Cannabis as medicine for real, anyone?

[reinbeau]

Soy threw my thyroid into turmoil. Be careful eating too much of it.

 

[Wifezilla]

I avoid it like the plague. I do have friends that use it because it helps with hot flashes.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Soy threw my thyroid into turmoil. Be careful eating too much of it.

Same here.


The problem with this thread is that it got off track from those who use marijuana moderately for medical concerns, and turned into an all-out bashing of those who abuse it and engage in risky behaviors.

Any substance can be over-used to ill effect. Take salt as an example -- those who eat processed foods a lot tend to have higher blood pressure. However making a generalized condemnation of salty foods would be disasterous, because salt is vital in the diet and those who do not eat a lot of processed foods could suffer as a result of not getting enough salt (dehydration, heat exertion).

Unfortunately, we cannot outlaw stupidity.

I see a lot of overgeneralization in this thread about marijuana (to the negative). In small amounts marijuana is, in my estimation, safer than alcohol, especially when the user is responsible about the fact that they are ingesting a mind-altering substance. It is a shame that few people know their limits whether that be drugs, food, or any other mind-altering substance or experience.

 

[reinbeau]

+1, Drake Maiden, to all of your post. People need to stop trying to convince people that 'the evil weed that rots the mind and condemns the soul to eternal hell' (if you know anything at all about weed you'll know that reference) is so horrible, it just isn't. Anyone who has lived with a pot smoking alcoholic whose behavior improved immensely when they got rid of the alcohol knows which one is worse. I would far prefer people not feel the need to alter their minds at all, but if they want to, go for the pot, it just isn't as destructive. Sorry, I had to get my 2 in.

But we aren't supposed to be discussing the illegal use of mind altering drugs, we're discussing medical marijuana, something I fully support. It's a relief to many, and far be it from me to judge someone who is in pain, I want them to have relief any way they can. A terminal cancer patient shouldn't be hassled if they find marijuana to be a comfort to them. Heck, over in England they did a study on the use of high-grade heroin for terminal cancer patients, and they were far better able to function on it than on standard morphine. Who cares if they get addicted? They're going to die anyways!

If my father had asked me to get him anything, at all, while he was wasting away from colon cancer I would have done it for him. Anything. No one should expect people to 'live' (and for many pain makes it hardly living) in pain because someone else thinks they shouldn't have something to relieve it.

 

[Wifezilla]

Any substance can be over-used to ill effect.

A terminal cancer patient shouldn't be hassled if they find marijuana to be a comfort to them

No one should expect people to 'live' (and for many pain makes it hardly living) in pain because someone else thinks they shouldn't have something to relieve it.

I think a lot of people would not turn to things like medical mj if their pain management wasn't so horrible in the first place. Doctors UNDERMEDICATE to avoid problems with the DEA.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I'm sorry to hear about your father's suffering, Reinbeau.

Just to keep things interesting, here is an introductory paragraph to an article about how the human body is capable of producing a chemical that acts similar to THC in the brain.

Marijuana is a drug with a mixed history. Mention it to one person, and it will conjure images of potheads lost in a spaced-out stupor. To another, it may represent relaxation, a slowing down of modern madness. To yet another, marijuana means hope for cancer patients suffering from the debilitating nausea of chemotherapy, or it is the promise of relief from chronic pain. The drug is all these things and more, for its history is a long one, spanning millennia and continents. It is also something everyone is familiar with, whether they know it or not. Everyone grows a form of the drug, regardless of their political leanings or recreational proclivities. That is because the brain makes its own marijuana, natural compounds called endocannabinoids (after the plant's formal name, Cannabis sativa). . .

Scientific American article "The Brain's Own Marijuana".

 

[FarmerDenise]

"Just to keep things interesting, here is an introductory paragraph to an article about how the human body is capable of producing a chemical that acts similar to THC in the brain."

DrakeMaiden, that is what I read also. My "Marijuana Medical Handbook" goes into quite a bit of detail on this subject.

Yes, but if you grow it yourself, some poor pharmacy executive wont get to own an extra vacation house. How selfish of you!

Regarding shoving pills up your anus.
I asked my doctor about this and he stated that that does not work with most pills, since they need to have a special coating to desolve in that part of our anatomy. He also stated that he thought it was stupid to spend all that money on a pill that probably had negative side affects and might not work as well, opposed to using cannabis. I am using my cannabis tincture and salve while under a doctor's care. And like any other physician he suggests other methods of treatment as well, i.e. yoga, diet, exercise etc.

Since using tincture for my backpain due to the slipped discs, I have not taken any vicodin and taken only 2 pills of Advil, opposed to taking 3 or 4 Advil three or four times a day every day, and taking vicodin 2 or 3 times a week. I would have taken vicodin more often, but I am concerned about building tolerance and needing stronger and stronger medication and consequent addiction to these meds. I have been on this pain "management" regime for more than 25 years.
I wish I had found out about using cannabis tincture many years ago.

Unfortunately, we cannot outlaw stupidity.

I sooo agree.

 

[1acrefarm]

Good for you. I am glad you are using natural pain management instead of all those dangerous pills.

 

[FarmerDenise]

me too
I have been doing yoga since I was fourteen and it helps a lot, but it did not eliminate the pain altogether.

 

[nanrpudn]

I read an interesting article not too long ago about why marijuana is illegal in this country. Before prohibition, both alcohol and marijuana were legal in the US. When prohibition was repealed, alcohol was once again made legal but Randolph Hearst and a big chemical company (well known, but the name escapes me at the moment) had big money tied up in pulp wood trees for paper production. Marijuana, or more correctly, hemp, is not only valuable for recreational purposes, but can be used to make paper, rope, cloth - all sorts of things. Hearst and the chemical company (Dow, maybe?) used their money and influence to prevent the re-legalization of marijuana because if it were legalized, they stood to lose a lot of money. Don't know how true the story is, but certainly believable. Money do talk!!