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Pot's potential
Medical marijuana could relieve many in pain, if we'll let it
9-24-`07 | Ocala.com | by Robyn Chaky

Imagine you are forced to put on a pair of short shorts every morning when you wake up because if long pants were to lightly brush your skin during the day, the sensation would be similar to a thousand spiders crawling up your legs.

Imagine your eyesight is stranger than you remember it, as there is excess pressure on your eyes forcing you to use mainly your central vision. Imagine that every sensation you feel is a bit off, your body twitches because of unknown sources. Imagine that no matter how good food may smell, you never want to taste it.

All the strange sensations mentioned above are just a few effects of a debilitating nerve disease, multiple sclerosis. Then, imagine that you can feel better, almost normal, but the only way for you to regain your senses is illegal, as the drug that would ease most of your ills is marijuana.

Marijuana was legal - even approved by a panel that sets standards for pharmaceutical drugs in the United States - until political pressure forced the criminalization of it in 1937. Although a few states have passed new regulations permitting use of "medical marijuana," which is not as effective and much more costly than the other kind, politicians simply refuse to endorse a so called "gateway" drug.

But is this drug really that harmful? We hear about the side effects and overdoses of currently prescribed, even over-the-counter, medications daily. Can marijuana be much worse than these?

Scientific evidence indicates it is not.
John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in March 2002 that "smoked marijuana damages the heart, the brain, lungs and immune system. It impairs learning and interferes with memory, perception and judgment. Smoked marijuana contains cancer-causing compounds and has been implicated in a high percentage of automobile crashes."

He voices the stereotypical judgments of the drug made by most people who oppose its legalization. However, many of the myths have been debunked by studies that have been ongoing for decades.

Based on a 30-year research project, editors of The Lancet, a British medical journal, established that "the smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health."

The cognitive, information processing and memory effects of the drug are true but only while the individual is under the influence of the drug. Individuals in a study had no problems remembering things they already knew, although they did find it difficult to take in new information. But this effect is temporary and there is not adequate evidence to prove that even abundant daily use of the drug can cause any permanent damage.

Studies performed on drivers show that marijuana may make them "more cautious," but not necessarily dangerous, and the capability of a person to operate a vehicle while under the influence of marijuana showed no major impairments of these drivers. Alcohol, though legal, has been proven to drastically deteriorate a driver's ability.

There is also no substantial evidence that marijuana is a "gateway" drug, that it can lead to the use of more dangerous drugs, such as heroin and cocaine.

Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the United States, therefore, people who have used less popular drugs are very likely to have tried marijuana as well. To abolish the "gateway drug" theory, consider that many people who smoke cannabis do not use other drugs on a regular basis. "Pot smokers" are not heavy drug users who party all night on cocaine, ecstasy and heroin; they are simply people who smoke marijuana.

For more than 20 years, the Netherlands has allowed its citizens to purchase and use cannabis. For most age groups studied, marijuana use in the Netherlands is comparable to that of the United States. Crime has not risen, and neither has the use of illicit drugs.

The Netherlands modifies its regulations periodically, but overall this country seeks to "normalize rather than dramatize cannabis use," according to this study.

Marijuana foes also claim it is highly addictive, even dangerous. But of the 1 percent of Americans who smoke marijuana on a daily basis, the number who become dependent is minimal. In contrast to opiates, alcohol and nicotine, it is impossible to develop a physical addiction to marijuana - if individuals claim as much, their minds have convinced their bodies that they "need" it. This type of dependence can happen with anything.

A survey on drug dependence showed marijuana scored the lowest of tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, heroin and anxiolytics, making marijuana's addiction equivalent to that of coffee. A study performed on rats and monkeys revealed that an adult would have to consume several thousand marijuana cigarettes in a day to risk a lethal overdose. "It is simply impossible," the study said, "to kill oneself by smoking or eating too much marijuana."

We must also consider our overcrowded court system. Arrest rates for marijuana possession are higher than arrest rates for violent crimes; they represent an astonishing 45 percent of all drugs arrests, yet these people have committed victimless crimes.

Meanwhile, there is a mindset among opponents of marijuana that "pot smokers are lazy." However, this notion, having been subjected to 25 years of studies, has no evidence to support it. In fact, employed adults who smoke marijuana tend to have higher wages and stricter work ethics than those who don't. The only correlation with what's known as "amotivational syndrome" is that people who are routinely intoxicated by any means (marijuana, pills, alcohol, or other drugs) are routinely less productive members of society.

The medicinal uses of marijuana are the main reason we should decriminalize it. Right behind that is taking an enormous burden off our judicial system. Last but not least, scientists have proven marijuana is not the type of drug it has always been thought to be.

Life for people facing terminal illnesses, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and AIDS - to name a few - could be greatly improved and more comfortable if marijuana were legalized.

The Netherlands offers a wonderful and encouraging study. We should consider this and other new studies, as the drug has been used as medicinal treatment for thousands of years with no serious consequences, and since scientists and health officials have discredited the cons to decriminalizing marijuana.

Now all we need to do is convince our government of the potential benefits of doing so.

Robyn Chaky is a student at Webster College and majors in criminal justice. She lives in Belleview.

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SWP



"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty." -- "If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly." -- "Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning." -- "As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns: the ones we don't know we don't know."

 

ITG

Pretty good article- covers all the basics. We already know all this, but it's not us that need to be reading it, right?

One question, though... when they say:

Is that like saying they think mmj is somehow different from other bud? I'm confused. Or are they thinking of stuff like marinol, and just thought that was what mmj states were all about? Because I'm pretty sure that the stuff you can get at mmj dispensaries are usually pretty high quality stuff...

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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.

5drive

It sounds to me as if he/she is saying medical mj is less effective and more costly than 'illegal mj', which is a ridiculous statement. Potency and prices vary in both cases. It makes me think the author is pretty much clueless about the subject. There's no mention of marinol in the article at all.

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reggie_the_dog

I think he is saying that legal cannabis, as it was before, would likely be cheaper and you could grow different varieties for different illnesses. I smoked what most people would call schwag (seeded outdoor grown 3 or 4% thc weed) with the father of one of my girlfriends who had MS and it really helped him. I would come over with a quarter ounce rolled up into 2 joints and the 3 of us would share them. Once I gave him an eighth joint and told him to go at it while I split another one with his daughter. His hands were usually like claws, movements jerky etc, so I lit the joint and put it into his mouth for him. I ashed it a couple of times for him too, then without realizing it he reached over, grabbed the ash tray, and ashed the joint himself. When I said 'look, your hands are relaxed and you can move more smoothly than before" he smiled and told me it must be the grass because that did not normally happen. This guy happend to be an aging hippie who had nothing agianst grass but no connection of his own and knew nothing about cannabis as medecine. I can only hope his daughter continued smoking joints with him. Anyways it seemed like the low grade high CBD weed did wonders for his muscles. I was convinced that day, with my own eyes, that cannabis was not at all a drug but that it is in fact a healing herb. Shame on the politicians who try to eradicate this healer and try to put those in prison who only wish tohold and use this herb.

Victor_vicious

The only way I could make sense out of her statement was to believe she was talking about Marinol. have had many folks in the health care professions tell me Marinol is "Legal Medical Marijuana". And at just $33.00/ dose, what a bargain.
While petitioning last weekend I had a lenghty conversation with a nurse about Medical MJ. I stunned her with a few replies and then I said, "You are wondering if I can back up what I say aren't you". She admitted that she was. I gave her a lot more information, including Jack Herer's book and why MJ was made illegal in the first place and Tashkins name for research. Change one persons opinion each day. VV

 

dinkydew1

It sounds to me as if he/she is saying medical mj is less effective and more costly than 'illegal mj', which is a ridiculous statement. Potency and prices vary in both cases. It makes me think the author is pretty much clueless about the subject. There's no mention of marinol in the article at all.

It seems to me the less I hear the word Marinol the better. Placebo seems a better term.