medical marijuana
 

So I just read the discussion about mandatory sentencing and I wonder how many villagers would support medical marijuana. Attorney John Morgan is backing a petition to legalize it. I read recently a couple of polls where approval was above 70% in Florida. From personal experience I think it was god sent for my wife during her battle with bone marrow cancer. I will always be grateful for it's benefits. So what do you think?
I have signed the petition that is available at Petition - United for Care and hope some of you will download and sign it also.

I am in favor of out and out legalization. I think marijuana is a lot less harmful than alcohol and it can be medically beneficial.

Gotta agree with JP on this one

Moi aussi. At the very least, legalize it for medical use.

No way!!

NIH - National Institute on Drug Abuse

Marijuana's Lasting Effects on the Brain

"...They [research studies] have shown that exposure to cannabinoids during adolescent development can cause long-lasting changes in the brain’s reward system as well as the hippocampus, a brain area critical for learning and memory.

The message inherent in these and in multiple supporting studies is clear. Regular marijuana use in adolescence is part of a cluster of behaviors that can produce enduring detrimental effects and alter the trajectory of a young person’s life—thwarting his or her potential.

Beyond potentially lowering IQ, teen marijuana use is linked to school dropout, other drug use, mental health problems, etc. Given the current number of regular marijuana users (about 1 in 15 high school seniors) and the possibility of this number increasing with marijuana legalization, we cannot afford to divert our focus from the central point: Regular marijuana use stands to jeopardize a young person’s chances of success—in school and in life.

September 10, 2012 - We repeatedly hear the myth that marijuana is a benign drug—that it is not addictive (which it is) or that it does not pose a threat to the user’s health or brain (which it does). A major new study published last week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (and funded partly by NIDA and other NIH institutes) provides objective evidence that, at least for adolescents, marijuana is harmful to the brain.

The new research is part of a large-scale study of health and development conducted in New Zealand. Researchers administered IQ tests to over 1,000 individuals at age 13 (born in 1972 and 1973) and assessed their patterns of cannabis use at several points as they aged. Participants were again tested for IQ at age 38, and their two scores were compared as a function of their marijuana use. The results were striking: Participants who used cannabis heavily in their teens and continued through adulthood showed a significant drop in IQ between the ages of 13 and 38—an average of 8 points for those who met criteria for cannabis dependence. (For context, a loss of 8 IQ points could drop a person of average intelligence into the lowest third of the intelligence range.) Those who started using marijuana regularly or heavily after age 18 showed minor declines. By comparison, those who never used marijuana showed no declines in IQ.

Other studies have shown a link between prolonged marijuana use and cognitive or neural impairment. A recent report in Brain, for example, reveals neural-connectivity impairment in some brain regions following prolonged cannabis use initiated in adolescence or young adulthood. But the New Zealand study is the first prospective study to test young people before their first use of marijuana and again after long-term use (as much as 20+ years later). Indeed, the ruling out of a pre-existing difference in IQ makes the study particularly valuable. Also, and strikingly, those who used marijuana heavily before age 18 showed mental decline even after they quit taking the drug. This finding is consistent with the notion that drug use during adolescence—when the brain is still rewiring, pruning, and organizing itself—can have negative and long-lasting effects on the brain....."

Marijuana's Lasting Effects on the Brain | National Institute on Drug Abuse

Ilovetv,
We aren't saying legalize it for minors

Legalizing it for people of legal age gives teens and preteens the perception that it is not harmful, when it is:

"Unfortunately, the proportion of American teens who believe marijuana use is harmful has been declining for the past several years, which has corresponded to a steady rise in their use of the drug, as shown by NIDA’s annual Monitoring the Future survey of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders.

Since it decreases IQ, regular marijuana use stands to jeopardize a young person’s chances of success in school. So as another school year begins, we all must step up our efforts to educate teens about the harms of marijuana so that we can realign their perceptions of this drug with the scientific evidence."

Marijuana's Lasting Effects on the Brain | National Institute on Drug Abuse

Ditto.

I see it used in hospital settings for increased appetite response in failure to thrive patients.

One note to ILoveTV: You can't believe all studies. Remember the study that shows that seatbelts in golf carts is bad? The authorities told us this lie for 20 years in TV. Tell that to the families of the 10 dead fellow TV'ers who were ejected and killed. Can't believe everything you read. Real life experience is a better indicator IMHO.

Yes, I do remember. Most, if not all the golf cart studies were done on golf course turf, where being ejected onto grass is clearly safer than being ejected onto concrete curbing causing open skull fractures and hemorrhaging, and also being subject to being run over by cars and trucks going 25-30 mph.

By comparing golf course turf usage of carts to usage in TV's city streets and traffic in a city of 100,000, they were comparing apples to oranges.

And yes, my real life experience tells me many formerly brilliant people who are chronic pot users are now brain-fried and in a chronic stupor with noticeably deteriorated cognitive abilities.

I think the National Institutes of Health are qualified to do, evaluate and present the studies in the article I linked.

I would suggest that this is dementia which is not related to chronic pot use. 1 out of every 6 patients I have every day has moderate to severe dementia. It's an evil disease.

Man, that was a real buzz killer. Just kidding, sorry, don't smoke weed. But if ever I felt it was needed for medical reasons, I would

Sanjay Gupta's recent CNN special on this topic was interesting...I learned a lot about the amazing benefit for some neurological disorders. Also an interesting history about the demonization of the plant in the 30's for political gain. I'm for legalizing marijuana.

I'm shocked! Didn't your high school show you the movie "Reefer Madness"?

Let me understand your position. If a medication or a recreational drug has side effects it should not be legal. I say ALL medications have side effects and some come with warning labels that you may die from use. One comes with the warning that you may go blind with a 4+ hour erection, yet it is legal. Your argument would eliminate at least 90% of medications and 100% of alcohol and tobacco products.

Stop being a pawn and believing the so called legal drug dealers. Legalize it now.

If you are gonna drink, call it drinking. If you are gonna smoke, call it smoking. I feel there is SOME valid medical use for marijuana, but I also think that many people are taking "medical" marijuana to just get a high.

If it became legal. that would be resolved. I hate to say it, but it makes sense.

Now I have to tell my new view to my kids. They will think I am going over the hill. MOM SAID WHAT???

Among my children, I am referred to as "THE WARDEN".

It is about time!
 

Those with OPINIONS against legalization should read Dr. Sanjay Gupta's article where he admits the gross misinformation that exists on the subject and how wrong he has been. This move is long overdue.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Why I changed my mind on weed - United for Care

I assume I do not have to explain who he is to the "experts" on the subject.

:agree::clap2::clap2:

As long as it is against the law, there will be criminals getting rich selling it. Legalize it, give farmers a new money crop, tax it and stop spending $$$$$$$$ on prisons and courts for offenders and even give back a freedom. That should appeal to both the right and the left.

:agree::agree::agree::agree::agree::agree::agree:: agree::agree::coolsmiley:

Make it legal and overdose on peanut butter and jelly...Unfortunately this state is so backward it won't happen in our lifetime. I feel in the next generation this issue will be looked at as similar to prohibition and feeding the criminals. As long as the Vietnam era
politicians are in charge we will be moving backwards, desperately trying to hold on to old outdated values.

Russ, you have always seemed like a reasonable person who understood the value of data. Properly conducted, peer reviewed, published studies preferably conducted in a double blind placebo controlled environment are critical for advancing medicine. Real life experience is the sales trick of hucksters and frauds. Testimonials for how much weight Susie lost, or that Ken was cured of his cancer by apricot pits... that's the opposite of science. It is harder for people to understand p-values than the appeal of "I have seen this TEN times" and all my patients got better with snake oil treatments. I support legalization, and not just for medical use but there is data of potential long term harm in very long term studies as cited above. Cannabis use before age 15 and subsequent ex... [Br J Psychiatry. 2011] - PubMed - NCBI There also are studies not finding long term harm. Here is a study attempting to provide an alternative explanation to the New Zealand data Correlations between cannabis use and IQ change in the Dunedin cohort are consistent with confounding from socioeconomic status This is not a problem with science, it is how science works. Once there is a preponderance then one can clearly state that the evidence supports an opinion. Three kinds of lies.. Bald face lies, little white lies, and personal experience.

You can go blind with a 4+ hour erection?????...Geezzz, I never knew that.
I think if I had a 4 hour erection, I'd need a club to beat off the women, :a040:

I was told growing up that masturbation would make you blind,,:1rotfl:

I was lied to.

:boom::eek:

I'd be willing to drop 8 IQ points if I could get some good pot on a regular basis.

Boy Howdy.

I heard someone say once, can I just do it until I need glasses?

I am always swayed by a scientific argument. We also can say that Sanjay Gupta is not primarily a practicing physician but a TV personality and his "special" made him mega bucks.

Thank you Blueash. I love this forum.

:clap2::clap2::clap2:

Gracie, where do you come up with these things!!

Stop CALLING me "a pawn"!!


Do some homework!! This is no simple matter. I and many people who have lived with people destroying their minds with chronic pot abuse for the last 40 years would not deprive a suffering patient of this drug if it helps them.

However.....The big problem I see in "medical marijuana" legislation and current states' laws is that if it is truly for "medical" use, then it would be made a prescription drug subject to all the regulations and quality controls that all other prescription drugs are....Like Viagra which is dangerous if not properly prescribed according to contraindications, problems with interacting with other drugs being taken, etc. (it was first a cardiac drug).

But "medical marijuana" so far has NOT been made a prescription drug in states that have it, because most of its proponents want "medical" dispensing of this stuff as a back door hanging open to recreational use. They just want to get high without all the bother of legalities, doctors, pharmacies, DEA licensed prescribers, etc.

And they also want to get their hands on the enormous money-making potential in this "medical" pot industry.

It's that "Greed" sin the Occupy Wall Street crowd decries in their phoniness:

California Medical Marijuana Bill Fails, Leaving Pot Industry Largely Unregulated

"A bill aimed at bringing some clarity to medical marijuana regulation in California has failed to pass the State Assembly in a vote held late last week.

The legislation, which was authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), would have created an agency within the state's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control tasked with managing all medical marijuana in the state from where it is grown all the way through to the point of sale.

While medical marijuana was legalized by California voters in 1996, there's no statewide agency in charge of regulating the state's multi-billion dollar marijuana industry......"

California Medical Marijuana Bill Fails, Leaving Pot Industry Largely Unregulated

Every state which has "legalized" medical pot requires a physician to certify that the patient has a qualifying medical condition. The details are readily available if you care to be fully informed at 20 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC - Medical Marijuana - ProCon.org

The use of the term "prescription" in your argument is possibly something you heard from others or from favored media sources. You have been misled. Most states don't require a "prescription" as that term has certain legal meanings and Federal law prohibits the prescribing of Schedule 1 drugs. So they cannot be prescribed. However every state requires the patient to have a qualified medical condition and be under the care of a physician to get medical marijuana. The medical marijuana movement came years before occupy wall street and has nothing to do with legalization. I am sorry to hear that you have had to live with people who have spent the last 40 years destroying their minds with pot. Just because a product can be abused does not mean it can not be responsibly used.

My point, that you also make, is you can use studies for both sides. I'm talking about seeing MY patients do well on medical marijuana for THEIR needs. This isn't snake oil - it's real life and I have no stake financially in their outcomes. It's not used a lot yet but I do see the day coming.

I have no doubt that if marijuana is legalized for medical use, the Villages will change it's tag line to "Florida's Happiest Hometown". Heck, you will be able to get a script for urinary incontinence. Imagine going to the Squares. The saving of tables and chairs just won't matter and no matter who is performing, they will sound great. There will probably never be another negative response to an eating establishment and if you fall out of your golf cart, you will be laughing uncontrollably. I am for legalization and I know that the government already knows this.

I mentioned OWS as an example of the phoniness from groups that decry and protest "GREED" on the part of

Big Corporate,

Big Business,

Big Wall Street,

"Corporate Fat Cats"

Big Pharma......

..but NOT on the part of Big POT, Big Weed, and Big Dispensers or any special-interest groups wanting to cash in on legalized pot that's a multi-billion-dollar Big Business in California alone, as stated in the article I linked.

They want their hands on the MONEY, as evidenced by the defeat of the regulatory legislation in the article I linked above.

It's also the phoniness in calling it a "medical" need when it's simply a want, to get high without all the prosecutions, fines, probations and criminal court records. (I do think it should be de-criminalized....which is not the same as total legalization. I think it's absurd and crippling for twenty-somethings trying to start a career to have criminal court records following them for having been arrested for pot possession/use in college.)

Oh you New York Girls. Can't you dance the Polka!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U_T7rY5hRI]New York Girls - YouTube[/ame]

Whoa, think how crowded the buffets will be.

Another good argument.

Are you kidding me? It may be a billion a year business, but it's HARDLY "big business" here in the US. It's the ultimate example of SMALL business, of entrepreneurship. It's the "little guy" finding his niche.

It's illegal because the alcohol and pharma industry want it illegal. Privatized prisons with occupancy guarantees don't want it legal either. There's a whole lot of money spent on "the drug war", and there's a lot of people getting very rich on it's being illegal.

It's much, much, much less harmful than alcohol. It's also less inebriating than alcohol.

Of course you don't let kids have it. But, unfortunately, it won't be any different than it is now, they'll get it.

Kids that are going to become addicts WILL become addicts...to something. Kids who don't become addicts won't, no matter what is available to them. Not everyone is an alcoholic though alcohol is available and not everyone will be a pot head if it's available.

As for the "occupy movement", it was taken over by the powers that be and corrupted. The big banks, wall street, diverted interest away from themselves. You do know that the Fed is giving the banks almost $90 billion every month buying their bad mortgages and to keep the interest rate on treasuries down? (It's why your CD pays less than 1%.) That's over a trillion dollars every year to the big banks. And that's on top of the free money (interest payments) they get with the fractional reserve system we use. If you knew the truth, how corrupt everything is, you'd be less critical of the occupy movement.

It has been said that you can't get medical marijuana unless your doctor first determines that you have a need for it. So it won't be given to young people. But just think about what you have said about giving farmers a new money crop:

Will these crops be raised under conditions of high security? Farmers have children; will their children have access to the crops? Will their teenagers pick some of it to smoke it themselves and sell some to their friends at school? How about the farmers neighbors? Not to mention criminal activity where criminals steel it to sell to teenagers and others who don't have a medical need.

Now imagine thousands of farmers raising thousands of acres of marijuana. Sounds like a prescription for losing control of the supply.

I don't have any experience with marijuana use in hospital settings so I have to ask: Does the marijuana come in pill form, or do you wheel them outside for a smoke? And if it does come in a pill, is there a synthetic form of marijuana that can be manufactured without having to grow marijuana plants?

Some think it is a bad drug. There dead wrong.

Some think it is a good drug. There dead wrong.


No drugs are good or bad, but if they help some otherwise hurting people, to simply say no to is production and use is very selfish and takes a simple mind to hold firm to that belief.

I wouldn't normally be making this post as I don't really have strong opinions of cannabis, but when it comes to "Medical Marijuana" I do. IMO, if Medical Marijuana does become legal, I hope that it will at least require all recipients of MM to go through the same process I go through in order to receive my pain medication. I described it on another post which I quote:

"Besides having a legit need, I had to sign an agreement called "Informed Consent & Controlled Substance Agreement" which confirms to State Law on pain medication and includes requirements for dedicated CPM (Comprehensive Pain Monitoring) appointments every three months with urine drug testing in association to those appointments."

http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/smoke/toke.gif

I agree. I just believe that it should not require a big business involvement to decide what is OK for people in need based on their patent rather than what works to relieve suffering. Drug companies do not want this chemical because it is too cheap to produce.