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Medicinal Marijuana: Cash Crop or Soma Substitute?
Che Guevara
__BANNED USERS regular
__BANNED USERS regular
I've been reading quite a bit lately about the uses of medicinal marijuana.
It's successfully been used in treating the symptoms from everything from glaucoma and MS to cancer and HIV. It also has a great benefit when prescribed for those suffering from chronic stress and anxiety. (Heh... chronic.)
The University of Saskachewan announced as far back as 2005 that a synthetic version of marijuana could actually stimulate brain cell growth, which should have increased funding for further testing.
Marijuana has been used in various cultures for thousands of years. Its only been outlawed for less than a century. Is out-dated thinking stifling what could be medicine's most prolific cash crop from flourishing?
It's successfully been used in treating the symptoms from everything from glaucoma and MS to cancer and HIV. It also has a great benefit when prescribed for those suffering from chronic stress and anxiety. (Heh... chronic.)
The University of Saskachewan announced as far back as 2005 that a synthetic version of marijuana could actually stimulate brain cell growth, which should have increased funding for further testing.
The team found that rats treated with HU-210 on a regular basis showed neurogenesis the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus. This region of the brain is associated with learning and memory, as well as anxiety and depression.
The effect is the opposite of most legal and illicit drugs such as alcohol, nicotine, heroin, and cocaine.
"Most 'drugs of abuse' suppress neurogenesis," Zhang says. "Only marijuana promotes neurogenesis."
Marijuana has been used in various cultures for thousands of years. Its only been outlawed for less than a century. Is out-dated thinking stifling what could be medicine's most prolific cash crop from flourishing?
Che Guevara on
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Generally speaking though, I think the biggest impediment to legalisation of marijuana is the people who smoke too much of it. We've all seen "that guy"... The complete burnout who insists on telling you about all the magical properties of weed and how great the world would be if only they'd let us smoke it anywhere we wanted.
Full Disclosure:
I'm a U of S Alumni, I smoked a lot of weed on U of S grounds in my time there, and I haven't touched the stuff in probably 8 years, specifically because I started to feel like a retard every time I did.
All in all, I think it should be legal for medical purposes (it can't be more harmful than oxycontin), and further tested for recreational purposes (alcohol is a harmful recreational drug, so what's the difference?)
I also don't want "Big Tobacco" involved with it in any way. The last thing we need to do is consumerize it. Cannabinoids are so easy to grow that anybody can make their own. That's probably why tobacco companies are afraid of it and (covertly) oppose pro-marijuana legislation.
I've seen similar examples, but then could provide a much larger data set of alcohol abusers than marijuana.
I also don't agree with smoking it anywhere we want to. I don't like being stoned around children or heavy equipment. It obviously does to something to your ability to focus and can impair your ability to function. And it makes you a shitty role model.
But for certain mindless activities, such as exercising or playing musical instruments... you'll find most users attribute a net benefit with very few of the side effects being noticable due to amount of focus being directed at that one mindless activity.
Compare this to the side effects from most prescription drugs for treating depression or anxiety.
"Anyone can grow", and "grow something that's good" are two seperate things. It takes a lot of work and patience to develope a product that is superior in quality to what anyone can grow.
It is a very hardy plant.
Yes, a place where there is practically no light and the seed wasn't even buried.
It's called "weed" for a reason. It's ridiculously easy to grow. I know somebody who had a plant sprout up in their back yard. Our theory is that it was from a seed dropped while rolling...or something. We don't know. But the point is that it grew without any effort on their part...just like a weed. I also knew somebody who had some land where it just kinda grew naturally. It may well have been planted there at one point, but it was a pain in the ass for them to get it to stop growing there (not wanting to end up on the wrong side of the DEA or something).
A weed is a plant you don't want.
It ain't a weed.
Anyway, I use medical pot for lots of things. In small doses it actually helps me concentrate (I have ADHD) by zoning me out just enough to where I'm not constantly distracted by other things, but not so much that I'm a brain dead retard in la-la-land. It also helps for insomnia and pain (I get bad joint pain in my wrists and lowerback).
Using medical pot frequently is probably much healthier than popping pain pills or stimulants every day. I use a vaporizer, so the amount of harmful substances I injest are limited.
A plant won't be able to reach maturity that way, or if it does it will be stunted and inconsumable. Yes, weed is easy to grow. But it's hard to grow well, thats why grow houses and grow ops exist; thats why Amsterdam and British Columbia are flooded with amateur geneticists. I don't think big tobacco will take over the industry, theres already plenty of competition from amateur growers that have spurred a predilection for the good shit. People need to get over the knee-jerk reaction of associating marijuana with burnt out teenagers on couches with cheetos next to their hand. There are responsible smokers out there, contributing and upstanding members of society. I've been smoking marijuana for years and I love it.
Cannabinoids are chemicals, not a plant. The largest thing standing in the way of full legalization is the stigma and demonization associated with weed; no thanks to the War on Drugs or the subsequent propaganda thrown at the youth.
(although....the rumor is, after "big tobacco" is driven out of the US, the lobbyists are gonna try to go after the alcohol industry....sigh)
Prohibition rocks.
Just out and say it people; we want cannabis to be legal again.
Dude, there's people out there who want to ban condoms and dancing. Why be surprised?
Click http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/controversies/1124913901.html for some info on what I'm talking about. They're basically trying to start it just like the partial ban on cigarettes was started.
As to the topic at hand, I think they should legalize simply for the fact that it destroys the profits of the drug runners and it can be more carefully regulated so it is not as harmful as that dime bag you get on the corner that's been cut with god knows what. Do they do that with marijuana?
So, legalize it, tax it, lower my taxes, everyone is happy!
Actually, that'd be interesting to look up. When they had prohibition back in the day for alcohol, did recreational drug use decline because people were attracted to illegal hooch then?
No one is going to switch to HEROIN because weed is suddenly legalized.
http://www.lectlaw.com/files/drg09.htm
No?
If you've ever tried a harder drug, you might really find you don't like it. I've known a lot of people who started out smoking pot, went to something else and said "fuck that noise, back to pot I go!".
Pot is illegal because unlike tobacco it can be grown in your back yard with a garden hose and a couple of germinated seeds. Tobacco companies spent a lot of money back in the 50's convincing people that black people who smoked pot ran off and raped white women.
At the end of the day, there's no reason marijuana shouldn't be legal. It's not physically addictive, it's impossible to overdose and it doesn't have the same affect on judgment that alcohol does. People don't get massively stoned and then go tip over cars and throw bottles at each other. They go eat twinkies and shit.
So is a large portion of Congress, unless I'm mistaken. Which I'm guessing the "based on what I've seen" is coming from. I think largely it's a case of "I don't want my kids to make the same mistakes I did," only played out on the national level. And with the legal system. And with prison sentences instead of groundings.
MWO: Adamski
Did your whole body deflate or did you kill your friend with a pistol?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUxjI8BhJDk
I tried to outrun some junkyard dogs with my fist stuck in my mouth.
Actually, there is reason to believe that the ban happened due to hemp's possible use as a textile and how Dupont and other companies feared it would hurt profits. There are also the racial underpinnings as well.
Not quite, I just got really chatty and decided to teach some of the other guys how to socially engineer the drunk/high girls into getting naked and engaging in faux lesbianism for our entertainment. I quickly lost interest in that and took one of the girls to a hotel, watching is never as much fun as playing.
MWO: Adamski
Legalisation can fix that. If you go into a coffee shop in Amsterdam, you get a menu with info on the different strains and a guy serving you who can give you advice.