Would Puna Community support a Medical Cannabis Di

[Rob Tucker]

I think that abuse of the medical marijuana laws now works against the eventual legalization and regulation of marijuana. It also works against those individuals who truly are in need of the medicinal benefit.

[PaulW]

I agree. They are shooting themselves in the foot.

[LeeE]

Rob,

Like I mentioned. This issue is poorly understood.

Aloha,
Lee
http://members.cruzio.com/~lionel/event

[LeeE]

Rob,

I think the term "abuse" is a misnomer, in this context. A much more accurate term is, "sanctuary". Sanctuary from America's rulers current favorite pogram against the American people.

Abuse, of course, implies harm, which is non-existent in this case.

The well informed Dennis Peron has commented that, "All marijuana use is medicinal". But to understand why that statement is accurate requires knowledge.

Granted, the current sanctuary laws are inadequate, given current medical knowledge and are also laughable considering the documented safety and broad utility of cannabinoids. This utility appears to include life extension (based on animal studies) and lowered rates of lung cancer among featherless bipeds. For whom are those attributes inappropriate?

In this context and in a decent society, all would be worthy of those profound, broad benefits. But to understand why the above is truth would require knowledge of the subject.

Here's a parallel from history. Maranos, a term that generally referred to the "secret" Jews of Portugal and Spain in the fifteenth century, who converted to Christianity when their religion was outlawed, but who continued to practice their religion in the privacy of their families.

You see, being Jewish was a crime, a capitol crime, in fact. Were the Maranos "abusing" the law?

Not really.

The only abuse, in this case, is that being inflicted on the American people by their rulers. As one who follows this issue locally, nationally and internationally, the pogram's end is proceeding apace, non existent "abuse" notwithstanding.

The problem in public discourse, as always, is a cavalier lack of understanding, concerning the facts.

If anyone has a copy of this week's copy of the Honolulu Weekly, there is an outstanding letter to the editor by Dr. Robert Wherman, that address the current problem we face.








Aloha,
Lee
http://members.cruzio.com/~lionel/event

[oink]

I tried to ignore this thread but as you won't stop.
Marijuana is not always benign. How about the increased risk of schizophrenia.
This is a link to an article that is a good brief overview of this issue:
http://www.miller-mccune.com/health/the-...rum-10218/

Here is one quote fron the article:
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"But here’s the thing, NAMI’s Duckworth said, once you develop symptoms of the disease, there’s no going back. So why toss the dice by using marijuana?

“It’s quite a chance to take. The uncertainty in the scientific knowledge should not be confused with the risk,” Duckworth said.

Schizophrenia, characterized by serious hallucinations and delusions, is estimated to be the fourth most important cause of life-years lost through disability in the world. And it is irreversible, Duckworth said."
-----------------------------------
Plenty of documentation can be found by searching using key words like: marijuana and schizophrenia, British Medical Journal, BMJ etc. I won't post all of the links.

There is of course the temptation to associate the issues described in the article with (let your own paranoia fill in the blanks)

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[punaticbychoice]

We should ban alcohol too since it can have/cause short and long term problems of various kinds.
Oops- tried that- didn't work.

[oink]

I'm undecided on the issue of legalization, etc. I am decided that there should be honesty on both sides of the argument.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[peteadams]

The article appears to be have written by a professional writer rather than a medical professional. With the possible exception of the brain imaging, no cause and effect was shown. It was all correlational studies which could be easily explained in other ways, primarily massive self-medication by those diagnosed as schizophrenic. Having looked at studies about psychotropic drug effects since the 60's I don't have a lot of respect for how these sorts of studies are used. They are typically massive surveys following a sample group with all sorts of outcomes. Some outcomes are more interesting and are cherry picked for publication. But in the end the study is simply indicative, at best pointing to further research. Do another similar study on the same topic and you will likely come up with different numbers.

This was my position decades ago with LSD, a drug with far more chancy outcomes by light years than cannabis. If LSD directly caused severe mental disability we should have seen a sharp spike in actual mental health issues (correlated with the prevalence of LSD consumption then) but of course there was no such thing and as LSD consumption decreased severe mental disability stats didn't fall accordingly.

So much "information" is simply massive hype by the media to sell stuff and political forces to work up emotions. Before the hysterical latched on to the LSD/recreational drug horror train, common sense prevailed. Here's the conclusion of a review of LSD literature from my 1965 text Abnormal Psychology: [After ingesting LSD] "the psychotic-like episode lasts for only a few hours, and normal subjects are usually none the worse for their brief visit to insanity. After all, they were no crazier than we all are in our night dreams." Certainly not an advocating position, but obviously a lot calmer view than now prevails even about cannabis.

[LeeE]

Peteadams,

Mahalo for the clarity and expert perspective.

The gap, regarding quality in discourse surrounding the "debate" concerning this, is in full display here, like it is in the news media around the country every day.



Aloha,
Lee
http://members.cruzio.com/~lionel/event

[PaulW]

Whether cannabis is good or bad is not the issue here. "Medical Marijuana" is a codeword for "let's create a loophole so people can thumb their nose at the law". If it really was only for people in need of pain-killing medication, I would be in favor. Is Hawaii intending to do it differently than California?