Thursday, April 17, 2008

Medical Marijuana: Strib and Pioneer Press Blow Smoke

Reading today's Pioneer Press and Star-Tribune editorials urging legalization of so-called medical marijuana, you might think they were motivated by compassion for the suffering. That's what they want you to think. That's why the editorials focus on the relief some people with nauseau or chronic pain obtain from smoking marijuana, and condescendingly dismiss legitimate law enforcement and drug policy concerns.

It's also why they don't mention the most basic reason why legalizing smoked marijuana for medical purposes is dumb and unnecessary: true "medical" marijuana is already legal. It's called Marinol, the prescription form of the active compound in marijuana.

Smoking is not a legitimate delivery system for any medication. Smoking anything for medical purposes is not safe, it's not reliable, dosage of medication is uncontrollable, purity is not consistent. By contrast, Marinol, as a prescription medication, is a safe, reliable, controllable - and legal - way to obtain the medical benefits of marijuana.

Don't take our word for it - read for yourself: "Medical" Marijuana - The Facts (http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/ongoing/marinol.html)

Why didn't either the Strib or the Pioneer Press mention Marinol? It's simple - the push for legalizing so-called medical marijuana isn't about compassion. If it were really about compassion, they would be vigorously promoting the use of Marinol for people who might benefit from it instead of trying to legalize the smoking of marijuana.

No doubt, compassion is the motivation for some of the legislation's sponsors. But they - and the suffering people who try to find relief from marijuana - are being used by the behind-the-scenes backers of the legislation, whose real goal is legalization of marijuana across the board, not just for "medical" purposes. If you doubt that, ask the lobbyists for the legislation who pays them and where they worked before coming here to push medical marijuana.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As one who has smoked marijuana for 27 years daily then quit cold turkey I suffered no withdrawal symproms, not one, my sleep cycle wasn't even disturbed. There goes the addictive theory. Then I was abstinent for 10 years. During those 10years of not smoking cannabis I acquired Diabetis Mellitus and from that Diabetic Neuropathic Gastro Paresis. My dr has me on Marinol 5 mg. It helps but is not as effective as smoking cannabis. It takes one hour to work, it has only 1 of over 600 different cannabinoids and it is much more expensive than the real thing. I ought to know. Any person who is against the total legalization of cannabis and the release of all prisoners involved in the non violent man made crime of using marijuana is in denial of the truth concerning marijuana its theraputic effects and the fact that it is the safest drug concerning toxicity. You cannot OD on marijuana, however there have been some deaths possibly caused from Marinol. Just use the plant God gave us, in this case, man cannot improve on cannabis. The truth shall set ye free. "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the most theraputically active substances known. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferer's and the substance."---Francis L. Young DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge, 1988. Why did our president bury this report? You just can't continue to deny the truth and scientific and medical fact. Legalize all things cannabis now and release the non violent people imprisoned for having anything to do with marijuana.

Pseudonymous Blogger said...

My mother has had her esophagus removed because of cancer. She is fed through a feeding tube. When she was in the hospital last summer, and her kidneys were failing due to the high doses of (legal) narcotics she was on, I brought up Marinol to her oncologist. He said that Marinol would be an excellent treatment option to cut back on narcotics for pain relief, that is, if she had the ability to swallow anything. My mother, and many other patients like her, cannot physically swallow a pill. Tell a chemotherapy patient to swallow a pill when he can't even keep down a few ounces of water. Everyone's body is different. Smoked medical marijuana may not be for everybody. But it can help certain severely sick and suffering patients in certain difficult situations. That is why aspirin is not the only legally mandated treatment available for anyone with a headache; we have Advil, Tylonel, Alieve, etc, etc. Doctors should be able to recommend ANY possible treatment option available, without the threat of arrest and impisonment. Stop the propaganda, and stop the lies. Let patients and doctors make their medical decisions without bureaucratic interference. Medical marijuana is a pain management issue, not a culture war issue. Get over it.