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March 14, 2008
Wonder Drug
Instapundit put out a call for help and messages of support for a blogger whose wife was suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis. So I did my usual and checked to see if marijuana would be of any help. And what do you know. (the numbers in the text refer to footnotes from here) Recent research is accumulating evidence that cannabis therapies are effective for arthritis and the other rheumatic and degenerative hip, joint and connective tissue disorders. Since these are frequently extremely painful conditions, the ability of cannabis to combat chronic pain makes it useful for that aspect, both on its own and as an adjunct therapy that enhances the efficacy of opiod painkillers. The use of cannabis as a treatment for musclo-skeletal pain in western medicine dates to the 1700s.12-13Now would some one please tell me why this drug is illegal? Cross Posted at Power and Control posted by Simon on 03.14.08 at 11:54 PM
Comments
I use Medical Marijuana,I can assure you that it does work for pain and inflammation.I wasn't able to walk more than 100ft before I started Marijuana therapy.Now I can.It is safer than the opiates the doc first wanted to give me.Also it is a longer lasting effect. I think the reason that it is still illegal is the fact that no MegaPharm can make money from it. Allan Sheldon · March 15, 2008 01:40 PM AVI, One of the reasons we have so few studies on this is that the US Gubbermint only does studies showing pot to be bad. You know. The War On Drugs thingy. In fact for 25 years no research on benefits was done in the US. It is only recently with the discovery of the CB1 and CB2 (in Israel I might add)systems that even a trickle has started. How about that - one of the major chemical messenger systems in the body went undiscovered due to a moratorium on positive pot research. Of course skewing science to support the Drug War is perfectly reasonable. Pot is Cheech and Chong medicine. One of our Drug Czars said so. Five thousand years of history and the fact that cannabis was part of the US Pharmacopoeia until 1937 be damned. Sure lack of research is a problem. So where are the 500 US studies trying to come to some conclusion about the anecdotes? Here are a few things that are not studied in the US: Anti-Inflammatory use. And those are just a few off the top of my head. The CB systems are a major part of body regulation. An essential part of brain chemistry. An essential part of muscle chemistry. Why aren't they being studied intensively in the US? M. Simon · March 15, 2008 10:30 PM Like any other drug, extensive scientific studies must be performed to understand the issues of marijuana safety and efficacy for various medical conditions. We know that, on the safety side, marijuana can lead to schizophrenia as well as a syndrome of lowered motivation and creativity. We also know that marijuana use can, as a gateway drug, lead to use of and addiction to even more dangerous drugs including cocaine and methamphetamine. The admixture of marijuana with children or teenagers is a particularly unwise and dangerous prospect. With this said, if marijuana can be proven to provide superior therapy for particular adult diseases - compared to existing treatments, then it may be reasonable to legalize it for those specific indications, provided guarantees can be put into place to keep it out of the reach of children and teenagers. I am somewhat skeptical that such guarantees could work.
Ronald R. Cherry, MD, FCCP · March 17, 2008 12:01 AM Ronald, The gateway drug theory was debunked long ago. However, it turns out if you want to buy into that tobacco and alcohol are the most likely candidates. In any case it is clear that you do not understand the cause of drug use. People use them because they need them. Here are a few links to get you started. M. Simon · March 17, 2008 12:18 AM Oh yeah. How can anything be proved if it can't be studied? And how can it be studied if the DEA blocks all favorable studies? Catch 22 isn't it? M. Simon · March 17, 2008 12:21 AM Post a comment
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Marijuana research should continue, but that article doesn't make the case for it. The promising-sounding properties of chemicals in marijuana are not evidence that they do what we hope they might. There are thousands of substances which do interesting and promising things in medicine that don't convert to ever being useful. The possible explanation of how they might do some good is too easily believed as evidence that there are good. It's how all herbal "medicines" are advertised and the population scammed.