FYI Potomania

Marijuana: The Once and Future Wonder Drug
by xxdr zombiexx
Sat Mar 03, 2007 at 05:30:26 AM PST
Preface/Disclaimer: In this post there are no discussions of video games, no cartoons, no wild glass bongs. And there is no need for whiney, prejudiced "knowledge-free, propaganda-based" commentary about "stupid potheads". Those who feel the need to display their utter lack of knowledge about cannabis and reform should probably go read something else right now: you aren't going to be pleased or "swayed" by a handful of new scientific facts. Thank you in advance for your gracious cooperation.

Lester Grinspoon M. D. writes an editorial for the Boston Globe and IHT picks it up in France.

Make the jump.

xxdr zombiexx's diary :: ::
It's a somewhat involved article focusing on the length of time cannabis has been used by man for medicinal and other purposes - about 5000 years - and looks at the 18th and 19th century usage and then pointing out that cannabis is now known, beyond the shadow of a doubt, to hold many medical promises.

Already, despite all the lying from the US Government (and all those foolish people that still believe what they say) pharmaceutical companies are hard at work producing new medicines and drugs from cannabis plant extract.

Another new study has been published in a Journal of Neurology documenting the efficacy of cannabis in controlling neuropathic pain".

This is usually treated with strong drugs and compounds like Oxycontin and morphine which can be debilitating and addictive...as well as not "do the trick.

It seems to be unbeliveable with all the lies we have grown up with, but cannabis is proving to be invaluable medicine.

If marijuana were a new discovery rather than a well-known substance carrying cultural and political baggage, it would be hailed as a wonder drug.

The pharmaceutical industry is scrambling to isolate cannabinoids and synthesize analogs and to package them in non-smokable forms. In time, companies will almost certainly come up with products and delivery systems that are more useful and less expensive than herbal marijuana. (I doubt the less expensive part)
The feds have lied for years in the face of a mountain of evidence including the 30-some year-ol Shaffer Report. They just keep repeating and repeating the same bullshit over and over and over.

With YOUR money.

At some point the lying really does have to stop and when it does, fingers will - and should be - pointed.

You and I both know nobody's ever going to be held properly accountable for war on marijuana so Dr. grinspoon offers a face-saving strategy:

Rather than admit they have been mistaken all these years, federal officials can cite "important new data" and start revamping outdated and destructive policies.

Cannabis prohibition needs to be halted. The Democratic party, which has been as bad an enabler as the GOP has been the aggessor, is uniquely positioned to take up this issue and move it forward.

It will cause the GOP fits. Aside from being the right thing to do, it's worth doing just to make the them miserable.

See, they can't talk about it rationally; they are totally commited to reefer madness and keeping it illegal. They will have to talk more and more nutty about the herb and show people just how out of sync they are with America.

By contrast, the Dems can usurp votes as well as demonstrate "leadership" simply by talking like normal people about cannabis.

Cannabis is an "umbrella" issue - the exact opposite of a "wedge" issue. Cannabis reform truly transcends race, creed, color - all that stuff. Just as the GOP uses gay issues to divide people and aggravate them, cannabis reform brings more people together than it "divides".

Dems should exploit this.

Please: buzz-it!