This is my response from my state rep

[daihashi]

So true that the pain diminishes the high! That was true for my sister. So did the smoking help alleviate your abdominal pain? I'm guessing so. In what people report from the use of medicinal cannabis, at least for nausea, it doesn't take very much to treat their symptoms. And when it's used for pain, it can be very complementary with prescription painkillers, requiring people to use fewer of those, which, of course, are hard on the liver and cause other side effects.

It alleviated most of my pain. I would generally smoke, get pain relief and then read for as long as I had energy. Then I would go lay down and nap (pain also took a lot of energy from me)

I think medical experts need not to look so askance at the whole getting high aspect in the first place. So many of them want to develop pain medicines that don't muddle people's minds or they question medicinal cannabis because of the "stoned" factor. I personally think that when people are sick, whether terminally or not, there's plenty of justification for some muddling or stonedness. Part of why medicinal cannabis helped my sister was that it also helped alleviate the reality of what was happening to her because it did make her high. This opinion goes against much of mainstream medical thinking, but I think being high is, in many cases for medical patients, a good, well indicated thing. Sometimes cannabis intoxication, as they officially term it, is perfectly acceptable. Like when you have a dreadful disease.

While I was ill I discovered intoxication was a good way to tell when I had JUST enough to remove the pain. If I felt a slight buzz coming on I knew it was time for me to lay down my volcano bag. This is an advantage you don't get with other drugs.

I have some friends that have POTS/Gastroparesis/MS/Crohns etc etc. A few of them get marinol and a number of other physicians really look down on them as if they are just fiending.

My friend with MS is particularly the worst case. Her nerve pain is so severe sometimes she breaks into seizure. I live in Texas also so cannabis is not legal. She was on Norco and had to take a large dose to get any sort of relief. They tried to force therapists down her throat for "addiction". It was sickening to see some of these doctors that should be treating her for MS.. trying to treat her for drug addiction.

Though honestly with lawsuits rampant I can't say I necessarily blame doctors for being so skeptical of patients, but let's at least be reasonable. I'm sure there are more sympathetic people like you in the medical field, but they seem to be far and few in between unfortunately.

[birdgirl73]

I didn't know you lived in Texas, too, Daihashi!! That's great. I think we have a medicinal bill that's coming up for a vote this next session. I need to read up on that. With luck, they won't let the federal decriminalization resolution die in committee and we can get somewhere with both. Texas is, as you know, going to be slow to come around on medicinal.

Sorry about your friend with MS. Cannabinoids, specifically CBD, are one of the most beneficial substances for those nerve spasms and periods of inflammation. I have degenerative spinal disease and have back spasms and nerve pain as a result. If it were legal, I'd likely use cannabis for that. I am drug tested for school, though, now, since I'm working in the hospital these days. It also doesn't interact well with my heart rhythm trouble, which is another consideration. But if it were legal, I could at least experiment till I perhaps found a strain that didn't make the arrhythmia more irritable.

I expect I'm more sympathetic to the cause because I'm still early in the process and very idealistic. I tend to be that way anyway. But from what I can tell from watching the residents and attending staff, as they work their way up higher in the medical hierarchy ranks, they get more jaded and callous. Perhaps it's their levels of exhaustion. I think many of them need to work harder at empathy and understanding, especially on matters of analgesia (pain alleviation). They seem to get more suspicious as that progression occurs because they've had more time to witness drug-seeking behavior.

Been a pleasure talking with you, Daihashi! Hope you have a great weekend. I've got to sign off now. Have a big weekend of early 25th-anniversary plans coming up, including a surprise party to go to tonight. I'll be feigning great surprise. . . .

[Anubis10012007]

My doctor told me that cannabis will make me go crazy. lol. Fucking doctors will tell you anything to make money and cannabis smearing is just one of the various methods for brain washing.

I had never heard of ALL leaves contaminated with molds. Sure sounds like bullshit to me.

This isn't 1937 man.

[Reefer Rogue]

Absolute bollox, what ever 'research' he's done or should i say an extreme lack of, is farcical.

'Twenty-six years ago, during my training as an allergy and asthma specialist, my colleagues and I studied marijuana at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee'

That was 26 years ago, do some new research Anslinger!

'We found that all marijuana leaves were contaminated with inhalable molds, and most importantly, these disease-causing molds survived the smoking process. In fact, we never found any marijuana samples that were not contaminated with fungi capable of inducing either asthma attacks or even death from overwhelming fungal infections in immune-suppressed patients.'

This is the biggest load of tripe i think i've ever heard in my entire life, i could easily pick it apart, premise by pathetic premise. Instead, i'll leave this fool in his ignorant cesspit and contine to smoke my diseased and fungi infested cannabis =/

Excuse me while i have an asthma attack.

[stinkyattic]

On the subject of moldy bud:
-Mexican bricked weed is unlikely to have dangerous levels of mold spores in it, and even less likely to have botyris rot on the buds themselves, due to the arid climate in which it is grown and harvested.
-On the difference between bud and leaf, leaf left on the bud during the trimming process may be considered part of the bud itself. Both leaf and bud are subject to rot when improperly dried, or packaged before moisture content is still elevated.
-Look out for bud grown in damper climates, especially if it is mass-produced, or for bud that was commerically grown and packaged early. Beasters are a good example of this, and often arrive still somewhat damp.
-Mold spores are everywhere, in the air around us, at all times. Minimize your exposure by choosing correctly-dried bud, and inspecting it for a grey-tan, excessively crumbly, or in extreme cases, fuzzy appearance, and discard those buds.
-If your immune system is not functioning properly, explore other methods of ingestion such as edibles, where any pathogens go first through your very acid stomach environment- not into your more vulnerable lungs.
-Note that MMJ cards are regularly given to AIDS patients. It is an accepted safe treatment for the side-effects of the drug cocktail.