Medical Marijuana I'm confused

[JEDIYoda]

I'm confused by this because I just took jump and got my medical "card" for it. It cost me 150 dollars and about 1 1/2 hrs out of my day for an appointment. The doctor I saw was a cardiologist, he even told me a story about a patient he did heart surgery on. I've looked the guy up he really is a legitimate doctor who from my take does this for side money or maybe because he supports legalization. What confused me was how easy it was to get, he didn't want to much information just key words and wanted to see my prescription for prochlorperazine and I was off to my 12 month recommendation to use marijuana instead of my prescription.

What struck me as odd is just how many people came through this one of MANY offices and not even the cheapest/easiest you can get it from. While I was there over 10 people came through or were waiting to see the doctor. In an hour it had made anywhere between 100 for renewals and 150 for new patients ranging from 1000 to 1500 dollars for a little office in a building and an hour of his time.

They're basically giving you a license to smoke marijuana for 150 bucks. The anti-legalization people fighting this in California need to just step down the fight is lost. You can go buy a "license" to smoke for 150 or less. It's practically legal right now, more so than I thought it was. I thought I was going to have to explain things etc etc, nope he wanted to see my prescription asked some questions where I really only had the option of answering with a keyword he could right down to justify it and I was on my way to pick up a quad, 7 grams for those who don't know of some dank green.

Has anyone else gone through this yet? What were your impressions? I just don't see how it's still called "medical marijuana" when all you need to do is show you have a prescription for some sort of head pill(they give xanax out like it's going out of style) and you have your ticket in. After experiencing it all for the first time, getting my recommendation and actually having gone in a few clinics, they need to just do away with all the bullshit and legalize it so they can tax it. It's so easy right now and the only group not really benefiting from it is the state government.

ps. i have no idea where i went with this post was kind of just rambling because it all seemed a little to convenient.

Your not confused at all..you knew exactly where this post was going....

 

[JSt0rm]

What peer reviewed study are you quoting exactly for the side effects of THC when used for insomnia?

as opposed to the side effects when not used for insomnia? lmao

 

[JS80]

I can only see it as leading to good externalities (stimulate the economy and provide relief to those who suffer, and broaden legal cartel-free routes to MJ).

The only thing better would be full legalization.

I don't think it will stimulate the economy nor provide relief to "those who suffer." Buying weed is so easy these days that people who will smoke most likely already smoke it.

The only positive externality I would agree with is possibly getting rid of or weakening the cartels.

The negative externalities I can think of are legitimizing the cartel business and rewarding them for bad behavior and drug dealers are now unemployed.

 

[Red Dawn]

Anybody ever hear of "Mojo" According to the article linked below it's sold as a herbal incense but when smoked it gives the same high as MJ.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/Herbalincensenewwaypeoplegettinghigh-84412332.html

 

[ayabe]

Anybody ever hear of "Mojo" According to the article linked below it's sold as a herbal incense but when smoked it gives the same high as MJ.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/Herbalincensenewwaypeoplegettinghigh-84412332.html

It's not exactly the same, there are many varieties, I've only tried the K2 brand.

It contains some synthetic cannaboids, but it's not the same as THC exactly. The stuff is legit and it's cheap comparatively. The high only lasts maybe 30 minutes or so, and it's more of a body high than a mind high. Does not leave you groggy or tired afterwards. It also has a mild taste that isn't harsh, not a nice tasty bud taste, more flowery.

So in summary, it's a good substitute if you cannot acquire the other or can't smoke due to testing.

 

[bfdd]

What the drug war supporters don't understand is that people like myself can get marijuana more easily than the OP. I don't live in a state that has legalized marijuana for medical purposes. I don't need to go to a doctor. I don't need to pay $150 for a license. I just make a phone call and it's delivered shortly afterward. And there's no sales tax either.

what do you think i was doing before? i also knew people who had their "clinic card" i got mine out of convenience because i actually am using it to replace my prescribed meds so i can eat.

also i highly doubt you can get it easier than i can now. i just walk down the street and pick up 1.2g for 15.

 

[bfdd]

Your not confused at all..you knew exactly where this post was going....

I didn't really explain very well what I was confused about because I was mostly typing up the story and got distracted then came back to it. I'm mostly confused at the whole "show" they put up for people to get "legal" access to marijuana. Why not just get rid of the show already and have the state actually make some real money through taxes on it. As far as I know there are no taxes associated with any step of this process.

 

[OutHouse]

What the drug war supporters don't understand is that people like myself can get marijuana more easily than the OP. I don't live in a state that has legalized marijuana for medical purposes. I don't need to go to a doctor. I don't need to pay $150 for a license. I just make a phone call and it's delivered shortly afterward. And there's no sales tax either.

and risk a drug charge on my record? no thanks man that is a career ender right there.

 

[40Hands]

I didn't really explain very well what I was confused about because I was mostly typing up the story and got distracted then came back to it. I'm mostly confused at the whole "show" they put up for people to get "legal" access to marijuana. Why not just get rid of the show already and have the state actually make some real money through taxes on it. As far as I know there are no taxes associated with any step of this process.

Baby steps my friend. It's a lot of work to get people out of the propaganda hole the government has sunk us into since childhood.

I believe there is a vote for full legalization on the ballot this year in California.

 

[halik]

Well, I can't say it's proven fact that "smoking pot is totally fine in comparison" since it depends on what we are comparing it to, but it most cases it is fact. Pharma can't throw money at it since it is illegal......

I wish I had more time to relate my position more intellectually. I'm slammed at work right now. Anyways, I hope you didn't offense to make saying you were ignorant about this subject, I didn't mean that as a personal attack.

It's schedule 3, only pot itself (plant) is schedule 1.

 

[halik]

Halik, ask and ye shall receive. Lots of peer reviewed studies, pick your condition:

http://www.medicalmarijuanadoctors.org/granny-storm-crows-list

Nothing from pubmed? Something tells me that medicalmjdoctors.org won't be the most unbiased source out there.

 

[alchemize]

Nothing from pubmed? Something tells me that medicalmjdoctors.org won't be the most unbiased source out there.

Did you look at the link? It's a list of links...27 of them from pubmed with a quick search.

 

[halik]

Did you look at the link? It's a list of links...27 of them from pubmed with a quick search.

blocked by websense at work ...

 

[Steeplerot]

Every successful civilization smoked the stuff, the prohibition is old racist garbage and chemical corporation backroom dealings. Way past time to legalize it.

 

[bamacre]

Every successful civilization smoked the stuff, the prohibition is old racist garbage and chemical corporation backroom dealings. Way past time to legalize it.

Hey, it's your big government at work, protecting people from themselves.

 

[alchemize]

Damn Hippies. I bet CADSortaGuy had a hand in this...

Iowa pharmacy board opens door for medical marijuana

Vice Chairwoman Susan Frey, a Villisca pharmacist, said marijuana clearly has benefits for some patients. But she said current pharmaceutical medications based on marijuana offer the same benefits. She raised the specter of problems in California and other states that have let people smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes. “I think without adequate controls, we would have mayhem,” she said.

Mayhem! California-style Mayhem in Iowa I tell you!

 

[nobodyknows]

Hey, it's your big government at work, protecting people from themselves.

It's actually Nixon's big goverment who started the "War on Drugs". Reagan pushed tghe idea and created the Office of National Drug Control Policy whose Director is now know as the "Drug Czar".

Both side like their "big government" and I suspect any third party will be just as fond of using govermental power to push their pet agendas.

 

[werepossum]

Experience, both as a patient and as a professional. When I was receiving chemotherapy I asked to receive anti-depressants and it was granted without substantial discussion (other than to inquire if I was suicidal and to have me meet with a social worker once). I'm currently a grad student in mental health counseling, we discuss this problem quite a bit. Far and away the largest prescribers of psychotropic medications are family doctors who do not typically have specialized knowledge in treatment of mental health problems.

Quite true. Also, chemo patients are some of the biggest benefactors of smoking grass. I never had chemo - thyroid cancer uses radioactive iodine only - but I've known a lot of people who have suffered through it. One of the biggest problems is weight loss and the attendant loss of an already-nuked immune system due to the malnutrition caused by extreme nausea. You can't eat anything and keep it down. Smoking grass prevents or minimizes that nausea and causes the munchies to boot, and for any friend going into chemo I recommend that he or she finds a safe source of grass. I also knew a girl with an inoperative brain tumor who found that grass gave better benefits with lower side effects (and way lower cost) than any medicine she had been prescribed, and smoking worked best because she too was prone to bouts of nausea. And my daughter, recently deceased, found that smoking grass helped more than her anti-spasming drugs with no side effects and also let her take less pain medication (she was crippled in an automobile accident.)

I won't say it's a wonder drug and I'd advocate eating rather than smoking it where practical, but it definitely has its uses. I've never used it (one of the few children of the sixties who can say that) and have no intention to do so even if it becomes legal in Tennessee, but if I were facing chemo I'd seek it out and smoke it.

 

[Vic]

What the drug war supporters don't understand is that people like myself can get marijuana more easily than the OP. I don't live in a state that has legalized marijuana for medical purposes. I don't need to go to a doctor. I don't need to pay $150 for a license. I just make a phone call and it's delivered shortly afterward. And there's no sales tax either.

The drug war is a disgrace. Legalize it. Period.


After decades of govt propaganda most people can't seem to keep the war on drugs in proper perspective. Let me help. If you went to the dentist to have a cavity filled, before beginning the routine procedure, he would inject you with a cocaine derivative. If you asked for something for the pain afterward, he would write you a prescription for an opiate. If you wanted something to wash that down with, you could easily stop at the liquor store next to the pharmacy for some hard alcohol.
The most dangerous, most addictive, and most powerful drugs out there are already legal and readily available in America. We like to kid ourselves of this fact by making the least dangerous, least addictive, and least powerful drug out there illegal and (supposedly) unavailable. It's insanity.

 

[ericlp]

I honestly don't see what the confusion is. If you wanted to get a prescription for say... Prozac, you go to the doctor and tell him a few keywords for X amount of money and you get a License to take a very powerful drug.

What's the difference? I don't see any. If MJ was a legal over the counter drug then you don't need a "medical" doctors signature to get it. How do you think you get a prescription for ANY OTHER DRUG??? What did you want him to shove something up your ass and make you jump through 5000 hoops to get your medical marijuana card? Get real...

 

[Vic]

I honestly don't see what the confusion is. If you wanted to get a prescription for say... Prozac, you go to the doctor and tell him a few keywords for X amount of money and you get a License to take a very powerful drug.

What's the difference? I don't see any. If MJ was a legal over the counter drug then you don't need a "medical" doctors signature to get it. How do you think you get a prescription for ANY OTHER DRUG??? What did you want him to shove something up your ass and make you jump through 5000 hoops to get your medical marijuana card? Get real...

No, you don't get it... see, it should be normal for someone to be able to go to their doctor complaining about some minor back pain and easily get a prescription for a powerful and addictive opiate like Oxycontin, but a script for medical MJ should be almost impossible to get!! Because it could get you high but Oxy doesn't!

 

[DrPizza]

Halik, to return to your argument about purified forms of drugs - let's extend that slightly. I suppose you would claim that vitamin and mineral pills are a better source for those essential nutrients than say, an orange? After all, there are thousands of chemicals in oranges - wouldn't it be safer to just eat purified vitamin C?

 

[alchemize]

My prediction of the path we will go down:

1) MMJ will continue to be voted into more states, with varying degrees of controls
2) It will become more regulated
3) Decriminalization laws will continue to pass at the state level. CA will probably legalize it fully at the state level, or come very close.
I see all of the above happening in the next 3 years.

The following will happen after the next presidential election:
4) Eventually the Fed will get it's head out of it's ass and take it off Schedule 1 and end state prosecutions unless they cross state lines. It will be what it should be - a STATE issue.
5) Lots of BIG research will begin on specific aliments. Entrepreneurial Rx companies will get interested, however since you can't patent a plant, they will be isolating and synthesizing cannabinoids.
6) The baby boomer generation will become the largest consumer of MMJ as they age
7) MMJ and decriminalization will become the defacto legalization of cannabis.

I don't see full legalization (nationally) for at least another 7 years, but by that point we'll basically be there anyhow. It took - what - 60 years to get us to the point we are today? I don't see that unwinding quickly.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I don't think Obama will consider any kind of federal legalization until the end of what he knows will be his last term. However, I think the states are going to start moving towards it sooner. I suspect California to fully legalize it soon. Their state medical board recently voted in favor of it.

 

[bamacre]

Well post up some peer reviewed studies that show smoking weed is helpful for x.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/18/marijuana-provides-pain-r_n_466993.html