Dr. Sanjay Gupta I am here to apologize

...my 85-yr old mom now says she wants to try it, and not for medical reasons

 

I haven't smoked pot since high school and probably wouldn't again, even if legalized. However, I do agree that it should be decriminalized. Pot Prohibition is stupid, just like the original (alcohol) Prohibition was stupid. We need to get our cops and courts working on "real" crime.

 

they're not distracted by pot, they're distracted by doughnuts.

 

Well.............. you do realize that doughnuts taste better when you're high.

 

Puff puff pass. <<Cough cough cough>> ..... ((hysterical laughter))


Of course with me, I dont usually get giggly but instead I get super relaxed and sleepy. lol.

 

Did you catch the line about the use of cannabis for nerve pain? Yeah. It works for fibromyalgea.

I never used until it was recommended by my doctor. Now, I'm very, very sad that this has been under prohibition for so very long. What a colossal screwup.

 

I don't partake at all. I tried it, and didn't like it. I love booze, though. Mmm. Many of my friends are very into pot.

But I've always thought that if booze and pot both came on to the market now, it'd be booze that would get banned. It's a direct cause of street violence and domestic violence, and can cause severe damage to people's health. Pot has the health risks associated with smoking, and there are potential psychological problems from overuse (as there are with alcohol). But no-one gets stoned and then goes out into the street to have a fight.

And then there are the medical benefits. A glass of wine a day can apparently help you live longer. But the pain-relief thing with pot has been so widely documented, and its side-effects are so minimal in comparison to lots of prescription drugs that it's an obvious solution.

My only real concern is people driving when stoned. As long as that's treated in the same way as drunk driving, I don't see any problem with legalisation.

 

Interesting wikipedia entry on Brownie Mary. She became famous for providing marijuana laced brownies to AIDS and cancer victims as early as the '70s. She also spearheaded the legalization of cannabis for medical use in California. See Brownie Mary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I have never seen two people smoke a joint and want to get into a fist fight! As opposed to those who drink a 5th, and want to kick the worlds nice person!

 

“There is not a war on drugs, there is a war on some drugs.”—R.A. Wilson

Just ask Howard Schultz (Starbucks)

 

One on hand, I wish I'd known this when a cancer scare led to the removal of a (fortunately non-cancerous) nerve tumor, severing a significant nerve bundle. The resulting neuropathic pain required treatment for a while. It included some of that 'phantom limb' pain, where the actual limb was still present but the nerve connections to feel or control some parts of it were gone. The drug prescribed had its own problems, causing me to dump it and move to milder measures as soon as the pain subsided to less than the drug's side effects.

OTOH, our state and federal firearms laws prohibiting possession by drug users (among others) haven't even begun to be reconciled with any form of cannabis legalization. I don't expect any movement whatsoever on this anytime some, and have far too much to lose, and little to gain (the residual permanent neuropathy is at a low level) by being a test case. So I'll stay in the 'never tried it' camp for now.

If I ever do try cannabis, it'll have to be in a non-smoking form. Never had first-hand smoke from anything (though did get more than enough second-hand poisons) and don't intend to ever start.

 

I personally have no interest in 'recreational' drug use, but my son smokes marijuana and I see no particular reason to try and talk him out of it so long as his use does not interfere with life, study, and work. I would worry much more about tobacco or Etoh, let alone other drugs of abuse.

As for THC for medical use, I prescribe it to Cancer patients for anorexia. I remain skeptical of any other medical indication, although by profession I require high quality medical studies before I prescribe. Pain is a notoriously difficult topic to study, and a long list of drugs thought initially to be effective have over time leveled out to placebo effects. Clearly THC does not operate through opioid or prostaglandin pathways.

 

There are several commonly available pain treatments that are legal, although the vendors are legally prohibited from describing the effect.

The first is cherries (the ones you buy in any grocery store). Seems there is some university research that says that something like a cup of cherries has pain reduction similar to Tylenol. The cherry marketing people tried to link to the research, and the FDA came down on them like they were selling pot. Google "pain cherries" to see what those wizards at the FDA are doing for us.

The next is vitamin C. It's about as legal as cherries, but knowledge about it is shouted down by the medical establishment. The FDA actually shut down production of an intravenous vitamin C solution, retaliation for some publicity about how well it worked.

A personal example of how well vitamin C works happened to me just last month. I was developing a tooth ache a few days before July 4. By the 2nd, I realized that it was heading to an emergency, and set up an urgent appointment with my dentist for the following Tuesday. Great, an oncoming emergency several days before a holiday weekend. I tried 3 grams of liposomal vitamin C, and the pain was less. Pain went down, but resumed about 4 hours later. That first day I probably took a total of 9-12 grams of the C. Next day I reduced the dose to maybe 2 grams twice a day. By the time Monday arrived, the pain was gone and I cancelled the dentist appointment. That is the first time I've ever cancelled a dental appointment because the pain went away. A few weeks later I went for my regularly scheduled checkup, and they found a cavity that was causing the pain.

You'd hope that the authorities would be pushing for the most effective treatments available. In the case of pot, cherries, and vitamin C they are doing exactly the opposite. Disturbing the drug profit centers that would be impacted by low cost, generally available natural substances is something our government can't do. Not only can't they advocate these treatments, they send out the SWAT teams to suppress even knowledge of them.

 

smoke = cancer
so never good
but for medical reasons you have to wieght it in

 

it can be ingested via baked goods. Hence, no carcinogens!

 

I think you mean no carcinogens related to combustion.

 

was referring to the concern of smoking marijuana...baked goods! (a pun?)

 

Gupta was an empty suit TV talking head when he railed against pot (with no evidence) and he's still an empty suit TV talking head when he has some (pot induced?) revalation claiming pot as a miracle drug.

The issue was always did pot jusify anyone going to jail for an innocous "black peopl's" ag product? No. Did pot justify a multibillion dollar law enforcement/prison industry? No. Was pot worse than alcohol or tobacco? No. Did illegal pot create a multbillion dollar organized crime industry? Yes. Did illegal pot deprive US ag of multibillion dollar industry and 100's of thousands of jobs and tax dollars? Yes.

Nothing to do with Gupta's TV medical quackery of "it's a miracle drug".

 

That's probably the biggest shame of pot illegalization. Hemp is a low intensity crop that can replace less environmental friendly ones.