I asked a question about pain management, and someone came up with the name cannabis. I have never heard of this before. Can someone tell me what this is? Is it legal? Is it healthy? Is it illegal???? Okay, thanks for your answers. I think I have buried my head in the sand. Why don't they just say "Pot"? Goodness. Why must we have new names for old things? And don't worry, I won't be recommending it to my friend...Thanks The active ingredient of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol is available in prescription form to be taken orally, by chemotherapy patients and a handful of other conditions.
Too bad the culture, up to and including doctors whose studies are paid for by government, has really bought into the propaganda that saturated our collective consciousness about this drug. It is certainly effective for some things. Had it not had the history, it would be prescribed for appropriate conditions without any raised eyebrows.
And no I don't partake, but saw it give quite a bit of relief to the mother of a friend who died from cancer. Sustained and maintained her nutritional status when nothing else would do.
It is much less dangerous than many other drugs, alcohol for one. Just ask any cop how likely they are to have to get eight guys to fight a stoner. Marijuana its illegal; its marijuana pot Be careful! It is not legal to use it, although some doctors may still prescribe it (or similar substances) for pain control . Read the following and do more reasearch if needed.
Cannabis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Rosales
Family: Cannabaceae
Genus: Cannabis
L.
Species
Cannabis indica
Cannabis ruderalis
Cannabis sativa
This is one of several related articles about cannabis. This article deals with the biology of the genus Cannabis. Cannabis (drug) is about marijuana, hashish and related drugs. Hemp is about cultivation for non-drug uses, and the non-drug uses themselves. See also Hemp (disambiguation).
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plant that includes one or more species. The plant is believed to have originated in the mountainous regions just north-west of the Himalayas in India, though it could also have come from Northern Africa. It is also known as hemp, although this term usually refers to varieties of cannabis cultivated for non-drug use. As a drug it usually comes in the form of dried flowers (marijuana), resin (hashish), or various extracts collectively referred to as hash oil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis In other words it's marijuana and no, depending on where you live, most likely it's not legal. You might get lucky though. Check with your doctor. it is another name for the cronic,weed, wacky tobacy, dope, left handed ciggerets, mary jane do you need more names...lol Legality depends on your location. Healthy? Well, that's up for debate. I say yes if pain is affecting your quality of life in a negative way, and cannabis helps to manage it. Marijuana and it's illegal. Of course it's not healthy. cannabis is weed its illegal and some people say it is health Marijuana, grass, mary jane, pot, Cannabis, Hemp, Dope, Weed, Herb, Marihuana, Hash, Stash, Thai-stick, Thai-bud, Mexican, Panama Red, Colombian Gold, MMMmmmm.....
JUST KIDDING. (and no it's not legal.) (unfortunately for those who would benefit from it's medicinal characteristics.)
although there some cities where there are local ordinances such that the police won't complain, if you are using it medicinally. the feds can still bust you though. since every one has already given you the correct answer i will give you the run down on it for pain managment
Joycelyn Elders, M.D. wrote in a 3/26/04 editorial published in the Providence Journal in Rhode Island:
"The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS -- or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day."
(3/24/04) Joycelyn Elders
Time magazine wrote in a 12/5/05 article "The Year in Medicine":
"Research into the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of cannabis continued to bolster the case for the medicinal use of marijuana, making the 'patient pot laws' that have passed in 11 states seem less like a social movement than a legitimate medical trend."
(12/5/05) Time
The 1999 IOM Report noted on Page 179:
"RECOMMENDATION: Short-term use of smoked marijuana (less than six months) for patients with debilitating symptoms (such as intractable pain or vomiting) must meet the following conditions:
*
failure of all approved medications to provide relief has been documented,
*
the symptoms can reasonably be expected to be relieved by rapid-onset cannabinoid drugs,
*
such treatment is administered under medical supervision in a manner that allows for assessment of treatment effectiveness, and
*
involves an oversight strategy comparable to an institutional review board process that could provide guidance within 24 hours of a submission by a physician to provide marijuana to a patient for a specified use.鈥?br>
IOM (March 1999)
In March 1999, the U.S. government-sponsored Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report concluded on Page 179:
"Until a nonsmoked rapid-onset cannabinoid drug delivery system becomes available, we acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana, such as pain or AIDS wasting...*[in those patients who have not responded to standard approved therapy]."
*[The above bracketed and bolded words were given to MarijuanaInfo on 2/26/02 by John A. Benson, Jr., MD, Co-Principal Investigator of the 1999 IOM report].
(March 1999) IOM
Jerome Kassirer, M.D., Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, wrote about marijuana's medical value in the journal's January 1997 editorial:
"I believe that a federal policy that prohibits physicians from alleviating suffering by prescribing marijuana for seriously ill patients is misguided, heavy-handed, and inhumane. Marijuana may have long-term adverse effects and its use may presage serious addictions, but neither long-term side effects nor addiction is a relevant issue in such patients.
It is also hypocritical to forbid physicians to prescribe marijuana while permitting them to use morphine and meperidine to relieve extreme dyspnea and pain. With both these drugs the difference between the dose that relieves symptoms and the dose that hastens death is very narrow; by contrast, there is no risk of death from smoking marijuana. To demand evidence of therapeutic efficacy is equally hypocritical. The noxious sensations that patients experience are extremely difficult to quantify in controlled experiments.
What really counts for a therapy with this kind of safety margin is whether a seriously ill patient feels relief as a result of the intervention, not whether a controlled trial 'proves' its efficacy."
(1/30/97) Jerome Kassirer
Miles Herkenham, Ph.D., Chief of the National Institute of Mental Health's Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Regulation, IRP, noted on the NIMH website (Updated January 25, 2002):
"Cannabinoid receptors are also located in areas that control emesis (nucleus of the solitary tract) and pain, suggesting medical potential of marijuana."
(2002) Miles Herkenham
DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young made the following statement in his 1988 ruling:
"The overwhelming preponderance of the evidence in this record establishes that marijuana has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States for nausea and vomiting resulting from chemotherapy treatments in some cancer patients. To conclude otherwise, on this record, would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious."
(9/6/88) Francis Young
Jay Cavanaugh, Ph.D., National Director of The American Alliance for Medical Cannabis (AAMC), in a June 4, 2002 letter to California's Ventura County Board of Supervisors, wrote:
"Medical cannabis has been clearly demonstrated to be a safe non-toxic medicine, useful in the treatment of some of our most disabling medical conditions including MS, cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, chronic pain, and many more conditions too numerous to list."
(6/4/02) Jay Cavanaugh
Congressional Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said in her official "Statement in Support of Hinchey Amendment to Allow the Use of Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes" to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 18, 2001:
"Proven medicinal uses of marijuana include alleviation of some of the most debilitating symptoms of AIDS, including pain, wasting, and nausea. These benefits also improve the quality of life for patients with cancer, with MS, and other severe medical conditions."
[Click here for full statement.]
(7/18/01) Nancy Pelosi
In 1998, Republican political consultant, Lyn Nofziger wrote the foreword to Marijuana Rx, which included:
"Marijuana clearly has medicinal value. Thousands of seriously ill Americans have been able to determine that for themselves, albeit illegally."
(December 1998) Lyn Nofziger
Kaiser Permanente stated in their April 1997 patient newsletter:
Medical guidelines regarding the prudent use of marijuana should be established... Unfortunately, clinical research on potential therapeutic uses for marijuana has been difficult to accomplish in the United States, despite reasonable evidence for the efficacy of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and marijuana as anti-emetic and anti-glaucoma agents and the suggestive evidence for their efficacy in the treatment of other medical conditions, including AIDS.
(April 1997) Kaiser Permanente
CON (NO)
U.S. Senator Bill Frist, M.D. (R-TN) wrote in a 10/20/03 letter to ProCon.org:
"Although I understand many believe marijuana is the most effective drug in combating their medical ailments, I would caution against this assumption due to the lack of consistent, repeatable scientific data available to prove marijuana's medical benefits.
Based on current evidence, I believe that marijuana is a dangerous drug and that there are less dangerous medicines offering the same relief from pain and other medical symptoms."
(10/20/03) Bill Frist
Andrea Barthwell, M.D., former Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) wrote in a 2/17/04 article:
"By characterizing the use of illegal drugs as quasi-legal, state-sanctioned, Saturday afternoon fun, legalizers destabilize the societal norm that drug use is dangerous.
They undercut the goals of stopping the initiation of drug use to prevent addiction....
Children entering drug abuse treatment routinely report that they heard that 'pot is medicine' and, therefore, believed it to be good for them."
(2/17/04) Andrea Barthwell
Liliana Bachs, M.D., Senior Medical Officer in the Divisions of Forensic Toxicology and Drug Abuse, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, told ProCon.org in a 12/1/05 email:
"About marijuana as a medical option, I do not think that marijuana has more advantages than other therapies, taking the side effects into consideration. So the answer is no."
(12/1/05) Liliana Bachs
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society states in their March 2000 policy statement:
"It is the opinion of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society鈥檚 Medical Advisory Board that marijuana is not recommended as a treatment for MS.
Long-term use of marijuana may be associated with significant serious side effects. In addition, other well-tested, FDA-approved drugs are available, such as baclofen and tizanidine, to reduce spasticity in MS."
(March 2000) Natl. Multiple Sclerosis Society
Former Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA), in his debate with radio talk show host Neil Boortz on May 14, 2002, stated:
"There is no legitimate medical use whatsoever for marijuana. This [marijuana] is not medicine. This is bogus witchcraft. It has no place in medicine, no place in pain relief, and it has no place around our children."
(5/14/02) Bob Barr
The California Narcotic Officers' Association (CNOA), in their Position Paper titled "The Use of Marijuana as a Medicine" (obtained from their website on 5/9/02), stated:
"Many well-intentioned leaders and members of the public have been misled by the well-financed and organized pro-drug legalization lobby into believing there is merit to their argument that smoking marijuana is a safe and effective medicine.
A review of the scientific research, expert medical testimony, and government agency findings shows this to be erroneous. There is no justification for using marijuana as a medicine."
(5/9/02) CNOA
John Walters, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) wrote in a March 2002 syndicated article:
"Smoked marijuana damages the brain, heart, lungs, and immune system. It impairs learning and interferes with memory, perception, and judgment.
Smoked marijuana contains cancer-causing compounds and has been implicated in a high percentage of automobile crashes and workplace accidents."
(March 2002) John Walters
The U.S. DEA told ProCon.org in a 1/2/02 email:
"Any determination of a drug's valid medical use must be based on the best available science undertaken by medical professionals. The Institute of Medicine (under the National Academy of Sciences) conducted a comprehensive study in 1999 to assess the potential health benefits of marijuana and its constituent cannabinoids. The [IOM] study concluded that smoking marijuana is not recommended for the treatment of any disease condition. [red added]
In addition, the effects of cannabinoids studied are generally modest, and in most cases, there are more effective medications currently available. For those reasons, the Institute of Medicine concluded that there is little future in smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has also conducted an extensive scientific and medical evaluation of marijuana as medicine and issued a finding in January 2001 that marijuana (and the tetrahydrocannabinols) should remain as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act.
A Schedule I substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and has a high potential for abuse. HHS based its recommendation on many factors, including that the FDA has not approved a new drug application for marijuana and the fact that the known risks of marijuana use outweigh any potential benefits."
(1/2/02) DEA
[Editor's Note: In direct contradiction to the above "red words," Page 179 of the 1999 IOM report did recommend smoked marijuana in some cases.]
The American Academy of Ophthalmology, stated in a 2003 policy statement:
"The Academy believes there is no evidence to date that shows that marijuana is safer or more effective than the drugs currently available to lower IOP to prevent optic nerve damage from glaucoma. This conclusion is based on reviews from the National Eye Institute (NEI) and the Institute of Medicine, as well as on available scientific evidence."
(2003) Am. Academy of Ophthalmology
The Partnership for a Drug Free America stated in a 2003 policy statement:
"The established processes of the Food and Drug Administration are the foundation on which medicine is defined in this country; together, the medical and scientific communities have established procedures through which all drugs must pass before they can be considered safe, sound and effective 'medicine.' Marijuana has yet to go through this process."
(2003) Partnership for a Drug Free America It's not illegal if prescribed by a doctor. Everyone else answered your question I just answered on the legality...now where the fu(k are my rolling papers. cannabis sativa the dank u know the kind ...... |
