Marijuana really is medicine

02.18.10 - 2:04 pm | Steven T. Jones |

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Just in time for Medical Marijuana Week comes word that the first U.S. clinical trials on marijuana in more than 20 years has found that it is effective in relieving pain and treating multiple sclerosis and other ailments, potentially opening the way for the federal government to revisit its longstanding claim that pot has no medicinal value.

Most significant are findings that even low levels of marijuana offer significant pain relief with minimal health consequences. Unfortunately, the San Francisco Chronicle also reports that the UC San Diego researchers have almost run out of funding before all its planned tests have been completed.

San Francisco has long been a leader in the medical marijuana movement, both with its proactive approach to regulating cannabis clubs, and with the sponsorship of efforts to decriminalize pot by state legislators Tom Ammiano and Mark Leno. Oakland’s pot-cultivation school Oaksterdam University also bankrolled an initiative aimed for the November ballot that would legalize weed for even recreational use.

Comments

not healthy for your lungs if you smoke it

And growing evidence of inducing psychosis/schizophrenia.

For those that deny allthis, it is likely they are the same people who on the other hand fear Bisphenol-A or BPA - plastic which has been linked to health problems...

Posted by Guest on Feb. 18, 2010 @ 4:18 pm

tax cannabis act 2010

Historic statewide initiative in California to legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis. Help build national support for the movement. Sign up on the website, join the campaign! taxcannabis.org

Posted by Derrick Cothern on Apr. 15, 2010 @ 2:06 pm

REJECT FEAR TACTICS - DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA

Marijuana is much safer than alcohol and most controlled prescription drugs, and anyone who reads the chapter on marijuana in the prestigious Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook, 4-th Edition will see that. According to this Textbook, published by the American Association of Addiction Psychiatry, cannabis use suppresses violent crime and "only the unsophisticated" think otherwise.
The important point in this argument is that the "opponents" insist that marijuana is not "safe", so what they want the voters to believe is that opiate pain-killers like morphine and Oxycontin (or alcohol, for that matter) that cause both severe physical dependence and overdoses are more "safe" than marijuana that causes neither physical dependence, nor overdoses. This particular "argument" may be "swallowed" politically, but not scientifically. Don't forget, folks, there is a lot of political posturing going around, as your politicians are trying to present themselves as more "anti-drug" than the next guy, but go ahead and challenge them on scientific grounds, but most importantly, vote in November because you know that the "opponents" are going to be there.

Posted by Guest on Apr. 16, 2010 @ 10:12 am

I worked in several drug

I worked in several drug addiction clinics of Philadelphia, PA as a Program Physician and I have seen plenty of dependence on alcohol as well as all kinds of narcotics, tranquilizers and "anti-depressants". No wonder CNN reported recently that thousands of our veterans are "hooked" on controlled prescription drugs. However, the only questionable cases of pure "marijuana addiction" were those referred by the State parole and probation departments after failing a drug test. There is no such thing as lethal marijuana overdose, and neither is there a physical withdrawal syndrome with medical marijuana use. Also, the so-called "gateway drug" theory has been proven to be a fiction and a fantasy by the science of addiction medicine. It is also a fact that cannabis use suppresses violent behavior. All this together with the the medicinal properties of the plant that are really beyond dispute. The following quote from a true expert summarizes the situation: "Cannabis will one day be seen as a wonder drug, as was penicillin in the 1940s. Like penicillin, herbal marijuana is remarkably nontoxic, has a wide range of therapeutic applications and would be quite inexpensive if it were legal". Dr. Lester Grinspoon, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2006 The opponents of medical marijuana know that they can never prevail denying medical marijuana's remarkable medicinal qualities, so they are engaged in fear-tactics that we must see and reject!

Posted by Guest on Apr. 16, 2010 @ 10:15 am

It looks like no matter what

It looks like no matter what happens we are heading the same direction: marijuana legalization. Maybe this is for the better, after all people are smoking marijuana whether is legal or not, pot legalization would only bring better control over the drug, I can only hope this is for the better.

Posted by rehab best on Jun. 28, 2010 @ 12:08 pm