Medical Marijuana

[dcookcan]

What are your thoughts. Are you for or against the medicinal use of marijuana? Or do you think its just an excuse for the terminally ill to get high?

I have a family member who was involved in the Canadian Gov't funded growing operation deep in a mine in the Canadian Shield. I didn't get to visit the "Rock Garden" but I saw some cool pictures.

[dutchie]

Legalize pot. If alcohol still is legal, why the hell shouldn't pot be?!? It's like allowing lettuce, while throwing people in the slammer for eating spinach..

[playmaker88]

What are your thoughts. Are you for or against the medicinal use of marijuana? Or do you think its just an excuse for the terminally ill to get high?

I have a family member who was involved in the Canadian Gov't funded growing operation deep in a mine in the Canadian Shield. I didn't get to visit the "Rock Garden" but I saw some cool pictures.

Stopping people with certain cancers and disabilities from smoking pot is a crime in itself. Give these people a break. A lot of these people are dying, the drug isn't going to make things worse.

BTW, are you now DeCokeCan?

[RavenWhitefang]

Make it legal all around. I know people who are eligible to get it medically, yet are not getting the prescription for it, so they have to go thru other means to get it. Of course any type of altered state type of thing comes with responsibility, if you're going to smoke it, do it responsibly. We should get tips from Amsterdam

[dcookcan]

I am for total decriminalization. One valid issue that has prevented this is the ability to monitor/enforce driving while under the influence. Has there been any advances in this technology?

BTW, are you now DeCokeCan

I liked the avatar, since it almost fits with my screenname.

[kur]

absolutley decriminalize it. look @ amsterdam... there one chill country. when was the last time they invaded a middle eastern country ? :-)

plus, if we need the boost in the economy, why not?

[MetalMilitia]

Screw medical marijuana.

Since when should I need permission to smoke something that came from gods green earth?

Those marijuana commercials are fucking stupid.

Marijuana wouldn't lead to jail time if there weren't such strict laws, and if you run somone over while you're stoned... you were just stupid to begin with. I hate the stereotype... "You're a pothead" and having it associated with somone of a lesser intelligence.

You wanna know what marijuana leads to?

-Carpentry, rewiring, fixing whatevers broken.
-Pop tarts
-Musical Inspiration / Instruments

-MM- (the frequent smoker)

[Dhanishta]

Pot head pixies are cool. They're non aggressive, laid back, quaint, intelligent, reflective, happy little vegemites!

Whether it's prescribed or not, it still has the same effects.

[kur]

-Carpentry, rewiring, fixing whatevers broken.
-Pop tarts
-Musical Inspiration / Instruments

exactly
:yeah:

[Defiant Noquisi]

Legalize it across the board. Alright, who voted that pot smokers should be shot? Fess up!

[marglarg]

You'll get no argument from me regarding decriminalising it .. and I've been known to try it a tad over the last 18 years or so :) but ... you have to ask the question would you like your children on it ? Really, if your in the position to do something about it would you not choose to make it harder, especially for our children, to get there little hands on it ? Ok, whose been raiding my stash !!!

I don't have children but I have the feeling that if I did, I would not like my children to have access to it in any respect. Like I said, in my current position I agree with everything written thus far in this thread but sometimes we have to sit on the other side of the fence and see how it affects those we care about and love, not just those of us who have experienced many a good time whilst under the influence.

[JinJaNinJa]

You cant really have it both ways, If you enjoy a smoke, then its all good, but surely you can excerisie the same restrain as you do with Alcohol. If kids can get beer, then they can get grass. and what a finer companion to a nice joint than a cold Coronita.!!

[marglarg]

Don't get me wrong, I do agree with you. I guess I was trying to play the devils advocate on this one in that position I was coming from was one of the 'ease' of obtaining it.

With alcohol being legal, we can show restraint but lets be real ... how many of us when underage really had any trouble getting it. The same could be said of pot, but, if we were to decriminalised / legalise it or what have you, it would only make it easier still for them to obtain it. Great for those of us on it but not so good for the future generation.

Trust me, I love a toke as much as the next person but it's the kids of the future that I worry about, specially if they are mine. And really, when it comes down to it, you would sacrifice anything for your children, wouldn't you ?

[dcookcan]

In all honesty, even though I live in the land of the greatest cannabis on the planet (i.e. Canada), I haven't smoked it for years. It was a personal reason for stopping, but I still don't have anything against it.

As for kids, I think that education and demystification are critical. I allow my five year old son to have a sip of wine or beer here and there. It takes away the intrigue and mystery of drinking. When my kids are teens, drinking is not going to be a big deal to them and, hopefully, I will have educated them on how to drink responsibly.

Same is true for pot. I am not going to start feeding the kids pot, but I am not going to flip out if and when they try it. If the criminal stigma was not attached to it; it would be easier to take away the intrigue of smoking pot, because the 'bad boy/girl' image would be lost (eventually).

[CleverWeather]

The bad hype on marijuana reminds me of the movie "Reefer Madness" (AKA Tell Your Children)

[dcookcan]

An interesting website on hemp.
http://www.freedomdomain.com/hemppot.htm

[lazserus]

If kids can get beer, then they can get grass.

Uh, kids are getting it even with it not being legal. Making something illegal doesn't really stop people from doing it.

[CleverWeather]

I really can't see any difference between keeping it illigal and making it legal in terms of access to it, I mean I have a few friends that smoke pot without having much trouble in finding some. The only difference would be that they'd do it in more public places than they already do. Up here in Canada a conservative think tank calculated that the government would get 2 billion dollars a year in taxation if legalized.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2...491093-cp.html

[CleverWeather]

By James Hamilton


Cannabis chemicals may provide a new way of treating deadly brain cancer.

Scientists have shown that cannabinoids – the chemicals responsible for the drug’s “high” – deter the growth of blood vessels which feed the tumour.

They appear to prevent genes making a protein called VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) that stimulates the sprouting of blood vessels.

Cutting off tumours’ blood supply is one of the latest anti-cancer strategies being explored by scientists. In studies cannabinoids significantly reduced the activity of VEGF in laboratory mice.

They also lowered VEGF levels in tumour tissue samples taken from two patients with glioblastoma multiforme, the most lethal brain tumour type.

About 4400 new cases of brain tumour are diagnosed in the UK each year. A small percentage of these are grade four gliomas, the most aggressive and dangerous brain tumours.

Only about 6% of people diagnosed with these high- grade cancers live for more than three years. The disease is normally treated with surgery, followed by radiotherapy and possibly chemotherapy. But the main tumour often evades complete destruction and grows again to kill the patient.

Cannabinoids had previously been shown to inhibit the growth of blood vessels in mice. But the mechanism involved remained a mystery and it was not known if the same effect occurred in humans.

In the new Spanish-led study, cannabinoids were injected into mice with gliomas. DNA analysis was then carried out on 267 genes associated with the growth of tumour blood vessels. It showed that the cannabis compounds reduced the activity of several genes involved in VEGF production.

Professor Manuel Guzman, from Complutense University in Madrid, said: “In both patients, VEGF levels in tumour extracts were lower after cannabinoid inoculation.”

15 August 2004

http://www.sundayherald.com/44079

[leviadon]

Of course they should legalize marijuana for anyone who is terminally ill.
In fact, they should legalize all drugs, prostitution, public nudity, punching people on the nose who annoy them, etc. These people are dying, for God's sake, they should be allowed to do just about anything!!!

[lotrfan55345]

Of course they should legalize marijuana for anyone who is terminally ill.
In fact, they should legalize all drugs, prostitution, public nudity, punching people on the nose who annoy them, etc. These people are dying, for God's sake, they should be allowed to do just about anything!!!

Err... Medical Marijuana treats symptoms, therse other things you want to be legalized don't help the sympotms so where is your argument?

I go with it legal all around, and it would be safer if they had rules like putting filters on the rolls, or they could make a vaporiser so you don't screw up your lungs, or chewable THC (or whatever).

[dutchie]

Cannabis does not HAVE to be smoked, it's just the fastest way to get it into the bloodstream. Ever heard of spacecake?!? The oral dosis is just harder to determine, because it takes much longer for the drug to enter your bloodstream, and you need more of it, because part of it gets destroyed by your stomach acids.

[terminator420]

i see no reason for it to be illegal, even though it would suck..if they are gonna make something so harmless as weed be illegal and then let other bullshit like alcohol and cigs be legal they may as well ban drugs. maybe then they could just get the desire for any drug out of most peoples system.

stupid people will defend their anti marijuana shit with saying that it causes cancer and shit, well why arent you working to make cigs illegal instead of something that already is? they arent much better for you!

why make the poor people suffering with terminal illness have a rougher time than it needs to be?

edit- did we ever figure out what idiot said pot should be totally illegalized?

[Red Shift]

most likely to be a guest who signed up voted and never posted here or anywhere on the board

[marglarg]

You know what really used to shit me ... I used to go out with this girl, she then become a cop and my pot smoking habit used to really annoy her. She really used to make me feel like I was some dirty drug user and pot was just a another one of those 'nasty' drugs.

Now the thing that annoyed me was, (and you know how cops band together), was the fact that these cops used to get together all the time and drink like fish. They used to drive pissed, let each other off etc ... they had these social gatherings weekly and alcohol was always involved. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. The argument was that alcohol is legal and for some reason this seemed to make it ok.

For me, a drug is a drug, legal or not. It influences ones perception and behavior, otherwise why would people take them. .. and I can almost say without any research, the cost(both monetary and health) to society incurred, by alcohol, would far far outway those incurred by pot.

Anyway it used to shit me and I thought I would get that of my chest.