cannabisnews.com: Trying To Correct Marijuana Misconceptions





Trying To Correct Marijuana Misconceptions
Posted by CN Staff on October 21, 2002 at 10:45:14 PT
By Reuben Bushnell
Source: Campus Daily
If ignorance was bliss, I'd probably be a lot happier. On the other hand, if ad hominem attacks, poor research, worse logic and out-of-context quotes constituted bliss, than Michael He would be floating even higher than the marijuana smokers he attempts to blast.In his article about the gubernatorial candidacy of Scott Jeffrey, He spends a solid 90 percent of his argument making noises against the legalization of marijuana. So let's start from the top. 
"The reasons for legalizing marijuana all seem well-founded, unless you're remotely conscious and have an IQ higher than 35." In addition to being grossly insulting to people with mental retardation, the only significance of this remark is to attempt to poison the well — to indicate to readers that they are stupid if they believe that there may be some good in legalizing marijuana.The argument proceeds to say that "even suggesting that a majority's action is somehow equivalent to legality is preposterous . . ." Although this wasn't the intent of the remark, it's worth pointing out that probably the best known majority action — voting — tends to create legality in this country.Michael He moves on to claim that marijuana is at least as harmful as either alcohol or tobacco. As evidence, he quotes Dr. Danielle Piomelli of University of California Irvine, out of context, "There is no question that it is dangerous. Heavy smoking of marijuana has been shown exhaustively to be as dangerous as or more dangerous than smoking tobacco." If we actually read the USA Today article — the only source he bothered to look at — we find that there was another sentence in that quote which was deleted. "Smoking is not a natural way of consuming any substance."Let me offer you another quote, from the same article, by Dr. Piomelli. "We need to make chemical tools that are clean and selective and produce the effect of THC without all the other effects of various components of marijuana smoke." Piomelli and other sources go on to say that marijuana research may very well lead to medical advances in multiple areas, and that marijuana use has medical worth — even through smoking. If you were curious, "heavy smoking" indicates daily usage of more than a gram of marijuana (Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, Canada).He's article zips right along to claim that smoking marijuana causes head, neck and lung cancer. Had he bothered to actually read the study in question he would have found the following disclaimer, "The results need to be interpreted with some caution in drawing causal inferences because of certain methodological limitations, especially with regard to interactions." The study's abstract says that, "Our results suggest that marijuana use may increase the risk of head and neck cancer a strong dose-response pattern."Among the documented beneficial effects of marijuana/THC — treatment of a type of previously fatal brain cancer, controlling ADD, reducing muscle spasms of multiple sclerosis patients, reducing the risk of lymphatic cancer, treatment of glaucoma, anorexia and a wide range of painkilling benefits. In addition, THC has been long proven to be an anti-carcinogen (Harris, Medical College of Virginia). Furthermore, the "Boston Globe" reports "the U.S. federal government has failed to make public its own 1994 study that undercuts its position that marijuana is carcinogenic — a $2 million study by the National Toxicology Program.The program's deputy director, John Bucher says the study found absolutely no evidence of cancer. In fact, "animals that received THC had fewer cancers." A Kaiser-Permanente study from the American Journal of Public Health concluded that the risks of using marijuana were far less than that of tobacco. Agencies of many governments, including Australia, Britain, Canada and our own, have repeatedly recommended decriminalization of marijuana. While marijuana use may cause problems, especially in gross excess, it is definitely not the chimaera that Michael He has made it out to be.Again from Dr. Piomelli, "If you compare different evils, marijuana is probably one of the least and probably should still be considered as such. That is not to say that marijuana is harmless. It is a drug. All drugs — legal and illegal — can be harmful." I can only conclude that He was looking for an easy target to begin his career in journalism. He failed. And if anyone ís curious, I don't smoke.Source: Campus Daily, The (NY Edu)Author: Reuben BushnellPublished: October 21, 2002Copyright: 2002 Campus TimesContact: editor campustimes.orgWebsite: http://www.campustimes.org/Related Articles & Web Site:Vote Jeffrey.comhttp://www.votejeffrey.com The Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13987.shtmlFighting Cocaine with Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11045.shtml
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Comment #8 posted by karkulus on October 21, 2002 at 18:04:37 PT
After G.W.Pharmaceuticals come out with..
The WHOLE cannabis extracts(along with the isolated compound extracts) and shows no Addiction,Gateway-effect,Violence,Auto-accident increase etc.,etc.,The ONLY canard left for the ONDCP/DEA will be the smoking thing, which is anecdotal ,at best!
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on October 21, 2002 at 13:06:43 PT
Thank You Dr. Russo
I have used Lavender oil for years now. I buy it in 4 oz bottles. I have applied it to a burn and the pain stops right away. Same with a bee sting. Stops the pain right away. If I am very tense I put a few drops on a cotton ball and inhale. It calms me down. If I have a sinus headache I use Essential Oil of Eucalyptus. For cuts I use Tea Tree. I love Essential Oils. They are as important to me as the herbs I take everyday. A number of years ago I was in an MSNBC News Chat and Dr. Weil was the special guest. I told him I used Essential Oils and asked him what he felt about them. His answer was it is a new field was going to be a big benefit in the future. I read in hospitals in Japan they put Essential Oils thru the duct work for their anti bacterial and anti viral properties.
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Comment #6 posted by Ethan Russo MD on October 21, 2002 at 12:55:25 PT:
Lavender Essential Oil
Lavender essential oil is very versatile. Linalool is one component in it, and cannabis, and is a mild, safe sedative. Lavender also is excellent for burns and has a strong anti-inflammatory effect and promotes healing.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on October 21, 2002 at 12:51:21 PT
Dr. Russo - Essential Oil
Lavendar Essential Oil is good for burns, headaches and it is calming. It is anti bacterial and anti viral. That's just one of the Essential Oils I use everyday. Is that what you are saying about the Essential Oils of Cannabis?
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Comment #4 posted by Ethan Russo MD on October 21, 2002 at 12:31:51 PT:
Cannabis-More than THC
CBD, CBN, CBG and others have important anti-anxiety, antipsychotic, anticonvulsant, and anti-inflammatory effects beyond THC.Taste, as applied to cannabis, is a function of its terpenoid essential oil components, and has nothing to do with THC.
Components include:limonene: lemon scent, antidepressant effectpinene: pine scent, stimulating, bronchodilatormyrcene: peppery scent (black pepper), analgesic/anti-inflammatorycaryophyllene: balsamic scent, anti-inflammatory, gastric cytoprotective (prevents stomach ulcers)1,8-cineole: cinnamon scent, stimulantThese substances not only influence the "taste" of a given cannabis strain, but modulate the effects in definite physiological ways. That is, unless you believe the NIDA-sponsored research that says THC accounts for all:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12073159&dopt=AbstractMy LTE to the journal, Psychopharmacology, has already been accepted.Cor more on this topic, see McPartland & Russo, Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics 1(3-4), 2001.
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Comment #3 posted by p4me on October 21, 2002 at 12:20:44 PT
Back on the list
It was a strange thing last night to check the recent comments and not see a p4me up there. I am back on the list once again, so this is not just a Hang them all segment to make it back on the list.Let me say that today I finally got around to sending Jeffries an email about how I would find the Largest Minority Rule a big issue. I think it is absolutely the biggest issue, because how can alternative parties break through when the system is rigged? If Majority Rule is not a universal policy in all elections everywhere in the United States, we have a problem Houston- and LA, and New York and everybody.I want first to thank Dankhank for sending me the Cannabis Reference Library. I am debating whether to send him 10 or 20 dollars so he can continue his good work. I am broke as always but I just cannot see spending 37 cents for a stamp and only mail $10. I will send $15. Boy am I glad that hard decision is behind me.I did want to raise one issue in this article and it has to do with THC. Someone here said that drug testing could determine if a person is using the synthetic THC in Marinol or real THC. First, I wonder why a company would not extract THC from its natural source and offer its version of a THC medicine. If GW Pharma can grow plants then why wouldn't other companies be allowed to. It would be interesting to see what would happen with real THC made from a real plant were introduced somewhere in the world.But besides that, I wonder about the cannabinoids that are left once the THC is removed. What would this by-product of THC removal be good for. Now Dr. Russo has pointed out that even these cannabanoids are banned under the CSA, but even then GW Pharma or another profit minded company may find MJ without the THC a valuable product.I guess it comes down to what THC really does and what marijuana without THC really does. It just seems like their would be a market for marijuana with the THC taken out so people might avoid the dreaded buzz that is so evil and is desirable by a bunch of evil doers.The idea of chronic pain was a big deal in one of the medical studies a year or two ago. It was an evaluation of the medical system in America by someone like the AMA that lead to the conclusion that one of the largest problems of the health care system as practiced in the United States was that it did not sufficiently address the issue of pain treatment.Fifty million Americans have chronic pain. When that pain is your's it will priority one with you. You will want something to treat it. But then their is just muscle pain from an old body trying to carry on with only memories of the wonders of a youthful body. Now usually if I have something physical to do I just spread it out over a few days or weeks so it does not make me sore. Yesterday, because of cutting so much wood over 4 days, about a Saturday mornings work for a young man, I had some soreness that had set in on me. Now being in a unusual state of soreness set me up for a n+1 experiment- besides I was getting to where I thought I might pass a urine test which is dispicable in light of fascist oppression. So I burnt one with a friend and I really felt better. I was still sore, but it didn't bother me the way it did before taking some medicine. I had a change in attitude, but I really did not feel high and I got in my car and drove off. I do not think I was impaired in the least and I thought how great it would be if people were as attentive to the road and surrounds as I was.I was thinking last night how things had evolved here at Cnews over the year and a half I have been visiting. There is plenty of small stuff I don't know as evidenced by the THC issue above, but it seems there have been certain conclusions that people now make that were not evident even 6 months ago. The big difference is now people use the word fascist and actually know what someone means when they say it.I have read reaching for conclusions. I have come to conclusions. If I were not so tired I would begin to compose a piece with correct spelling and more than a moments thought and title it, "Conclusions." It won't be as long as the conclusions of the Canadian Senate Report, but I guess the next thing for me to do is compose my conclusions. I think I will go into town and mail Dankhank some money so I don't have to do any work and mail stuff. Thanks again for the disk Dankhank and keep up the good work.1
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Comment #2 posted by legalizeit on October 21, 2002 at 11:49:05 PT
Yeah right
>the best known majority action — voting — tends to create legality in this country.Not when you have the Sheeple voting time and again for inept gasheads from the same two major parties all the time, both of which support prohibition, and as if that wasn't enough, our last PRESIDENT was appointed by a judicial act, completely flouting the will of the voters, due to the horribly archaic Electoral College system!On the other hand, we have the initiative system, where a voter's action DOES have the power to create legality... however, this only works at the state level and the Feds still have the god-given right to flout state law on drug issues (though chief doublespeaker Walters has said they would respect the will of Nevadans if Q9 becomes law.)The pro-legalization movement is making progress by leaps and bounds though, and Uncle Sam has to respect the will of the people eventually. At least that's the way it should be.
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Comment #1 posted by Dan B on October 21, 2002 at 11:20:31 PT:
Way to go, Reuben Bushnell!
This article is one of the best I have read on the subject. It is well-organized, well-researched, and logically sound. Hats off to Reuben Bushnell for a fantastic article.Dan B
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