cannabisnews.com: Pot Helps With Epilepsy 





Pot Helps With Epilepsy 
Posted by FoM on October 26, 2000 at 10:36:38 PT
Letters To The Editor
Source: Anchorage Daily News
I have chronic retractable epilepsy, and over the past 28 years I've tried several pharmaceutical drugs. The only medicine that worked for me was Marinol, synthetic marijuana, which I got a clean EEG on and did not have anywhere near the number of seizures I have now. I was taken off of it by a doctor for political reasons. One, the drug has not been approved for epilepsy yet. Two, the FDA. Three, the doctor was worried about her license and reputation. 
Some of the medicines doctors prescribe for me have side effects like falling, not being able to get up by myself, lethargy, convulsions, drowsiness, depression, appetite loss, reported sudden deaths and comas. These medicines do not control my seizures, and I have to be supervised and cannot work because of the likelihood of injury from seizures. The war on drugs against marijuana has killed people, and it is a war against ill people who medically benefit from it. To try to scare people with lies is dangerous because when people find out they have been lied to about marijuana, they will go on to try other things to see if they have been lied to about them too. I suggest people study marijuana and its uses (it controls seizures, muscle spasms, pain, arthritis, migraine headaches, appetite loss, cancer, AIDS, insomnia, stress management, hyperactivity, asthma, leukemia, glaucoma and so on) to help them decide on Proposition 5. -- Julie Grondahl Willow Pot Smokers Don't Bite: Why is marijuana such an emotional issue? To me it is a matter of civil rights. I smoke pot. For generations male adults in my family have been alcoholics, and I have been able to break the cycle of addiction with the help of hemp. I have never hurt anyone (except perhaps myself), I am a good father (five great kids), I volunteer my time and money (school, soccer, hockey, Cub Scouts, election campaigns, public broadcasting, feeding and clothing the hungry and homeless, to name a few), and I vote! In short, I am a good citizen. Why then, in a supposedly free country, am I labeled a criminal for choosing pot over booze? People who would restrict my freedom and label me as a deviant and a criminal don't even have a good reason to do so. Therefore, they have to resort to ridiculous lies, half-truths and scare tactics. Why else would Gov. Tony Knowles say Proposition 5 "legalizes marijuana use for all Alaskans, children and adults" (Letters, Oct. 11) when the official ballot summary says, "This bill would do away with civil and criminal penalties for persons 18 years or older who use marijuana"? Why else would former federal district attorney Wev Shea say that Proposition 5 would make "Alaska a major gateway for the U.S. drug trade" (official election pamphlet) when this initiative would take pot out of the black market? I'm sure that lies like these circulated in 1933 when our country debated the wisdom of Prohibition. Can't we learn anything from history? Would those of you who would tell me how to live my life please answer my questions? Why are you so afraid of people like me? We don't bite. -- John A. Farleigh Anchorage Letters To The Editor: Anchorage Daily Newshttp://www.adn.com/letters/0,2654,,00.htmlSource: Anchorage Daily News (AK)Published: October 25, 2000Copyright: 2000 The Anchorage Daily News Contact: letters adn.com Website: http://www.adn.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:Free Hemp in AlaskaAl Anders, Chair2603 Spenard RoadAnchorage, Alaska 99503 (907) 278-HEMP E-mail: freehempinak gci.netVisit their web site: http://www.freehempinak.orgHemp 2000R.L. Marcy, ChairP.O. Box 90055Anchorage, AK 99509907-376-2232 (p)Fax: 907-376-0530 (f)E-mail: marcy hemp2000.orgVisit their web site: http://www.hemp2000.org Hemp Backers Can't Move Mayorhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7455.shtmlHigh Hopes in Alaska for Sweeping Pot Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7173.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Alaska:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=alaska 
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Comment #9 posted by robert on August 20, 2002 at 14:20:38 PT:
bud and siezures
I'm 18 yrs old and iv been having siezures since i was 16 been put on a few medicines including dilantin 500mg a day 
and still have partial siezures all the time while on that medicine I'v had a few atonic siezures while on it too, but when i smoke pot which is pretty often I'v never had either until a couple of days ago. I was a few months due for one and forgot to take my medicine i smoked some later that day and about 30 min after i started having a siezure which came on very slow and as it covered into my entire head i blacked out and wokeup and it stopped by the time i hit the ground. i very much beleive it stopped it especially since iv never been able to stay concious while that into one. normally i would black out for up to 2 hours and just kinda walk around and start convulsing but i didnt it just stopped the second it knocked me out
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Comment #8 posted by Ethan Russo MD on July 03, 2002 at 19:05:34 PT:
Cannabis and Seizures
Kim, I am a neurologist. I cannot analyze or treat you or your brother over the WWW. However, it is extremely unlikely that cannabis had any role in your brother's seizures. It tends to be an anticonvulsant itself. Check these sites:http://www.rxmarihuana.com/search.htm and plug in seizure or epilepsy.Also: http://wamm.org/ run by Valerie Corral, who treats her own epilepsy with cannabis only.Best of luck, and be careful. Most doctors, including neurologists, are ignorant of the truth about cannabis.
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Comment #7 posted by Kim Barrett on July 03, 2002 at 18:39:59 PT:
My Brother
I have had siezures since I was 4Years old. I did'nt have to go on medicine until I was 23 years old. I have never done any drugs of any kind. My brother who is 5years younger than me just found out he has been having siezures also. The Dr. is blaming his condition on pot use. I do not believe this is true. I know there are many reasons for siezures but pot use is not one I believe. The Dr. has put him on dilantin 300mg to start off with and I belive that is a high dose to start out on. If anyone out there knows of another reason he could be having siezures I would like to know you in put. His MRI turned out clean and the Dr. will not get a second opinion on the reading. Thank you, Kim
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Comment #6 posted by Tyson Holmes on April 04, 2002 at 17:37:23 PT:
marijuana epilepsy and Drug Court
I am a 22 year old male whom suffers from epilepsy and migraine headaches since I was an infant who was unfortunate enough to get involved with harder drugs and placed into a Drug Court program . Marijuana is the only thing that cosecutively controls my siezures and helps with headaches. If anyone has info on a physician in Utah or surrounding states prefably a neurologist whom may pescribe marinol or needing a test subject for clinical studies please E-mail me with info as I am plagued continually with these illnesses and cant smoke because of constant threat of incarceration... Thank you for your support and god bless America......
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Comment #5 posted by rash on October 28, 2000 at 16:53:58 PT:
legalise:the spirtual reason?
cannibis has been expressed as a human need so should be legalised for spirtual reasons seen as the mind and body as sacred. many enlightened cultures and people believe this. it is a violation of human rights not for the state and goverments to have reconized this. good luck.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on October 26, 2000 at 21:27:22 PT:
Related Article - Stop Lies: Vote Yes on Prop. 5 
Source: Anchorage Daily News (AK)Letters From The People - James GarhartPublished October 26, 2000Copyright: 2000 The Anchorage Daily News Contact: letters adn.com Website: http://www.adn.com/ More than 1,000 Americans die prematurely each day from tobacco use. Not only is this tolerated, but the U.S. government gives billions, with a B, of our tax dollars to tobacco farmers every year to ensure tobacco farmers stay in business. With this in mind, I can't understand why the government spends resources much needed elsewhere to pursue, prosecute, and imprison adults who grow and/or smoke marijuana. Adults who currently use marijuana don't deserve to be jailed. Adults who used it in the past deserve amnesty. Adults choosing to use marijuana in the future should not have to fear being jailed. The war on marijuana has brought us some police willing to use improperly issued warrants to conduct illegal searches, houses being seized on charges that are later dropped, warrantless intrusive searches by forward looking infrared helicopters, and lives and families being devastated by marijuana prohibition laws. It has even induced a former U.S. attorney for Alaska and our current governor to put into print statements about Proposition 5 that are easily proved as false. Both put into print that Proposition 5 requires restitution. Absolutely not true. Let's stop the lies and legalize. Join me in voting yes on Proposition 5 this Nov. 7. As always, voter apathy begets tyranny. -- James Garhart "Lazy Mt. Jim" Wasilla 
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Comment #3 posted by Frank on October 26, 2000 at 19:12:53 PT
Marinol for Severe Depression -- It Works!
In regards to the comments by Julie Grondahl about Marinol, I take Marinol for depression 2.5mg twice a day. I have suffered from depression since I was 7 years old. I can only report how bad my depression was. For example: The sound of a bird on a wire outside by window was too much to endure or standing in line in a grocery line was a trip to hell. I would breakout in dripping sweats. I have tried the entire group of standard antidepressants with limited or no relief. As a last resort, I was finally given a clinical trial on Marinol. The Marinol worked like no other antidepressant I have ever taken. It gave me complete relief. When I take it I don’t feel high only better. My health has improved immensely since I have taken Marinol. Physicians should not feel intimidated prescribing this medicine as it works for severe depressionand other illnesses.
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Comment #2 posted by mungojelly on October 26, 2000 at 13:43:18 PT:
true, in fact
True, drfist, in fact the original liars in the original hearings to illegalize marijuana later owned up to their lies. From the beginning the prohibition of marijuana has been a front, a tool to protect the paper industry from being put out of business by hemp. Though cannabis prohibition has taken on somewhat of a life of its own, to a large extent it is still a front. Hemp is threatening the paper industry, the cotton industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the plastics industry, the petroleum industry, etc. It is hard to believe, in our special interest operated political system, that the massed influence of all of those interests has no relationship to the continued prohibition of marijuana. We should not underestimate what we are up against. The prohibitionist front-men may sound like blathering idiots, but behind them is the force of an enormous number of intelligently spent, devious dollars. 
mungojelly
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Comment #1 posted by drfist on October 26, 2000 at 11:21:04 PT
they only have lies!
the whole cannabis issue is based on lies, because one trip to Holland and or Switzerland, shows and proves that freedom and democracy are not PROBLEMS!!
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