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WillyWonka

Although I approve of medicinal mj use, I think there is a funny contradiction inherent in the use of medical marijuana that no one wants to face.

Smoking is bad for you. No that's not the newsflash. We all know that. But whenever people point out that this major negative side effect of smoking significantly reduces marijuana's medicinal value, proponents always point to vaporizers as being a safe alternative.

But vaporizers actually aren't very effective for treating a lot of the medical conditions marijuana targets. (I can't speak for all medical uses, of course.)

Sure, they pack a lot of THC and -- debatably -- other cannabinols in the vapor. But the active substances don't seem to go to the right places in the body. At least based on the experiences of vaporizer users on this forum (I've been doing researach because I was thinking of getting a vaporizer) and on other forums, vaporizers tend to give people cerebral highs that have little or no stoning effect on the rest of the body. That can be great for mental/emotional/creative needs, but it doesn't do much for, say, treating pains in the body. Right?

I haven't used a vaporizer, so I can't speak from personal experience, but I have had a strain of pot that must have been pure sativa because I felt no effect below the neck. If anything, it made my body hurt more. The mental high was a lot of fun, but it didn't relieve my pain, which is what I needed it for in the first place.

So, at least for me, I guess I've just got to decide if the lung damage/cancer risk is worth the relief that smoking -- not vaping -- provides. I think it is, but it's still a very important consideration.

 

Plainsman1963

Also have eating it via food or capsules. That will give ya a body high.

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WillyWonka

Yes, and I've tried that. But for pain relief, ingesting can be realllllllly slow. Sometimes I don't feel anything for 4-5 hours!

Hiz Highness

Try main-lining bubble hash.



-HH

greypoe

I feel it somewhat right away, as im chewing up the bud in my mouth, my saliva seems to absorb some of the effect.

 

reefermadness1

So use a bong with multiple chambers and put ice water in all of them... Next best thing to vaporizers in terms of health, and the smoke is cleaner and cooler with all the cannibinoids we like.

I've been thinking about an idea: a vaporizer that heats the MJ hotter than traditional ones as to release more cannibinoids but still without burning the weed. After this happens, the smoke would be cooled by ice water before going into your lungs. Maybe I'll make something like this someday.

Cassius

All drugs have side effects. Aspirin depresses and can even damage your immune system if you use it for a long enough time or in large enough quantities. Does that mean aspirin isn't useful as a medicine? Of course not. Same thing about smoking marijuana.

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WillyWonka

Yep, that's what I plan to do (the bong at least -- hadn't given much thought to multi-chambers or ice).

SacredNaCl

You can build a vaporizer cheaply that will allow you to set it to any temperature you want, all you need is: A scientific hotplate with adjustable control, a nice piece of pyrex glass to contain the vapor, some tubing, and a drill to drill a hole for the tubing to go through. You can even find pyrex with a hole already if you dig around the scientific supply stores. This can be done much cheaper than most of the commercial vaporizers that are sold, and you end up with a better product. Note: Put the hole in the glass at the *top* of the glass and not on the side, this is where many commercial vaporizers fail to deliver.

As to the smoking issue, you have to keep in mind a portion of the regulators and medical community are simple zealots & insane. ;-) These are the same folks who wouldn't allow smokeless tobacco companies to advertise the truth -- their produce does carry less risk to the user. They also put most of the alternative delivery systems for nicotine out of business claiming they weren't approved as a "medical device". These were products such as: Sugarless Suckers which contained nicotine, nicotine water (with flavoring to make it taste good). A cheap refillable inhaler for nicotine (similar to ones used for asthma). Nicotine candies of various kinds. Nicotine gum that was clearly labeled "Not a medical device" (*and sold for less than the cost of a pack of cigarettes in PA). One company had developed a time released nicotine pill - but decided not to market it because of what had happened to the others.

Now mind you, some "medicalized" versions of a few of these exist, but the comparitive cost of these is many times greater than smoking. These moves were not made to reduce the risks to the publics health. Each and every one of these delivery systems did what it advertised and was safer than smoking cigarettes as a nicotine delivery system. No, they were made by zealots who just flat out didn't want anyone to have access to nicotine because they hate "big tobacco" -- even when all but one of these delivery systems had come from other companies. They were also made to protect the interest of big pharma which sells much more expensive versions.

The same type of zealots are at work with marijuana, and the same big pharma as well. Even if someone came up with a way to put THC and it's other active components into a skin patch to deliver it - these folks would be crying foul. If someone came up with a sucker for marijuana (which might actually be possible as it's fairly lipopholic, would take some Ph manipulation though) similar to the fentanyl delivery system for Actiq -- these folks would still cry foul.

This has nothing to do with comparative risk profiles, or public health. The risk profile is pretty good. The public health implications are pretty minor.

Higher Logic

There's also more than one way to enjoy the medicinal values of cannabis, even without the part that gets you 'high.' Hemp alone is a good enough answer. Eating cannabis has already been mentioned, along with vaporizers. They are working on Nasal inhalers as well. Topical ointments also come to mind, which people rarely use; this would include ointments that contain THC and ones that do not. Every drug has its downside, aspirin for example.

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