Medical Marijuana: Where’s the Data?

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MoodySass

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Howdy all, I'm new here. Decided i'd make my 1st post one worth discussing. I just want to say that in no way am i trying to be contentious or cause an argument...I am hoping to incite a rational discussion on the topic. Anyways I just read the article yesterday and thought it interesting..i;m personally a big advocate of mmj and recreational use....but i do think that sometimes its usefullness is overstated and that that is a problem in itself....so pleasse discuss if youd like...



With New York State poised to become the latest inductee into the legal medical marijuana club, The New York Times explored the science behind weed’s effect on the variety of ills it’s used to treat. The paper’s verdict? Research into the medical benefits of smoked cannabis is severely lacking, and few findings point to a definitive therapeutic effect in the growing list of ailments that some physicians prescribe marijuana to treat, according to new laws. “I just don’t think the evidence is there for these long lists,” Molly Cooke, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told the Times. “It’s been so hard to study marijuana. Policy makers are responding to thin data.”
As The Scientist reported in 2012, many researchers who would like to study the medical effects of smoked marijuana are stymied by nearly insurmountable obstacles to securing both research-grade supplies of the drug and funding for clinical studies. A scientist wishing to conduct a rigorous trial of smoked marijuana on a particular human disease must first register with the Drug Enforcement Administration and file an investigational new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration, among other formalities. Once all these hurdles are cleared, researchers must still win funding, which is in short supply even for less-controversial work. “It’s one thing to say we need to have more research, and it’s another thing to obstruct the research,” Steven Jenison, former medical director of New Mexico’s medical cannabis program, told the Times.

This difficulty stems in part from marijuana’s classification of an illegal, “Schedule I” drug as defined by the US Controlled Substances Act. According to that Act, the US government views cannabis—along with heroin and LSD—as a drug that has “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”

“The [cannabis] laws date to a time when what we knew about marijuana was voodoo,” Mayo Clinic psychiatrist Michael Bostwick told The Scientist in 2012. “[The drug] can’t be applied to humans and to therapeutics because the laws don’t permit it to be done. The whole attitude towards medical marijuana is just irrational.”


http://www.the-scientist.com/?artic...2/title/Medical-Marijuana--Where-s-the-Data-/
 
fishwhistle

fishwhistle

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I think the problem is that there is no research to prove/disprove anything empirically because it is illegal/or almost impossible in this country to conduct that research because MJ is in the schedule 1 classification but to say it has no medical benefits is crazy,of course it does and it can replace many other things that are SO much worse for you even though they are FDA approved.
I do agree alot of recreational smokers hide behind the medical curtain but they are not allowed access to it any other way(besides black market)without the medical designation,they are just trying to cover their asses and i dont blame them one bit,I blame stupid fucking laws and the irrational bought off people behind them.
If anything i think the medical uses are understated and with more research i think this will be proven.
 
MoodySass

MoodySass

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I couldn't agree more! :cat:
yeah I agree its all pretty stuffed up the way research it trapped by fed law and all the red tape that exists stymying proper investigation of its uses,...but I'm still skeptical that its uses are understated, there are alot of claim out there heralding it as a miracle cure for almost anything. Nothing is a miracle cure.
 
fishwhistle

fishwhistle

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Would you consider it a miracle if it could stop 95% of seizures in your child or it would allow one of your loved ones to endure chemotherapy for cancer and still be able to eat and not waste away?Or perhaps even be able to attack and shrink a tumor to the point of it being gone?Or would those people just be catching a buzz?
Read about what Dr mechoulam is doing in israel research wise,

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/...scientist-Raphael-Mechoulam-medical-marijuana

and what DRs in the US have to say,



If you or your loved ones are sick or hurting and it helps you without all the bad/ill side effects of conventional prescription medicine,IT IS A MIRACLE.
Do you have any idea how many people in the US die each year from taking Ibuprofen let alone harder opiates/prescription meds?Now how many die from smoking marijuana?You need to do a little reading,lol.
 
Coir

Coir

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We can certainly discuss this issue until we are blue in the face. There are always going to be those strongly opposed and those strongly for. The fact that the US gov't has applied for patents on medical uses but still classifies it as a schedule 1 drug says all that needs to be said as far as the gov't is concerned.
As for myself, I needed to find an alternative to prescription meds for arthritis in my knee after surgery to "repair" it. Vicodin, Oxy, Ibuprofen, etc all weren't acceptable options for me and when they gave me Celebrex, it worked great until the third day when I ended up in the ER with what turned out to be the beginning of an ulcer. They just smiled and gave me two more prescriptions to counter the effects of the Celebrex. That was when I started looking for something else. CBD's, for me, have been the answer to my problems to this point. I am a firm believer in the healing properties of cannabis and am looking forward to the day when the gov't realizes that not only has the "war on drugs" failed but they were waging the wrong war in the first place. I still find it incomprehensible that they see cannabis as being a worse drug than cocaine and methamphetamine. If they would put aside the politics and actually do the studies, they would see that they have been wrong all this time.
 
Intense

Intense

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I think it's too early to say either way to be honest. Without a solid base of empiracal research, there will not be clarity on the subject. For now, most of the claims are anecdotal. Where there is research being done, it is truly still in its preliminary stages and too early to jump the gun. Doing so could actually be harmful to people who are in dire need of effective medical treatment. Obviously there are some medical uses to cannabis, but whether it is able to deliver all of the therapies that are claimed on its behalf I would say the jury is still out.

Keep in mind that everyone is different and everyone reacts to specific drugs differently. You may have a medication that reduces high blood pressure in 95% of people, but in 5% it may actually cause heart attack risk. To those 5% it's not only not effective, it's dangerous. The reverse may be true in another circumstance. My point is that while most of the claims are anecdotal, it's impossible to say whether the results seen are anomalous or normal, whether it's the individual reacting unusually well to the treatment, or whether we can expect 95% of the population to have similar results.

Another point to consider is the power of the meaning response (falsely understood as a placebo). We can seen countless times that expectations can have real, neurological and physiological effects, without the treatment itself being chemically active. If people want to believe they've found the miracle cure in a treatment, there's a decent chance that their psyche will make it just that, irrespective of the efficacy of the treatment itself.

At the end of the day, we need to scrap the policy that is making the research so difficult to do and do some serious, quality research. This can only be a good thing. It will show us how best to exploit our favorite plant for use as a medicine and what it's best at treating, and will remove all the fluff which may actually be detrimental to people who need effective medical treatment now.
 
yellowhead

yellowhead

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Cannabis is a very effective and safe sleeping aid. That might not seem like much of a medical benefit, but to those with insomnia, it's a big deal. Far safer than any sedative commercially available through pharmacies, I guarantee you that.



The same cannot be said for cannabis.
 
caregiverken

caregiverken

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Cannabis is a very effective and safe sleeping aid. That might not seem like much of a medical benefit, but to those with insomnia, it's a big deal. Far safer than any sedative commercially available through pharmacies, I guarantee you that.



The same cannot be said for cannabis.
Cannabis helps my wife sleep. :)
A good nights sleep is important for everyones health!
 
caregiverken

caregiverken

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I couldn't agree more! :cat:
yeah I agree its all pretty stuffed up the way research it trapped by fed law and all the red tape that exists stymying proper investigation of its uses,...but I'm still skeptical that its uses are understated, there are alot of claim out there heralding it as a miracle cure for almost anything. Nothing is a miracle cure.
Welcome To the Farm Sass :)

Yeah..Im going to have to go with Fish.

Cannabis is a Miracle ...

It might be the anointing oil Jesus and his disciples used too. :)
 
SuperSilverHaze

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plenty of scientific research is/has been done to identify the many medicinal properties of Cannabis but forget about looking for credible / unbiased research done in the U.S., look to Isreal and even gw pharmaceuticals forthat info.


peace
 
caregiverken

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Breastfeeding_Low_Cholesterol.jpg

Cannabinoids, like those found in marijuana, occur naturally in human breast milk
Friday, July 20, 2012 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: cannabinoids, breast milk, THC


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036526_cannabinoids_breast_milk_THC.html#ixzz36WOOiGqJ
 
caregiverken

caregiverken

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here is some proof to that story above
she must have just beast feed them all :)
 
altitudefarmer

altitudefarmer

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I think about 95% of cannabis' medical properties are cancelled out by smoking the stuff. Still theraputic, however, for me anyways.
 
MoodySass

MoodySass

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Wow a little overwhelmed by all the replies! but good to see impassioned discussion :cat:

Would you consider it a miracle if it could stop 95% of seizures in your child or it would allow one of your loved ones to endure chemotherapy for cancer and still be able to eat and not waste away?Or perhaps even be able to attack and shrink a tumor to the point of it being gone?Or would those people just be catching a buzz?
Read about what Dr mechoulam is doing in israel research wise,

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/...scientist-Raphael-Mechoulam-medical-marijuana

and what DRs in the US have to say,



If you or your loved ones are sick or hurting and it helps you without all the bad/ill side effects of conventional prescription medicine,IT IS A MIRACLE.
Do you have any idea how many people in the US die each year from taking Ibuprofen let alone harder opiates/prescription meds?Now how many die from smoking marijuana?You need to do a little reading,lol.

Sorry but no i wouldn't call that a miracle if it did those things, i would simply call it effective. Its like asking if i call paracetamol a miracle for curing headaches. Its just effective. Miracle is really not a word i would incite for anything tbh. maybe we're just getting caught up on word choice though..

i have seen that video before its very compelling. Yet at the same time it;s one video and doesnt actually show how many studies have been done or under what consitionds...or even who those people are and so on.
as i said itinially I am a big advocate of Mmj i just wonder if it can really do EVERYTHING that people claim it can. It just seems unlikely to me you know...that anything can have so many mode of action. Maybe it can just wanting a discussion :cat::cat:

I think he's done a buncha reading;
and maybe just wants discussion--
and new perspectives...

She** lol :cat:

but yes I have read up but i find it difficult sifting out propaganda from fact or either side of the debate. both side have a vested interest in pushing there biases out into the public so am interested in hearing what other people have to say.

i also think that politics need to be put aside and studies need to be done. I get that some have been done, but just dont think enough have been done to back up the many many claims to what it can do. I HOPE tht it can do everything it can beleive me!! :cat::cat:
 
sitar dreamer

sitar dreamer

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namaste moodysass.

i cannot speak with experience on how ganja cure physical ailments but i do believe that it helps keep the mind healthy and calm, that it bring forth inner peace and quietens inner turmoils that may otherwise grow to become demons. science cannot answer everything and though it has its place we should not rely entirely upon it. rather we ought be guided by our hearts and intuition. we know what feel right and wrong and if we smoke and feel it healing effects then it is healing us. i don't need a scientist to carry out an experiment to tell me what i'm feeling is real or not.

this is my take on the subject.
peace
 
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