Pompo

Doc says pot pill no good
10/5/08|Daily Press & Argus| by Jim Totten



There's a key reason why some groups want to make it legal for some seriously ill patients to smoke marijuana to ease vomiting and nausea.

Although there is a pharmaceutical version of marijuana called Marinol that comes in pill form, it doesn't work, according to Dr. Elaine Chottiner. She serves as section head of hematology and oncology at Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, which runs the Saint Joseph Mercy Woodland Center in Genoa Township.

"If Marinol worked, nobody would care about legalizing marijuana," Chottiner said.

On Nov. 4, Michigan voters will decide the fate of the medical use of marijuana ballot question. Under Proposal 1, there would be specific guidelines to using marijuana. A physician would need to approve marijuana use for a patient with a debilitating medical condition, and patients would receive an identification card. Patients would only have protected use in their home and could not smoke it in public places.

Chottiner said Marinol was approved because it was shown in clinical trials to alleviate vomiting and nausea caused by certain kinds of chemotherapy. It contains a synthetic form of THC, the major active substance in marijuana, which helps relieve nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy and stimulates appetite for AIDS patients.

However, Chottiner said few patients have found the pill to be effective and usually don't seek refills. She said absorption is probably one reason the drug doesn't work as well, since it takes longer to digest something than smoke it. Also, Marinol contains only one of marijuana's 66 compounds.

Chottiner said a few people have asked her about smoking marijuana to ease their symptoms, and a few patients have told her they're smoking marijuana to ease their nausea and vomiting. In general, Chottiner said only a very small percentage of patients have chronic nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy. She said most chemotherapy does not cause those symptoms. She also said there are excellent medications available — and that work — to prevent those symptoms.

Chottiner, who indicated she was neutral on the ballot question, said there are pros and cons with the proposal.

She said the most important issue is helping patients.

"We want to do everything we can for our patients and alleviate their suffering," she said. "If this is something that can be used for this purpose, it would be helpful to find a way to provide it."

However, Chottiner said she feels much more comfortable prescribing drugs that have gone through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process. She said the FDA conducts rigorous clinical trials so doctors know what's in a drug, a proper schedule and dosage for a particular drug. She said it would be difficult to prescribe marijuana because there are no standards.

Chottiner said she doesn't prescribe herbs because "you never know what you're getting."

ITG

Reasonable objections... of course, if marijuana was a legal, recognized medicine, then it could be properly regulated... you know, just throwing that out there.

__________________

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.

king cola

If marijuana was grown by a caregiver they would know what they are getting! FDA approved drugs aren't exactly safer than marijuana. The fact is that FDA approved drugs kill thousands of people every year while marijuana has caused zero deaths. When my mom was little the doctor gave her a shot of penacilin and almost killed her, she was allergic to it.

When I was in the drug and alcohol program for a dui charge, an alcohol arrest, most people were in there for crack cocaine and prescription drug use, very few people were in there for a marijuana charge. The people weren't in there just because they got arrested, the people admitted that they got hooked on prescription drugs and other narcotics like crack.

It's hard for a doctor to prescribe marijuana if they want to obey state and federal laws but if the state approves medical marijuana it makes it easier for a doctor to prescribe the drug but the patients are still at risk of getting busted by the DEA because of the federal law getting broken.

Buzzby

And that, Children, is why FDA approved drugs are never recalled and never ever inadvertently kill the very patients they're supposed to help. Would you like me to read you another fairy tale?

__________________

Snipe¤Star

is this lady a fucking moron?

Mikeebud

Im no expert, But Yes infact she is.

__________________
Religion is just a theroy, Like the goverment that's your friend.

king cola

How many people know what they are getting when they get a prescription pill? I don't know about any of you guys or the woman in this article but I don't know what the hell they make all the different prescription pills out of. I don't know what the chemicals in those drugs stand for or where they specifically come from! I don't think she knows either. I know that the chemicals found in marijuana all come from the one plant and marijuana as a medicine is non toxic. It's not going to cause someone to overdose and if marijuana and alcohol are combined you might get sick but your not going to die unless the person consumes too much alcohol. If someone took a few prescription pills with alcohol they could end up in the hospital or dead. Sometimes when a doctor issues a prescription they will say, if you have any side effects you let us know! If it's safer than marijuana why do we need to contact a doctor if we have any side effects from the prescription drugs? I get side effects from marijuana, the common effects it causes but my life isn't in danger and I don't need to contact anyone!

dirtbomb

Every time I get a prescription, it seems to have about five warning stickers on the bottle.
What's the worst they could put on Pot. Caution! May cause couch lock!
I guess the "heavy machinery" thing might apply. Next time I smoke, I'll try to avoid operating a skip loader, or flying a plane.
Unfortunately, it doesn't keep me away from the computer

__________________

----------------------------------------------------
Uh, I forgot, Man. What? Oh yeah I dig. Never mind.
Enjoy all the delicious flavours
of our posting guidelines!
http://www.marijuana.com/site-feedba...uidelines.html

Buzzby

I can think of two, who are the most important ones: your doctor and your pharmacist.

Unless you're a physician, a pharmacist, or a biochemist, there's no reason why you'd want to know, need to know, or even be able to understand what they are. That's why we have highly trained professionals to handle matters beyond common knowledge.

Since she's a doctor, you should assume that she does. That's what she's trained for.

Some people think that medical marijuana should be like aspirin: you can buy as much as you like and use as much as you like, for whatever purpose you like. As long as marijuana is illegal for other than medical reasons, that's not going to happen. If medical marijuana is legalized at the federal level, that will mean moving from Schedule I to one of the lower Schedules. It'll still be a prescription drug and knowing the contents of prescription drugs is mandatory within that structure.

king cola

You made a good point in your post but besides the doctor and the pharmacist I meant how many of us know anything about the drugs we are givin but you explained that we don't need to know. With my views on legalizing pot for medical and recreational use i'm defending marijuana when comparing it to other drugs that have made it onto the market. People trusted the FDA, the doctors, and pharmacy when Celebrex and Vioxx were put on the market. Two years later more than 100,000 people across the country were dropping dead from massive strokes and some of the people that lived through it aren't the same. My sister was on Vioxx for 3 days at the most when she pulled her muscles and that was before the reports came in about the dangers it had. If she had to be on it for 2 or 3 years she might not be here today. If I go to a doctor and he puts me on a prescription drug for something I admit that I will take it and I never question them about it because it's their profession.

In the medical field she probably knows more than I do and I understand that there are regulations when putting a drug on the market but i'm defending marijuana as a more stable drug than many other prescription and over the counter drugs.

They should just legalize pot and sell it in health stores with a age limit. If people want it for recreation let them have it, if people want to use it for medical treatment let them.