Making the Case for Medical Marijuana

[Teatownclown]

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/04/04/poll-majority-supports-legalizing-marijuana/

The opiate of the people...all because of George W. Bush.

[patric]

(CBS News) Eighteen states and Washington D.C. have legalized medical marijuana. Connecticut joined that group last year.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57580651/conn-cancer-patient-fights-marijuana-loophole/
While it's legal to use medical marijuana there, it's not legal to grow it, and there's no place open that legally sells it.

That's left some patients risking arrest to get the relief they say they need.
At first glance, 42-year-old Tracey Gamer Fanning appears to be a typical mom in suburban Connecticut.
She is not.

"I use medicinal marijuana," she said. "I am breaking the law right now because we don't have growers and distributors here in Connecticut."
In 2006, Fanning, then the mother of a 4-year-old and 18-month-old, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
Racked by seizures, debilitating headaches, and oppressive pain medication she spent much of her time in bed -- until she tried marijuana.

"The first time I ever did it," Fanning said. "It gave me my life back."
Connecticut did not allow the medical use of marijuana at the time. The suggestion came from her doctor, Andrew Salner.
"It's always somewhat difficult for me because when I make a recommendation about trying marijuana," Salner said. "It is telling someone to potentially put themselves in harm's way to go purchase an illegal drug."

"This is the drawer of medications that I am very proud to say I don't take anymore," Fanning said. "This is my vaporizer which is a very safe way to use medicinal marijuana. It allows you not to get the carcinogens from smoking. It's not the traditional way people think of smoking pot, it turns it into a vapor."
If it weren't for marijuana, Fanning said, she would not be herself.
"I would not be this," she said. "And this is what everybody hopes to have six and a half years later after being diagnosed."

[heironymouspasparagus]

What kind of terminal brain cancer doesn't kill you in 7 years??  Just curious... makes me kind of think that life is a terminal disease.....oh, wait....

[Vashta Nerada]

I would never defend someone driving under the influence, but this Draconian measure goes way too far:

OKLAHOMA CITY — Governor Mary Fallin just approved an amendment to House Bill 1441 that could take some drivers by surprise. The sub-section deals with the definition "under the influence." What's new, is that the wording now says that any amount of a Schedule 1 drug like Marijuana found in your system can put you behind bars if you're driving.

Officials can find those trace amounts in your body fluids.  Now the wording includes metabolites, which are part of the breakdown of many substances. Attorney Charles Sifers said with alcohol there is set number of .08.  With this law, there is no specific number.

"In this instance any amount of Schedule 1, or any metabolite from Schedule 1, presumes you under the influence."

Sifers also said that if metabolites can now be used as part of the measurement, people may not be impaired from the drug, but will still register it in their system.

"Marijuana can stay in your system a long time.  Long after any impairing or effecting comes from smoking the marijuana.

Sifers believes blood tests will have to be closely monitored. Lawmakers have not responded to his concerns as of yet.

[Conan71]

I would never defend someone driving under the influence, but this Draconian measure goes way too far:

Agreed. Metabolites can be in the system for days and even a few weeks, IIRC.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Just another example of Fallin failin'.  Yeah,... we're gonna attract the top job creators in the world today....

[Vashta Nerada]

Just another example of Fallin failin'.  Yeah,... we're gonna attract the top job creators in the world today....

Steve Jobs would have never made it here.

[sauerkraut]

I'll make the case against legal MJ ~the drug is mind altering and we don't need any more people in public with altered brains we have enough problems  with alcohol and illegal drug use as it is without making MJ legal. The drug stays in your body for a full month. That heavy equipment operator in PA who knocked down that building and killed 6 people was on MJ. Do we want people at work running machines and equipment on drugs? I'm against legal MJ or any drugs. Get high on life not drugs. The only reason for MJ is to alter your brain and thinking process. However, I do think the laws for drug use are crazy and don't fit the crime. Giving someone 25 years for drug crimes is nuts, save that space for criminals. BTW, many criminals use drugs.

[RecycleMichael]

Get high on life

I used to get high on life, then I built up a tolerance. Now it takes a week for me to seize the day.

[Red Arrow]

I used to get high on life, then I built up a tolerance. Now it takes a week for me to seize the day.

You must be getting old (too ).

[patric]

I'll make the case against legal MJ ~the drug is mind altering and we don't need any more people in public with altered brains we have enough problems  with alcohol and illegal drug use as it is without making MJ legal.... I'm against legal MJ or any drugs. Get high on life not drugs.... BTW, many criminals use drugs.

You are making a case for alcohol prohibition.
It was tried, and failed.

[Conan71]

You are making a case for alcohol prohibition.
It was tried, and failed.

Just post a face palm pic, Patric, that's all that's warranted in this case.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I'll make the case against legal MJ ~the drug is mind altering and we don't need any more people in public with altered brains we have enough problems  with alcohol and illegal drug use as it is without making MJ legal. The drug stays in your body for a full month. That heavy equipment operator in PA who knocked down that building and killed 6 people was on MJ. Do we want people at work running machines and equipment on drugs? I'm against legal MJ or any drugs. Get high on life not drugs. The only reason for MJ is to alter your brain and thinking process. However, I do think the laws for drug use are crazy and don't fit the crime. Giving someone 25 years for drug crimes is nuts, save that space for criminals. BTW, many criminals use drugs.

I was just gonna post the fact that your entire post is idiotic....but that would be redundant.  Is this an admission of what is going on with you?...too much marijuana??

And Conan got it right...considered yourself quadruple face palmed!

[patric]

Just post a face palm pic, Patric, that's all that's warranted in this case.

Perhaps.  Im just curious as to the demographic of people that believe that garbage.
Orwell describes them as "slogan swallowers" in Nineteen Eighty-Four (a book that desperately needs to be put back on the required reading list)

[patric]

Misrepresenting designer drugs as "synthetic marijuana"


The term "synthetic weed" is a known misnomer. "Spice" is manufactured by spraying dried herbs with the chemical cannabicyclohexanol, a cannibinoid receptor agonist; it does not actually contain tetrahydrocannibinol (THC), the active ingredient of the cannabis plant.

"Spice" is mimicry, not duplication. It is simulation, not synthesis.

But CNN has a history of muddying the facts where marijuana is concerned. Just last March, they published this dubiously-titled ditty:  "Synthetic marijuana just as dangerous", doubly misinformative in that it overstates the danger of real marijuana to those who don't know better, and understates the danger of "Spice" to those who do.

http://skepticallyleft.com/2013/02/06/cnn-flubs-synthetic-weed-story/

Though "K2" and "Spice" are more akin to drugs like PCP, their false association with marijuana may be a smokescreen -- a deliberate attempt by various interests to snuff the growing nationwide trend towards marijuana law reform.