Leading Anti-Marijuana Academics Are Paid By Painkiller Drug Companies

There is already a lot of positive information on cannabis, here is one, such great, resource.

Granny Storm Crow's List

I'm against "medical MJ." Too much of a hassle. Just legalize it already and treat it like booze.

a reply to: NavyDoc

While I agree that it should be legalized and regulated similarly to alcohol, there ARE medical benefits to marijuana use. Depending on strain and various cannabinoids in that strain, it can help treat various medical issues. Now the FDA firmly says this isn't the case, but the FDA is saying this in spite of literally THOUSANDS of documented cases of it having medical benefits along with countless studies saying the same things. Pretty much the FDA keeps it a schedule 1 because of the people mentioned in the OP and their financial backers.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: NavyDoc

While I agree that it should be legalized and regulated similarly to alcohol, there ARE medical benefits to marijuana use. Depending on strain and various cannabinoids in that strain, it can help treat various medical issues. Now the FDA firmly says this isn't the case, but the FDA is saying this in spite of literally THOUSANDS of documented cases of it having medical benefits along with countless studies saying the same things. Pretty much the FDA keeps it a schedule 1 because of the people mentioned in the OP and their financial backers.

I don't disagree that there are some medical benefits, however, every state where MJ has been partially legalized for medical use, there have been a lot of issues and headaches for practitioners and legitimate patients alike--see the South Park episode. Yes, it is satire, but all good satire has a kernel of truth to it. I don't want to have yet another seeker to winnow out from legitimate patients. Just make it legal across the board. It is less dangerous, less addictive, and has less serious health effects than alcohol. If the Kennedys sold pot and not Booze, alcohol would still be illegal and pot would be sold at every convenience store.

a reply to: NavyDoc

I agree.

California is a great real world example of it obviously not being sold strictly for medicinal purposes. One of those TV specials showing apparently the biggest idiots they could find running a pot shop really infuriated me.

The FDA clearly is not in the interest of public safety here. The grassroots movement has made it this far because of the power of numbers. The dinosaurs who have been cheerleading prohibition are dying off and being replaced almost 2:1 with those who support legalization.

a reply to: NavyDoc

I understand where you are coming from, but there is a difference between buying it at a dispensary versus buying it for recreational use. Medical marijuana is NOT the same as recreational marijuana. For someone who is knowledgeable of the industry, they may be able to walk into a recreational shop and pick out the correct strain for their ailment, but not everyone is going to be that well read on the subject.

Have you ever seen the website Leafly? It categorizes EVERY strain imaginable and gives you a breakdown of its medical benefits, its recreational effects, and its side effects. If you take the time to compare a few strains you will see that while one strain is good for headaches, others may be good for stomach cramps. And none of them treat all the same ailments.

In other words, just because the plant is legalized for recreational use, does NOT mean that the medical industry needs to go away. In fact legal recreational use will weed out the ones who are just using their "back aches" as a key to get legal weed and leave the ones who REALLY need it for medical uses. But I certainly support medical legalization FAR more than I support recreational legalization (and I REALLY support recreational legalization).

a reply to: NavyDoc
And after they legalize it, they could sell 5 joints in a pack. Then, tax it. Use that tax money for the national debt. It would be paid off very soon. But they don't want that. Oh no! They don't want industry making vehicle bodies out of it, or replacing plastic and steel and most other things out there. Clothing companies would take a hard hit as well. But everything would work itself out for the better, I think.

But getting medical pot is the only way many people who need it can get it. So it's the first step in the right direction to full legalization. But every penny of that tax money needs to be followed by the people. The people should have say as to what it will be used for, and again, pay off the trillions in national debt, and if it is fully legalized, it will not take long because more people then you think will be buying it. I really believe this.

My father recently had surgery on his back. He "blew out" a few of his disks in his lower back, and it ended up compressing up against the nerve(s). His doctor ended up telling him that it is one of the worst spots to damage your spinal disks due to it being laterally (If I remember correctly) and due to all of the nerves in that area. My father when I first took him to the hospital was crying out in agony. He said multiple times during the wait that it was "the worst pain he had ever felt in his life." Which says a lot since my father is pretty damn tough. He's broken WELL over a dozen bones, had surgery on both shoulders a combined 3 times. Elbow/forearm surgery on both arms, neck surgery, and a previous back surgery. And suffering a concussion blast to the face during his time as an 82nd airbourne army ranger. As well as motorcycle accidents, and much more.

He was given all kinds of painkillers before being fully diagnosed in waiting. And it did next to nothing to help. He's feeling much better now, and is still being given pain pills. But a friend of his gave him a small little baggy of cannabis, and he said it is way better for his pain and mobility when he smokes cannabis compared to pills. The pills he's taking make him overly tired, and it's reducing his urge to eat. He's been losing weight lately very noticeably.

So I've seen first hand how cannabis is better than pills. It's cheaper, it's natural, less addictive, more effective, less side effects, and it's far less worse for you than pills. By a long shot. Yet, people still fail to see how useful it is. The drug hypocrisy continues. The United states as a whole consumes insane amounts of Pharma drugs. And it comes as zero surprise why Pharmaceutical cronies are out to lobby and bash cannabis and other drugs that would hurt their business. It's against their interest, and their interest is to make money. Simple as that.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I would simple ask them when was the last time someone OD on pot? How many death are there per year from pain killer OD's? CDC says it 15,000 per year and rising. I only remember one per who supposable died from a THC overdose and that was Bruce Lee.

originally posted by: NavyDoc

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: NavyDoc

While I agree that it should be legalized and regulated similarly to alcohol, there ARE medical benefits to marijuana use. Depending on strain and various cannabinoids in that strain, it can help treat various medical issues. Now the FDA firmly says this isn't the case, but the FDA is saying this in spite of literally THOUSANDS of documented cases of it having medical benefits along with countless studies saying the same things. Pretty much the FDA keeps it a schedule 1 because of the people mentioned in the OP and their financial backers.

I don't disagree that there are some medical benefits, however, every state where MJ has been partially legalized for medical use, there have been a lot of issues and headaches for practitioners and legitimate patients alike--see the South Park episode. Yes, it is satire, but all good satire has a kernel of truth to it. I don't want to have yet another seeker to winnow out from legitimate patients. Just make it legal across the board. It is less dangerous, less addictive, and has less serious health effects than alcohol. If the Kennedys sold pot and not Booze, alcohol would still be illegal and pot would be sold at every convenience store.

I like your idea, legal across the board!

This is nothing new, it was a methodology devised by Edward Bernays (the father of propaganda) to set up grandiose sounding organisations to disseminate information about any given topic.

Like the tobacco companies might have created the "International Federation of Tobacco Research" or some such and have men in white coats delivering their verdicts that tobacco is not harmful.

The tobacco cies can't come out themselves and say tobacco is good because everyone knows they have a vested interest and no one would believe them, so they set up these grand sounding bodies.

The name implies it's important and independent and the men in white coats imply they're delivering honest scientific research, but what the public don't know is that they are being funded by the tobacco companies to say what they want the people to believe.

Who do you think funds the American Cancer Society?

If you dig around carefully on their website you'll find some of the sponsors, if you email them or write to them to ask exactly which companies pay how much they won't tell you - I know, I tried.

These kinds of organisations don't want you to know who the big sponsors are because then it becomes obvious that there are vested interests.

I guess you see the same thing on a bigger scale in politics.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

It is good to know who has funding ties to which studies. What gets me is that there are both positive and negative studies regarding marijuana use. As an academic, you are supposed to cite studies in your arguments. But if the studies are biased, what good does it do to cite them?

originally posted by: guitarplayer
a reply to: Krazysh0t

I would simple ask them when was the last time someone OD on pot? How many death are there per year from pain killer OD's? CDC says it 15,000 per year and rising. I only remember one per who supposable died from a THC overdose and that was Bruce Lee.

Not likely.

Bruce Lee's death

1. Most probably was Bruce hyper sensitive to the ingredients Equagesic, Doloxene and Dilantin that are found in the pain killers. He used the medicine Doloxene after he had back injury during his training in 1970.

2. Bruce had an extremely low level of body fat, just 1%!

3. In spite of his high intense training and always under high pressure Bruce wanted to do everything himself. He was a perfectionist, actor, director, script author and choreographer all at the same time.

4. Bruce’s drastic weight loss of 70 kilo’s to 60 kilo’s.

5. The people who had seen Bruce in the last weeks of his life confirmed that he looked unhealthy. He was terribly thin, looked confused, was forgetful, had rage attacks, was paranoid and was very depressed.

It may have contributed to his death, but it certainly wasn't the cause of it. I haven't heard of ANYONE having died from a THC overdose. As far as your point about the CDC, that is for ALL drug overdoses.

How many people die each year from marijuana?

Statistically, death directly from marijuana overdose is extremely rare. The CDC reports that between 1999 and 2007, there were 26 deaths with marijuana as an underlying cause, in the United States. This was out of a counted population of 2,615,523,905. When it comes to smoking, most statistics say it will take about 800 joints in a short period of time to actually overdose a person to the point of death. A person should be vomiting or passed out well before this point. When used long term, the smoke itself does contain chemicals that can eventually cause respiratory issues, such as COPD or cancer.

CDC Announces Drug Overdoses the Number One Cause of Death in the U.S. in 2010

Drug overdose deaths have more than doubled since 1999. According to CDC, 60 percent of the overdose deaths in 2010 were related to prescription pharmaceuticals and of those 22,000+ deaths, three-out-of-four related to opioid painkillers (like Oxycontin, Vicodin and Dilaudid) and three-out-of-ten related to benzodiazepenes (like Valium, Xanax and Ambien); some overdoses included both opioids and benzos).

a reply to: guitarplayer
Nope. Bruce died from combining two drugs. Chuck Norris stated this on video.

I wish more doc's and scientists would come forth and tell the truth about Marijuana. I would also like to see the US government issue an apology for how they've demonized it and spread lies and propaganda. We're in a new age and it's very needed to help people who're suffering.

Considering that I have only heard of one death directly related to the consumption of marijuana and that was recent and reeked of foul play, and considering the effectiveness of marijuana as a pain inhibitor and good for people with heart problems, and considering the overabundance of approval from those who use it, and considering that unlike tobacco marijuana has no carcinogens, and considering Americans have been using marijuana heavily and publicly since the flower children of the sixties with no complaints of negative health effects, and considering the psychological enhancement that marijuana provides while doing entertaining things, and considering when you look at all there is to know about marijuana and the legalization of marijuana in Europe and how well accepted marijuana is in other countries, I don't see why marijuana should be as equally accepted in the USA to be bought and sold at one's own will over the counter like liquor or oxycotin.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: NavyDoc

I understand where you are coming from, but there is a difference between buying it at a dispensary versus buying it for recreational use. Medical marijuana is NOT the same as recreational marijuana. For someone who is knowledgeable of the industry, they may be able to walk into a recreational shop and pick out the correct strain for their ailment, but not everyone is going to be that well read on the subject.

Have you ever seen the website Leafly? It categorizes EVERY strain imaginable and gives you a breakdown of its medical benefits, its recreational effects, and its side effects. If you take the time to compare a few strains you will see that while one strain is good for headaches, others may be good for stomach cramps. And none of them treat all the same ailments.

In other words, just because the plant is legalized for recreational use, does NOT mean that the medical industry needs to go away. In fact legal recreational use will weed out the ones who are just using their "back aches" as a key to get legal weed and leave the ones who REALLY need it for medical uses. But I certainly support medical legalization FAR more than I support recreational legalization (and I REALLY support recreational legalization).

Err, I kind of don't think much of a Leafly telling us which strain is good for what. What was the modality that determined these recommendations? Double blinded, placebo controlled, or "dude this Cush is really good for your headaches?"

If we are going to go for medical legalization, it needs to be put to the same standards and prescribing methods and FDA approved uses of any other medication, otherwise it really is just a joke. Make it legal across the board and someone can take some stoner's word on what it's good for or not. However, if you make it a legally prescribed medication, one has to treat it like other medications if one is serious about that issue. However, nobody really wants pot to be treated like oxycodone or Cymbalta, do you?

originally posted by: jrod
a reply to: NavyDoc

I agree.

California is a great real world example of it obviously not being sold strictly for medicinal purposes. One of those TV specials showing apparently the biggest idiots they could find running a pot shop really infuriated me.

The FDA clearly is not in the interest of public safety here. The grassroots movement has made it this far because of the power of numbers. The dinosaurs who have been cheerleading prohibition are dying off and being replaced almost 2:1 with those who support legalization.

Tylenol is more a public health hazard than pot is. More people die from Tylenol overdose from OTC Tylenol than pot (none--you can't get any better than none.) Legalize it.

a reply to: NavyDoc

F# the FDA. Those corrupt bastards can't get their heads out of their asses and admit that marijuana has medical benefits despite overwhelming evidence that it does. I think I'll trust the medical marijuana industry on this one.

Here's a guide on how to choose the right strain for your ailment given the effects of the strain.

BEGINNERS GUIDE TO MEDICAL CANNABIS – CHOOSING THE RIGHT STRAIN

originally posted by: jajaja

I can probably do far more than most mid twenty year olds of today. I can out run them; I can out flex them, I can out strengh them and I can out smart them and also know more about my body than anybody else.

hahahahahahah

who needs medical school when you have wifi and can out strength people

It seems like marijuana is truly a miracle plant- from the medical uses of THC to the limitless practical uses of hemp products...
Instead of fighting it, why don't these corporations just embrace it and jump on board? They can figure out how to get in the game and make money from it... I have the same thoughts on oil companies and solar energy- why don't they just start converting their business?