[orbsycli]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

No, I think they have the death penilty for pot here.

Michael

I'm so sorry...that's one of the saddest things I've ever heard.

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

Too bad I can't get it legally like I can almost all other pain killers via e-mail

Wow, you get parcels via email? Where do they come out of the computer at?

On another note, I wonder if any of the opponents of medical marijuana can explain why we even evolved to have cannabinoid receptors. It seems to me that they must be there for something.

[orbsycli]

Originally Posted by C1ay

Wow, you get parcels via email? Where do they come out of the computer at?

On another note, I wonder if any of the opponents of medical marijuana can explain why we even evolved to have cannabinoid receptors. It seems to me that they must be there for something.

For the evolution of consciousness, of course

For slipping into the left side.

[Moontanman]

A crack down on cannabis? Why not crack down on masturbation? Cannabis comes as close to harmless as any recreational drug can come. Alcohol and tobacco are far more dangerous. Alcohol and tobacco are responsible for more than a thousand times as many deaths as all recreational drugs put together. Marijuana has never been tied to the death of anyone from it's direct use. I am sure there are people who have become intoxicated and done stupid things and hurt themselves but the rate is far lower by a factor of 1000 or more than alcohol. Alcohol and tobacco are not only legal but the government makes huge amounts of money off the misery of alcohol and tobacco. Since good Cannabis can be grown by almost anyone the government has a much harder time making it's pound of flesh off marijuana than alcohol and tobacco. I have talked to many police officers and they have told me they can tell when someone is driving while smoking pot and while driving alcohol by the way they drive. Pot smokers drive at about 20 miles and hour in a 55, slow down for green lights and stop way before a stop sign or stop light, Drinks drive 85 in a 55, speed up to make stop lights and try to do other crazy things. Do not believe what the government says about cannabis. In the US it used to be completely legal. It became illegal due to racism. It was perceived to have been smoked mainly by Mexicans so as an excuse to get ride of Mexicans pot was made illegal so they could be arrested and deported. It was never a real problem for anyone except racist people who couldn't stand to see dark skinned people in their towns. Even the head of what to become the DEA at the time at first refused to enforce laws against what he saw as a harmless weed. After it was made clear his job depended on ridding the country of pot he attacked the problem like any good bureaucrat. By inflating the problem by lies and innuendos. Pot may not be harmless but aresting people putting them in jail and trying to ruin their lives for using it is totally out of bounds. Not allowing people to use it for pain relief is unconscionable. By the way THC pills are illegal where I live as well. Even the smoking of pot isn't necessary, Pot can be used to replace hops in beer and you get the befits of cannabis without smoking it. Tea cannot be made from cannabis because THC doesn't dissolve in water, just in alcohol and fats like butter.

Michael

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

A crack down on cannabis?

Did someone in the thread advocate cracking down on cannabis or did you just kind of wander off there?

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by C1ay

Did someone in the thread advocate cracking down on cannabis or did you just kind of wander off there?

Sorry I wondered off.
Michael

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by C1ay

On another note, I wonder if any of the opponents of medical marijuana can explain why we even evolved to have cannabinoid receptors. It seems to me that they must be there for something.

Medical marijuana opponents, like MM proponents, being a pretty diverse lot, including some smart, well-educated folk, I’m confident that some of them can explain it as well as anyone can explain a “why” of evolution.

The usual explanation is that an early animal ancestor of H.Sapiens evolved a system of excretors and receptors that we now find as the endocannabinoid systems of nearly all animals evolutionarily close to us. The system proved useful, so was conserved. Eventually, curious and clever apes that we are, we discovered the ever popular exogenous cannabinoid scattered throughout the plant kingdom, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The potency of pot as far back as we have history, and particularly in the last few decades, is almost inarguably a consequence of a more recent trick of our clever species: the unnatural, selective breeding of useful plants into botanical wonders. I’ve long found it amusing that even the most radical opponents of the agricultural revolution – folk who live in teepees, forage all their food from the woods, and will have no analgesic more artificial than willow bark – make an exception to their principle for at least one, special, well-loved plant.

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by CraigD

folk who live in teepees, forage all their food from the woods, and will have no analgesic more artificial than willow bark – make an exception to their principle for at least one, special, well-loved plant.

There are a lot of analgesic plats apart from MJ
Most poppies, Wild lettuce, family have opiates and depending on the ache There are things like Rosemary,Lavender, juniper, chilli, wintergreen, St John's Wort etc used for different types of pain.
It is just that we have chosen to develop opioids and salicicains as mainstream pain relief.
Much to our -arrogant- loss.

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

There are a lot of analgesic plats apart from MJ
Most poppies …

Very true. I’ve known people, including one to whom I’m married, who dedicated much of their lives and money to the study of traditional herbal medicine, and still know only a fraction of its huge literature and tradition.

The intent of my comment was to note that, among people who are opposed to agriculture – the manipulation of natural plant to produce specialized strains (ie: modern corn) – there is a tendency to give cannabis, one of the most purposefully and scientifically manipulated plant known to man, and as bizarre and unnatural a plant as most people are likely ever to encounter - a pass. Among the most devout neo-primitives is often found the most exotically bred cannabis.

Returning to the original topic of the thread, the efficacy of marijuana as medicine… Despite the many cultural and legal difficulties that tend to distort and bias such research, I concur with the mainstream pharmacological consensus that, from a pharmochemical perspective, marijuana is not particularly good at treating disease. What much of the research point to is that its efficacy is largely due to its usual delivery method – smoking, which allows rapid uptake and excellent control of self-dosing. When compared to oral medications intended to mimic the effects of smoked marijuana (eg: Marinol), or eaten cooked or raw cannabis, patient testimony shows a clear preference for smoking, typically noting that smoking allows them to quickly self-dose “just enough” to experience the desired analgesic of appetite-stimulating effect, while oral dosing “comes on too slow and too strong”, in an out-of-control way.

I think the mainstream pharmacology has not taken sufficient note of this, and that there is a lot of unexplored potential for inhaled delivery systems for many types of drugs. Although its common to assume that inhaled drugs pose an unacceptable health risk because of irritants and carcinogens in smoke, this is, I think, a misperception, as nearly any drug that can be smoked and many that cannot, can be inhaled via hot or cold atomization (the rendering of substances into airborne suspensions, not, as the name suggests, into their component atoms).

There are considerable challenges to this approach, a great one how to prevent dangerous overdosing. Although cannabis has such a low toxicity that it’s practically impossible to dangerously overdose, many drugs that could be enhanced by inhaled delivery do not. I think small computer electronics hold promise in this area – for example, a “smart inhaler” that “recognizes” its intended patient, and will allow effective dosing while preventing dangerous overdosing.

[Michaelangelica]

[quote]

Originally Posted by CraigD

Very true. I’ve known people, including one to whom I’m married, who dedicated much of their lives and money to the study of traditional herbal medicine, and still know only a fraction of its huge literature and tradition.

The intent of my comment was to note that, among people who are opposed to agriculture – the manipulation of natural plant to produce specialized strains (ie: modern corn) – there is a tendency to give cannabis, one of the most purposefully and scientifically manipulated plant known to man, and as bizarre and unnatural a plant as most people are likely ever to encounter - a pass. Among the most devout neo-primitives is often found the most exotically bred cannabis.

Are there such people-opposed to agriculture?
What do they eat?

The Aztecs and Mayans were pretty good at crossing and recrossing plants they liked (like Chilli, corn, potatoes etc). They had huge botanic gardens long before the first one appeared in Europe (Italy, Padua? about 1400?)
I would consider Wheat as the most mucked about bit of plant genetic material on earth not MJ.
Probably some of the reason that at least 1 in 100 British can't tolerate it.
,

from a pharmochemical perspective, marijuana is not particularly good at treating disease.

Painkillers don't really TREAT anything. They just help people get by

What about its (MJs) use in Asthma and allergies?

What much of the research point to is that its efficacy is largely due to its usual delivery method – smoking, which allows rapid uptake and excellent control of self-dosing.

Agreed a lot could be done by looking at delivery, but I think some of this is being done eg asthma meds., patches (an old system, the witches used- especially with potentially toxic material- like frogs and toads) and self injection of on-demand opiates.

Thanks for the interesting post
May you & your wife live long and prosper!