Medical Marijuana's Catch-22

[zerojunkie]

http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?titl...1&pb=1&ref=rss

Nothing we didn't already know, but it thought it was nice it was getting somemore attention in SciAm.

[zerojunkie]

oh, one more thing I wanted to add to this before it died. I think it's groups like NORML's endorsement of Medicinal MJ that sullies it's cause and make it less possible for more scientific research...discuss...or don't.

[Adam D]

Medical marijuana isn't really an area of policy I get much into, but there is still ongoing (albeit limited) medical research, even at the federal level.

I'm of the opinion that the ban on medical marijuana is largely ridiculous and more an ongoing favor to the pharmaceutical industry than a real concern for the negative health effects of marijuana (which I agree with the validity of many of the studies which represent that). The FDA's position, following the ban on medical marijuana in 1937, is that the positive effects of its use are irrelevant because modern, processed medication already covers the benefits of the medical use of marijuana. However, I've never seen studies that relate marijuana use as the proximate cause of death or serious injury in adults. The processed medications available that have the same effect as marijuana, if one were to look at the complete listing of side effects, almost always includes death and a ridiculously long list of very debilitating, and often permanent, side effects. I agree with the author of that article, the ban on medical marijuana is more about politics (i.e. money) than a proper medical position.

[zerojunkie]

Originally Posted by Adam D

I'm of the opinion that the ban on medical marijuana is largely ridiculous and more an ongoing favor to the pharmaceutical industry than a real concern for the negative health effects of marijuana

A favor to to the pharma industry, how so? I'd have figured they wouldn't mind a few other drugs to make money off of.

[e-brake]

There is a real interesting artilce in Mens Health this month talking about a new drug about to hit the market called Acomplia that promises to cure your addiction to food, cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol. What makes this drug so unique is that it was directly developed from canibis and the research for the drug involved a panel of people smoking three blunts a day and rating how high they got, munchies etc......basically they were smoking genetically altered pot plants looking for the right combination to use the endo-canibids to make your body less prone to addiction.

After they found the chemical they learned how to synthisize it into pill form, destroyed all the plants and are now in FDA final level research to get it approved. It should be on the market in less than two years.

Of course they had a low cost delivery system (the pot plant) that could have been grown for pennies and sold for next to nothing......but there is no $ in it so they destroyed the plants and are now going to pimp a pill form that will run upwords of $10 each and they are projecting sales of over 36 million prescriptions a year.

[Hubb]

fuckin retarded

[SOA Child]

the medical marijuana system in california is a freakin joke. there are entire companies that have teams of doctors who do nothing all day but write out prescriptions for people who have no legitimate use for med. MJ...but do have the $200 "consultation fee". Basically, you go in and tell a doc you're stressed out and hand him $200 and you get full access to high quality legal MJ. as long as the medical MJ system is used as nothing more than a front for drug dealing, the federal government will never take it serriously...which sucks for those people who are actually sick and benefit from med. MJ

[Nyteshade]

They should just legalize and tax the fuck out of it.

[Adam D]

Originally Posted by zerojunkie

A favor to to the pharma industry, how so? I'd have figured they wouldn't mind a few other drugs to make money off of.

Because instead of going to the pharmacy to fill a script for marijuana with a 300-400% markup, as is typical for pharmaceuticals, you could go to a dealer, buy a sack, and not spend as much. There would be no way for the police to know which method you used to receive your treatment.

Originally Posted by zerojunkie

A favor to to the pharma industry, how so? I'd have figured they wouldn't mind a few other drugs to make money off of.

that's the thing, pharmaceutical companies are using a chemical/synthetic form of it, probably researched in a country other than the U.S., when its not really justified because people can just grow it organically at home. why pay for a prescription for something that doesn't have the same benefits as the natural version?
it sucks that the U.S. won't give any independent researcher permission to test, so all the facts the FDA claims to be true are not proven right or wrong. i liken them to something of a butthole, but i'm kind of biased on this subject i have to admit.

[zerojunkie]

Originally Posted by Adam D

Because instead of going to the pharmacy to fill a script for marijuana with a 300-400% markup, as is typical for pharmaceuticals, you could go to a dealer, buy a sack, and not spend as much. There would be no way for the police to know which method you used to receive your treatment.

True, but as far as I know, it's not pharmaceutical's that make money off the sale of medicinal MJ. Seeing as though they currently aren't able to do the necessary R&D to make a MJ based product. I see it hurting them more than it helps them.

[a few inches]

I think it's since they think it's harmful, they don't have a regulation on vegetables, tomatos, etc.., you can grow them and not purchase them, anybody that has some land can grow them and take them to a farmer's market and sell them and make money in all cash and not even report it to the irs (depending on how much they're making, and what their assets are worth).

Same with benzo's, or whatever, if you don't make enough money you can qualifiy to see a psych at no cost, and get meds., at no cost. From what I know it's cheaper to get xanax, kolonopins from a pharmacy than it is from the street, but to get that perscription it takes psych's to recommend you and it's all regulated, doasge etc.., in other words if weed was legal they aren't just going to hand you a 1/4 and let you walk away, it's probably going to start with a couple bowls and you have to have a legal prescription and bottle. You can buy xanax or any pills from anybody, but you have to have a prescription, if you get pulled over they aren't going to say, "oh, xanax is legal, you're ok", they're going to want to see it's in the prescription bottle made out to you and it's current.

Getting a prescription for weed is no different than getting a prescription for anything from doctor. Involving a street dealer is apples to oranges as far as prescribed medical mj goes.

[a few inches]

Originally Posted by Luxe

Involving a street dealer is apples to oranges as far as prescribed medical mj goes.

I don't think so, the governement can always win, they just have to play their cards right, and flood every pharmacy so it costs less than what drug dealers are offering, sure you're going to have people grow, but they can still make growing illegal and they can see who's purchasing horticulture supplies just like they do now, just like there are pills that are legal if you have a prescription doesn't mean that you can start up your own chem-lab and start making them, if you do, where you get your supplies from will be watched.

If it was legal, all the major growers will work with the governement to grow their weed legally, why would a major grower take that risk to grow illegaly?

There's always going to be illegal weed around around just as there are pills, since not everybody is going to be able to get a prescription. If they have 2-3 major growers supplying the whole country you can believe they'll have lower prices than street growers. It wouldn't be worth it for you to grow your own, considering supplies, time, quality, and legal issues.

It's legal in Amsterdam, I don't know how long it's been legal but they don't have a problem with street dealers and have coffeeshops everywhere, it's just that here they still believe it's harmful.

[Chris Allen]

Medical Marijuana: Bipartisan House Coalition Challenges FDA Medical Marijuana Finding 4/28/06


A week after the US Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) issued a one-page opinion claiming marijuana has no proven medical uses -- a position that ignores the much more comprehensive analysis done by the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine in 1999 -- a bipartisan group of 24 House members led by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) has called on the agency to explain its reasoning and offer scientific proof for its position.


Reps. Hinchey & Paul with Montel Williams and others,
at Capitol Hill press conference last year
"Despite the fact that you are responding to a scientific question, your press release failed to provide any scientific expertise," the representatives wrote in a Thursday letter to FDA Acting Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach. "We call on you to show us the purported scientific evidence for the basis of this response. There is no evidence that you have new scientific proof or that you oversaw clinical trials. It perplexes us that even though the FDA is responsible for protecting public health, the agency has failed to respond adequately to the IOM's findings seven years after the study's publication date."

Last week, the FDA issued a one-page press release declaring that "no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use." The press release did not point to any studies that supported its contention, and it has become an object of controversy among medical marijuana proponents and scientists who have actually done research on marijuana.

Hinchey accused the agency of playing politics with people's lives. "We saw it with the agency's decision on the emergency contraceptive, Plan B, and we're seeing it again with medical marijuana: the FDA is making decisions based on politics instead of science," Hinchey said. "The FDA should not be a political entity. Rather, the agency should be in the business of ensuring all Americans have access to safe and effective drugs, including medical marijuana."

Rep. Hinchey is one of the most ardent defenders of medical marijuana in the House. He has sponsored an amendment that would bar the federal government from prosecuting medical marijuana patients in three consecutive sessions, and he has vowed to offer it again later this year.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/433/hinchey.shtml