produced on a large scale, it is expensive and the stigma is still there, "Hash t-shirts, Jaysus mary, that's disgraceful"...

I remember watching Nationwide a few years back and there was this guy growing cannabis. You can grow cannabis, but the stuff thats used to make hemp and all other non-drug related products has minuscle amounts of the active drug in it.

Whereas the pyschoactive variety has poorer fibres which makes fairly poor quality hemp produce.

ScumLord

In the Uk anyway you can get a license to grow it but they have to do silly things like burn the flowers and the whole industry is overburdened with regulations that don't really apply to the plants they're using.

If Ireland at least allowed the growing of hemp it could give a huge boost to the economy. The farmers being screwed onto the dole line because of the bully boy tactics of the likes of Tescos would have a very valuable crop with very little international competition.

Overheal

PeakOutput wrote: »

because our country is backward and our politicians have no balls

They've had the balls to con you for years..

MaybeLogic

ScumLord wrote: »

They're controlled drugs, administered in highly controlled doses. I just don't believe smoking weed can be considered medical.

The medical uses of cannabis in Canada and the US is a joke, even the users will joke about how easy it is to get cannabis for just about anything, it's just a back door for the legalisation of weed.

People do get pain relief from the high, I think the mistake medical companies are making is to try and separate the high from the medical benefits.

The government tried growing it there but the quality was crap so they've issued licences to people who can grow it for medicinal purposes, either 13 or 79 plants, I believe.
It has plenty of legitimate medical uses; for MS for example, it relieves the nausea from chemo, relieves asthma, glaucoma. It's a natural analgesic as you said yourself, much better than pumping the body full of chemicals imo.
The list goes on.
Roneythetube on here , is the man with the full lowdown. I'm sure he'll complete the list when he logs on.
You're right about the hemp too. It has the potential to save the world in terms of ecology (for those who believe in man-made global warming). There's a brilliant chapter on it in Martin Booth's excellent 'Cannabis; A history'.

oneintotwo

ScumLord wrote: »

They're controlled drugs, administered in highly controlled doses. I just don't believe smoking weed can be considered medical.

The medical uses of cannabis in Canada and the US is a joke, even the users will joke about how easy it is to get cannabis for just about anything, it's just a back door for the legalisation of weed.

People do get pain relief from the high, I think the mistake medical companies are making is to try and separate the high from the medical benefits.

The evidence is very much against you here and if you do some research you'll change your mind. Until then, here's an MS sufferer visibly benefiting from marijuana http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEOoa6Q4Bds

There are a lot of "Free teh w33d" threads on boards, can we try instead to keep this one on-topic?

ScumLord

I've seen the lists, I'm not disputing cannabis can have an effect but smoking weed is not healthy and there's a huge difference from that and a medicine.

There is a company in the UK that produces a medical grade cannabis spray the plants are controlled so they have the correct levels of the chemicals they're looking for and it's processed so they can control the strength and it's all done under proper industrial conditions.

Growing weed in your back garden and smoking it shouldn't be seen as a safe and correct way to deal with any medical condition. It works because you get stoned and happy but I think it's a stretch to put it in the same league as real pharmaceutical drugs. If nicotine could cure something you wouldn't have a doctor telling you to smoke a cigarette for the cure.

MaybeLogic

ScumLord wrote: »

I've seen the lists, I'm not disputing cannabis can have an effect but smoking weed is not healthy and there's a huge difference from that and a medicine.

There is a company in the UK that produces a medical grade cannabis spray the plants are controlled so they have the correct levels of the chemicals they're looking for and it's processed so they can control the strength and it's all done under proper industrial conditions.

Growing weed in your back garden and smoking it shouldn't be seen as a safe and correct way to deal with any medical condition. It works because you get stoned and happy but I think it's a stretch to put it in the same league as real pharmaceutical drugs. If nicotine could cure something you wouldn't have a doctor telling you to smoke a cigarette for the cure.

It's a bit disingenuous comparing the negatives effects of nicotine to smoking marijuana. They're not even in the same league.
Personally, I abhor pharmaceuticals, even going as far as only smoking weed as a pain killer after getting a plate inserted into a broken arm, 3 years ago.
And you're right, happiness does go a long way to curing disease a la Norman Cousin's, 'Anatomy of an illness from the perspective of the patient'. What's the harm in that?

ScumLord

MaybeLogic wrote: »

It's a bit disingenuous comparing the negatives effects of nicotine to smoking marijuana. They're not even in the same league.
Personally, I abhor pharmaceuticals, even going as far as only smoking weed as a pain killer after getting a plate inserted into a broken arm, 3 years ago.

I avoid pharmaceuticals when I can but that's mostly to avoid building up a tolerance. The fact is they're good at manufacturing specific drugs that do specific things. They have traceability should something go wrong so they can deal with problems. The big problem with pharmaceutical companies is they're controlled by politics and money and don't have the patients best interests at heart.

The dispensaries in north America may love the patient but don't have the knowledge, equipment or ability to provide a medical grade product. They have pills and sprays and foodstuffs but they can't guarantee the content of those products. They're just as bogged down in the politics of what they're doing and are to biased to give good advice.

MaybeLogic

ScumLord wrote: »

The dispensaries in north America may love the patient but don't have the knowledge, equipment or ability to provide a medical grade product. They have pills and sprays and foodstuffs but they can't guarantee the content of those products. They're just as bogged down in the politics of what they're doing and are to biased to give good advice.

As a natural product, it should be one size fits all. If someone's ego can't take getting high, fair enough, go back on the pills, but people should at least have the choice.
URL nailed it on the head earlier. Lobbyists for Big Pharma do not want to see the legalisation of medical marijuana because they want to cash in, not because of what's best for the consumer.

ScumLord

MaybeLogic wrote: »

As a natural product, it should be one size fits all. If someone's ego can't take getting high, fair enough, go back on the pills, but people should at least have the choice.
URL nailed it on the head earlier. Lobbyists for Big Pharma do not want to see the legalisation of medical marijuana because they want to cash in, not because of what's best for the consumer.

I do believe in the choice, I do support the medical argument because it's pointed in roughly the direction I'd like to see things going but I don't think it's a valid argument. I see Cannabis more as a home remedy, only one that works.

I don't see any danger in the medical argument either because even if ingesting cannabis isn't really the best solution for the problem it's not going to do much harm unlike with new unknown drugs that would be doing the same thing.

The problem I see with the argument is it will be hard to push though in Europe where we have national health systems and ultimately it's a lost cause. Europe's liberal enough to push for full recreational use it's already started.

MaybeLogic

ScumLord wrote: »

I do believe in the choice, I do support the medical argument because it's pointed in roughly the direction I'd like to see things going but I don't think it's a valid argument. I see Cannabis more as a home remedy, only one that works.

I don't see any danger in the medical argument either because even if ingesting cannabis isn't really the best solution for the problem it's not going to do much harm unlike with new unknown drugs that would be doing the same thing.

The problem I see with the argument is it will be hard to push though in Europe where we have national health systems and ultimately it's a lost cause. Europe's liberal enough to push for full recreational use it's already started.

We seem to be in agreement, mostly.
It's been rather a pleasant argument.
Stoners, ftw.
It'll happen here, too, when the Joe Duffy crowd have passed away. Until then we run the risk of getting a criminal record or incarceration for the dispensers and we have to deal with the consequences of a false economy.

Bottle_of_Smoke

ScumLord wrote: »

I've seen the lists, I'm not disputing cannabis can have an effect but smoking weed is not healthy and there's a huge difference from that and a medicine.

LOL. Think just for a second how many medicines are also unhealthy in some way or another.

My name is URL

MaybeLogic wrote: »

It'll happen here, too, when the Joe Duffy crowd have passed away.

Drugs have become more taboo in the last hundred years.. I wouldn't count on that changing tbh

LiNgWiStIkZ

http://matrixmasters.net/archive/Various/218-Little-TellsCannabisTruth.mp3

Listen to this and I can guarantee that anybody who opposes recreational use or medicinal use, will change their mind. If they don't, then there's no point in even debating with them.

EDIT:

Please stop saying marijuana too, it grinds my gears

MaybeLogic

My name is URL wrote: »

Drugs have become more taboo in the last hundred years.. I wouldn't count on that changing tbh

The internet will change everything. Information or negative entropy (to borrow an idea from thermodynamics) injected into any system will help to prevent decay of that system (the present course of the war on drugs) and bring about order. I have high hopes for humanity with respect to this (in all aspects).
The truth is out there, URL.

LiNgWiStIkZ

MaybeLogic wrote: »

The internet will change everything. Information or negative entropy (to borrow an idea from thermodynamics) injected into any system will help to prevent decay of that system (the present course of the war on drugs) and bring about order. I have high hopes for humanity with respect to this (in all aspects).
The truth is out there, URL.

"You can't sustain a lie."

Wait in the next few years, we'll see some major changes. California is paving the way, a snowball effect will happen! Ireland is just a largely conservative country but as you said, something like the internet is keeping the fight alive.

Talk to your local councillors, email TDs, etc! It's so close, just gotta push a small bit more

PeakOutput

Overheal wrote: »

They've had the balls to con you for years..

bit rich coming from the yank but i take your point

ScumLord wrote: »

I watched that "super high me" and the doctor pretty much dismisses the medical cannabis argument

eh its been a while since i watched that documentary but im pretty sure he didnt

what he did say was that after 30 days of constant smoking there was no PHYSICAL detrimental affects

i could be confusing it with another documentary but there were numerous examples of people who use cannabis for medical use with amazing affect multiple sclerosis being one of the diseases it seems to help alot with

but mainly i would see it as a pain killer not as any sort of cure


california and oregon are putting a vote for completely legalising marijuana on their next ballots

LiNgWiStIkZ

PeakOutput wrote: »

but mainly i would see it as a pain killer not as any sort of cure

It's alot more than a pain-killer. Look it all up - we are made with cannabinoid receptors in our bodies. Everything from muscles to bones, we're all born to consume cannabis. Studies have shown that rats born without these receptors die as (when) they are young.

It's something we are all made to naturally have! It's been in use for thousands of years as medicine, kills cancerous cells, rejuvinates our organs, and many many more.

Red Hand

The smiley face convinces me.

PeakOutput

LiNgWiStIkZ wrote: »

It's alot more than a pain-killer. Look it all up - we are made with cannabinoid receptors in our bodies. Everything from muscles to bones, we're all born to consume cannabis. Studies have shown that rats born without these receptors die as they are young.

It's something we are all made to naturally have! It's been in use for thousands of years as medicine, kills cancerous cells, rejuvinates our organs, and many many more.

grand that maybe true all the better if it is but im not gonna be using that as an argument as i dont know enough about it and there are more than enough reasons for legalising it that i do know a little about

LiNgWiStIkZ

PeakOutput wrote: »

grand that maybe true all the better if it is but im not gonna be using that as an argument as i dont know enough about it and there are more than enough reasons for legalising it that i do know a little about

Fair enough buddy. At least you're still on our side so it's grand