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| Can I Get a Medicinal Hit? |
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Posted by FoM on February 24, 2002 at 08:37:18 PT By Fernando Mosquera Source: Diamondback 
Last year, seriously ill Canadians gained their independence from oppressive marijuana policy when Canada became the first nation to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. This year, seriously ill Marylanders are fighting for the same freedoms already granted to Canadians and Americans in the eight states with medical marijuana legislation (Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington). The first battle took place Feb. 7, when the Darrell Putman Compassionate Use Act was introduced in the Annapolis legislature with 53 co-sponsors.
Scientific evidence makes a compelling argument for medical marijuana's safety and efficacy. The National Academy of Sciences recognizes marijuana as an appropriate treatment for the side effects of chemotherapy, AIDS, operations, chronic pain and spinal cord injuries. The Physicians' Desk Reference: For Herbal Medicines (medicine's drug bible), states, "No health hazard or side effects are known in conjunction with the proper administration of designated therapeutic dosages." But sometimes scientific journals and medical books don't tell the whole story. I have personally been waging a lifelong battle with Crohn's disease, a battle in which medical marijuana has proven to be a great ally. Crohn's disease causes inflammation affecting the entire gastrointestinal tract. During flare-ups, the symptoms can be paralyzing; over the past ten years my life has been brought to a stop by sharp, debilitating stomach pain, constant diarrhea (at its worst I spent entire days on the toilet screaming in pain), blood in the stool and severe weight loss. Medicine has made little progress in the search for a cure and doesn't even fully understand the cause of the illness (it is believed to be an auto-immune disease, so the body's own defenses may be to blame). The most popular way to control Crohn's is with Prednisone, a multi-purpose steroid drug that, along with reducing inflammation, can cause psychosis, stunted growth, high blood pressure, weak bones and glaucoma. The manufacturer of Prednisone recommends it be used in short spurts to minimize side effects, but during my adolescence I was kept on high doses of the drug for prolonged periods of time. Prednisone couldn't control my illness, and even worse it went to work on my body and mind, stunting my growth, causing mood shifts and water retention, and putting me at risk for osteoporosis. I tried all the treatments available, even attempting an "elemental diet:" breakfast, lunch and dinner served through a tube that ran up my nose and down to my stomach. This failed too, and I had to be home-schooled through high school, spending my days lying in bed clutching my stomach in agony, hoping the constant diarrhea would stop. A writing career led me to California, where I discovered a medical marijuana regimen of smoking before and after meals made the symptoms of my Crohn's disease disappear. Under California's Proposition 215, I had the legal right to use a medicine that proved far more effective than anything my doctors had tried. But here in Maryland I cannot use my medicine without fear of arrest and jail. The alternative is Marinol, a legal prescription medicine that contains a synthetic version of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active ingredient in natural marijuana. Marinol has several disadvantages: 1) It takes much longer to work, especially after meals when I need relief the most; 2) It is difficult to have the right amount. I either end up being too stoned to function or not medicated enough; and 3) THC is not the only active compound in marijuana, and research shows the anti-inflammatory effect of marijuana is likely a result not of THC, but of cannabidiol, a separate chemical not contained in Marinol. So what is it about Marinol that makes it a safe drug, while smoked marijuana remains a dangerous substance of no medical use? Nothing, and that is why it is crucial that the Darrell Putman Compassionate Act become law. Marylanders such as myself who battle chronic health problems should be able to use the medicine that works best, has relatively few side effects and provides the best quality of life. Fernando Mosquera is a freshman letters and sciences major. Source: Diamondback, The (MD) Related Articles & Web Site: Medical Marijuana Information Links Delegates Lobby for Medical Marijuana Bill 50 Lawmakers Back Medical Marijuana Bipartisan Support for Medical Marijuana Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #1 posted by p4me on February 24, 2002 at 14:34:37 PT |
| So what is it about Marinol that makes it a safe drug, while smoked marijuana remains a dangerous substance of no
medical use? Nothing, and that is why it is crucial that the Darrell Putman Compassionate Act become law.
Marylanders such as myself who battle chronic health problems should be able to use the medicine that works best,
has relatively few side effects and provides the best quality of life. That is my kind of message and it is terribly sad what the government is imposing on the sick. Anyone that wants MJ should be eligible for any number of research projects that need to be done. I have ulcerous colitus and I believe the least they could do is let me join a real medical study and find out the truth. There needs to be an immediate call for cannabis in the treatment of alcoholics plus all the other ailments that MJ could help. And the government is still lying to us. Let the prisoners grow the MJ and see if MJ can help reduce the violence among our 2 million prisoners or even sleep disorders. I wanted to copy something from a ExperiencedWorm on the DE message board. There have been several prominent meetings about the UK situation and THC4MS is very concerned with medical cannabis for MS suffers. So on the subject of medicine a Dr. Wong from GW Pharmaceuticals, the company that will extract whole cannabis chemicals for real medicine, told about their efforts at GW. I do not want to have to buy weed from a dealer. I want medicine and so do at least 50 million Americans with chronic pain. Experienced Worm writes: I sat back expecting to be sickened by the hideous tortures they put our beloved plant through in the name of medicine. I was astonished to hear instead that GW is 100% BIOLOGICAL!!! They use no chemicals whatsoever at any time, and all 40,000 plants are grown in pure ORGANIC SOIL. Good agricultral practice is on the mission statement of GW, I am well impressed. Next Dr Wong explained that the whole of the plant is used in the medicines and is not synthised or messed with at all. The plant is placed in a Co2 chamber and all the ingrediants are extracted in a similar way decafinated coffee is made, where the caffine is taken from the coffee. Here ALL the active chemicals found in cannabis are seperated from organic plant matter and this is what is used in the medical trials. Nothing else is added to the pure cannabis or taken away, the paitents are getting the real deal in it`s most pure form. Dr Wong went onto to say that they have tried to seperate and synthisise various combinations of different plant parts and they do not work. The healing magic of cannabis only works when the whole plant is used with no added chemicals. That includes and hydroponic gunk!! We were then shown the paitents charts that have undergone the clinical trials which undeniably show that cannabis is everthing the scientists expected and more. They now happily admit that they know cannabis works, but they still dont know how, so cannot prove it. Scientists have tried for centurys to analyse magic and have gotten nowhere, maybe if they used it instead of just looking at it they might get somewhere. VAAI. [ Post Comment ] |
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