Medical Cannabis Discussion

[Hmac]

Yeah, I suppose. I'll take your word regarding the laws' origins...I'm not interested enough to research its history. Anyway, I think that going forward, it's Reefer Madness and the stoner culture of the 60's that shapes today's policies.

[Caduceus]

My grandpa grew cannabis (and many other things, like opium, etc) for the USDA in South TX at their facility there. I doubt it's "one place".

OK, so maybe "at least one" left. Better semantics?

Opium makes sense, that's at least the basis for legalized drugs. Fun fact, there's about 2000 tons (plus or minus) grown annually for the legal narcotic trade, world wide.

Personally, I don't really care about MJ use. Professionally I tell patients about the possible risks, point out it's illegal and that there are legal drugs that should cover the conditions they claim to be treating. I also point out that taking marinol or using an anti-epileptic shouldn't cause COPD or RAD down the road... which I admit is a pretty weak argument since most pot smokers don't smoke 20 joints a day for 40 years. As for MJ for pain, I'm kind of on the fence, I think it's better than getting them stuck in the suboxone clinice (personally) but still, really impedes their access to care (professionally).

[WS6]

OK, so maybe "at least one" left. Better semantics?

Opium makes sense, that's at least the basis for legalized drugs. Fun fact, there's about 2000 tons (plus or minus) grown annually for the legal narcotic trade, world wide.

Personally, I don't really care about MJ use. Professionally I tell patients about the possible risks, point out it's illegal and that there are legal drugs that should cover the conditions they claim to be treating. I also point out that taking marinol or using an anti-epileptic shouldn't cause COPD or RAD down the road... which I admit is a pretty weak argument since most pot smokers don't smoke 20 joints a day for 40 years. As for MJ for pain, I'm kind of on the fence, I think it's better than getting them stuck in the suboxone clinice (personally) but still, really impedes their access to care (professionally).

I'm looking at it economically as well as from the standpoint of the patient's well-being both financially and mentally/physically.

I see VERY LITTLE issues with cannabis. Maybe a couple of times a month, I will see someone with hyperemesis because of it. These are people who are allergic to it, and STILL smoke it. Functionally, I have noticed that a former roommate of mine would be more out of breath after smoking a bowl within 24 hours of running with me. He also had asthma.

This said, noone has ever in my presence been admitted to the hospital for overdosing on non-laced, naturally grown (not synthetic) cannabis. Noone has ever gotten a small bowel obstruction from it of which I am aware.

There are many people who claim to benefit from it. It does so very little actual harm, that even if they are all lying (I doubt this), WHY NOT GIVE IT TO THEM? We give them hydromorphone, xanax, Norco, and a ton of other shit just because they ask, WHY NOT POT!? It's cheaper. It's safer. It's damn near impossible to fatally abuse unless you stick your head in a box and light it up and it catches fire and you suffocate or some other bullshit.

I simply feel that cannabis is a red-flag topic simply because of prohibition style laws meant to target minorities back in the 30's. Of the 30 doctors who were consulted at the time, ONE OF THEM said cannabis was harmful, which is what the newly minted leader of the then new war on drugs focused (as well as the racism angle, reading his diatribes, he was a hate-filled whacko). They focused on it to keep their budding organization alive, because at the time, no other drugs were really abundant enough to keep them in business. I'm not really a fan of conspiracy theories, but this one holds water. They vilified cannabis to keep their jobs, and to further segregate minorities.

Regardless, I think they should just legalize weed. I don't feel like paying taxes so that someone who had weed can be locked away. I don't feel like my insurance premiums going up because of complications caused by other pain meds when the patient would have/wanted to/could have just smoked some pot. I don't feel like watching idiots villify an herb because it can cause vomiting in a small sub-set of the population when I am busy trying to stabilize all the damn traumas I see because of the completely legal substance known as alcohol.

In short, the war on cannabis is stupid, baseless, and I wish my tax dollars would stop being pissed away on it.


*I have never smoked pot, I have no desire to smoke pot, if it were 100% legal I still would not smoke pot. It holds zero interest for me. It's not even a legal or moral issue that kept me from it. I simply have no desire to, so no, this is not some grand-standing self-stroking rant because "I wanna do something so it's right!".

[Hmac]

I have no particular problem with recreational marijuana either....utterly indifferent. If legalization ever showed up on my ballot, I'm not sure how I'd vote. I just really don't care, although I do agree that a lot of money and effort is expended on enforcement.

As to medical use...I have this underlying impression that it's being heavily driven by the social agenda. People want marijuana and its derivatives legalized so "let's start looking for valid medical uses" to bolster the opinion. That makes me inclined to distrust any of the investigatory work. It's easier for me to be indifferent since medical marijuana, and even recreational marijuana, have an extraordinarily low potential for impacting either my professional or personal life.

[WillBrink]

OK, so maybe "at least one" left. Better semantics?

Opium makes sense, that's at least the basis for legalized drugs. Fun fact, there's about 2000 tons (plus or minus) grown annually for the legal narcotic trade, world wide.

Personally, I don't really care about MJ use. Professionally I tell patients about the possible risks, point out it's illegal and that there are legal drugs that should cover the conditions they claim to be treating. I also point out that taking marinol or using an anti-epileptic shouldn't cause COPD or RAD down the road... which I admit is a pretty weak argument since most pot smokers don't smoke 20 joints a day for 40 years. As for MJ for pain, I'm kind of on the fence, I think it's better than getting them stuck in the suboxone clinice (personally) but still, really impedes their access to care (professionally).

Modern medical MJ is not smoked as a rule. The delivery methods, standardized doses, types, etc are far advanced than perhaps many realize.

[WS6]

I have no particular problem with recreational marijuana either....utterly indifferent. If legalization ever showed up on my ballot, I'm not sure how I'd vote. I just really don't care, although I do agree that a lot of money and effort is expended on enforcement.

As to medical use...I have this underlying impression that it's being heavily driven by the social agenda. People want marijuana and its derivatives legalized so "let's start looking for valid medical uses" to bolster the opinion. That makes me inclined to distrust any of the investigatory work. It's easier for me to be indifferent since medical marijuana, and even recreational marijuana, have an extraordinarily low potential for impacting either my professional or personal life.

Regardless of whether this is true or not, if it keeps them from abusing Norco, etc. then I'm all about it, whether it "works" for what they are "taking it" for, or not.

[WS6]

Modern medical MJ is not smoked as a rule. The delivery methods, standardized doses, types, etc are far advanced than perhaps many realize.

This is true, for epilepsy, I believe a trans-dermal absorbed oil is the thing?

[WillBrink]

This is true, for epilepsy, I believe a trans-dermal absorbed oil is the thing?

Capsules, trans dermal, Sublinguals, etc. Not sure about specific to epilepsy.

[WickedWillis]

I'm looking at it economically as well as from the standpoint of the patient's well-being both financially and mentally/physically.

I see VERY LITTLE issues with cannabis. Maybe a couple of times a month, I will see someone with hyperemesis because of it. These are people who are allergic to it, and STILL smoke it. Functionally, I have noticed that a former roommate of mine would be more out of breath after smoking a bowl within 24 hours of running with me. He also had asthma.

This said, noone has ever in my presence been admitted to the hospital for overdosing on non-laced, naturally grown (not synthetic) cannabis. Noone has ever gotten a small bowel obstruction from it of which I am aware.

There are many people who claim to benefit from it. It does so very little actual harm, that even if they are all lying (I doubt this), WHY NOT GIVE IT TO THEM? We give them hydromorphone, xanax, Norco, and a ton of other shit just because they ask, WHY NOT POT!? It's cheaper. It's safer. It's damn near impossible to fatally abuse unless you stick your head in a box and light it up and it catches fire and you suffocate or some other bullshit.

I simply feel that cannabis is a red-flag topic simply because of prohibition style laws meant to target minorities back in the 30's. Of the 30 doctors who were consulted at the time, ONE OF THEM said cannabis was harmful, which is what the newly minted leader of the then new war on drugs focused (as well as the racism angle, reading his diatribes, he was a hate-filled whacko). They focused on it to keep their budding organization alive, because at the time, no other drugs were really abundant enough to keep them in business. I'm not really a fan of conspiracy theories, but this one holds water. They vilified cannabis to keep their jobs, and to further segregate minorities.

Regardless, I think they should just legalize weed. I don't feel like paying taxes so that someone who had weed can be locked away. I don't feel like my insurance premiums going up because of complications caused by other pain meds when the patient would have/wanted to/could have just smoked some pot. I don't feel like watching idiots villify an herb because it can cause vomiting in a small sub-set of the population when I am busy trying to stabilize all the damn traumas I see because of the completely legal substance known as alcohol.

In short, the war on cannabis is stupid, baseless, and I wish my tax dollars would stop being pissed away on it.


*I have never smoked pot, I have no desire to smoke pot, if it were 100% legal I still would not smoke pot. It holds zero interest for me. It's not even a legal or moral issue that kept me from it. I simply have no desire to, so no, this is not some grand-standing self-stroking rant because "I wanna do something so it's right!".

Money is truly the root of it. Look at how incredibly set the pharmaceutical companies are.

[WillBrink]

Interesting study that finds CBD lowers cortisol. Note it's admin route however:

Effect of cannabidiol on plasma prolactin, growth hormone and cortisol in human volunteers.

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on plasma prolactin, growth hormone and cortisol of 11 normal volunteers who received placebo or CBD at the doses of 300 mg (N = 7) or 600 mg (N = 4), po, in a double-blind manner during two experimental sessions separated by an interval of at least one week. The sessions were held in the morning and consisted of blood collection and application of self-evaluation scales before and after drug injection (-35 to 180 min). Hormonal measurements were performed by radioimmunoassay. Basal prolactin (11.5 +/- 4.3 ng/ml) and growth hormone (1.5 +/- 0.7 ng/ml) levels were unchanged after placebo and CBD. In contrast, plasma cortisol levels decreased significantly during the placebo sessions (basal measurement = 11.0 +/- 3.7 micrograms/dl; 120 min after placebo = 7.1 +/- 3.9 micrograms/dl), in agreement with the normal circadian rhythm of this hormone. This decrease in cortisol levels was significantly attenuated after CBD (basal measurement = 10.5 +/- 4.9 micrograms/dl; 120 min after 300 mg CBD = 9.9 +/- 6.2 micrograms/dl; 120 min after 600 mg CBD = 11.6 +/- 11.6 micrograms/dl). CBD was also found to have a sedative effect as determined by the self-evaluation scales. The present results suggest that CBD interferes with cortisol secretion.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8257923