cannabisnews.com: Nurses Back Medical Marijuana 





Nurses Back Medical Marijuana 
Posted by CN Staff on December 09, 2005 at 20:55:14 PT
By Gina Dennik-Champion
Source: Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin -- It is difficult for nurses to remain silent when patients are denied access to an effective medical treatment. That is why the Wisconsin Nurses Association supports the medical marijuana bill authored by Rep. Gregg Underheim (R-Oshkosh), known as AB 740. In taking this position, we are squarely in the mainstream of the public health community. The American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Public Health Association and the American Academy of HIV Medicine are just a few of the health care organizations that have acknowledged that marijuana can be a valuable treatment when used under medical supervision.
A large body of evidence indicates that marijuana can relieve a number of debilitating symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, certain types of pain and the pressure inside the eye that robs glaucoma patients of their sight. Moreover, it can do so with remarkable safety.Unfortunately, the issue has become shrouded in fear and myth. Exaggerated claims and scientific misunderstandings have tended to overshadow facts and common sense.For example, we are sometimes warned that marijuana is "addictive." In fact, only a very small percentage of marijuana users ever become dependent - a much smaller percentage than is seen with alcohol or tobacco. Under proper medical supervision, drugs that are far more addictive and dangerous than marijuana are used beneficially by hundreds of thousands of patients every day. And unlike a great many drugs used for either medical or recreational purposes, marijuana has never caused a fatal overdose.Contrary to claims sometimes made by opponents, marijuana can provide relief in a number of instances where conventional drugs fail or have unacceptable side effects. A great deal of research has shown that marijuana relieves pain through different mechanisms than conventional pain drugs, including opioids, and can provide relief when these drugs fail.Particularly encouraging results have come from recent studies involving pain associated with multiple sclerosis well as peripheral neuropathy, an extremely painful condition that afflicts HIV/AIDS patients and others.It is true that a pill is available containing THC, the component most responsible for marijuana's "high." But research has shown that other components of the plant - called cannabinoids - play an important role in marijuana's therapeutic benefit and may even help to reduce the unwanted side effects of THC.Just as important, the pill takes one to two hours to work and is absorbed slowly and unevenly. That is why the journal The Lancet Neurology has called oral dosing "the least satisfactory" way to administer cannabinoids. Patients report that the pill makes them too "stoned" to function, while with natural marijuana they can adjust the dose to provide relief without excessive intoxication. The Institute of Medicine, in a 1999 report commissioned by the White House, made the same point.Some fear that allowing medical use of marijuana sends the wrong message, encouraging teens to experiment with it. But government-sponsored surveys have consistently shown that teen marijuana use has declined, not increased, in states with medical marijuana laws. In reality, lying to children and teens about a drug's value and risks sends the wrong message. Young people should be taught that all drugs and medicines present risks and that medicine should only be taken under a provider's supervision when the patient is sick.There is no reason to be frightened of medical marijuana. This is a drug with nearly 5,000 years of recorded medical use and that has been widely used therapeutically throughout the world. It is safer than many medicines Americans take every day.There is simply no reason to arrest and jail patients battling cancer, MS, AIDS or other terrible illnesses for using marijuana with the recommendation of their health care providers. Our Legislature should move swiftly to pass AB 740, and Gov. Jim Doyle should sign it into law.Gina Dennik-Champion is a registered nurse and executive director of the Wisconsin Nurses Association.From the Dec. 10, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)Author: Gina Dennik-ChampionPublished: December 09, 2005Copyright: 2005 Milwaukee Journal SentinelContact: jsedit onwis.comWebsite: http://www.jsonline.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Is My Medicine Legal Yet? http://www.immly.org/Medical Marijuana Hits Legislaturehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21359.shtmlShow Compassion For The Sufferershttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21340.shtmlState Bill Could Legalize Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21162.shtml
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on December 11, 2005 at 08:27:01 PT
Rest in Peace Richard Pryor
Wife Fondly Recalls Richard PryorDec. 11, 2005 — Richard Pryor changed not just the way we look at comedy, but the way we look at each other — and the way we look at ourselves, according to ABC News entertainment editor Joel Siegel. "I see all colors of people doing everything," Pryor said during one of his "Live on the Sunset Strip" shows.Link: http://tinyurl.com/7ztcb
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Comment #14 posted by potpal on December 10, 2005 at 19:59:15 PT
Wanted side effects
Worth repeating: Unfortunately, the issue has become shrouded in fear and myth. Exaggerated claims and scientific misunderstandings have tended to overshadow facts and common sense.In reality, lying to children and teens about a drug's value and risks sends the wrong message. Young people should be taught that all drugs and medicines present risks and that medicine should only be taken under a provider's supervision when the patient is sick.There is no reason to be frightened of medical marijuana. This is a drug with nearly 5,000 years of recorded medical use and that has been widely used therapeutically throughout the world. It is safer than many medicines Americans take every day.There is simply no reason to arrest and jail patients battling cancer, MS, AIDS or other terrible illnesses for using marijuana with the recommendation of their health care providers. 
 -------------Why is the euphoria that comes with a puff or two of cannabis such a bug a boo? Why is it bad for someone dying, terminally ill, to feel euphoria momentarily thus relieving them of dreaded thoughts of death and despair? What is bad about forgetting for a half and hour and smiling, laughing and reflecting on one's life and time? Why the intense fear of a plant, an extremely beneign plant, and why no fear of a nation tossing down prozac, paxil, vicodin, percodan, oxycontin, percosets, ridalin, viagra, codiene, and a thousand other compounds, not to leave out caffeine, alcohol and tobacco?
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Comment #13 posted by gloovins on December 10, 2005 at 19:45:00 PT
fm fark . com
Dumb: trying to smoke a cigarette in the bathroom of an airliner. Dumber: doing so while you are also carrying some marijuana. Dumbest: doing this just before the plane arrives in Singapore
Singapore justice
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Comment #12 posted by runruff on December 10, 2005 at 19:27:11 PT:
It's in the lingo, baby!
Twenty years or so ago I was talking to whoever would listen about this nasty thing called a war on drugs. I would
talk about the lingo. Propaganda is based on verbiage,lingo.
Like changing the name of hemp/cannabis to say marijuana.
Anslinger knew no one had ever heard of this now defunct brand of Mexican cigarettes and besides all things Mexican in those days were stigmatized with a bad connotation. Lucy had a heck of a time getting her show on the air because she was married to a Cuban. Cuban, Mexican, they were all brown and spoke Spanish. But his choice of what to call his "assassin of youth" was really brilliant for his purposes. Goebbels was being studied by many at that time. Many took a play or two from his manual of propaganda. Anslinger wasn't that brilliant but he had some real smart advisors. And so the prohibition lingo developed as it grew. Even "prohibition" became "a war on drugs". Prohibition is an ugly word in a freedom loving nation like America. Rights and choices should not be prohibited besides, we had just experienced a period of prohibition that sorely failed.
A war on drugs made it easier to introduce illegal drugs.
In reality, in a country built and founded on the theory of free enterprize, illegal drug trade is an illegal concept.
But the terminology makes it all seem so logical. Why illegal drugs? To protect society from harmful drugs sold by unlicensed vendors. So our feds created the FDA to protect us from the likes of Vioxx and other dangerous drugs that unscrupulous venders might try to sell unsuspecting sick people desperately seeking relief. Unfortunately FDA approved drugs have killed and damaged more people in one year than all the unauthorized drugs sold by unlicensed vendors in the past one hundred years. Unlicensed vendors are what the drug warriors call drug dealers. Drug dealers sound so much more sinister than vendors. In Germany they have neighborhood beer vendors
who sell beer out of their front doors. They are not called alcohol dealers or beer pushers. Marijuana manufacturers. OOh. Very scary! To manufacture a marijuana plant. This would be a Frankenstein plant with bolts in its' neck and wires comming out of its' buds, but it sounds oh so scary. Even cultivaton. What's wrong with just nurturing? The DEA today busted Jack Greenthumb for nurturing 100 cannabis plants. He was feeding them the finest organic compost money could buy. These botanical beauties were eight feet tall and had the potential to ease the suffering of forty to sixty sick people for up to one year. The DEA promptly chopped them down and they were taken to an undisclosed location for disposal. Mr. Greenthumb, a compassionate caregiver, who who wanted only to ease pain and suffering in the world, will likely lose his home and spend the next ten years in a federal penitentiary. No, we will not see a bust written up in this fashion. It does not ellicit negative emotion from it's readers. This an illustration of how a bust is not presented. Cannabis is not illegal in the first place. We are in a place in time where many are fooled into believing so. Majority consent by deception. How can we believe that it is right to outlaw the use of a plant that has never hurt anyone while the industry protected by our government, the civic body that works for us, is allowed to go merrily along killing American citizens and maiming children [the kid card] while killing and maiming innocent people for exercising our right to vend a safer substance for an honest living while calling {us} vile criminals?
We need to be very mindful and creative about the terminology we use. Not theirs, but ours. Softer, more honest. Get out of the trap thats been set for us to keep using their abusive language and terms. This is my country damn it and I want it back! 
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Comment #11 posted by gloovins on December 10, 2005 at 18:51:07 PT
Ironic isn't it?
AOLbites should fwd the fact beer does have more chemicals in it than cannabis.We all know what Milwaukee is famous for...
NYC's bummin' - They yanked The Cartoon Network off the air there!!
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Comment #10 posted by ekim on December 10, 2005 at 18:43:38 PT
its a hard rain gona fall-------------------------
Weekly Injustice
http://lastonespeaks.blogspot.com/
Via Drug Sense Weekly, Radley at the Agitator has the latest appalling drug task force bust gone wrong. Here's the gist. 
Let's summarize: Cops mistakenly break down the door of a sleeping man, late at night, as part of drug raid. Turns out, the man wasn't named in the warrant, and wasn't a suspect. The man, frigthened for himself and his 18-month old daughter, fires at an intruder who jumps into his bedroom after the door's been kicked in. Turns out that the man, who is black, has killed the white son of the town's police chief. He's later convicted and sentenced to death by a white jury. The man has no criminal record, and police rather tellingly changed their story about drugs (rather, traces of drugs) in his possession at the time of the raid....Maye's case is an outrage. Prentiss, Mississippi clearly violated Maye's civil rights the moment its cops needlessly and recklessly stormed his home in the middle of the night. The state of Mississippi is about to add a perverse twist to that violation by executing Maye for daring to defend himself.
I remind you this would not have happened with a legal market.
http://lastonespeaks.blogspot.com/
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Comment #9 posted by The GCW on December 10, 2005 at 18:27:36 PT
This is very impressive.
The mood, even in this article has gone up a notch along with the intelect involved; it's on the next level. Higher respect, here.It's also impressive anytime Republicans come out and speak the truth; this Republican has compassion. I dig it; it's so right on. Yes, Wisconsin.The leaves of cannabis are for the healing of the nations -see the very LAST page of the Bible; it can also heal Us.And it is no accident, that on the very FIRST page of the Bible, God said He created all the seed bearing plants and said they are all good.
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Comment #8 posted by mayan on December 10, 2005 at 15:52:01 PT
War For Drugs
To all of you prohibitionists who support the drug war, you are actually supporting drug lords...Iraq: The New Heroin Route:
http://www.banderasnews.com/0506/hb-heroinroute.htm
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Comment #7 posted by billos on December 10, 2005 at 14:18:23 PT
                off topic
but still for anyone who still thinks the government cares about us, let alone our military heroes. Poor bastards.
Bush treats war dead like luggage
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Comment #6 posted by Dankhank on December 10, 2005 at 12:16:20 PT
talk the talk
I regularly in my current days have opportunities to speak with healthcare professionals in a local Military Hospital, numerous downtown offices based on referrals, and other occasions.I have and continue, just yesterday, to give the Cannabis Research Library to Doctors, nurses, and anyone else interested in learning.In a fit of mania, chuckle, I sent one to the Drug Czar years ago.So the ONDCP knows I know they are LIARS when they say that Cannabis is not a medicine.Information is the key to peace and happiness.Let's overload them with all manner of information, including our buying habits.Peace to all who inform.
Truth 
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Comment #5 posted by Toker00 on December 10, 2005 at 09:58:51 PT
Nurses are LOVE.
All the nurses in my family know patients are suffering needlessly. They know patients die for Pharma-profits. They know they would lose the license that gives them the privilege of doing their life work if they were to organize and expose. Same reason so few people stand up against Cannabis prohibition. They have created a world where you lose too much if you stand in reason or defiance against the corruption and fraud they call Government. They have us governed alright. We are throttled down so low, you can barely here us idle. We need to get our motors running. Head out on the highway. Drive the Corporate Fascists out of America, and replace them with REAL leaders, not businessmen! Boycott pharma poisons by purchasing natural remedies at every opportunity. Let's build a hemp-based economy again. Let's demand a medical system that HEALS, not just TREATS! Let's spend the money if we have it to convert our cars to run on Hemponol. Let's ask our home builders to build our homes with hemp based building materials. Let's WEAR hemp. Let's EAT hemp. If we support it, hemp will have a convincing market again. Let's stop asking for permission to do it, just do it! And yes. Buy, Buy, Buy the Sweet Leaf from every dealer Prohibition provides!Wage peace on war. END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW!
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Comment #4 posted by MikeEEEEE on December 10, 2005 at 07:02:00 PT
Health care workers
Health care workers are the first to see how well a therapy is working. Cannabis has positive outcomes for such purposes, for thousands of years.
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Comment #3 posted by mayan on December 10, 2005 at 04:58:10 PT
Off Topic
URGENT! PATRIOT Act Update: Calls needed now!
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY!!!
http://www.bordc.org/newsletter/bordc-act-alert49.phpOn another unrelated note, Cindy Sheehan goes to Britain and calls Bush and Blair "terrorists". If only the average American had one-tenth of her courage...'I feel I'm carrying the world on my shoulders' 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0%2C2763%2C1663349%2C00.htmlBTW, we should all thank the Wisconsin Nurses Association for helping to expose the lies of the prohibitionists!
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Comment #2 posted by AOLBites on December 10, 2005 at 01:09:53 PT
theres 400+ chemicals in pot smoke, must be bad...
well beer has more =P
...The first push to delve into the mystery of beer flavor occurred in the mid-1970s, when a team of flavor chemists from 40 countries identified 800 chemical compounds in the beverage. These compounds—some individually, most in combination—contribute nearly 125 distinct flavors to beer. Brewers use the word flavor broadly, to include tastes, odors, and mouthfeel.Today, says Morten C. Meilgaard, who chaired this international group, the total has risen to over 1,000 compounds. Studying the chemical constituents of beer is "like looking at the night sky," he says. "The closer you look, the more stars you can see."...
Fighting beer's fouler flavors
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Comment #1 posted by siege on December 09, 2005 at 22:20:45 PT
natural medicine
 This new, ideal, wonder drug would be effective, like Marijuana derivatives, in remitting obvious adverse symptoms of the disease but not effective in curing the underlying disease. Thus it would be needed continually for the remaining life of the patient. It would have to be patentable; that is, it could not be a natural medication because these are non-patentable. Like insulin, it would have to be highly profitable to manufacture and distribute. Mandatory government approvals would be required to stimulate physicians to prescribe it as a prescription drug. Testing required for these approvals would have to be enormously expensive to prevent other, unapproved, medications from becoming competitive.
This is the origin of the classic medical protocol of "treating the symptoms". By doing this, both the drug company and the doctor could prosper in business, and the patient, while not being cured of his disease, was sometimes temporarily relieved of some of his symptoms.
Additionally, natural medications that actually cured disease would have to be suppressed. The more effective they were, the more they would need to be suppressed and their **proponents jailed as quacks**. After all, it wouldn't do to have some cheap, effective, natural medication cure disease in a capital-intensive monopoly market specifically designed to treat symptoms without curing disease.
Often the natural substance really did cure disease. This is why the force of law has been and is being used to drive the natural, often superior, medicines from the marketplace, to remove the "cure" word from the medical vocabulary and to undermine totally the very concept of a free marketplace in the medical business.
Now it is clear why the "cure" word is so vigorously suppressed by law. The FDA has extensive Orwellian regulations that prohibit the use of the "cure" word to describe any competing medicine or natural substance. It is precisely because many natural substances do actually both cure and prevent disease that this word has become so frightening to the drug and orthodox medical community.
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