cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Would Be Unhealthy and Troublesome





Marijuana Would Be Unhealthy and Troublesome
Posted by CN Staff on October 29, 2008 at 05:54:03 PT
By Janet Olszewski
Source: Detroit Free Press
Michigan -- On Nov. 4, Michigan residents will decide whether or not to join 12 other states in legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. Proposal 1's intent is to benefit people suffering from debilitating illnesses.If passed, it would allow registered patients with a chronic medical condition such as cancer, glaucoma or Hepatitis C to use marijuana.
The Michigan Department of Community Health would be required to establish an identification card system for patients who meet the criteria to use marijuana and individuals who meet the criteria to grow marijuana.Make no mistake, chronic pain is debilitating, and we as a health care community must do our best using the many tools available to help patients relieve pain. Nevertheless, legalizing the smoking of marijuana for this purpose is not the right answer.Consider the facts. The smoked form of marijuana is not considered modern medicine. In 2006, the FDA issued an advisory stating that no sound scientific studies have supported medical use of smoked marijuana for treatment in the United StatesMajor public health organizations do not support smoking marijuana as medicine. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society all oppose the smoked form of marijuana as medicine.Just as cigarette smoke can produce serious illnesses such as lung cancer, marijuana smoke is detrimental to a person's health. It alters the functioning of the central nervous system, the brain and the brain stem. It also changes how a person thinks and feels.It is true that THC, the primary cannabinoid in marijuana plants, has demonstrated medical value. It is currently available in the prescription drug, Marinol. Recent studies also have demonstrated that inhaling of the THC using a vaporizer or inhaler can achieve the same or higher THC levels as smoked marijuana.Like all prescription medication, the federal government regulates Marinol and any new medicines that are developed. Federal regulation assures a level of quality and efficacy. Under Proposal 1, the dosage, the purity or the quality of the marijuana is unregulated and essentially unknown. This does not meet the ordinary standards of medical care or pharmaceutical practice, and this will put the patient at higher risk for an adverse outcome.Also, Proposal 1 contains loopholes that would place a consumer at risk. For example, the proposal is silent as to how registered patients will acquire marijuana in the first instance. This can encourage illegal activity that will put our communities at risk.If passed, Proposal 1 would cause legal confusion, drug enforcement problems and significant health risk for patients. The proposal is simply bad policy that Michigan does not need.Janet Olszewski is director of the Michigan Department of Community Health. Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)Author: Janet Olszewski Published: October 29, 2008Copyright: 2008 Detroit Free PressWebsite: http://www.freep.com/Contact: letters freepress.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Stop Arresting Patientshttp://www.stoparrestingpatients.org/ Proposal 1: Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24265.shtmlMarijuana Helps 1 Man Despite Doctor's Verdicthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24257.shtml 
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Comment #11 posted by user123 on November 01, 2008 at 10:50:17 PT:
Luv the 1st Comment Below
MJ.............."It also changes how a person thinks and feels." Uhhhh, isn't that the point? I'm in pain, boy sure wouldn't want to use anything to change that. Thanks for your opinion that no one asked for Janut Olszewsk-ism.
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Comment #10 posted by John Tyler on October 29, 2008 at 18:10:47 PT
they cried wolf too often
I think that perhaps one of the unspoken issues here is that because of the Drug War, high prescription drug prices, big pharma TV ads, high medical care prices, FDA mega blunders and scandals, and political postering that a lot of people have lost their trust in our medical industry. They have lied to the public for so long and so often, that even if they tell the truth it is hard to believe them. 
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Comment #9 posted by Storm Crow on October 29, 2008 at 16:51:33 PT
As to that "smoked marijuana" not being medic
The effects of smoked cannabis in painful peripheral neuropathy	http://www.cannabis-med.org/studies/ww_en_db_study_show.php?s_id=96The perceived effects of smoked cannabis on patients with multiple sclerosis.	
http://www.cannabis-med.org/studies/ww_en_db_study_show.php?s_id=13		Effects of smoked marijuana in experimentally induced asthma.	http://www.cannabis-med.org/studies/ww_en_db_study_show.php?s_id=57Smoked marijuana and oral delta-9-THC on specific airway conductance in asthmatic subjectshttp://www.ukcia.org/research/SmokedAndOralInAsthmatic.phpTwo for pain relief and two for asthma- last time I checked, MS, peripheral neuropathy and asthma were considered as medically treatable conditions. And they are studying the effects of SMOKED cannabis in these studies. 
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Comment #8 posted by fight_4_freedom on October 29, 2008 at 12:46:36 PT
Janet: Please, educate yourself before
spewing out nothing but nonsense. Here's a look at the opposition's first B.S. t.v. ad they started airing today.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVWFlYXb6v4&eurl=http://www.nopotshops.com/
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Comment #7 posted by museman on October 29, 2008 at 10:14:19 PT
blah blah
FREE STICKY ICKY FOR EVERYONE
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Comment #6 posted by Sam Adams on October 29, 2008 at 08:26:59 PT
health?
So, this is an American who's job description concerns HEALTH.She says MJ is un-healthy - where is she on alcohol and prescription drugs? Those each kill over 100,000 per year. Cannabis doesn't kill anyone.She's a liar and an incompetent professional.
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on October 29, 2008 at 07:58:25 PT
"Modern" medicine?
Old is made new again. Cannabis, after being vilified as medicine for a while now... is back, and very, and most, "Modern". More "Modern" in fact, much more "Modern", than the poison pills we've seen the FDA allow to kill, maim, and poison so many.Merriam Webster. "Modern: of, relating to, or characteristic of the present or the immediate past : contemporary of, relating to, or characteristic of a period extending from a relevant remote past to the present time: involving recent techniques, methods, or ideas : up-to-date"Yes, smoked cannabis is very modern medicine today. 
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on October 29, 2008 at 07:35:46 PT
There is "good" medicine that the FDA
has nothing to do with.A broken piece of aloe vera leaf can provide some of the most amazing on the spot medicine for many burns.Oh my gosh... pickle juice works as medicine for a stomach ache so often it's amazing.I suffered from horrible Charlie horses... cramps. Big time. Usually at night, but sometimes in the course of the day. A bar of soap in the bed or in a pocket really is amazing help. It's a vapor medicine of some kind. It works when nothing else ever did. I didn't believe it would... but it does. I read about it in the newspaper in an article a doctor wrote. He didn't know why it works but had had patients tell him about it and thought it was an idea to share. It might help. It does help many people who try it. It worked for me. Beautifully.It's not FDA approved. Neither is Aloe Vera leaf or the pickle juice remedy... but they work.What you personally choose to consider as "medicine" isn't a rule we all have to be forced to follow just because you, or anyone else, says so.Give it up, Janet. Some people really do know something you don't know. 
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on October 29, 2008 at 07:22:23 PT
"Consider the facts", yourself, Janet.
"The smoked form of marijuana is not considered modern medicine."Yes, it is. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 29, 2008 at 07:12:21 PT
runruff
I'd love to see a test between a person who drinks a martini and takes a valium and a person who smokes a joint. Let them carry a full cup of coffee across a room and see which one spills the coffee.
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on October 29, 2008 at 06:37:59 PT
Land of the free or land of the pee?
Looks like she went through her moldy old book of inflammatory talking points for prohibitionist.She ain't sick so she needs no relief. She ain't a cop or politician so she ain't worried about her job or budget.She ain't no scientist so she has not done any research on her own.So she is just another opinionated meddler into someone elses life.How about a nice martini with that valium? There, things are all better now. 
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