Marijuana as Medicine

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

funny how it [hemp] was made legal for WW2 then made illegal once the war was over. lobbyists much? quite pathetic really.

Amphetamines and LSD were legal into the early 70s here.
I am told the Japanese army was high for a goodly part of the time (amphetamines) as were Yanks in Viet-nam? (MJ)
(I don't remember any drug problem in Oz before yank R&R in Sydney during the Viet-nam war. We sort of ignored the "Bohemians" until the US started to get up-tight))
In America prohibition (No drinkies=no smokies)and fear of Mexicans resulted "

in the period from 1915 to 1937, some 27 states passed criminal laws against the use of marijuana."

History of the Non-Medical Use of Drugs in the United States

Five years later, 1942, we are cut off from our sources of hemp in the Far East. We need a lot of hemp to outfit our ships for World War II, rope for the ships, and therefore, the Federal Government, as some of you know, went into the business of growing hemp on gigantic farms throughout the Midwest and the South to make rope to outfit the ships for World War II.

So, even to this day, if you are from the Midwest you will always meet the people who say, "Gosh, hemp grows all along the railroad tracks." Well, it does. Why? Because these huge farms existed all during World War II.

In WW1 and earlier we had lots of rum. Anything to get the boys testosterone going.

Morphine addiction was invented by doctors during the 1880's Civil war in USA (The invention of the hypodermic needle helped a lot here).

So do wars cause Drug Wars?

These days we have wonderful things like PB and depleted Uranium for the troops to munch on

Pyridostigmine Bromide
(During the Gulf war, an estimated 250,000 troops took the drug.)
PB is a drug routinely used in the treatment of myasthenia gravis -- a disease that causes weakening of the muscles.
While effective, the drug can produce gastrointestinal and muscular symptoms that are transient, mild, and tolerable.
Troops in the Gulf War were given packets of PB tablets to take in advance of a chemical-weapons attack, in the hope of moderating the effects of nerve agents.
Recommended doses were lower than those commonly used by doctors to treat patients with myasthenia gravis

Gulf War Illness from Operation Desert Storm

[Michaelangelica]

New Studies Destroy the Last Objection to Medical Marijuana

By Bruce Mirken, AlterNet. Posted May 2, 2007.

Anyone who advocates for medical marijuana sooner or later runs into arguments about smoking: "No real medicine is smoked." "Smoking is bad for the lungs; why would any doctor recommend something so harmful?" It's a line of reasoning that medical marijuana opponents have used to great effect in Congress, state legislatures, and elsewhere. Indeed, the FDA's controversial 2006 statement opposing medical marijuana was couched in repeated references to "smoked marijuana."

But new research demonstrates that all those fears of "smoked marijuana" as medicine are 100 percent obsolete.

The smoking argument was the closest thing to a scientifically meaningful objection to medical marijuana. While marijuana smoke, unlike tobacco, has never been shown to cause lung cancer, heavy marijuana smoking has been associated with assorted respiratory symptoms and a potentially increased risk of bronchitis. That's because burning any plant material produces a whole lot of substances such as tars, and carbon monoxide that are not good for the lungs.
. . .
a system is here. It's called vaporization, and has been familiar to medical marijuana patients for many years, but few outside the medical marijuana community know it exists. Unlike smoking, a vaporizer does not burn the plant material, but heats it just to the point at which the THC and the other cannabinoids vaporize.
. . .
In a rational world, the government officials objecting to medical marijuana based on the health risks of smoking would greet this research with open arms. They would join with groups like the Marijuana Policy Project in spreading the word about this important, health-enhancing technology.

Don't hold your breath.

AlterNet: DrugReporter: New Studies Destroy the Last Objection to Medical Marijuana

They have been commercially available in the UK for quite a while, if you know where to purchase them (Camden Market anybody) and a search on the web will detail many suppliers.

A really good model can cost up to £400, but a perfectly OK one is as low as £60. Really helped me when I stopped smoking tobacco while allowing me to continue marijuana smoking recreationally.

Amazing that vaporisation as a medical delivery system is only now being touted.

[orbsycli]

Vaporizors are an amazing invention!
They've been around for a while...

[jungjedi]

Schizophrenia.com - Marijuana Cannabis and Schizophrenia

[Ganoderma]

but isn't the "vapor" from trichomes still smoke? just a highly concentrated version with less tar? have there been any studies on what the effects of "smoking" pure thc is (i mean physical like cancers etc)? surely better, but i can't see it as totally safe...

[Aireal]

Smoking or otherwise inhaling Marijuana, it can even be absorbed through the skin.

My step-mom's dad made liniment with it. Marijuana buds would be soaked in alcohol for several days, then pressed. The now green alcohol could be rubbed on sore muscles for pain relief, and on joints for relief from arthritis.

So would the other health benefits also be received from absorbing it in this manner?

Research, we need research. Inquiring minds want to know.

[orbsycli]

Thanks a lot for posting that Aireal. I've never heard of anyone doing that...and I can definitely see how that would be a very beneficial healing method.

[Aireal]

Orbsycli

Thank you for the kind response. I did not know if others were aware of this method for extracting the active compounds in marijuana or not.

I am an old fart, and liniments and other homemade cures were quite common in my youth. Parts of Kentucky, were I live, and Tenn. were the largest producers of hemp during WWII. The last time our family farm was in production was as a hemp farm at that time. Like many poor people, you used what you had to get by. A number if cures using marijuana date from that time, but grandpa's was the only one that used just marijuana in it. It also worked wonders, I wish I had a few gallons of it now that I am getting on in age myself.

Ancient Chinese scrolls and Sumerian tablets may shed even more light on how to use it as a medicine. It was a commonly used medicinal plant in ancient times in that part of the world. I do not think anyone has looked into this, if so I have just not heard of it.

On the number of ways it can be absorbed by the body. Once the active compounds have been extracted by alcohol, it can then be incorporated into a salve. To take orally, it can be incorporated into a syrup. A pill made from all the extracted active compounds should prove more useful than the current pill form which has just one of twenty some-odd compounds.

Charles

[freeztar]

A person much wiser than myself once told me:
"Every plant is medicinal. We just haven't discovered all of the uses yet."
I would wager we have lost a lot of the progress we made through the ages.

[Moontanman]

I wouldn't get my hopes up to high for cannabis to be legalized in the US. Most of right wing idiots that run this country think that would be admitting they have lost the so called "War On drugs" and we all know how bad we Americans hate to admit we can't win something by throwing money and fire power at it. When I was young I smoked pot for fun and it was better for me than alcohol but the people who make the rules sit around swamped to the gills on martinis and smoking cigarettes by the carton and tell the rest of us we can't smoke cannabis in our own homes. Yes the land of the free home of the brave does indeed restrict it's citizens so the can't hurt themselves on anything the government and big business is making money from. I know that not all people react the same way to cannabis and isn't an effective pain killer for cases like a traumatic injury but for chronic pain it works quite well. if you are willing to sit and relax while you are smoking. I've never in 30+ years of being in contact regularly with people who smoke pot seen anyone do anything bad or hurt themselves unless they were mixing alcohol with their pot. Then the alcohol over whelms the pot and you are just sloppy drunk. Even when taken just for recreation it is much safer than alcohol. I never saw anyone smoke pot and then beat up his wife and kids like alcoholics often do. as a matter of fact I can think of at least a dozen people who should be required by law to smoke pot any time they go out of their houses. To be honest I am not convinced pot is some sort of miracle drug but I really can't think of a reason to put people in jail for smoking it. Does anyone on this list live where pot is legal. If you do you live in a brave land. The US regularly puts pressure on other countries to prevent them from legalizing it. But of course it's ok to promote and sell what is known as King Tobacco to countries that either don't know how bad tobacco is for you or they bow down to the us pressure to allow tobacco to be sold there. It's not unlike the opium wars of the past!

Michael