[Vision2020] medical marijuana

Thu Jun 2 22:25:31 PDT 2011

Kenneth Marcy kmmos1 at frontier.com
Wed Jun 1 18:03:11 PDT 2011 wrote:
http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/2011-June/076771.html

"So, medical benefits have been known or suspected for twenty years or more."
-------
The "medical" benefits of cannabis have at least been "suspected" for
over a 1000 years.

Decades ago I read the book "Drugs and the Mind" by Robert S. De Ropp,
where I learned of Weir Mitchell's 1800s US explorations of hashish
use.  If I recall the text correctly, Mitchell was able to purchase
hashish in the 1800s from the local apothecary, or whatever they
called it, legally.  I'll not describe the experiences induced, but
Ropp's "Drugs and the Mind" gives a detailed account, worth reading.
Mitchell later went on to become a physician.

As can be read from this website regarding migraine treatment with
cannabis, with extensive references,
http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/hemp/medical/omr_russo.htm
Mitchell is listed as a source mentioning hashish or cannabis as a
headache or migraine remedy from the 1800s.

Quote mentioning Mitchell from 1874:

"Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, many prominent
physicians in Europe and North America advocated the use of extracts
of Cannabis indica for the symptomatic and preventive treatment of
headache.

Proponents included Weir Mitchell in 1874, E.J. Waring in 1874, Hobart
Hare in 1887, Sir William Gowers in 1888, J.R. Reynolds in 1890, J.B.
Mattison in 1891, et al., (Walton, 1938; Mikuriya, 1969). Cannabis was
included in the mainstream pharmacopeias in Britain and America for
this indication. As late as 1915, Sir William Osler, the acknowledged
father of modern medicine, stated of migraine treatment (Osler, 1915),
"Cannabis indica is probably the most satisfactory remedy. Seguin
recommends a prolonged course." This statement supports its use for
both acute and prophylactic treatment of migraine. "

Info on Robert S. De Ropp's book "Drugs and the Mind:"

http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=paq.029.0407a\

Goolker, P. (1960). Drugs and the Mind: By Robert S. de Ropp. Foreword
by Nathan S. Kline. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1960. Originally
published by St. Martin's Press, 1957. 310 pp.. Psychoanal Q.,
29:407-409.
-------------
Kenneth Marcy kmmos1 at frontier.com
Wed Jun 1 18:03:11 PDT 2011 wrote:

"As a practical matter, until the federal marijuana laws are changed to either
legalize it altogether, or to legalize medical marijuana, or to allow states
to set their own policies subject to federal rules, I doubt much can be done
that is legally safe, administratively efficient, and medically
effective. If the
2012 federal elections bring to office a Congress more conducive to change,
there may be some better hope for legislative as well as medical relief."
-------------
As long as Sarah Palin, for example (she's blathering on as I write,
on CNN), is regarded as a credible candidate for the presidency by a
large segment of the US voting public, given what this implies
regarding the mindset of the electorate, the odds of a "Congress more
conducive to change" on the federal level regarding liberalizing
federal cannabis laws are rather low.

There is more concern among Palin's followers with assuring legal
unregulated access to firearms, than legal medical or other reasons
for access to cannabis.  Comparing the negative impacts of legal
access to firearms, to the negative impacts from illegal cannabis,
reveals a migraine inducing inconsistency in the rational application
of public pressure and lobbying efforts before the US Congress to
prevent abuses of government control over individual liberty, assuming
the harm of the behavior that is a protected liberty, and the harm
induced by rendering a behavor illegal, are measures of how much
government control is indicated over the behavior.

I am of course not saying that access to firearms should be
criminalized like cannabis is, but that to insist on protecting the
right to carry arms while not insisting on allowing adults to make
their own legal choices regarding cannabis use, as astonishing numbers
of people are jailed and persecuted for growing, selling or using
cannabis, seems like a glaring inconsistency.
------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

On 6/1/11, Kenneth Marcy <kmmos1 at frontier.com> wrote:

> On Wednesday 01 June 2011 16:03:18 Bill London wrote:

>> The essay below was originally posted by Susan Engle of the Lewiston
>> Tribune on her blog at the Tribune website, and then reprinted in the
>> Tribune itself on page 8C today (June 1) on the best of the blogs page.
>> This is the most powerful statement I have yet read on this issues of
>> pain, suffering, and relief (and medical marijuana).....thanks Susan....BL
> <[snip]>
>
> The requisite knowledge to stop or alleviate lots of unnecessary pain and
> suffering has been available for a long time. Being the sometime science
> student that I am, I just happen to have a copy of the twelfth edition of
> Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, edited by Richard J. Lewis, Sr. The
> Library of Congress number for this edition has 1992 for a date, so this
> book
> is nearly two decades old. Here are three related entries:
>
> hemp.   Soft white fibers 3 - 6 feet long. It is coarser than flax but
> stronger,
> more glossy, and more durable than cotton. Obtained from the stems of
> Cannabis
> sativa. Sources: Central Asia, Italy, USSR, India, U.S. Hazard: Combustible.
> May ignite spontaneously when wet. Use: blended with cotton or flax in
> toweling
> and heavy fabrics, twine, cordage, packing. See also cannabis.
>
> tetrahydrocannibol.   C(21)H(30)O(2). The active principle of marijuana, a
> hallucinatory drug. It has been synthesized and is available in lab
> quantities
> subject to legal restrictions. Animal tests have indicated that it can
> retard
> cancer growth and may also promote acceptance of organ transplants in the
> human body.
>
> cannabis.   (marijuana). CAS: 8063-14-7. Its principle,
> tetrahydrocannabinol,
> can be made synthetically. Derivation: Dried flowering cups of pistillate
> plants of Cannabis sativa. Habitat: Iran, India; cultivated in Mexico and
> Europe. Hazard: A mild hallucinogen. Sale is illegal in U.S. Use: Medicine,
> opthalmology (treatment of glaucoma).
>
> (Yes, I noticed the spelling. The first is their typo, the second is
> correct.)
>
> So, medical benefits have been known or suspected for twenty years or more.
> What has been done in the interim? Well, here's a six-year-old Web page
> about
> marijuana hypocrisy: http://cannabisnews.com/news/20/thread20844.shtml
>
> For more up-to-date information, here is the Wikipedia page for the active
> agent, tetrahydrocannabinol:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinol
>
> As a practical matter, until the federal marijuana laws are changed to
> either
> legalize it altogether, or to legalize medical marijuana, or to allow states
> to set their own policies subject to federal rules, I doubt much can be done
> that is legally safe, administratively efficient, and medically effective.
> If the
> 2012 federal elections bring to office a Congress more conducive to change,
> there may be some better hope for legislative as well as medical relief.
>
>
> Ken
>
>