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“They’ve said essentially that the federal government has it all wrong,”
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| LazFX |
This subject touches me espcially since I know first hand the benifits of MJ used on so called "terminally ill" patients.
| quote: | Internists Tell Feds to Lighten Up on Marijuana
Ease off on marijuana, a national doctor group is telling the feds.
The American College of Physicians, 124,000 members strong, has issued a 13-page position paper asking the federal government to drop marijuana from its classification as a substance considered to have no medicinal value and a high chance of abuse, reports the Baltimore Sun. (Read this Health Blog post for one doctor’s high opinion of medical marijuana.)
“They’ve said essentially that the federal government has it all wrong,” Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, told the Health Blog. The ACP, which represents internists, is the largest physician group to date to ask for such a classification change, he says.
PDFThe Sun reports that the ACP’s declaration could pressure legislators and regulators to consider pushing for the schedule change. The federal government thus far has resisted fully exploring the medical benefits of marijuana, but a dozen states have legalized medical use. The ACP paper makes a broad case for easing restrictions on marijuana research and says that doctors and patients in these states where medical marijuana is legal shouldn’t be penalized under federal law. (Click on PDF image to read the position paper.)
But at least some in the government disagree vehemently with the idea of legalizing medical marijuana. “What this would do is drag us back to 14th-century medicine,” Berta Madras, the deputy director for demand reduction at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy told the Sun. “It’s so arcane.”
Marijuana image via Wikimedia Commons
>>SOURCE<<
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Someone very dear to me was being eaten alive by chemotherapy and the related "life" saving drugs that were given to her..... From a healthy happy woman to a thin toothpick. Nothing helped her and we all knew the chemotherapy was killing her. I made some butter and well, along with the treatments and using butter in all of her cooking, she regained her health and beat the odds....even a pack full of Drs told her that MJ saved her life. They gave her only 6 months...but after the treatment..well that was damn near 15years ago, she is still with me.
It irks me that the US is so ass backwards with its views toward MJ.
| quote: | Doctor of the Day: David Bearman, Cannabinoidologist
Posted by Heather Won Tesoriero
Dispensing medical marijuana is a tricky business, and the WSJ takes a look at how pot shops have stirred things up in tony Santa Barbara, Calif.
Cannabis is sometimes used to relieve pain or improve appetite for a host of conditions, ranging from multiple sclerosis to cancer. One big problem: It’s illegal.
So Californians passed Proposition 215 in 1996, legalizing the medical use of marijuana. Seven years later the legislators specified details needed to make it practical, such as who was a caregiver and how much weed was OK. Oh, there was another problem: Prescriptions can only be written for FDA-approved medications. So California dealt with that by requiring patients to get a “doctor’s recommendation” to obtain medical marijuana. Finally, even after all those legal gymnastics, it remains that medical marijuana use violates federal law. So those California dispensaries that are legal under the state’s law run the risk of raids by G-men.
Some California doctors don’t believe in medical marijuana use. Some others who do but want to stay out of the legal fray send their patients to David Bearman (pictured). Since 2001, he’s devoted his entire practice to medical marijuana patients, and describes himself as a cannabinoidologist. He also serves from time to time as an expert witness. (Previously, Bearman held a number of appointments in public health.) He treated “no respect” comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who gave a nod to the doctor in his 2004 book, “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me.”
The Health Blog sat down with Bearman in his office in Goleta, Calif. to talk about medical marijuana. Here’s some of what he had to say.
“I became aware that cannabis had some medicinal value about 45 years ago, although it took me about 20 years to fully appreciate that,” he told us. According to Bearman, his father was a pharmacist who was assigned to create tincture of cannabis during his training and went on to dispense cannabis products. But for years, Bearman said that he, “like many people believed that manufactured medications had to be better than natural ones.”
He relies on word-of-mouth and referrals from fellow physicians for patients. Bearman said he screens prospective patients pretty rigorously by phone before deciding to grant an appointment. They’re asked what diagnosis they’ve been given, how it’s been treated and the last time they’ve seen a medical provider. “There’s no sense in making an appointment for someone who’s not going to qualify for the medicinal use of cannabis,” he said.
For those who aren’t weeded out, he charges $250 for an initial hour-long visit and $200 for follow-ups. He doesn’t accept insurance. Bearman is steadfast in his belief that marijuana is a legitimate medical option for many conditions. “It’s one of the safest therapeutic agents to man,” he said. But, he acknowledges that some people, being human, use it “inappropriately.”
The doctor got into a tussle with the Medical Board of California a few years ago for refusing to release medical records of a patient who got into legal trouble for possessing marijuana. The state court sided with the medical board, but an appellate court overturned the ruling, saying that Bearman had a responsibility to protect a patient’s right to privacy.
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| Q5echo |
| on the other hand weed makes perfectly healthy young people with worlds of potential dumb and lazy. |
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| donnybrasco |
I like the idea of weed being legalized, even if the limited number of medicinal users is the driving force behind it.
In my state, of the handful of people I know who are legally purchasing medical marijuana, the fact of the matter is that NONE of them has any kind of "life threatening" condition. They truthfully don't even have a genuine medical condition that causes them that much pain that they need to get high. The proponents of medicinal weed are passing out the prescriptions as fast as they can in order to beef up the user list and thus, justify it's legalization all the more, IMHO.
But whatever...I believe in legalizing drugs anyway, and weed, of ALL drugs, should be the first on the list.
Using it responsibly however....that's another matter. |
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| LazFX |
| quote: | Originally posted by Q5echo
on the other hand weed makes perfectly healthy young people with worlds of potential dumb and lazy. |
you see my bud, this is where you and I kind of seperate. Weed is much like alcohol. If you can't handle your , then you need to die. The gods put it here for us to use but its the immature s of the world that it up.... example: Willie Nelson. He has set the movement light years back due to his recent talking about the WTC attacks....its like that that makes me pissed. Just another typical weed head that thinks out loud ;) |
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| Zild |
| quote: | Originally posted by Q5echo
on the other hand weed makes perfectly healthy young people with worlds of potential dumb and lazy. |
Bull. Most (95%) sober people will never be able to learn half the mathematics I've forgotten over the past few years, and I've been stoned 24/7. |
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| eROs.au |
| quote: | Originally posted by LazFX
you see my bud, |
PUN |
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| Krypton |
| quote: | Originally posted by Q5echo
on the other hand weed makes perfectly healthy young people with worlds of potential dumb and lazy. |
Classic example of a stereotype. Good job there...;)
Do all people who drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes become hacking drunks? And who are you tell someone else what they can and cannot do if the activity they partake in violates no one elses life, liberty, or property? |
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| Q5echo |
| quote: | Originally posted by Zild
Bull. Most (95%) sober people will never be able to learn half the mathematics I've forgotten over the past few years, and I've been stoned 24/7. |
so you, Zild, have the inherent ability to manipulate numbers in your head better than most. thats great.
...but it means absolutely nothing. |
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| Q5echo |
| quote: | Originally posted by Krypton
Classic example of a stereotype. Good job there...;) |
so there are no true stereotypes?
| quote: | | Do all people who drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes become hacking drunks? |
are there no young people that have problems with alchohol? and cigarettes aren't addictive?
| quote: | | And who are you tell someone else what they can and cannot do if the activity they partake in violates no one elses life, liberty, or property? |
who are you to tell me i not allowed to warn people on the REAL dangers of chemical addiction? |
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| Q5echo |
| quote: | Originally posted by LazFX
you see my bud, this is where you and I kind of seperate. Weed is much like alcohol. If you can't handle your , then you need to die. The gods put it here for us to use but its the immature s of the world that it up.... example: Willie Nelson. He has set the movement light years back due to his recent talking about the WTC attacks....its like that that makes me pissed. Just another typical weed head that thinks out loud ;) |
Willie Nelson and other psuedo-celebrities aside, i don't think you and i are separated much at all.
i think you know marijuana has the ability strip motivation, drive and ambition from young people that would have been less successful at negotiating life's challenges than never having toked at all.
if that's true and you are, in fact, aware then what separates you and i is very simple. you acknowledge and tolerate. i acknowledge and don't tolerate. |
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| Krypton |
| quote: | Originally posted by Q5echo
so there are no true stereotypes? |
Not the one you listed. I smoke green all the time and I'm no lazy basement dwelling pothead. I've held the same bank job for over two years, while maintaining above a 3.0GPA in my business program, plus engaging in entreprenuership, investments, and stock analysis. I also enjoy playing futsal, soccer, and tackle football with my other pothead friends!! Trust me mate, not all weed smokers are lazy bums, but hey, such a stereotype helps the drug war fanatics plenty.
Are there lazy no-life potheads? YES! I know a couple, but the majority of my pothead friends have jobs, go to school, and don't devote their lives to sitting around smoking pot all day.
| quote: | | are there no young people that have problems with alchohol? and cigarettes aren't addictive? |
Of course, but who are you, or the government to tell them they can't smoke or drink?
| quote: | | who are you to tell me i not allowed to warn people on the REAL dangers of chemical addiction? |
You can warn people all you want. But if that person still wants to smoke, drink, etc., who are you to FORCE them not to? The drug war is unconstitutional, plain and simple. |
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| Q5echo |
| quote: | Originally posted by Krypton
Not the one you listed. |
Are there lazy no-life potheads? YES!
wanna try again?
| quote: | | Of course, but who are you, or the government to tell them they can't smoke or drink? |
we're their parents.
| quote: | | You can warn people all you want. |
thank you. |
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