Marijuana

[Red]

I love you too CJ.

Muscle relaxants and narcotic pain killers are some of the most highly addictive drugs on the market. I'm glad you were ble to get yourself off of them. Narcotics are opiates, that means they come from the poppy plant which makes them related to heroin. Need I say more about the addictive properties?

What people don't realize is that it has been established for quite a while that THC is therapeutically beneficial. That is why the synthetic THC drug dronabinol (tradename Marinol) was developed. It's prescribed as an appitite stimulant for aids patients and as an anti-emetic (stops nausea and vomiting) for cancer patients. This is why there has been such a strong fight to legalize the use of medical marijuana.

You may ask, if they have this drug, why should we legalize the plant? A good question.

Marinol is not effective for all patients. A large percentage of patients with bone marrow cancer have negative reactions, though those reactions were not found in the studies done of patients who smoked.

There are other elements in cannabis leaves that either potentiate the therapeutic effects of THC or are beneficial on their own. Marinol does not contain those elements. So for the majority of ailments that it helps, smoking brings more relief.

So if that's the case, and the medical community knows there are benefits, why aren't they fighting harder for legalization for medical use?

It's very tough to fight the FDA. In 1970 the government established the controlled substances act which classifies addictive and abusive drugs into 5 schedules or categories. Schedule I drugs by definition are drugs that have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. There are only 3 drugs in this class; heroin, marijuana and LSD. (cocaine is a schedule II drug)
So to allow medical marijuana, the FDA would have to admit it was wrong in in its classification. Not an easy thing for the government to do. But the main reason is the difficulty for the government to control it. When I was living in California, I had a friend who had a script for medical marijuana. He grew it himself, used what he needed and sold his excess to me and a few others. See, difficult to control.

What's really interesting about the controlled substance act is that it might not have been created if not for Dr. Timothy Leary. (for those of you who are to young to remember, he was the LSD guru of the '60's that told the youth of America to tune in, turn on and drop out.) During the 1950's LSD was being used in the treatment of alcoholism with very good results. In fact, Ethel Kennedy was one of the more notable persons receiving this treatment. When Dr. Leary was having his parties to show his friends the fun and recreational use of the drug, the Government said that's enough of that, and the law was put into effect. Up until then LSD was manufactured by Sandoz pharmaceuticals. The infamous "Orange Sunshine" of the 60's was pharmaceutical acid. (ah yes, I remember it well )

What amazes me is that Vicodin, which is the most widely abused drug in the country is only a schedule III drug which is defined as a drug having accepted medical use and a moderate potential for abuse. Go figure.