Do You Think Medical Marijuana Should Be Legalized?
 

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a California woman whose doctor says marijuana is the only medicine keeping her alive is not immune from federal prosecution on drug charges.

I strongly disagree with drugs of this kind, with the rare exception of medical marijuana. I always thought med marijuana was already legal so long as a doctor approves it.

If you observe the root of the drug issue, there is nothing morally wrong about using a drug. It is illegal because people misuse them and constant use can cause severe health decline and eventually death. In cases where the individual's health is already declining and marijuana helps to ease the pain, I don't see any reason why she can't use it unless she begins to abuse it.

There is absolutely no legitimate or sensible reason for marijuana to be illegal for any use. All prohibition does is make it expensive, make it so that criminals can profit from it, and make it easier for minors to acquire.

I wish it was legal. I miss it. Set it aside once and forever when I decided to start a family, didn't want to teach children to be disrespectful of the law. Personaly, I find alcohol to be more damaging. But alcohol we can tax.

Sounds like a poll is in order here
 

Hey Old Soul you do not sound that old young lady. For the family and the kids ? Could you just be in the closet ? Gets smoky in there so bring water and plenty to eat :laugh: Alcohol taxes me the next morning so I get the tax coming and going !
Isaac

I don't smoke or drink alcohol of any kind. Personally, I've never seen any reason to get into those kinds of activities.

I feel the same way!

:clapbig: :clapbig: Yea for you AnimeSpirit! I commend you.

I drink occasionally, but haven't smoked weed since college or shortly after. I'd probably smoke it every once in a while if it were legal, probably instead of drinking.

What is funny about that
 

Joe you are 31 and "since college or shortly after" was not very long ago :laugh: so you softened your stance since you last post and well I know just what a worldly guy you are and way a "head" of the curve when it comes to knowing the facts and I do respect your opinion even though we do not agree most the time your post are fun to read. :D :D :D :D :peace:
Isaac

How marijuana can be illegal, and a bottle of whiskey isn't.. I'll never understand. Given the number of alcohol related deaths and accidents, and health related issues.

Especially medicinal marijuana. If it can give some relief to someone in need, I say WHY THE HECK NOT ????

I'll tell you why! You gotta line the pocket of the nearest 3 bureaucrats first! That's why! ;)

I am with you on this one it has always confused me. As someone said once to me, when was the last time someone was stoned and driving and killed someone????????? If they are driving they are heading for BK or Mikey D's and well aware of all their surroundings.

People will abuse potato chips. Some people will abuse anything, regardless of whether its legal or not. If I want to abuse drugs or whatever, thats my damn business and nobody else's. The government rarely does anything for altruistic reasons, so dont for a second think grass is illegal because the government feels its not good for your health. As the Wiccan motto says: "an it hurt none, do what thou wilt"!

Being closely tied to an oncologist...
 

I can tell you this that there is never a reason for a cancer patient or any patient to need an illegal drug to ease their suffering. If a patient is suffering from nausea, there are plenty of perfectly legal drugs available to them to control it. Examples: Anzemet, Zofran, Compazine, etc. If a patient is suffering with pain, there are plenty of pain medicines available to them as well. All capable of keeping the patient comfortable and giving them quality of life as well. There are so many options available to a patient. There is no need to resort to marijuana. This is just an excuse people are using to use the drug. I am sick so I want this drug. But it's just an excuse which is just like a butthole...everybody's got one!

People who are sick such as the terminally ill require a very good physician who knows how to manage these problems such as nausea and pain and give them the correct medicines so that they don't have to suffer.

Ok, in the first place, why the hell would ANY adult need an excuse to use a drug? Who the hell ever said anybody needed an excuse? In the second place, if I have a debilitating illness, be it terminal or otherwise but MOST ESPECIALLY IF ITS TERMINAL, you can bet your sweet patootie Im gonna goddamn well do whatever the f**k I wanna do as far as using drugs is concerned. What the f**k are they gonna do about it? Arrest me? Incarcerate me? Please! Youre scaring me! Listen, if the day ever comes when I get the news that "its terminal", all bets are off, folks. Old Al is gonna have it his way and you can either like it or lump it! If I'm dying and I wanna snort a 55 gallon drum full of cocaine you can either help me snort it, you can sit your ass down quietly and watch, or we can shoot out...those are your choices, and unless you've got a terminal disease too, thats a shootout you'd damn well better win.

The FDA would never approve alcohol if it came up for approval for over the counter use today. If you believe me so far, then the next step is to ask if alcohol has any legitimate uses, much like medical marijuana is being questioned today? If you cannot prove that alcohol is a medicine of some sort, then I would like to point out to you Christians out there that your sacrament would be illegal to possess or distribute if some people had their way. We already see tobacco smokers rights fading away. I am fairly consistent in my believe that government cannot engineer or provide a safe society, or at least one that I would want to live in.

Speaking of medical uses for alcohol, isn't alcohol also a santitizer? :p

Everyone take a deep breath and calm down.

Perhaps I should have mentioned that I am in the medical profession. Ok, I just did. Now that we have that out of the way, let me say that all the drugs mentioned earlier have serious side effects. They slow down repsirations, they slow it down to a point where all we're doing by giving some of these drugs is a kind and gentle euthenization. The side effects of weed are not as severe. Another bonus of weed is that it tweeks the appetite, something that none of those other legal drugs can do.

Anyone remember that movie "Reefer Madness"? Pure propaganda. TRUST ME ON THIS, no one is going to lose their sanity and commit murder on the influence of reefer. And no one can over dose on it. But all that other stuff that's legal? Well. Yes you can.

Take a shot of this whiskey, and chew on this stick while I dig that bullet out of your shoulder ;)

Lol! ;)

Ya know, if I wanna go to Mexico and pick the peyote buttons off some funny lookin little cacti and eat em, how is that anyone's business but mine?

Hehehe! Mexico would probably be more accommodating than the States.

Same thing if I want to eat some strange mushroom. Long as I dont offer it to anyone under the age-o-majority, long as I dont go and commit some criminal act whilst under the influence of said mushroom, its nobody's goddamn business. Damn....now Im mad!:mad:

I dunno why anyone would want to mess with shrooms. Is it true that they really grow on cow pies? >_<;

Shrooms is bad business. Think rat poison.

I do not advocate the safetiness of any street drug. I don't believe alcohol is "safe". I'm just saying that weed is not as dangerous as other street drugs. Not as dangerous as alcohol for that matter, or prescribed, legitamate drugs.

Better livin thru chemistry! This is just another example of how intrusive the government has become. Theyve got no damn business gettin involved unless someone else's rights are being infringed upon.

I don't understand why people need substances to make them feel good. I like to always be in control. When I was in college I had a boyfriend who smoked marijuana and a few other drugs. He and his friends behaved so stupid. There are some people who became addicted to drugs and died. It ruined some lives. I never wanted to participate and always left when people would start doing stuff. That boyfriend did not get to marry the girl he wanted and chased her for 6 years after she married and after he married and they each had children. He finally gave up and has had a miserable life, thanks to his love of marijuana +. His former girlfriend has a wonderful life. ;)

Let's take MORPHINE as an example. It's given to cancer patients for pain. Do you understand what the side effects of morphine are? Do you understand that morphine causes death? Can you provide me with one shred of evidence where weed is that deadly? Quality of life? Are you SERIOUS?!!?

Want another example? Let's talk Oxycontin. Legal. Legal and DEADLY.

Don't take my word for it. Ask your family doctor.

If you are 18 or older, not mentally retarded, and are literate, you should have the right to smoke, shoot, ingest or inhale any damn substance you want, as it is UNDERSTOOD by you and everyone else that if it harms your body, YOU and nobody else are responsible, and it is also understood that you engage in these activities KNOWING the risks and rewards. Some people might see this as a question of morality, which we all know cant be legislated.

what ? WHAT you say ???? :clapbig: :yes:

Here's the problem with that. It DOES harm others. If you get behind the wheel, it harms others. If you miss the rent, it harms others. If you steal to maintain the habit, it harms others.

Recreational drug use IS NOT synonymous with irresponsible/criminal behavior. Many, many millions of people use recreational drugs and utilize designated drivers, are in excellent standing with their creditors, do NOT engage in theft of any sort and neither directly nor indirectly harm others.

If you have any of those problems then I would submit that your behavior would be irresponsible/criminal anyway, regardless of whether you use drugs recreationally or not.

I agree, to a degree. But let's not discount the power of addiction.

I think it is time to walk out on the limb
 

Not to get off of subject as the thread police will attack but you did say in your other post that the doctors where not doing enough to help your mother with her depression and that there where drugs that could have helped but do to doctor apathy they where not used. Please do not think this is aimed at your mom but at doctors. I do not know the pros and cons for using Marijuana for medical use but I am sure if it where to help they could find a way to place it in a pill like everything else. I have been around cancer patients and other people that where terminal and the attitude is when they are going to die is just give them what they want so they can be happy thru their last days. I think that pain management is first and foremost the problem in terminal patients and that it does get over looked while the patient is the very one that facilitates the doctor getting money from the insurance Co. I see it all to much in geriatric medicine.
Isaac

You are not understanding my point Al. Most of the people trying to use the marijuana are not truly sick with a terminal illness. The people with cancer, etc. are using the legal drugs available to them. There are some exceptions out there but it's their choice to make. The problem with this becomes the family members of these people also using the drug along with the patient. We have seen this day in and out. Trust me I understand your point of "If I am diagnosed with a terminal illness all bets are off". We take care of terminal patients all the time. We see their pain, heartache, and feel it right along with them.

My issue and argument is that most of the people wanting to use marijuana are people with a chronic disease versus a terminal disease and also people who are using it for symptoms that are easily controlled by much simpler methods which are legal. Why would you choose an illegal drug that does not work as well as a legal drug?

Is Medical Marijuana good for menopause ?
 

I know being over 40 can be very hard on a woman and the man she lives with at times :D I wonder have there been studies on the use of marijuana on women over 40 ? It could be used as a reason for good moods and blamed for weight gain :laugh:
Isaac

Being that I am 40 today and after today will be over 40, at least I am a Hot 40!!!!!! I think I have a couple of years until that menopause hits and then I may hit up Al on the merits of using the marijuana to handle the side effects!

I understand the position, if you have a disease and you need this drug to numb the pain. However, when you say it becomes a problem when other family begin using the drug as well, that opens a whole new can of worms. At that point, the medical marijuana is no longer being used for medical purposes and the patient becomes responsible for what happens from then on. This is the same for any medication. Sleeping pills are ok to have, but if you overdose someone else on them, you will be serious trouble.

Also, I saw someone bring up using drugs and then driving. This is where comparing it to alcohol becomes relevant. Like the guys already said, "people are doing this with alcohol and it is still legal." I think the root question is why was this drug made illegal?

There is a drug out for use LEGALLY which is very similar to marijuana. It's name is Marinol. It contains the same key ingrediant that marijuana does that prevents nausea which is why most people resort to marijuana for medicinal uses. So that being said and known, why would you resort to the use of an illegal drug when you don't have to?

Isaac, we did run into the issue with our mom and cancer patients can as well in finding a physician who is knowledgeable and/or willing to help deal with the problem at hand. Dealing with mental illness is quite different versus dealing with pain management. In Shreveport alone, when dealing with pain management for cancer patients the oncologists in town do a fabulous job. We are quite lacking in Shreveport in the mental health department and capable physicians to handle someone like mom. The internal medicine doctors, surgeons, and ER doctors who all saw her in the two weeks preceding her apparently did not know what to do. That in my opinion is due to a lack of training for them. I do not know how to explain the two psychiatrists through that saw her and told us quite simply to "Call us if we needed them." This was even after she told them what she intended to do.

Not all people are capable of making rational decisions regarding their own behavior and making wise choices. Marijuana is known as a "gateway" drug. Most drug addicts start off using marijuana first and subsequently progress to more dangerous and addictive drugs. This drug is illegal for so many reasons from being a known carcinogen to it's addictive powers. And it should be left to it's illegal status.

I think I could strongly argue against Marijuana being a "Gateway" drug.
I could name countless people who have used or still use Marijuana, and that is the extent and always has been the extent of their "drug use"

now, if a crack addict started off on marijuana, so be it, he probably drank a lot of coca cola as well ? ? Or smoked cigarettes.. which started his "addictive" behaviour, I don't know.

If you get right down to it, I don't know why Marijuana is not legalized. Period. Like has been said before, I find alcohol to be much more dangerous. Not that I wish that to be made illegal. And you can also put me down for allowing those who are very sick, if they can find ANY comfort in the affects of smoking a joint, then so be it.

And a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you Texasbelle :beerchug: :)