PSA: There are legitimate uses for weed that do not involve uses for getting high

[destrekor]

As a proponent of medical marijuana, I agree with the gist of this. It seems like scrips are give out way too easily, and I don't want the system abused and shutdown because of it as it would only harm those who legitimately benefit from it.

While it may suck the system can get abused, I also agree with the doctors who are quite loose with the standards.

Technically speaking, marijuana has a very limited "accepted" pharm role, for only a few types of medical problems.
In reality, the combination of the multitude of cannabinoids found in marijuana is an extremely effective compound that can relieve pain associated with just about any medical malady, not to mention actually hit the actual inflammation too. The CB1 and CB2 receptor system throughout the CNS is an amazingly useful NT network, one that deserves to be tapped in to.
And then there is the fact that, at least THC specifically, is technically an agent for the anti-cancer cause... it's a chemical with anti-tumor properties, and can actually help fight it and even prevent it in some cases.

Whether we can synthetically produce a chemical that's just as awesome and still taps into the CB receptors, remains to be seen. There are some potent research chemicals out there, but each one is an individual chemical, and none are simply analogues to a current cannabinoid.. so they have their own little attitude. One of the ones that got banned recently, apparently wasn't even psychoactive, at least nowhere near the other chemicals... but it was insanely pharmacologically-active.

 

[DangerAardvark]

i can obviously see the risk of addiction...anything that alters the way you normally feel, has risk for addiction...however, i see pot as the lesser of all the evils... to me, it's on about the same level as caffeine... less addictive then tobacco, WAY less addictive than alcohol, way way way less than benzos/opiates... about the same as caffeine

I don't know about that. If I go too long in the day without a cup, my brain starts trying to crawl out of my skull. I've never had a single withdrawal symptom from not smoking for a while, unless you count wanting to smoke weed as a symptom. And even that's gone after a day or two.

 

[bfdd]

I am quite curious as to the real debates that may be happening between elected officials, while they bicker whether to vote a bill into law or not.

Is there pressure from the government to basically try and get a quality synthetics out? Even then, what's the point, because with synthetics, there would be even less of a chance of it becoming legal (or OTC), due to the fact that synthetics will likely be sold in easily-abusable doses (32 gelcaps in an OTC bottle? I'll take 8! OMG I'm freaking out and sick as shit! ).

They basically just need to promote vaporizers at every level of the legal marijuana battle... that gives patients all the goods with no products of combustion.

They seriously need to just mass-farming marijuana on the tobacco level. Also open up hemp growing in general. Excess material from good plants, plus the highly-fibrous non-psychoactive marijuana plants ("hemp")... and you have an insane amount of biomass ready to be turned into ethanol. Hemp, with strains specifically grown for the lengthy and strong fibers, is an incredibly rich plant, can be grown very densely, and would yield far more ethanol per planted acre than most major crops used for ethanol production currently. And most importantly, it can be grown basically anywhere that can be considered a temperate climate. Essentially, during the regular growing season, it can be grown basically across the entirety of the continental U.S.

This is actually true at the moment. Vapes are being pushed very hard by the community, the problem is so many of them suck. I've smoked out of a vape, it's not bad, but I prefer burning still. The health side effects don't worry me, I'm going to die some day anyways. Although I am thinking of picking up one of those handheld portable vapes as I've heard they work pretty well.

 

[DougoMan]

No, but we need to synthesize marijuana so we can separate the high from the nausea relief and appetite inducing effects. Because that's a huge problem right now: cancer patients are feeling too good.

They did that 20 years ago it's called Marinol. Legally available by prescription in 50 states.

 

[DangerAardvark]

They did that 20 years ago it's called Marinol. Legally available by prescription in 50 states.

That post was sarcastic and that drug sucks.

 

[BudAshes]

Cannabis in all its forms is gods gift to man. To bad bad satan is in charge.

 

[HAL9000]

Cannabis in all its forms is gods gift to man. To bad bad satan is in charge.

I disagree it can do very bad things to people with certain problems, god wouldn't do that (if he existed)

 

[DougoMan]

That post was sarcastic and that drug sucks.

How do you figure? It's synthetic THC, no?

 

[bfdd]

I disagree it can do very bad things to people with certain problems, god wouldn't do that (if he existed)

you mean people with problems like being "bipolar"? if so, i happen to be bipolar as is one of my friends. while i don't use it to help me, i don't need it, my buddy prefers it quite a bit more than his seroquel in which he almost slept through a house fire on.

 

[DougoMan]

you mean people with problems like being "bipolar"? if so, i happen to be bipolar as is one of my friends. while i don't use it to help me, i don't need it, my buddy prefers it quite a bit more than his seroquel in which he almost slept through a house fire on.

Give me a break marijuana is probably the single worst drug for someone that is bipolar to take.

 

[HAL9000]

you mean people with problems like being "bipolar"? if so, i happen to be bipolar as is one of my friends. while i don't use it to help me, i don't need it, my buddy prefers it quite a bit more than his seroquel in which he almost slept through a house fire on.

Alas no, I was talking about being schizophrenic or people with severe paranoia. My friend is a paranoid schizophrenic and I guarantee that cannabis made him a lot worse.

Although I have heard very bad things about mixing cannabis and bipolar disorder.

 

[DangerAardvark]

How do you figure? It's synthetic THC, no?

Yeah, but it just doesn't work for some people. And it takes a long time to kick in. And it's expensive. But weed is expensive too.

 

[destrekor]

They did that 20 years ago it's called Marinol. Legally available by prescription in 50 states.

That post was sarcastic and that drug sucks.

Not to mention Marinol is a terrible product, not really well-thought out, and didn't heed much of the advice available in the limited marijuana research at the time. And now, it's even more ridiculous in the approach.

They took synthesized THC, 99.x% pure THC, and gave doses of 2.5mg of that pure shit to patients, at least that amount, multiple times a day.
And it was THC, and only THC.

That's the worst approach to cannabinoid pharmacology ever.
A 2.5mg dose of THC, without any other cannabinoids competing for the same receptors... and more importantly, those other cannabinoids also have different affinities for the CB1 and CB2 receptors. CB2 receptors are more responsible for the body-effects of marijuana, and cannabinoids responsible for those effects are selectively bred for in some strains; in contrast, the cerebral effects are induced with cannabinoids that are more selective for CB1 receptors.

THC has affinities that basically skew heavily toward CB1 receptors.

Nausea can be a common symptom introduced by having too low a level of CB2 activity with too high CB1 activity...
To some this up: pure THC can cause nausea in some individuals.
Strains that have a high potency in THC, still get the incredible benefits of having other cannabinoids competing and mixing with the effects induced by THC.

In an even shorter summation: you gotta have real weed, or at least, all the cannabinoids extracted from the plant itself, or synthesize all 50+ of those chemicals and play around with the ratios in the mixture.

Also of importance:
a 2.5mg oral dose of pure THC is somewhat equivalent to smoking a bowl of some decent-to-fluffy cannabis sativa.

Of course, if you have serious medical issues to cover up, that would probably only begin to cover them up, and the pharmacological activity in the CNS would kind of override most of the cerebral high, but leave enough to probably have an uplifted mood.

But taking one of the stronger 5mg doses (also available in larger doses still, all typically prescribed twice daily at said strength) on a good day? I bet that led to either a really good high, maybe even trippy for some individuals, or it made them sick/nauseous as hell, or worse... both.

 

[zerocool84]

yes, and most people use bit torrent for legit reasons as well. oh wait....

i wonder what we'd find if we could get a realistic count on the number of card carrying medical marijuana users who don't have any medical need for it.

It's the same like any other prescription drug, people abuse it but that doesn't mean it's all bad.

 

[bfdd]

Give me a break marijuana is probably the single worst drug for someone that is bipolar to take.

well then I guess you'll have to explain to my friend why he's doing much better using cannabis instead of the heavy narcotics they had him on before.

Alas no, I was talking about being schizophrenic or people with severe paranoia. My friend is a paranoid schizophrenic and I guarantee that cannabis made him a lot worse.

Although I have heard very bad things about mixing cannabis and bipolar disorder.

I have no doubt it's bad for people with paranoia issues, but anyone who is NOT used to smoking has to worry about the paranoia. It takes some practice to be able to filter those thoughts out.

 

[HAL9000]

I have no doubt it's bad for people with paranoia issues, but anyone who is NOT used to smoking has to worry about the paranoia. It takes some practice to be able to filter those thoughts out.

I'm sure that's the case, but my friend was very into it, he could take it and short term it helped. Long term it fucked him up!

 

[DougoMan]

well then I guess you'll have to explain to my friend why he's doing much better using cannabis instead of the heavy narcotics they had him on before.


I have no doubt it's bad for people with paranoia issues, but anyone who is NOT used to smoking has to worry about the paranoia. It takes some practice to be able to filter those thoughts out.

I really doubt your friend is bipolar then. Also narcotics are used for pain management, not bipolar disorder.

 

[HAL9000]

I really doubt your friend is bipolar then. Also narcotics are used for pain management, not bipolar disorder.

I know some bipolar people who self medicate with drugs, it doesn't help them though, it just serves to detach them from reality.