Mary Jane?

ladykuri · Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 11 Location: Central IL, USA

Well, yes, it has *some* risk, but compared to the cocktail they had him on when we met- 5 psychotropics plus 3 others to counteract the side effects of those- the risks are pretty non-existent! Plus it's an order of magnitude more effective, and about 1/10 the cost financially. Win win all around if you ask me!

Generally speaking, MJ has less side effects and/or risks than pretty much any drug it can replace. It is also more effective than MANY of the drugs it can be used in place of. If it wasn't so useful do you think pharma would be making a synthetic (Marinol)? Unfortunately, as normal, science cannot fully duplicate the benefits of nature. The fact that it remains illegal is a travesty and a farce. If it were not for the big pharm lobby in this country I highly doubt it would continue to be illegal, and if not for the paper/wood lobby it never would have been in the first place. Politics are keeping a (relatively) extremely safe and inexpensive medicine out of the hands of people who can greatly benefit from it, and that is just wrong.

rattitude · Joined: 14 Jul 2006 Posts: 101

It is crazy. And then there is a suppression of simple hemp which is far superior for many uses to the fibre sources we currently use. You can get hemp plants that have almost no drug ingredients in their leaves and they make stiff like rope and coarse cloth much cheaper, more efficiently and with the use of less land and pesticides than other crops--but their use is illegal in the US.

reviewer · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 33

I think it is sad when people are denied access to this drug, despite evidence that it can help with pain management. We would rather people suffer than challenge our perceptions of the drug.