Medical Marijuana Opinions

[SL2014]

What do you think about the possible legalization and taxation of Medical Marijuana in the US?

I think that this is a very interesting subject and I like to hear other people's opinions.

Please see my reasons and tell me what you think about each of them. :) Thank you!

My Opinion:

I think that Marijuana should be legalized, taxed and regulated (Like alcohol and tobacco).

Reasons:

1)__ It is VERY beneficial with people with some ailments, and with the lack of dependency and withdrawls is a great alternative to things like narcotic pain medication.

2)__ Taxing Marijuana can be extremely rewarding for the economy, a SINGLE dispensery in northern California paid over $800,000.00 in taxes in a SINGLE year... we could use this money during a recession to avoid cutting costs on government programs that people depend on.

3)__ There are very little downsides to people using marijuana, if it is eaten or used via vaporizor there are ZERO downsides other than the possibility of people driving while impaired, but this danger is exists with everything from Alcohol to NyQuil to Sleep Deprivaiton.

4)__ Not is single death has been recorded exclusively because of the use of marijuana.

5)__ MILLIONS of dollars are spent each year arresting, presecuting and detaining people that have consume, sell, or cultivate marijuana. 70% of the Federal drug enforcement budget goes to enforcing laws reguarding marijuana, the other 30% is divided between Meth, Crack, Heroin, Cocaine, Extacy, Date Rape Drug, Illegal Perscription Drugs, Acid, mushrooms ect.

What do you guys think? Why do you think that it is still Federally illegal, even for medical purposes? What do you think should happen?

[elkpark]

Not to offend but marijuana isn't the 'cause' of your problems...

It's merely a symptom of a bigger problem as drugs always are...

I'll leave it at that.

That was my thought on reading that post, too.

[aloevera]

I wonder if anyone has tried marijuana with anorexics...

Only one time have I seen a pill (cannot recall name of it) that was THC used for pt. with no appetite in our psych hospital.............and her appetite did improve..........

[ruralnurs]

That was my thought on reading that post, too.

Ya, that........

[elkpark]

I wonder if anyone has tried marijuana with anorexics...

If you're referring to "anorexics" as in the original, basic meaning of the term, people who don't have an appetite, the answer is yes.

If you're referring to people with anorexia nervosa, the eating disorder, the problem with AN is not that they don't have an appetite (they feel tremendously hungry most of the time) -- it's that they refuse to eat despite being hungry, because of their control and body image issues. And they generally are extremely careful about what they are willing to take/eat and I haven't worked with any that I think would be willing to use a "recreational" psychoactive substance (they generally don't drink or use tobacco, either, in my experience -- they're obsessed with being as "healthy" as possible, even though their choices are, in reality, making them v. sick).

[nursenow]

I am amazed our gvt. has spent billions of dollars trying to defend us from the evil weed when we can purchase vodka, any quantity, any day of the week. Countless people have died from alcohol and tobacco and they are stressing on Pot? What a joke. You couldn't pay me enough money to smoke pot but on the other hand, up to now, any argument I have heard against legalization is a joke.

[tjstrong]

I have worked with addicts and alcoholics for twenty two years...Mj IS a gateway to the other stuff, no If, ands or buts. Just today there was a national news story of an airline incident where a "Patient" dbl dosed after a visit to his "Dispensary" in a Legal pot state, dropped his pants, talked crazy and fought with the Airline attendants.

I spent most of my life in the construction and industrial fields and have seen more injuries and deaths caused by Pot than any other drug, including alcohol. It is the impaired judgment and slow response issues from it that caused these injuries and deaths(including one death where a fellow tower worker just forgot to hook up his safety line before letting loose his handhold at 300ft above the ground) I smoked the stuff in my younger dumber daze, but finally grew up. If you are a nurse you should too.

One of my best friends did find that smoking the REAL stuff had much better effects than Marinol for reducing the effects of Chemo. He insists that a single toke washed away the nausea and allowed him to eat, thus getting the calories necesary to have the energy to live a "normal" life, he did NOT smoke a bunch of it, nor use it many times a day. In other words he treated it like a medication. This was NOT in a legal state, did NOT come from a legal source and was NOT abused. Most of the people who are advocating it's legalization have a different agenda than TRUE medical need. Most of the patients who are using it are also abusing it.

My hopes and prayers are with "rocketscience", it is incredibly hard to get a "Pot" user to see the damage it does to their lives(and the lives around them) when so much of society is saying "It's no big deal".

[OffRoadRN]

Alcohol prohibition did not work. It increased the crime rate and it made the price of alcohol increase to such an inflated level, that people would kill for booze. If people want to consume any drug, and potentially destroy their life (depending on the substance), then I feel they have the right to make that decision. You can do what you want with your own body, so be it.

Should marijuana be legal? I say maybe. There really is no rational argument against recreational marijuana use. Millions of people die worldwide from legal alcohol and tobacco use, yet MJ is illegal and no one has died from an overdose or secondary condition related to MJ use.

Doctors prescribe MJ in states where it is legal for cancer, chronic pain patients etc. I dont see doctors prescribing a pack of cigs or a sixer of beer. Heck it is even proven that fatty fast foods do more long term harm than an occasional marijuana cigarette.

Look, everyone reacts differently to MJ consumption. Some people can go throughout the day acting completely "normal" while under the influence of marijuana. First timers and MJ novices are usually the ones that act out of line in my opinion.

I feel it should be up the state(s) to decide whether or not to legalize MJ WITHOUT federal interference. Nothing happens overnight, but I strongly feel that MJ will be legal for complete medical use and partial recreational use one day. The people are clearly asking for it. Just look at recent polls about MJ legalization / medical use.

Educate yourself :)

[felixfelix]

Dr. Bob Marley said, "Legalize it, don't criticize it."

[Grapenut]

I have worked with addicts and alcoholics for twenty two years...Mj IS a gateway to the other stuff, no If, ands or buts. Just today there was a national news story of an airline incident where a "Patient" dbl dosed after a visit to his "Dispensary" in a Legal pot state, dropped his pants, talked crazy and fought with the Airline attendants.

I spent most of my life in the construction and industrial fields and have seen more injuries and deaths caused by Pot than any other drug, including alcohol. It is the impaired judgment and slow response issues from it that caused these injuries and deaths(including one death where a fellow tower worker just forgot to hook up his safety line before letting loose his handhold at 300ft above the ground) I smoked the stuff in my younger dumber daze, but finally grew up. If you are a nurse you should too.

One of my best friends did find that smoking the REAL stuff had much better effects than Marinol for reducing the effects of Chemo. He insists that a single toke washed away the nausea and allowed him to eat, thus getting the calories necesary to have the energy to live a "normal" life, he did NOT smoke a bunch of it, nor use it many times a day. In other words he treated it like a medication. This was NOT in a legal state, did NOT come from a legal source and was NOT abused. Most of the people who are advocating it's legalization have a different agenda than TRUE medical need. Most of the patients who are using it are also abusing it.

My hopes and prayers are with "rocketscience", it is incredibly hard to get a "Pot" user to see the damage it does to their lives(and the lives around them) when so much of society is saying "It's no big deal".

The World Health Organization released findings of a recent study regarding the "gateway" theory stating that unmeasured common causes rather than causal effects of specific drugs on others at least partly account for what looks like the pattern that this leads to that. Like the person who posted the page long run-on sentence/story of her family and their drug use, it's too easy to look at the substance and point the finger. It's usually a symptom of the underlying problem. Life is much more complex than thinking if we removed all temptation to get in trouble that there wouldn't be any. In my college writing class I wrote an essay on marijuana and the new criminal class created by the War on Drugs. It was an eye opener. I used legitimate, verifiable sources for my research (BBC, US DOJ, etc.), not internet crackpot sites. The info is out there if you want to educate yourself on the reality of the history, statistics and science of this subject. I see a lot of assumptions based on dogma and outright untrue information. I find it curious you know so many people who have died from pot on construction sites. How do they know they were stoned? Are you in favor of alcohol users being turned into a criminal class as well because so many people don't drink responsibly? What else would you add to the list? As for the poster touting the god-like wisdom of the Feds, please look further. Start using the mind that god or evolution or (fill in the blank) gave you and never think you don't need to question something just because the "government" said so. One of our former presidents was quoted as saying: "Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use.... " Yes, it's out there if you care to look.

[Wishinonastar, BSN]

Um tjstrong did you ever consider that taking away the "forbidden fruit" aspect of smoking MJ would decrease the abuse of it during the workday? People are always looking for a way to sneak things- it is a thrill in itself. Besides, any stoners in construction who would smoke while at work, well lets just say they know better and are knowingly taking their lives into their hands to do something this stupid.

[tjstrong]

RE: AWTY...you are talking about statistics, I'm talking about real people and the facts on the ground.

How did I know they were stoned? The guy who fell from the tower smoked a joint just minutes beforehand...The guy who closed a set of drilling rig power tongs on my hand cutting off three of my fingers had gotten high while on break. Same with the saw/power tool accidents, dropped loads, overturned cranes and a collapsed roof.

If you wrote a paper on the subject I can only assume it was from a position of advocacy, how many teachers will make the claim that pot smoking makes better students? Ask a cop if pot smoking makes better drivers. Can you make the claim it helps people to be better parents? What pot primarily promulgates is Apathy. People stop caring about themselves...frankly if you don't care much about YOU you'll not be caring much about others. Spend a little time with some young Oxy./Heroin addicts...ask them what drug they started with.

No, I am not some neo-prohibitionist, but frankly the "War on Drugs" wasn't the start of the worlds war on drugs. Take a look at what is happening in western Mexico right now, the govt. there had been taken over for years by the drug cartels...back in the late seventies/early eighties I spent a lot of time in central America and it was starting then. A previous poster was in favor of taxing it..."$800,000 from a single dispensary", how many Medical practices or Pharmacies treat enough patients to have THAT kind of tax bill? I would submit that this is NOT a medical dispensary. but rather a front for drug dealing that the local govt. supports so they can get the money. There is a huge divide between Prohibition and advocacy, there are many in Govt. and Govt. supported organizations who are advocating because THEY want the money. When I was in SF the requirement for access to a Mj dispensary was a letter from a "Healthcare Professional" this includes nurses, massage therapists, hypnotists, aroma therapists...anyone who can claim to be in a health related field. Specifically NOT a prescription from a medical doctor. For the few people that it can truly help medically it is not hard to find. For the rest I do not believe the use should be endorsed by any form of govt.

Amsterdam allowed the opening of smoke bars...and in a few short years the streets and parks became filled with Hard Drug users, that they don't now know what to do with.

Just my 2cents...

[Jeenah11111]

Im in Oregon and we have medical marijauna available for patients that fill out the forms and have a doctor prescribe it. I am a hospice nurse and have gotten it a couple times for patients that wanted it. They enjoy it,it makes them feel good ( relaxed and pain free). It's not for everyone. Probably these patients used to smoke it illegally when they were younger, but hey they are dieing anyway, so they might as well go out happy.

As far as legalizing it for everyone.. Probably the only people that would use it are those that already use it so it's not going to change anything, except we can stop arresting the otherwise harmless and save the money.