cannabisnews.com: Should Smoking Marijuana Be a Medical Option?





Should Smoking Marijuana Be a Medical Option?
Posted by CN Staff on January 18, 2009 at 07:12:10 PT
By Lex Alexander, Staff Writer
Source: Greensboro News & Record
North Carolina -- Rocky Hoveland of Greensboro suffers pain from spine, neck and back injuries. For a long time, he took prescription painkillers. But the drugs often left him dazed, if not null and void. Then about 10 years ago, he began using marijuana to treat the pain. He found that it didn't eradicate the pain, but it made it more manageable."It keeps me from being in that haze of wanting to sleep all day or feeling hung over all day," he said. The prescription medications "were making me lay down, and I ain't one to lay around."
Hoveland and others like him are pushing for North Carolina to legalize cannabis for medical purposes. And they have become part of a national trend.In November, Michigan became the 13th state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. That popular-vote referendum was just the most recent decision in a long-running debate: whether it should be legal for people to use, grow and sell marijuana for medicinal purposes.On one side: sick, suffering patients, many of whom are dying. For at least some of them, cannabis eases symptoms of illness or side effects of treatment.On the other: a federal government that believes marijuana's benefits are too few and its side effects too risky for the drug to be legalized, even to the highly restricted level of cocaine.Billy, a Davidson County man who didn't want his full name used , once took the prescription painkiller Dilaudid every day after lingering neck and wrist injuries, experiencing some of the same side effects as Hoveland.Dilaudid "didn't do much" for the pain, he said. "And I got hateful. My family didn't want to be around me."Marijuana has helped him, too, he said. "Now I'm up and around, hiking and fishing," he said. "Marijuana focuses my mind away from the pain. I'm still hurting, but it's not that important anymore."Proponents of legalization in North Carolina are ramping up their efforts.Representatives of the nonprofit N.C. Cannabis Patient Network have toured the state this winter, meeting with politicians, clergy and medical professionals and airing programs on local public-access TV stations.On May 2, proponents are scheduled to march in Raleigh on behalf of legalization as part of a global one-day protest called the Million Marijuana March."We're looking forward to this becoming legal in this state so people can quit living in fear," said Jean Marlowe, the network's executive director. "We're returning dignity to these patients."Marlowe, who lives in Polk County, has used marijuana since 1991 to treat muscular dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative disk disease, muscle spasticity and fibromyalgia. She says the authorities leave her alone because she has a letter from her doctor saying she needs medical cannabis.Before using marijuana, she said, the side effects of her various medications left her practically disabled."I spent my time throwing up, dizzy," she said. "I couldn't cognize. I couldn't balance my checkbook. I spent my life in a chair, in the corner, with a trash can."State Rep. Earl Jones, D-Guilford, introduced a bill in the 2008 legislative session to create a study commission to look at legalizing marijuana for medical purposes in North Carolina. Jones plans to reintroduce his bill this year ."I think the legislature will do the right thing once they see it will benefit the public and they have been educated," Jones said.But the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration remains adamantly opposed to legalizing cannabis even for medical purposes. It continues to prosecute under federal law in some other states for growing and distributing the plants.The most comprehensive review of the possible medical benefits of marijuana remains a book-length report, "Marijuana and Medicine," published in 1999 by the Institute of Medicine. The institute is part of the National Academies, agencies that advise the government on medicine and other sciences.That report, co-authored by a researcher at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, examined marijuana use with respect to five areas:* Pain, particularly nerve pain experienced by patients with AIDS and other diseases. * Nausea and vomiting, often experienced by chemotherapy patients. * Wasting syndrome and loss of appetite, often experienced by AIDS and cancer patients. * Neurological symptoms, including muscle spasticity and multiple sclerosis. * Glaucoma, excessive pressure in the fluid inside the eye. The condition can cause blindness. In general, the report found that marijuana, though not a panacea, could help relieve some of these symptoms in at least some patients. In some cases, the report found, marijuana worked as well as or better than accepted treatments.It also found that smoking treats symptoms such as pain and nausea more quickly and effectively than taking the medicine by mouth.The report raised concerns about the long-term health effects of smoking marijuana, which, like tobacco, is associated with an increased risk of cancer. Such long-term risks probably don't matter for patients who already are dying, the report noted.A synthetic form of marijuana's most active ingredient, THC, is available by prescription under the trade name Marinol. But it takes longer to work than inhaled marijuana smoke.Also, taking cannabis by mouth can get patients "higher" than smoked cannabis - which many patients don't want. When THC is eaten, the liver, which smoking bypasses, breaks the psychoactive elements down into even more potent chemicals. Another problem with synthetic oral cannabis is that it contains only a few active ingredients, while smoked marijuana contains more than 60.The combination of those ingredients, not just one, may provide the most medical benefit, says Dr. Wilkie Wilson, director of the DukeLEARN neurological-research program at Duke University, who notes that drug companies are researching that question."What you need is something, maybe like an aspirator or an inhaler, that can deliver the drug better than a pill would," said Dr. Steven R. Childers, a professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest University's Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Childers co-wrote the 1999 Institute of Medicine report.Wilson, co-author of "Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy," says some patients prefer smoking because it gives them greater control over their dosage - they can choose to stop, or continue, at any time depending on how much relief they're getting.Childers says the 1999 report's general conclusions remain accurate. Researchers have made some incremental advances, particularly in whether cannabis can ease some symptoms of multiple sclerosis. The nonprofit National Multiple Sclerosis Society is paying for a 10-year study, which began in March. Also, Swiss researchers found in 2006 that cannabis taken orally can ease muscle spasticity in people with spinal-cord injuries. And after promising findings in rats and mice, Israeli researchers plan human trials to determine whether cannabis may slow or halt memory loss in people with Alzheimer's disease. But U.S. government-sponsored studies since 1999 have been few and far between. The government grows little marijuana for research and tightly restricts its use. Currently, of 768 drug-related studies sponsored by the National Institute for Drug Abuse and registered at - http://www.ClinicalTrials.gov - two pertain to medicinal marijuana. Besides the possible direct benefits to patients, what are the arguments for legalizing medicinal cannabis?For one thing, it may help patients for whom other drugs are ineffective or cause intolerable side effects. Its own side effects are relatively minor, the long-term cancer risk aside.Cannabis is safer than many drugs now on the market. There has never been a documented death attributable to marijuana overdose, Wilson says.And legalization would bring about standardized dosages and quality, aiding both treatment and research.Critics argue that the drug is psychologically habit-forming. It can be, but it is less so than alcohol, tobacco and such drugs as heroin, the institute report found. Some research subjects have reported unpleasant feelings or sensations after taking the drug. And some do not like the "high" that comes with taking the drug. That condition also can make it dangerous to drive or perform other skilled tasks and can hurt judgment and short-term memory.Wilson points out that these ill effects are particularly dangerous in young people, whose growing brains must absorb not only academic knowledge but also social skills.There is some evidence the drug can hamper the immune system in some patients.And marijuana is considered a "gateway" drug - one that could lead to use of more potent and dangerous illegal drugs. The 1999 report found little evidence to support that claim on a pharmacological basis. It also observed that alcohol and tobacco are more widely used gateway drugs, particularly among younger people. For those reasons and others, federal law classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance, the most restricted type. Such drugs are defined as having no currently accepted medical use in the U.S., a high potential for abuse, and no accepted safe approaches for use even under medical supervision.Another Schedule I drug is LSD.Proponents of medicinal marijuana want it reclassified at least as a Schedule II drug, the most restrictive category for addictive drugs with recognized medical uses. Examples include codeine, the active ingredient in many cough medicines, and the painkiller Dilaudid. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration maintains that marijuana's risks are too great, and its medical benefits too few, to legalize it. Even in some of the 13 states that have legalized medicinal marijuana, DEA agents still arrest people on federal drug charges.And the government can prosecute doctors who prescribe marijuana. To avoid arrest, doctors often give their patients letters stating that the patient needs marijuana, rather than a prescription.Proponents of medicinal marijuana also argue that regulating the drug should be a state and local matter, not a federal one. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case called Gonzales v. Raich that the federal government had the right to regulate marijuana even within a single state, as opposed to in interstate commerce.But a more recent Supreme Court decision suggests that the days of such overarching federal regulation might be numbered.On Dec. 1, the court refused to hear an appeal from the city of Garden Grove, Calif. That city was defying a state court's order to return marijuana it had seized from a man who had won dismissal of drug charges after he provided a statement from his doctor that he needed marijuana.Proponents hope that these incremental steps will lead to a day on which no one need fear legal punishment for using medicinal cannabis."I'd like us to be united in compassion," Marlowe said. "Living in fear of the government is not what we want for people who are sick and dying."Wilson says marijuana should be legally distributed through pharmacies just as other drugs are."We control amphetamines - my God, we give them to kids for attention-deficit disorder," Wilson said. "Just treat (marijuana) like any other regulated pharmaceutical. I don't see any reason not to do that. I just don't see the reason."After her tour of the state, Marlowe said she is more hopeful than ever about legal medical marijuana."I can smell the finish line," she said. "I'm not going to be a criminal much longer." Source: Greensboro News & Record (NC)Author: Lex Alexander, Staff Writer Published: Sunday, January 18, 2009Copyright: 2009 Greensboro News & Record, Inc.Contact: edpage news-record.comWebsite: http://www.news-record.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/b09qIuc2CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #75 posted by FoM on January 19, 2009 at 15:21:24 PT
fight_4_freedom
I'm going to do Pete Seeger's song too. I'm having fun! LOL! I got Garth Brooks songs already. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg0wiOHc9tI&feature=related
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Comment #74 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 19, 2009 at 14:51:53 PT
That's a great idea FoM
I think I'll have to do the same. Thanks for the idea.
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Comment #73 posted by FoM on January 19, 2009 at 14:19:57 PT
Just a Note
I'm going to make a CD with a couple special songs like Yes We Can, If You're Out There, Born Again American and America's Song that way no matter how bad things might get in our economy I'll still have something special to remember. These are very hopeful songs. 
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Comment #72 posted by FoM on January 19, 2009 at 14:06:54 PT
America's Song Free Download
For those who might like to have it.http://www.oprah.com/article/world/20090119_tows_americassong
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Comment #71 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 19, 2009 at 07:07:11 PT
E_Johnson
I sure wish I had that problem right now :)
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Comment #70 posted by FoM on January 19, 2009 at 07:07:00 PT
BGreen
Well duh I never thought of that. LOL!
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Comment #69 posted by BGreen on January 19, 2009 at 06:45:30 PT
Is your medicine getting your fingers sticky?
That's certainly better than a computer virus. LOLYummy.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #68 posted by E_Johnson on January 18, 2009 at 22:00:11 PT
No FoM it's better than that
I'm sticking to my keyboard. It's going to be a long and sticky night. :-) 
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Comment #67 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 21:35:17 PT
E_Johnson
 I read in my e-mail that change.org has a virus in it. I don't if that is what you meant by sticky though.
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Comment #66 posted by E_Johnson on January 18, 2009 at 21:14:41 PT
I'll watch it later
I'm having a very sticky night. Afraid to touch my keyboard.
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Comment #65 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 20:35:45 PT
I didn't get it free either until the exact moment
the original concert began. HBO, I mean.They did show a couple of movies before they ran it again. I haven't checked it again since I saw the concert.
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Comment #64 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 18, 2009 at 19:40:10 PT
That song was really unique
It's cool how they put it all together like that. That really puts me in the mood for a CHANGE!!!!!2 More Days!
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Comment #63 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 19:38:46 PT
fight_4_freedom
You can watch it now on this link if you have a good high speed connection.http://www.hbo.com/weareone/webcast/index.html
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Comment #62 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 18, 2009 at 19:30:13 PT
No free preview for us.....aww shucks
Oh well....I'm sure I'll be able to see it on youtube soon. Who knows, it may already be on there.I'll check out that song you gave me as well.Thanks anyways!
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Comment #61 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 19:29:02 PT
Hope
I won't forget today. It was one of those memories that are worth keeping.
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Comment #60 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 18:59:23 PT
fight_4_freedom
When you have time check out this song.http://www.bornagainamerican.org/
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Comment #59 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 18:56:30 PT
fight_4_freedom
Enjoy! I know you will. U2, James Taylor, John Cougar Mellencamp, John Legend, Will.i.am, Bruce Springsteen, Garth Brooks, Bon Jovi and more.
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Comment #58 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 18, 2009 at 18:47:34 PT
Wonderful!!!!!
I'll be checking it out after the game. Thanks FoM!
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Comment #57 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 18:38:44 PT
fight_4_freedom
They opened the HBO and Cinemax channels up this weekend just so people could see the concert. You should get it. Check it out.
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Comment #56 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 18, 2009 at 18:33:43 PT
So the concerts are on at 10 on HBO
I wonder if we get it free for the weekend as well. We only have Showtime (basically just for weeds).I will definitely check it out. Thanks for the heads up on it.
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Comment #55 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 18:31:28 PT
fight_4_freedom
We don't get HBO but it is open because of the concert this weekend.
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Comment #54 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 18:29:54 PT
fight_4_freedom
It's coming on a 10ET again. You'll love it. At the end when Pete Seeger and others sang This Land is Your Land and he smiled it made me feel good. He was shunned as a Communist in his early days. He was born in 1919.
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Comment #53 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 18, 2009 at 18:21:45 PT
Looks like I missed some good music today
I would give anything to be at the celebrations in Washington.Let the party begin!
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Comment #52 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 17:02:09 PT
Rather interesting assortment
of head gear displayed from time to time during this program.
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Comment #51 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 17:00:37 PT
I feel like
drawing little hearts. Shame there's none on the keyboard.:0)
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Comment #50 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 16:59:50 PT
I like Will.i.am's
little pork pie hat.:)Was that Harold or Kumar that spoke with George Lopez?One Love!
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Comment #49 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 14:25:44 PT
OT Some More: Michele Obama
Her outfit was beautiful. She is going to be an elegant First Lady. 
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Comment #48 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 14:21:22 PT
Hope
You're welcome. It's going to be repeated tonight for those who didn't get to see it. http://www.hbo.com/weareone/
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Comment #47 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 14:01:09 PT
:0)
It was good.Thanks for telling me about it or I wouldn't have even turned it on.
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Comment #46 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 13:26:46 PT
Hope
I danced too. How could anyone not dance. 
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Comment #45 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 13:25:39 PT
Hope
My goodness this has been too much! Amazing doesn't fit it.The Spirit I love has come back to life.
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Comment #44 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 13:22:40 PT
Peter Seeger
was great!
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Comment #43 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 13:03:34 PT
Oh my gosh... again.
Obama chose these songs.
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Comment #42 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 13:01:51 PT
In the NAME of Love
In the NAAAAAAAAME of Love
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Comment #41 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:59:55 PT
"In the name of Love"
"One Love""In the name of Love"
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Comment #40 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:55:26 PT
More cool old guys.
Stevie Wonder doesn't really look or sound that much older. He's plumper. He doesn't seem to have much gray hair from what I can see.
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Comment #39 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:53:44 PT
This is so good.
Ray Charles would be loving this.Steve Wonder is singing and playing.
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Comment #38 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:52:09 PT
Usher...
Looks like this isn't going to be just a sit down and watch it type of concert.:0)I'm glad I can watch it.
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Comment #37 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 12:49:02 PT
Hope
Today We Are One!!!
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Comment #36 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:48:45 PT
Ashley Judd
Eleanor was in her voice.
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Comment #35 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:47:28 PT
Yeah!
Another cool old guy!
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Comment #34 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:46:41 PT
Our America
Our America.We shall be free!
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Comment #33 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:46:06 PT
We shall be free...
We shall be free.My America.
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Comment #32 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:45:34 PT
If you'd told me this morning
that Garth Brooks would have me waving my hands and dancing around before the day was over...I'd have not believed it.Wow!
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Comment #31 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:43:44 PT
Oh my gosh!
Garth done got my hands in the air!Gotta pull em down to type!:0)
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Comment #30 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:43:03 PT
Oh my gosh!
Obama singing along!Garth is warming up! Getting down!:0)
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Comment #29 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:41:41 PT
Doing a good job too...
:0)
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Comment #28 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:40:49 PT
Just when you think it can't get any freakier
Garth Brooks singing American Pie.
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 12:38:45 PT
Walk On With Hope In Your Heart
and you'll never walk alone.
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Comment #26 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:36:29 PT
One Love
That was good.I think the blond lady made a poor choice in wearing Obama's face on her bazooms and belly.
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Comment #25 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:29:43 PT
One Love!
Wonderful!
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Comment #24 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:28:55 PT
That guy in the sharp old cut suit is cool.
He didn't even comb his hair.:0)(I know. He's got the "bed head" look going on.)Oh they would so hold that hair against him in a court of law in this area. It is "Proof" he is likely drunk. Disheveled. It's on their list of things to look for in "suspects". Shirt tail out? Disheveled.That suit was extraordinary in contrast to his hair.
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Comment #23 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:22:15 PT
Imagine...
"If I could sing with the deep emotion like these guys and jump around like Jagger and survive like Keith... at their age ... Hmmmm.... maybe I can do it, too.""Can do." Those are important words.
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Comment #22 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:19:06 PT
That really is a cool thing to give to the young.
Hope of a cool, perhaps a good and healthy future... at least sometimes on some levels.
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 12:18:24 PT
Hope
I agree! John Cougar is on now singing Little Pink Houses! I love that song. So many happy people today! It's contagious you know! LOL!
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:17:45 PT
I wonder at what young people must 
think of these older rockers.Cool old people!:0)
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Comment #19 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 12:16:24 PT
"Get to work!"
I liked that.We've got to, you know.
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 11:57:33 PT
Bob Marley
They said earlier on the news that the Spirit of Bob Marley is alive this day. That made me smile. 
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 11:51:18 PT
Hope
It was a great opening wasn't it. Pete Seeger will sing. I think he's 90 now. I never thought I'd see the day that I would be honestly proud to be an American but today I am. I was at the top of the Washington Momument when I was young and I wondered if my dreams would ever come to be. Those dreams are closer now then ever before. Being close is almost enough for me anymore.
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Comment #16 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 11:41:32 PT
Oh I see!
There's The Boss!I never saw a concert open with such pomp and circumstance.
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Comment #15 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 11:38:52 PT
What is this?
It looks like it's the inauguration. I thought that was Tuesday.
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Comment #14 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 11:31:13 PT
You do mean
the Inaugural special?
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 11:29:54 PT
I see it
It's not free yet. But I'll check again in a few minutes.
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Comment #12 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 11:18:59 PT
Concert?
What concert?Yes I'm dense and likely missed it. I hab a bad code.
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 11:17:10 PT
Born Again American
Fascinating.Did you see who founded the Born Again American Organization?Norman Lear.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 11:14:48 PT
Hope
Sometimes I buffer on Youtube but I always buffer on other videos but Born Again American loaded fast for me too. They must be using some new fangled technology! That's wonderful if they are.PS: I hope people check out HBO at 2:30 ET for the concert. They opened HBO this weekend just so the whole world could see it live.
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 11:07:57 PT
Born Again American
It is a beautiful song and a beautiful video.Something remarkable... it just started playing without having to load and load and load some more, in fits and jerks, as I usually experience here in the slow motion world of dial up ... it played almost entirely almost as soon as it opened.Amazing... and a beautiful video.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 10:49:41 PT
What a Beautiful Song
I hope they play this song on every radio channel there is. http://www.bornagainamerican.org/
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 10:47:27 PT
While you can't just jump up from relief
of that hard, unbearable pain... when those muscles or cells are somewhat cooled and soothed, and do those other things that you'd like to do, maybe you can rest from the rigors of the pain for a few blessed minutes. That was my experience when I found myself trapped by weather and lack of transportation in a situation of great pain and nothing.... absolutely nothing that I was not allergic to to take for the pain. I'd tried massage and heat and stretching. I burned my neck and shoulders somewhat from desperate heat application.Someone, I thank God, had a minuscule amount of old dried brown Mexican brick. It helped for forty five minutes or so at a time until I was able to take pharmaceuticals... which help for two to three hours at a time... and take a toll on the liver and gut while they're at it.Did using that cannabis that time for excruciating pain "cure" the source of the pain? No. I do definitely believe it, somehow, soothed and eased it, remarkably. A chiropractor has to help me "cure" and keep under control the source of the pain... but I can't take him everywhere.Abject pain is crippling. Relief from that pain, "Cure" of disease, or not, should be celebrated.
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 09:49:17 PT
What it does to alleviate pain.
It's more than just the focus. It's that and still more. There is pain that is unbearable. Unbearable meaning when you cry and moan and groan. Breathing in the medicinal value is helpful too as opposed to trying to swallow something to a stomach that will not accept it on some occasions. Cannabis smoke or vapor, or solid form if the stomach will accept it, does something to ease the pain besides change our focus. It actually soothes upset, spasmodic, rigid, tense muscles... down to a cellular level somehow. 
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 09:46:34 PT
 runruff 
 I feel sorry for George Bush because History won't be kind. When you see an unbridled agenda in action like Bush said he had after getting to be president for the last 4 years it freaked people out. Look where we were headed before Bush. I remember reading that when they were out looking for marijuana patches in California they didn't bother with anything under a 1000 plants. 
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Comment #4 posted by runruff on January 18, 2009 at 09:39:12 PT
The World Upside Down!
I've been witnessing the great unpopularity of this, the worst president in history, as he leaves office.I've seen the favorability of medical cannabis rise among the general populace more in the last six or eight years than maybe thirty years hence. I've seen polls at 98% and as low as 78% in favor of.I think the two subjects here have something in common? People began to favor anything that G.W. Bush opposed and to oppose anything he was for. It's like, if a moron thinks it is bad, it must be good. And also, who wants to side with the idiot? He is a reverse barometer. 
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on January 18, 2009 at 09:38:06 PT
Plants versus "Pure" Chemistry.
Has anyone ever thought about what the humans that came before us, our fore fathers and mothers, our fore uncles and fore aunts and hundredth cousins ten times removed, back to the very beginnings, went through to get us to the understandings and knowledge, though still small in comparison with what is to be learned, we have today?What did they go through looking for nourishment and help in the plants around them? Along with supplies of the most helpful plants around them, they stored the things they understood about the world and these plants in their minds and passed it on to someone else. 
It was important knowledge. It helped people. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 18, 2009 at 08:51:48 PT
 NikoKun 
I agree with you. I believe narcotics truly dull pain. They are needed in extreme circumstances and nothing will take their place. Everyday pain that we all have is what Cannabis helps. I think Cannabis changes your focus when you have pain. You know you still hurt but it becomes less important. Cannabis can help a person live more comfortably with chronic pain.
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Comment #1 posted by NikoKun on January 18, 2009 at 08:40:18 PT
Exactly!
"Marijuana focuses my mind away from the pain. I'm still hurting, but it's not that important anymore."I could not have said that any better. It's not a traditional "pain killer" for most who use it medically, it's an alternative method, because the "high" itself, even just a very light high, is how it works. Take away the "high" effect, and you'd probably lose this particular medical use. It makes pain an unimportant factor, you know it's still there, but you are much more interested in doing other things, than letting that pain stop you.Normally, a person in pain, focuses on that pain. It's there, and they feel it, and it's very prominent to them... But after using some marijuana, you just don't pay attention to the pain.It's so amazing how it does this, and how it can be used for this... But politics and bs just refuse to let in a good thing.
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