Title: My show notes for The Medical Marijuana Show
Tags: Medical Marijuana Medicine Cannabis Hemp Politics Zeitgeist Pot ADHD Ken Go
Blog Entry: Medical Marijauna I have someone that is very close to me that suffers from chronic pain. She takes vicodin, a strong, and addictive painkiller. It works. Except that, like any drug, your body build s up resistance to it, and she has to take more. Every few years, she has to change her drug regiment because her body adapts, and she has no choice. She’s interested in taking Marijuana for medicinal purposes. She even said, she worries about drug tests, and since she has a doctor’s permission to have opoids in her bloodstream, she’d like to instead have permission to have cannabinoids in her blood. Now, here’s the twist to the story. I don’t smoke much, but my friends and her friends do. Her friends and my friends have both advised her-don’t smoke pot. They know how she reacts to certain drugs, they’ve applied their own experiences, and they all say, it’s not the best drug for her. Legal or not. So, my question is: Why is she getting advice from a group of twenty year olds with no medical experience? If Marijuana is the right or wrong drug for her to take, shouldn’t it be up to her doctor to recommend or prescribe the correct medicine? Similarly, I have lots of experience with ADHD. (Can you guess?) I’ve heard some doctors recommend that maybe, just maybe, Cannabis may be as good or better than Ritalin at controlling kids with ADHD. Now, before you start saying, “what are you, crazy? Giving pot to kids?” I want you to think about why Ritalin is so good, and why pot is so bad? What is so good about Methylphenidate, particularly, when scientists admit, they don’t know how it works! Here’s how scientists think it works: Methylphenidate is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, which means that it increases the level of the dopamine neurotransmitter in the brain by partially blocking the transporters that remove it from the synapses. I think that about explains everything, doesn’t it? After all, common side effects only include insomnia, mood swings, stomach aches, weight loss and, in rare cases, heart problems. So what makes that so much better than cannabis? Many years ago, a friend of mine suggested that I smoke some pot before I go on a job interview. I thought he was crazy. But, I realized, that he had a point. It would have calmed me down. My big mouth, which has gotten me into trouble in the past, would have been more likely to stay closed. So, the problem was not the medication, but the self-medication, the dosing, side effects, and so on. Now, before I go into the history of medical marijuana, I just want you, and everyone out there to think about every ad you’ve seen for Nyquil. Now, every ad these days has someone with not just one, but two problems: They’re sick, and something’s keeping them up. The point of the ad is: Pop the Q, you’ll pass out. They are actively saying, “get doped up, you’ll feel better in the morning.” Oh, and speaking of marketing, let me just point out that all these brand names like Ritalin, Nyquil, they are all named by marketing consultants who get paid up to $500,000 per drug name. They belief that certain letters and sounds make people think a certain way, that’s why all these pain medications have names like “Celebrex” “Vioxx,” and “Bextra.” Notice they all have that “X: sound? It’s because “X” is scientific. But, remember, it’s like Fung Shei. There’s no hard data that ever proves it’s right, it’s what people believe, so the marketing people keep giving it to us. So, how much of today’s laws reflect the need to keep us safe from prescription drugs with dangerous side effects, and how many of today’s laws are influenced by political sway, with little regard to the facts? Well, let’s check the books. The books say that in 1937, as congress debated whether to make Marijuana illegal, The American Medical Association found out only two days before testimony began that Marijuana was the same medicine, Cannabis, that they had been using safely for centuries. Dr. William Woodward of the AMA testified that Cannabis, aka Marijuana was a safe drug, and, asked why most of the meetings were being held in secret? He was quickly dismissed. Before the Marijuana Tax Act was passed, the question was asked, “Did anyone consult the AMA?” The House Ways and Means Committee responded, “Yes, we have, a Dr. Wharton and the AMA are in complete agreement.” There was, of course, no Dr. Wharton in the AMA, and the AMA did not completely agree. Cannabis as a medicine dates back as far as 5,000 years ago, when it was recommended in China for Malaria, Constipation, absentmindedness, Female disorders and as a painkiller. It was used in Africa for snakebites, malaria and dysentery, and of course, more recently in the West as a painkiller, and muscle relaxant. In the 1800s, It was frequently compared to Opium, another drug available at the time, and said to be much safer. Medicines like Cocaine and Opium have been replaced by more technological drugs such as Morphine and Oxycotin. These drugs are water soluble and can be injected via a hypodermic needle, but Cannabis is fat soluble, and must be ingested or smoked. Despite, at huge expense, the attempts to make a synthetic THC, nothing beats the real thing. Much like our silly laws that allow us to import hemp but not grow it, a synthetic THC only proves the point that marijuana is an effective medicine, but puts us in the unique situation of having to get it from other countries, helping their economy, but not ours. So, here is a short list of some of the major afflictions that can be helped with Marijuana, and I have the science to back it up, if you don’t believe me: Asthma, Gloucoma, Brain Damage, Nausea Relief, Eating Disorders, Muscle Spasms, Back Pain, Arthritis, Insomnia, Headaches, Possibly even cancer, yes, even lung cancer. And the important thing to remember about this is that Marijuana has caused no deaths in recorded history. None. Zero. Zip. You’d have more chance of dying from eating too many raw potatoes, than from smoking pot. Compare that to 32,000 deaths a year from prescription drugs, (actor heath ledger among them) and about 7,500 per year from aspirin and other OTC drugs. Don’t forget about the increase in suicides on depression patients who take antidepressants. If there is a problem, it’s that it’s too good. Today, it’s very easy to game the system of medical marijuana, because the few “Hope Houses” in California that dispense or prescribe Marijuana know that Marijuana’s benefits are widespread. So, it makes sense, when you go to a doctor, and say, “Doc, my back hurts, I got a headache, and I’m a little dizzy,” to be a little skeptical, and understand that maybe someone can game the system. One problem is that the federal government won’t step aside and protect this safe and, in some states, legal drug, instead they insist on demonizing it and making it more dangerous for people that want to help patience. Ken Gorman, for example, was a medical marijuana activist who was killed in 2007, his drugs were stolen, and to this day, we don’t know who did it. So here’s what I want to know: the straw man argument is always made, that I’m just looking to legalize medical marijuana because I want to get high. Well, even if that were the case, why is it that this argument only applies to pot? People get high on prescription drugs all the time. Why is no one suggesting that Vioxx be kept under lock and key? What if ten percent of prescription drugs are abused. Should the companies be forced to pay ten percent of their profits to rehab facilities? Why are they even legal at all? Why the double standard?
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