Medical Marijuana

Do the right thing and support medical marijuana bills, statewide cite and release policies, and put an end to this intense state of being "hard on marijuana." It's not a hard drug; it's herbal medicine.

Help put a stop to the discrimination of herb use. The use of herbal remedies does not harm the pharmaceutical industry. Doctors prefer to prescribe pharmaceutical remedies, but in the end it's up to the patient to decide what to take. My freedom to make personal decisions about my health does not harm the pharmaceutical industry. If anything, the rescheduling of marijuana would help the pharmaceutical industry, as it would allow pharmaceutical derivatives to be made again, like many medicinal herbs.

Please encourage states and government to include depression in their list of marijuana's medicinal uses. In response to "How much is known about the medicinal properties of cannabis?" Dr Philip Robson, Director of the Cannabinoid Research Institute, an expert on the therapeutic potential of the components of cannabis, stated that "If you've got a range of symptoms, not just pain but perhaps nausea, loss of appetite, weight loss, feeling pretty bad about life and the future, a drug which can actually impact several of those symptoms at the same time is potentially particularly useful."

"Cannabis and psychosis." 19 June, 2005. BBC News - One-Minute World News. 5 Jan. 2009. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/4104702.stm>

I had to look up what neurogenesis meant.

Pharmaceutical drugs work to some degree, but depression still happens. It's not an easy emotion to eliminate. Medical marijuana provides instant relief when it really matters. People try using alcohol all the time to treat depression, but it does not work; it instead makes things worse. Teach people that marijuana can relieve depression, and you have lowered suicide rates. I'm not saying depression is eliminated by marijuana, but it does help; it's not a miracle drug. However, sometimes those puffs of marijuana are all that it takes to avoid suicide. But use it responsibly like you would any medicine.

I just finished living out 2 years of depression, if you don't count the rest of my life. In that time I stopped playing my classical guitar, I stopped going to college, and I practically gave up on life, just shy of potentially ending my own existence. For the past month and a half I have been smoking marijuana; it has helped with the depression and the aches I get from playing guitar, which I have picked up again and am currently learning brand new songs and polishing songs already known. I have to say that marijuana has been a wonderful gift from God, and I thank him dearly for it.

Encourage doctors to consider herbal medicines in their treatments. Without marijuana I would have nothing to fall back on if depression were to set in. In reality, a doctor should be monitoring any and all medicinal substance use, but particularly marijuana, whether that's for medicinal or recreational use. Are doctors comfortable with talking to their patients about marijuana currently? Maybe in some states.

Keep repeating that smoking marijuana for whatever reason poses no more risks than many prescribed medicines or sky diving, and that it's a health matter not a criminal matter. My doctor should be monitoring my marijuana usage, not the government, and that this is a matter of health privacy and of personal health and personal choice. My right to use herbal remedies should not be denied.

Forced drug testing invades my health privacy. Get an order to release my health records first.

A bad pair of sneakers cause more accidents and impairs me more than the sober effects of THC in my system the next day after smoking a joint.

Recreation is a form of therapy. Just ask a psychologist. "Recreation is one (not the only) kind of stress management. According to research cited in Time magazine, stress is a major factor in many of the leading causes of death in the United States." - Wikipedia It's certainly no crime, unless lines are crossed. Marijuana is not one of those lines, I assure you.

Keep encouraging science, medical and mental health, to explore our case so we can work toward uncovering the truths about cannabis. We know, but they don't. Well, let's prove it. The more science pressures government, the more they'll listen. We can't rely on votes alone when it comes to congress. The best thing we can do otherwise is to write our state leaders; they do listen to their constituents, even on controversial subjects.

Consider that marijuana is the only illegal drug being directly lobbied. There is a reason behind this. Marijuana is medicine. When a drug has medicinal value and poses little health risk, it is defined as medicine. My liver functions have to be monitored because of prescribed medicine. I am also physically addicted to this medicine. If I don't take it, I can not fall asleep. I have forgotten to pick up my meds in the past, and had to live a weekend without sleep. Marijuana helped me through this ordeal.

Put a stop to the poor quality of marijuana. The black market is not suitable to produce quality, pollutant free medicinal herb. Many states still require patients to use this source, and growing a supply isn't always a possibility for these patients.

Marijuana is not a hallucinogen. At least I've never hallucinated off it, and I've smoked a lot of it in one session, probably too much. Instead it's an anti-depressant, amongst a whole array of other uses. If it's also a hallucinogen, it's a very mild one. If the fact that marijuana makes me feel better is a hallucination, I'm all for hallucinating for the rest of my life. Depression sucks -- talk about a bad trip. Marijuana does different things for different people. One person's experience is entirely unique, just like with any medication. Different people experience different side effects. If it's a bad trip for you, that's just the way it is. One of my professors said at the beginning of the semester that if any of us felt like he was out to get us, the best bet would be to drop the class, because that feeling would persist throughout the semester. The same can be said for marijuana. If it's not your cup of tea, don't consume it, plain and simple. If the side effects of marijuana are too much for you, abstain like you would any medicine. Marijuana isn't some miracle cure, although its affects on my mood can seem like a miracle to me after spending years in deep depression. The fact that my anti-psychotic medicine stopped the voices is also a miracle if you want to think about it in this light. Now the argument can be made that marijuana's a placebo, which is like a hallucinogen.

Some of the arguments against medical marijuana:

Marijuana adversely affects brain activity -- On the contrary, marijuana thwarts suicidal thoughts. I think that fact outweighs the paranoia that I occasionally experience from marijuana. I can control the affects of paranoia. I'd like to say the same thing about depression and suicidal thoughts, but I would be lying. Schizophrenics should probably not use marijuana, however. I've explained here.

Marijuana adversely affects the respiratory system -- Smoking any herb does. The risk is less or equal to my prescribed medicine. It certainly poses no more risk than my depression. It's probably equal to the risk of my psychosis (I hear voices), which marijuana does not excite.

Marijuana leads to high heart rate and blood pressure -- A doctor should be monitoring these stats and prescribing medicines to counter the side effects of marijuana if they persist, just like a doctor would do with any risky medicine. I monitor my blood pressure regularly as I am at risk hereditarily, as I am also hereditarily predisposed to hearing voices. The first voice I ever heard was when I was a child. That was mild compared to the incessant voices of more recent years however. They're more often than not very unfriendly to my well being. One day when I was in middle school, my Mom, my siblings, and I were outside in back yard tending to the lawn and pool, when a phone call came in. A voice told me "Great Grandma." And sure enough, my Great Grandma had just passed away. Marijuana poses little risk to me in comparison to depression, the alternative. I imagine depression affects my cardiovascular stats as well. Sky diving also affects these stats, more profoundly I might add. The effects of marijuana are just as temporary.

Marijuana impairs critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning -- Besides the mildly annoying and temporary short term memory loss marijuana causes, marijuana has not harmed my critical thinking skills in any way shape or form. I am still able to read and comprehend material at great length, and I am able to formulate intelligent discourse even when I am experiencing the physical and mental effects of marijuana following ingestion. The residual effects of marijuana pose an even lesser risk to my scholarship. I don't, however, encourage youth to ingest marijuana, not only because of the short term memory loss, but it can also adversely affect their psychological development if they have the right genetic formulation. Refer to 'Marijuana and Schizophrenia' below for more on this topic. As for my long term memory, I have never had much of one to begin with. History and similar courses were always difficult subjects for me, although with a lot of work I can get through a class. It's tough though. Marijuana hasn't effected my long term memory at all. My step dad is also a medical marijuana patient, and he has an outstanding memory, something useful in his many stories and facts about history. He plays Jeopardy and does quite well at it.

Marijuana causes violence -- I am not a violent person, but I am not perfect either. One of my biggest regrets is my anger. I worked long on a relationship, trying to hold down a job as a machinist, and paying for our lot rent and a travel home. I was working as many hours as I could possibly work, so far secretly planning on saving money (openly, but without open reason) to buy a car to replace the old, poorly running Mazda RX7 I was currently driving. I wasn't smoking marijuana, and hadn't for years prior. On my 24th birthday, my girlfriend insisted that I stay awake after work. She wanted to bake a cake at our friend's house. I didn't want to go and insisted that she allow me to sleep, as I was utterly exhausted from work. Things just didn't work out from there on, and eventually I did something I will always regret. I hit her. It was a light hit, as I've never in my life hit someone hard enough to harm them physically, but it was physical contact, and not something I like about myself. I watched my Mom as she was being abused by my pedophile father. I swore I would never become like him, and I still hold true to that vow today. If I felt that marijuana posed a threat to this oath, I wouldn't use it. That is one reason I don't use alcohol regularly. Marijuana calms me when I'm angry instead. There is nothing violent about the herb in my personal experience. I was a social but quiet stoner in my early twenties. Everyone was always chilling; nobody was arguing, unless it was about the insane war on marijuana. Then there was some anger. People keep telling us it's making us angry, yet the only thing that really irritates us is that marijuana poses no greater harm to society than poor religious doctrine, which by the way helped criminilize marijuana to begin with. I am a Southern Baptist Christian. I encourage all Christians to take a stance for the responsible medicinal and recreational use of marijuana. We're not violent crazed lunatics; we're patients and to be honest we're just chilling.

Violent people are going to act violent no matter what they take, but I guarantee you those people were also either drinking alcohol or they were extremely violent to begin with. The largest portion of marijuana users experience a calming affect.

Marijuana has a high potential for abuse -- so does sky diving for those prone to irresponsibility. My medicinal use is not abuse. I treat marijuana seriously and with respect, just as I do any medicine. For me and my struggles with depression, almost any drug has a high potential for abuse. The number one most likely method that I would use to take my life is by overdose. I've weighed all the other options. I've considered guns, but I once knew a guy back when I was 20-21 who committed murder suicide on his girlfriend in the apartment below me. I just can't bring myself to justify disfiguring myself in that way, especially knowing how my Mom would take that news; yeah Mom, I just blew my head off, sorry but no open casket. I tried inhalants, and they did not work. Drugs on the other hand work if abused for means of overdose, or at least many do. Overdosing on Tylenol is more devastating to my liver than marijuana, a drug never known to kill anyone from overdose. The worse that can happen with cannabis is that if you ingest too much orally, you can get sick, much like how alcohol gives you a hangover if you drink too much. Responsible use would never cause me to get sick from marijuana, much less pose any more risk to my health than an overdose of tylenol. Smoking is preferred over oral ingestion anyways, as it provides instant relief when it really matters.


Marijuana has no medicinal value -- It seems that this is only the case at the government level. States recognize the medicinal value of marijuana. Read the polls for yourself. Some of our most notable accomplishments in history have been caused by state pressures on government. Damnit, this is supposed to be a democracy. This is the key reason why marijuana is still illegal right now. Government has shut itself off to science in an effort to protect us. They promote the stagnation of research into cannabis and its affects on the cannibinoid receptors, while claiming some of the most ridiculous reasons as to why. They even miss the potentially number one risk of marijuana -- schizophrenia (or is that just a myth?) We have to rely on that information from international sources of research and psychiatrists who care for mentally ill, material states are often more likely to consider than congress. Put a stop to the oppression of medical patients and science, and help insure a healthier future for our children and posterity. Marijuana can be dangerous if left ignored and allowed to be used by our children. They have better access to marijuana from the massive black market than they would in a legal capitalist market, where age restrictions would help thwart this reality of threat.

I have social anxiety disorder, although it is an illness I discovered alone in college, not by a psychologist. In public places I feel uncomfortable, and prefer being home to going out, although I do enjoy private company with someone for conversation. However, I have some other problems with communicating myself actively without preparations first, so even in private conversation I have trouble. Marijuana combats this by inciting quick rhetoric and dialogue, enabling me to carry on conversations longer than usual when not medicated. This is an illness that has plagued me all of my educational life. I changed many schools growing up. I hated trying to get to know new students and teachers. That required me to communicate, most often in front of the entire class or cafeteria. To me that entire cafeteria is listening, and that is my anxiety. I'm not saying I should pot up and hit every public place imaginable. I would rather not do that to be quite honest. Marijuana only helps the issue, it doesn't eliminate it. The social stigma of being medicated in public is not something I want to experience often, if at all. Public intoxication of any substance is not particularly my cup of tea. Although, in a marijuana friendly social gathering, mutual intoxication enhances the medicinal value of cannabis by encouraging communication. It is too bad that I can't experience that social life, as even though marijuana helps me with private conversations, it does nothing for public conversations. I still have to prepare myself to talk about something, which I am not particularly fond of, although I did pass my college speech class with an A.

I'm very unlikely to take very many chances. I can't keep smoking marijuana to help with depression. For one I can't afford it, and I won't take the risks of growing my own. Did you know you get the same penalty for 1 plant that you get for 100 plants? Does that seem just?

Put an end to the bigotry. "Dear sir, may I ask that you please put out that dreadful cigarette you are smoking." a gentleman said to his gardener. "Why on heavens would you want to inebriate yourself?" The man stands there puffing on the cigarette. "How can you possibly justify harming yourself in such a manner?" the gentleman quizzically exclaims. To which the man said, "It makes me feel better." "Sir, you are a disgrace to the human race. I hope you rot in hell for your blasphemy." the belligerent gentleman briskly commented. And from then on marijuana use was discriminated against, and feeling good was outlawed. Think about it, Obama, haven't we come beyond this bigotry yet? Numbers show high acceptance of medical and recreational marijuana, indicated by the fact it's the number 1 idea on Ideas for Changing America. Do something historic, end oppression of health concerned individuals.

I would consider my use casual, even though it's medicinal. Don't tease me about ending my life. I might hold you to that promise. I'm ex goth; don't ignore me, you neo-Nazi criminal. I made something beautiful out of your sinister skull. End me if you dare. This man is a racist and he supports the oppression of responsible marijuana users. This man is a bigot. He supports the invasion of my medical privacy, and he's not generally the kind of man I suggest people listen to. His words are filled with lies. My mental illness, dramatically displayed above, is less dangerous to society than this man, yet I'm discriminated against for both my mental illness and my self prescribed medical marijuana. Oh but surely I shouldn't be mixing the two. I've already weighed the risks, and marijuana only benefits my mood; it does not excite my psychosis. I don't think the TV is talking to me when I'm on marijuana, in other words. My pharmaceutical has that nailed down tight. If you really want to help me, give me and my caretakers protection under law for my medicinal use of marijuana. I certainly don't belong in jail or scarred with a criminal record for drug possession. That's what happens when you wage war on the recreational drug users. Are they doing that much harm? Is that room full of "stoners" worth the cartels and corruption? It was proven not to cause insanity, and the "gateway drug" theory just perpetuates bigotry. It is already proven that by separating cannabis from hard drugs you break the connection marijuana has with those hard drugs. It's not a hard drug. It's less addictive and harmful to self and to society than alcohol.

The problem with government approving of marijuana is that they don't approve of medicinal herb use to begin with. Many of them view medicinal herbs as harmful to the pharmaceutical industry. However, states have a lot to say about things, and the more states that adopt medical marijuana, the more government has to listen. This is a medicinal herb that they have criminilized, and bigotry fuels the fight against it.

Is marijuana addictive?



Marijuana History -- Some say the word marijuana was made up by Anslinger, but the reality is that it was the Mexican word for cannabis.
Marijuana and Schizophrenia
Marijuana and Parkinson's Disease
Marijuana and Heroin Addiction
Marijuana and The Gateway Theory
Marijuana and its Dangers
Marijuana Potency
Marijuana and Cancer
Marijuana in a Capitalist Economy
Discrimination of the Mentally Ill
The Marijuana Argument
Marijuana and Richard Nixon
Marijuana's History
Dear Reader, About Marijuana
WAMM - Medicinal Benefits of Marijuana # Epilepsy. Marijuana can prevent epileptic seizures in some patients. # Depression. # Addiction. You can't tell me this isn't medicine, but again it's for adults. Eschew the sell and sharing of marijuana to minors. They shouldn't even be trying it, although that poses no great risk itself other than the fact the kid may like the high. The kid needs to smoke a lot of it is to cause any damage. So even if the kid gets started, it's not too late. Sever the connection marijuana has with harder drugs and maybe you'll prevent a future experiment with speed or crack. You've also taken control of marijuana's distribution. Fighting with it is not controlling it. You end one operation and one just pops up in its place. Unless you can magically stop people's intentions of crimes, you're always going to have a black market, because there is a consumer that so far government hasn't convinced to stop smoking marijuana. Allowing a black market to exist is irresponsible and almost psychotic. You're allowing people, including children, to be severely harmed all over some mellow marijuana user's minor offense. Myths that marijuana incites anger need to halt. The only thing marijuana has ever promoted is peace. "Although there were more than a few drug busts, there were no reports of burglary or violent crime in the surrounding communities. (Trespassing was a definite problem though and one judge did get his lights knocked out!)." Those are car lights by the way, not his consciousness. I doubt very seriously his car's lights were busted because someone was crazed on marijuana.

Help protet our endangered medicinal herbs from extinction. "We tend to destroy the very plants that are of most use to us."

Sometimes doctors get carried away and forget your rights as a patient. Know your medical rights and how to take control of your health.

The story of Robin Prosser touches me in many ways.

Irv Rosenfeld - longest surviving federal medical marijuana patient, someone the government doesn't want you to know. The government won't even evaluate his health to see if marijuana has caused him any harm. He's certainly not schizophrenic.

NORML.org -- true winners in this chaotic reality.
MPP.org -- A younger generation of active winners.
SSDP -- Students for Sensible Drug Policy
AAMC -- American Alliance for Medical Cannabis
medicalcannabis.com
http://www.rxmarijuana.com -- They have a lot of evidence supporting my anti-depressant claims.

Tobacco	435,0001
Poor Diet and Physical Inactivity	365,0001
Alcohol	85,000 1
Microbial Agents	75,0001
Toxic Agents	55,0001
Motor Vehicle Crashes	26,3471
Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs	32,0002
Suicide	30,6223
Incidents Involving Firearms	29,0001
Homicide	20,3084
Sexual Behaviors	20,0001
All Illicit Drug Use, Direct and Indirect	17,0001, 5
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin	7,6006
Marijuana	07

"I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked..." Hippocrates

Before: Hard work provided critically ill with free medical marijuana.
After: DEA left nothing and apologized to nobody.
Crime: Caring for the sick - the other criminals.

The Dangerous Criminal

Will you sleep better at night knowing she's locked up?



Now there are the real criminals. But they're too cute to go to jail. They'll be someone's hasenfeffer in no time.

Marijuana is less dangerous to me than my prescribed medicine. Shouldn't I be allowed the choice to use a medicinal herb, something doctors don't usually have domain over? It's less dangerous than tobacco and alcohol, both which can kill you from an overdose. The wise words of President Jimmy Carter: "Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use." Minus the minor grammatical error, it's a perfect statement about marijuana. Clearly it's time to reconsider a reasonable solution. Prohibition is as much a failure today as it was the day it started. Enough is enough. Legalize marijuana under strict guidelines like alcohol and tobacco. That system has proven to work. Not only will you save doctors the headache of having to recommend a (scoff) herb for medicinal purposes, something they stopped doing years ago, but you'll also open the doorway for critically ill to feel better without fear of discrimination. That's the kind of health system this country needs, one compassionate to the personal health choices and privacy of the patients. I'm all for assisted suicide, but only in critical cases. These people should be allowed to stop their pain. You say they can't smoke marijuana, you say they can't choose to move on from this world, and you call them criminals. Well who's really the criminal? Where's the bigotry coming from? Where's the corruption? Answer: Everywhere. You're allowing black markets to exist, when black markets are next door, or down the hall from your office, in your children's schools, in your border control, in your police agencies, and in your American economy in an unhealthy way. You're putting billions at risk every day. All for a substance that could more easily be controlled by legalized means like alcohol and tobacco. While I'm a strong advocate for medical marijuana, I find no harm in the responsible recreational use of marijuana. And the harm done by abuse is not criminal; instead it's a matter of health and health privacy. Scarring me with a criminal record for a drug invades on my medical privacy.

If anything, support democracy and legalize medical marijuana. We're heading toward a potential civil war over this needless drug war. States want patients to have the right to make personal health choices. Government is denying that. We're not heading down the road to Utopia by no means. That's what happens when democracy is denied by wicked tact -- by bigotry.

You can't eliminate the demand for medical marijuana. It's a law you can't enforce. Laws aren't persuading people to stop smoking marijuana, especially in states where medical marijuana is legal. Stop stagnating cannabis research and let's get to the truth. If somehow you did eliminate marijuana, all it would do is cause most recreational marijuana smokers to find something harder like meth or heroin. Eliminating marijuana hurts the economy, lowers our "green" standards people are steadily accepting, and provides the kids a new black market, without marijuana. Where they get hastey and share needles. Where they pick up AIDs. Marijuana is healthy for the nation. The laws against it are harmful however. The little harm that I do to myself when I smoke marijuana is not doing anyone harm but me, and to me it's not that bad when considering how bad depression makes me feel. Alcohol is more dangerous. My pharmaceutical is dangerous.

Liberate medical marijuana for all people with dis-ease.

And stop calling it a drug. Technically it is an herb - a medicinal herb. I don't hear anyone calling St. John's Wort a drug, which by the way I tried for my depression. It didn't work for me.