DEA chief calls medical MJ a "joke"

[TastesLikeChicken]

https://news.vice.com/article/the-d...edical-marijuana-a-joke?utm_source=vicenewsfb

"What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal — because it's not," Rosenberg said in a briefing to reporters. "We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don't call it medicine — that is a joke."

Rosenberg did distinguish between the compounds in marijuana like HTC that might offer medical benefits and smoking the leaf of the marijuana plant, which he said was not beneficial.

What a douche. Maybe he should talk directly to cancer patients, chronic pain sufferers, and those with glaucoma around the nation who find it works very well as a medicinal agent? Maybe if Chucky's agency would stop throwing roadblocks into research on MJ we could actually get some real answers?

 

[JSt0rm]

that guy cares about $ and the industry surrounding the drugwar.

 

[OutHouse]

why is washington so out of touch with the people of the country?

 

[OutHouse]

If by some miracle Christy gets POTUS you can expect a huge war on pot again. for states like colorado bringing in the stormtroopers to raid the dispensaries would not fly so im sure he would do the "withhold government money" blackmail tactic to get states to bend to the feds.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I honestly think the whole medicinal group is full of shit. But I'm not exactly qualified to speak on their behalf, I'm sure if you're nearly dead you wouldn't mind a nice joint.

Regardless, MJ doesn't hurt anyone except create unnecessary drug conflicts when buying illegally. Why keep up the charade? Just legalize it and tax the shit out of it.

It's what's best for the economy and the people.

 

[Knowing]

"bad" and "dangerous"

lol

After the current administration increased raids on dispensaries, did they slow them down again?

 

[Linux23]

What a blowhard who just wants to keep the giant hampster on the wheel going in perpetuity (the war on drugs).

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

If by some miracle Christy gets POTUS you can expect a huge war on pot again. for states like colorado bringing in the stormtroopers to raid the dispensaries would not fly so im sure he would do the "withhold government money" blackmail tactic to get states to bend to the feds.

Christy doesn't have a realistic chance to become POTUS. Hillary is more of a concern but since she generally bends in the direction of the public opinion winds it might not be a problem.

 

[master_shake_]

the police are only there to protect the status quo for the rich.

i.e. dump on non pharmaceuticals because it doesn't advance pharmaceutical company profits.

 

[glenn1]

I'd wager the vast majority of people on "medical marijuana" are just stoners with little to nothing medically wrong with them. But even if it was 100% bogus I'd still say MJ should be legalized. We don't criminalize other bogus "medical" treatments like homeopathy or faith healing so let people toke for their so-called health reasons. It's none of our damn business any way you look at medical MJ.

 

[Jhhnn]

I think MMJ has always been a bit of a trojan horse, a necessary stage in reaching the greater goal of legalization. It's basically became pay to play in many places & leaked hugely into the street market.

OTOH, what have been the real world consequences of more widespread use? Of legalization here in CO, for example?

That's the point at which guys like Rosenberg disconnect & fall back on what they're been taught & have come to believe, that cannabis is bad & dangerous. If he wasn't a true believer, he wouldn't be where he is today. He's been steeped in the ethos & myhos of high level law enforcement for over 20 years-

http://www.dea.gov/about/leadership.shtml

Republican or Democrat, these guys are far from liberal. They're all hard nosed ball breaking sonsabitches & proud of it.

 

[zinfamous]

If by some miracle Christy gets POTUS you can expect a huge war on pot again. for states like colorado bringing in the stormtroopers to raid the dispensaries would not fly so im sure he would do the "withhold government money" blackmail tactic to get states to bend to the feds.

naw. Christy would just set off an avalanche/landslide at Loveland to cutoff all traffic into Denver for a week.

You know, to make a point.

 

[KMFJD]

I like how we can claim marijuana as a medical expense at tax time here in Canada

 

[Jaepheth]

In capitalist America, drugs take you!

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Sounds like someone needs to watch Sanjay Gupta's report on medical marijuana. Changed my perspective.

The girl with frequent seizures being all but cured by some specialized marijuana was amazing. She was on dozens of medications many which could not be used long term by a child because kidney & liver damage plus she was still having dozens of mini seizures per night. The special MJ almost eliminated all the seizures almost immediately.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

And yet we have doctors pushing out the hydrocodone, oxycontin, etc. For fucks sake there's even a commercial about how to live normally while taking these opioids

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/79jG/movantik-opioid-baggage

So pound those opioids, take your constipation medication but in no way ever think that mmj would work or be helpful.

 

[kage69]

As someone who has seen the studies of MMJ inhibiting tumor growth, as someone who watched a highschool buddy with cancer and non Hodgkins Lymphoma use MMJ to keep weight on, deal with pain, and basically stay alive, I'll say this guy is cordially invited to go fuck himself.

Social authoritarian rejects medical science because he has a likely generational hang up on the image of someone smoking pot. That's the joke here folks. In addition to pot's classification while being non-toxic I mean.

People like him need to hurry up and retire or die. There are too many people in real pain, and kept there or forced to use dangerous, actually toxic substances, because of these real 'social justice warriors' who have a fetish with pot being inhaled.

Get with the times, or gtfo. We don't need dinosaurs telling others what is medicine and what isn't. We have doctors for that.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I'd wager the vast majority of people on "medical marijuana" are just stoners with little to nothing medically wrong with them. But even if it was 100% bogus I'd still say MJ should be legalized. We don't criminalize other bogus "medical" treatments like homeopathy or faith healing so let people toke for their so-called health reasons. It's none of our damn business any way you look at medical MJ.

I'll tell you what. Even if you're just a 32yo white dude with back pain, vaping medical grade cannabis (high in cbd, low to moderate levels of thc) is remarkably better for your health than taking 800-1200mg of Ibuprofen every single day. Even if that's all someone's using it for, they're still making a better choice, which is a human right, for their health than most if not all the otc options for back pain, especially nerve pain.

Sure, cannabis 'can' be harmful when heavily abused or used when driving or operating heavy machinery... but so can a lot of things, including 'texting'. But look at something like Aspirin. It'll help your headache too, but unlike with cannabis, if you take 20 aspirin, it just might be your very last headache.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Sounds like someone needs to watch Sanjay Gupta's report on medical marijuana. Changed my perspective.

The girl with frequent seizures being all but cured by some specialized marijuana was amazing. She was on dozens of medications many which could not be used long term by a child because kidney & liver damage plus she was still having dozens of mini seizures per night. The special MJ almost eliminated all the seizures almost immediately.

I bet Sanjay would like to knock mr dea chief right the fuck out.

 

[EOM]

I think we've got less than a generation before it's legalized nation-wide, at LEAST for prescribed medicinal uses and research if not recreationally with similar restrictions to tobacco. The writing is on the wall and the facts don't like. MJ is less dangerous than Alcohol and Tobacco, but those industries have already lobbied the F* out of washington.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I bet Sanjay would like to knock mr dea chief right the fuck out.

I agree that show blew me away. I was never against the idea of legal MJ but I thought of it as a stoner gimmick. A very young disabled child can't possibly fake those results and even if it doesn't work long term it clearly a cheaper & better solution for right now.

 

[sm625]

The joke is that half his department and half his budget is dedicated to fighting against the possession and consumption of a relatively harmless herb. If it was the "war on frickin paprika" people would see this for what it is. Meanwhile you have a multi billion dollar industry of high tech brain altering psychotropics which totally ravage the mind and cause 100 times more blowback in one year than all the pot ever smoked in all of history.

 

[K1052]

The DEA is essentially useless. They barely put a dent in the drug trade and spend a bunch of money doing it. From even just an efficacy standpoint it's a total failure. Close the agency and redirect it's $2B funding to local substance abuse/rehab programs.

 

[Theb]

Marijuana has well documented medical properties. You can argue that current prescription drugs are more effective, but that's certainly not going to be true in all cases for all patients.

You can be upset that some people probably don't need it for medical reasons, but are pretending to so they can use it for fun. That doesn't bother me, but if being upset that other people are having fun is how you want to spend your time, enjoy. It also doesn't really bother me that people will go to emergency rooms complaining of extreme pain (and their doctor is out of town) so they can get opiate medications. I would prefer we let people get away with gaming the system for fun rather than create barriers to relief for people that legitimately need it.


One of the benefits of legalization is that people who do need it for medical reasons will not be as stigmatized.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Unlike most drugs advertised on TV that have twenty possible side effect leading to possible death, MJ is a cornucopia of chemical compounds that soothe the body and mind with the common side effects of munchies and a mellow mood.

edit: anyone have an example of MJ overdose besides on the Pharm purified form?