Medical Marijuana Use

Yo Mamma

Some people don't fully realize the potential of such a thing as marijuana being used for medical uses. Some people do, others just turn the cheek for reasons unknown. I am one who is all for the use of medical marijuana.

There are so many different ways it can be used besides for recreational purposes. There's been numerous cases victims using it to help out such as glaucoma, chemotherapy nausea, chronic pain, the AIDS wasting syndrome and spasm disorders. They also found out that it can also help people that have arthritis, anorexia, head injuries, migraines, PMS for you ladies, sickle cell anemia, stress disorders and even epilepsy. These are real cases and the number of people affected by these disorders are in the millions. Do we really need our eyes draped over by the drug administration on the true facts of marijuana?

I feel they, just like most large administrations, are influenced by large pharmaceutical companies that gross billions a year. And heaven forbid if there would be something out there that would whip off over a quarter of the shelved medicines by one little old plant.

I feel we need to really open our eyes on this matter. Everyone here knows someone that has a case that could benefit from an alternate form of therapy like marijuana. So next time as you read up or hear about a group trying to legalize IT. vote yes on it, look beyond the trash that authorities say about the drug. Look at it this way we have a government that allows tobacco companies sell there product but yet they ban the use of marijuana !

Crazy and plain ignorant.

Dr. Loon

Here, here.... I concur 150%.

I can't believe people don't see the benefits.... I'm reading a book on Paul Mc Cartney at the moment actually, and way back in the sixties, a number of prominent people in both Parliament and the public eye... including all of the Beatles (sorry can't remember other peoples names from Parliament) all took out an advertisement in The Times, and had all these people sign it.... alot of influencial people did. Also, a scientist at the time studied and came up with the conclusion there are no harmful affects whatsoever, non-addictive...blah, blah....we should all know it's effects by now... I believe the Irish government were looking into it recently as well..... [edit] just to add to the beatles story... it somehow just didn't happen, was ignored or somethin, can't remember, will look it up.[edit]

Anyway... this topic has been up before I think.... but just like to say I agree wholeheartedly. People should open their eyes, and not be listening to what everyone tells them. Dig a bit deeper...
:cool:

Blitzkrieger

Even if it was put to a vote, and the majority were against it, does that mean it should be illegal? It's been proven to have benefits and though it has cons too, would it be detrimental to society? I don't think it would.

Clintons Cat

maruania is certainly useful in controling muscular spasms associated with Irratable bowel Symdrome.
Whilst i do not wish to endorse the use of maruania in anyway.It is a dirty drug and the users of which are bound for a one way psycodelic journey to hell with no doors or feet i feel i should relay this little story to you...
A couple of years ago a person i shall for the sake of this story refer to as my mother suffered from dehiblitating attacks of Irritable bowel syndrome and Diveticulitis in which she would be reduced for days at a time to bed howling in agony.Frequent visits to the doctor only led to stronger and stronger painkillers which though numbed the pain did nothing to stop the spasms of the colon and in some instances agrevated the situation.
Anyway after a particulary sever attack her devoted son having read of canabisis musle relaxing properties gave her a joint.
The relief was almost immediate.
The person refered to in this story as my mother confided in her doctor who comented that as her GP he could not recommend that she took the drug but that he had heard stories of its properties and felt he could not stop her from using it if she so wished.
Needless to say TPITSRTasmyMother went on to live a normal and productive life interspersed with the occasional joint,her devoted son desended into a drug fueled nightmare in which he was a times convinced he was at times the reincarnation of a Primeval shamanic soundwave destined to reunite the fueding tribes of the fens through the vision of the extraterrestrial nature or the human soup.
Let this serve as a cautionary warning to you all.

GoneShootin

agree

simply

Shinji

I use marijuana on an occasional basis (no more than a couple of times a week at most) to relieve muscular pain and sort out insomnia. It's also bloody brilliant at stress relief.

Does this count as medical use? To my mind it is... *shrug*

Blitzkrieger

When I said I didn't think it would have a detrimetal effect on society, I was leaving unsaid that of course some people would abuse the drug, and others would use it as a stepping stone to harder drugs. But....would it really be any different from the current situation? Them's that wants to take drugs takes drugs

Cake Fiend

Originally posted by Blitzkrieger
...and others would use it as a stepping stone to harder drugs...

I wonder how many heroin addicts smoke tobacco?

Throw that one into the pot next time anyone gives you the stepping stone spiel.

Dr. Loon

Originally posted by Clintons Cat

Whilst i do not wish to endorse the use of maruania in anyway.It is a dirty drug and the users of which are bound for a one way psycodelic journey to hell with no doors or feet i feel i should relay this little story to you...
Let this serve as a cautionary warning to you all.

Please tell me that you're really taking the píss!!!

I was watchin a program on T.V one night with a mate, after a number or two, and some supposed doctor or somethin' came on and said that smoking marijuana can maek you go insane!?!? Insane? Does that sound a bit insane to anyone else?

Stepping stone to other drugs my arsé... if u wanna do other drugs, you will.... end of story.

Make you go insane!!? Ha ha

Clintons Cat

i refuse to confirm or deny anything.

of course if you wish to beleive maruanna has no pscodelic side effects then fine.

some supposed doctor or somethin' came on and said that smoking marijuana can maek you go insane!?!? Insane? Does that sound a bit insane to anyone else?

No that sounds like an understatement.What he should have said is that not only will you definately go insane you will also be disrespectful of authority figures,have bad teeth,your sexual organs will atrophy and drop off and you will end up barking at strangers in bus terminals.
The only reason you fail to recognise this is that you are so far gone that you no longer percieve reality in the same way as everyone else on the planet.
Now please re read the thread and come to your own conclusion.
Better still why not do a bit of research and come back and tell us why exacty THC will not make you go insane.

Dr. Loon

Originally posted by Clintons Cat
i refuse to confirm or deny anything.

of course if you wish to beleive maruanna has no pscodelic side effects then fine.

No that sounds like an understatement.What he should have said is that not only will you definately go insane you will also be disrespectful of authority figures,have bad teeth,your sexual organs will atrophy and drop off and you will end up barking at strangers in bus terminals.
The only reason you fail to recognise this is that you are so far gone that you no longer percieve reality in the same way as everyone else on the planet.
Now please re read the thread and come to your own conclusion.
Better still why not do a bit of research and come back and tell us why exacty THC will not make you go insane.

Well... you quite clearly are insane or else really taking the píss. I cannot believe that someone would have such a narrowminded and particularly stupid view on things. I'm not really taking a dig at you, but saying I'm "too far gone" is just hilarious. Where are your facts on this? Marijuana makes you go insane! What psychedelic effects!? I'd hardly relate marijuana to the effects indeiced by LSD (Acid) that's just ludicrous! If you can show me facts which prove that smoking marijuana alone can cause insanity then I'll bow down and admit that I am insane, but I think you're just a joker, pulling the píss out of me (could I be experiencing the extreme paranoia caused by marijuana in saying this!?) Ha ha.... cop on my rien.... cop on. I'm gonna have a little hunt around now in a while and get you some quotes. Can an insane person actually deal with people on a normal day to day basis, work in the area of computers, and live a good life!!? I don't think so.

Kairo

All that stepping stone to harder drugs is a load of crap.

I whole hardely endorse this product.

But what are the major negative effects of its usage? C'mon, there has to be some. Couldn't be good for the lungs, surely.

FreaK_BrutheR

I smoked at one stage somehwre in the region of 7or8 joints a day for about 4 years of my life. Reasonable strength you know. I dont particularly like feeling ill for the sake of a smoke like. I suffered from very mild anxiety before i started smoking.

Ive since nigh on gave it up completely as I found myself falling into depression and extremly debilatating panic/anxiety attacks. This obviously will not happen everyone and I always was a little shall we say Creative minded, but underlying mental illness surfaced here. Maybe it would have anyway but I dont ever get as depressed as I did when i was smoking alot. All I can say is [bold]I[/bold] need to be carefull when Im smoking. I think it should be legal. I think education and a wiser attitude needs to be taken towards the drug. Use it, don't abuse.

It's not "cool" or **** to smoke its just another thing to do. Its such a common as muck thing to be doing its not even fringe anymore. seems more the norm to smoke dope now than to not. we must ALL be cool so.

Anyway marjuana means nothing to me. I take it or leave it. Normally I don't bother. I dont even think about it to be honest.

FreaK_BrutheR

Also....

My twin brother has MS and marjuana is very good in its treatment and has been deriminalised in loads of US states on the strength of its benifit to this illness alone.

Enygma

I used to smoke a fair bit but gave up a couple of years ago simply out of boredom. When you're sitting on a bench in a park every night out of your head, you get to thinking.
Over use does make you a little slow, paranoid and irritable but there's nothing wrong with a joint or two at the weekend.

Alchohol is far worse, you don't see smokers driving at 80m.p.h. or beating their wives and kids or getting in fights outside the pub. Quitting hash is simple, you just stop(I did). Alchohol is one of the hardest addictions to quit.

The only reason people see hash as a stepping stone is that the people you are buying it off are drug dealers, they deal other drugs too. If hash was legalised people wouldn't have to come into contact with dealers to get their smoke. The dealer is the stepping stone, not the drug.

While I would agree that it should be legalised for medical purposes I would also say that I'm not going to stop giving out until it's legalised full stop.

There is nothing wrong with having a few smokes. Nothing.

Does it really matter anyways? If you're going to smoke your going to smoke.

Dr. Loon

All cool points there. I think if you smoke too much, like 7 or 8 numbers a day you're gonna start getting paraniod and panicy 'cos it's a little too much. I wouldn't smoke that much, but I probably would have a wee smoke most days, and I'm cool. I'm actually more panicy, shaky and nervous after a serious night of drinkin' which I think is far worse.

I still don't believe you can go insane from smoking shít though. Bob Marley wasn't insane, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison.... none of them were insane... a few of them were nutters alright, but that was more to do with their egos and also other drugs, such as acid, which I believe can make you go insane. So again, I'll say stepping stone my arsé.

Bad effects of it are, of course, bad for your lungs, same as cigarettes, anxiety, possible depression, paranoia but that's about all I can see really. It does increase your heart rate at first, but then after you've smoke for awhile that drops to normal again....weird eh? I just read that today. Still..... insanity....? NO I'm sorry. Doesn't happen. I don't believe it has ever happened, or we'd know about it. Anyone see the debat there a short while ago on T.V.?? Very good stuff, loads of oul fellas getting up and defending it.... good proper debate

Robbo

Attending a talk given by Howard Marks there recently (famous Welsh international dope smuggler in the 70s/80s), he pointed out the exact point when the UN introduced prohibition on marijuana.

Apparently at some UN jamboree back in the 30s, the Egyptian delegate gave a very long speech declaring marijuana use to be the reason for the escalating insanity and lethargy in his country at the time. After it was banned the insanity rate skyrocketed

That said, I remember reading a report in the paper one day, one of those usual tests for medicinal purposes, about sufferers of some nervous disorder or what have you. They reported the same soothing effects with 2 glasses of red wine as with marijuana.

beaver

I imagine that two glasses of wine would be significantly worse for your health, though...

Goodshape

I think I'll definitly support this one. Marijuana should be legalised all-round. The medical uses have been proven, and I have seen to much information from too many sources for me to believe that the dangers of recreational use are any worse (and in fact there not even as bad as) than drink and cigerets.

...also I'm sick and tiered of having to go through a dealer whenever I want a bit of smoke. The amount of times I have been offerd speed or ecstasy is unreal. As mentioned above, this is the steping stone, not the drug.

...adiction? been proven to be somewhere below alcohol. I'm sure most people who smoke have gone through times of wanting a joint... a craving for a nice smooth pint of Guinness is just as bad though if thats what your out to do........... hmmm... guinness....

...insanity? I saw an eppisode of Home & Away, or nighbours, or some such pish, where someguy smoked a spliff and went compleatly nuts... it was amazingly stupid.

.Goodshape

Robbo

Red wine is noted for its healthy goodness. Good for the heart and circulation, as well as being a muscle relaxant.

Buckfast need not apply...

Shiminay

Originally posted by Robbo
Buckfast need not apply...

But if you read the label of Bucky it saiy that 2 spoonfuls with a shot of tonic water is good for you a few times a day!

Anyway, marijuana does not do any harm if used with a bit of care. It's like any other soft drug (alcohol, nicotine).

It's been prooven to aid in the diseases and illnesses listed so what harm? Legalise it! It'd be another good way for the Government to earn tax!

Think of it - a score is usually about £15 - £20. Lash a big lump of tax onto it and there's a potential to increase the price to £20 - £25!

Easy money!

Dr. Loon

Originally posted by Kharn


But if you read the label of Bucky it saiy that 2 spoonfuls with a shot of tonic water is good for you a few times a day!

Anyway, marijuana does not do any harm if used with a bit of care. It's like any other soft drug (alcohol, nicotine).

It's been prooven to aid in the diseases and illnesses listed so what harm? Legalise it! It'd be another good way for the Government to earn tax!

Think of it - a score is usually about £15 - £20. Lash a big lump of tax onto it and there's a potential to increase the price to £20 - £25!

Easy money!

Which then begs the question... do smokers really want it legalised. It would be taxed and it's strength controlled, therefore more than likely they would make it alot less lighter, therefore requiring people to buy more. Legalised for medicinal purposes, I suppose you'd be looking at prescription over the counter sort of buzz.... and you could still go to our local dealer for your shít. Leagalised completely... I think there would be problems.

bonkey

Originally posted by Dr. Loon


Which then begs the question... do smokers really want it legalised. It would be taxed and it's strength controlled, therefore more than likely they would make it alot less lighter

This is not necessarily true.

First of all, the cost of dope is (at the moment) pretty locked, but remember that you are paying a chain of dealer, supplier, perhaps some "super-suppliers", importer, grower. Because its going through illegal channels, there is huge amounts of money being made at some of these levels.

For example...last time I bought gear in Ireland, a 16th cost me a tenner. Realistically, it was between a 16th and a 20th in size. A full oz cost £100. I cant think of any other market offering that level of economy of scale.

Also, it may not necesasrily get lighter. You want to buy an alcoholic in Ireland? You have a huge variety of strength/volume ratios, not all of which equate to the same "hit per pound". There is no reason to believe legalised marijuana would either.

Where I live at the moment, grass is all but legal - they sell it in shops, but its technically illegal. Go figure. The amounts you get are *way* larger than what you used to pay on the black market. The quality is variable, but that suits me. Some people dont want to have their heads melted, just lightly toasted. Some prefer full thermonuclear meltdown. You can get both, and pretty much everything in between.

So, legalise it, and you will :

a) no longer be getting ripped off paying for weight youre not receiving
b) pay the same or *less* because of the offset of proper price control and competition against the onset of taxation
c) no longer get ripped off buying turf and/or stones and magnets (I know experienced smokers who've done this).

Now...here's the kicker. If you are going to legalise it, you clamp down seriously on people being off their heads in public. Police under-age copnsumption and retail to the under-age very stringently.

Here in Switzerland it is common place to see people rolling and lighting up a spliff in the smoking carriage. This causes me no problem. What does cause me a problem is when these kids are 13 or 14.

Legalising marijuana suffers major problems. It has an undeserved social stigma amongst the older generation at present. It introduces another socially destructive element to sit alongside alcohol.

Personally, I would legalise it for medical use in the morning, but would think long and hard about how to effectively legalise it for recreational use.

jc

Clintons Cat

Sound Familiar?
Paranoia
Anxiety attacks
Altered state of Audio/visual perception
Aggrevated psycosis
[image]http://www.cannabis.net/marigirl.html[/image]
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/5/648?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&titleabstract=cannabis&searchid=1003584514040_524&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=bjprcpsych
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/2/141?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&titleabstract=cannabis&searchid=1003584514040_524&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=bjprcpsych
http://www.alcp.org.nz/inq1.htm#Potency of cannabis
http://www.gp.co.nz/wooc/i-papers/i6a-cannabis.html
http://www.cannabis.net/misc/index.html
http://www.cannabis.net/canbrain.html
http://www.cannabis.net/memory/index.html
http://www.cannabis.net/articles/index.html
http://www.cannabis.net/cannschiz.html
http://www.cannabis.net/canusedisorder/index.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11606002&dopt=Abstract
http://www.state.vt.us/adap/Cork/BibChronicMental.htm
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/157/1/25?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&titleabstract=cannabis&searchid=1003584580119_531&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=10&journalcode=bjprcpsych




Just as a matter of intrest how many of you have tried mixing cannabis with other drugs?

bonkey

Originally posted by Clintons Cat
Sound Familiar?
Paranoia
Anxiety attacks
Altered state of Audio/visual perception
Aggrevated psycosis

Course it sounds familiar. Its a distillation of your earlier rantings into approximately 10 words. This doesnt make it any more relevant.

I mean, look at your fourth point. "Altered state of audio/visual perception". You get that when you have a head-cold. Maybe head-colds are the work of satan as well?

There is no drug which does not carry its encumbant dangers from misuse. None. Yet I dont see you whining on about paracetemol, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, etc. etc. etc. (to pick the most obvious). Why? Because they dont have a social (or is it religious?) stigma attached to them, and happen to be legal.

Finally, if you look at most of those reports, they conclude that either cannabis misuse/abuse can have ill effects on those suffering from other afflictions (such as schizophrenia) or that the alleged associations between cannabis and voilence, suicide, etc are all unfounded, or non-direct.

Your earlier rants on the ills of cannabis are laughable. I can only hope that you were actually taking the p1ss.

Just as a matter of intrest how many of you have tried mixing cannabis with other drugs?

Now what sort of a silly question is that.

Almost anyone who smoks marijuana is mixing it with tobacco, and therefore mixing THC with nicotine. So I would say you get an almost 100% "yes" vote straight away there.

Alternately, many people consume alcohol, marijuana, nicotine and caffeine in time-periods so that all of them are active in tehir system at the same time. Again - you get an almost 100% "yes" there.

Whats your point? If you are looking at the dangerous side-effects, then you would be better advised to look at the life-threatingly dangerous habit of mixing paracetemol with alcohol. People taking painkillers to cure hangovers are doing unbelievable amounts of damage to their livers (at the risk of liver failure)

jc

Clintons Cat

yes i was taking the piss

some people seem to take dope far too seriously these days

Yes the studies conclude that they are not entirely to blame for schzoprenia and psycosis but that they can and do have an effect on worsening symptoms in some cases with fatal consequenses .
oh wait thats abuse,obviously.
No blame can be attached to Cannabis the wonder drug.



ok maybe i should be more specific how many of you have tried mixing cannabis with other prohibited drugs?
I have no ulterior motive I am Just intrested to find out a snapshot of boards users experiences...Nicotene...jeeze

bonkey

Originally posted by Clintons Cat
yes i was taking the piss

some people seem to take dope far too seriously these days

Glad to hear it...I thought you were, but its hard to know these days - too many fruitcakes around.

You are right though...too many people are too serious about dope. I use it, I enjoy it, but I would never be blaise about it.

Yes the studies conclude that they are not entirely to blame for schzoprenia and psycosis but that they can and do have an effect on worsening symptoms in some cases with fatal consequenses .
oh wait thats abuse,obviously.
No blame can be attached to Cannabis the wonder drug.

Actually, as far as I know, there is no known case of marijuana *causing* long-term mental illnesses. It accentuates existing conditions, but it isnt known to cause them.

As for allocating blame....I'm sorry, but you owe it to yourself to be aware of the implications of taking any substance - legal or otherwise.

If you knowingly suffer from any malady, then you should be doubly careful. The reports you linked to showed increased symptoms in people *known* to have mental conditions previously. So either their doctors were negligent in not offering them information on what would be dangerous to their condition, or they chose to ignore that information.

Its like blaming paracetemol taken for a hangover for liver failure. This is not the paracetemol's fault...its the manufacturers fault for not including the information (because it is such a typical use of the drug), or the user for ignoring said information (if it was presented).

Accidents will always happen - people not knowing they have a problem and suffering from ingesting the wrong substance, but hey - by that analogy, salt can kill people with high bloodpressure and is therefore a dangerous substance.

At the end of the day, marijuana is one of the safest drugs imaginable - even when compared to alcohol and nicotine. Most of its bad press has been either blatant misinformation, unfounded claims, or hyping of very specific conditions to draw generalisations.

ok maybe i should be more specific how many of you have tried mixing cannabis with other prohibited drugs?
I have no ulterior motive I am Just intrested to find out a snapshot of boards users experiences...Nicotene...jeeze

OK, I was a bit out of line with the reply on that one....but it was just in case you were serious about your ranting, in which case I had you down as a fruitcake

Me...no. Not only have I not mixed dope with other prohibited substances, I havent taken any other prohibited substances - mostly because I dont know of any which are (in my opinion) safe or acceptably low-risk.

jc

Clintons Cat

probally legalising dope makes sense in countries with adequate mental healthcare like holland and switzerland.
in the united kingdom we have a scheme euphamistically called "care in the community" whereby the tories deceided that to cut costs mental healthcare wards would be closed mental patents,such as schizoprenics and Non violent psycotics would be released into the community.Required to attend outpatient clinics once a week.
They would be trusted on their word to take their medication regularily and stay away from cannabis and other prohibited drugs.
Failiure to do this led to the fatal stabbing of an estate agent in a busy suburban street by a psycotic,who whilst high on cannabis heard voices in his head telling him to kil her.Prior to his act of murder his family had pleaded with the health authority to commit him to secure accomodation as he was being agumentative and unco-operative in taking his perscription.This was refused.
Legalising cannabis would be a popularist and financially cheap move by the blair "cool brittania" 30 something obsessed government,certainly cheaper than funding adequate mental health care that would be/is necessary for the unfortunates that fall through the safety net into abuse.