cheers to m.j.?
a lot of random and crazy things happened in my day today and as i sort through them all, one of the oddest thoughts my mind settles on is in regards to an article i found while brousing through the scientific american website.
evidently marijuana continues to be a hot topic in the medical world.
i had a friend in college who i swear was a microbiologist just to figure out the mysteries of cannibas and i am amazed at the countless others intrigued by this distinctive little plant. to my humble credit i know hardly anything about marijuana or really any illicit (or licit) drugs, in fact it wasn't until my freshman year when i was taking a botany course with some crazy lab partners that i learned the significance of 420. what is it about this crazy drug that people love? ...driving people like good old ben harper to tell us "if you don't like my fire then don't come around...?"
in fact, just the other day i learned that one of my closest friends happened to be a closet pot-head not so long ago and continues to struggle with his decision to leave bud behind.
i hear justifications all the time about how smoking marijuana is no more dangerous for one's health than smoking cigarettes, and how it really doesn't affect them like other drugs would. (then why do you continue to return to that nasty stuff?!)
in all honesty, i cannot consider myself even remotely close to being an authority on the subject, but i struggle to see any redemptive qualities in a practice that involves exposing oneself to a state of mind-altered-ness. friends of mine who don't pass on grass laugh about moments when they've hallucinated or done completely out of character crap that truly concerns me.
i suppose its just the mother in me, but there is much to be said about the pitfalls of repeatedly indulging yourself in things that are directly undermining one's health and well-being; which is why the sciam article that i stumbled upon today made me think twice about some of my liberal tendencies when it comes to legalizing medicinal marijuana.
who would have thought that the latest medical craze and one of the biggest untapped pharmeceutical territories would have distinguished professors scouring the streets for the best marijuana providers...and even offering co-authorship on journal articles in exchange for top-notch bud?!
just like almost every other pharmeceutical breakthrough in our very western u.s. of a, i am concerned that the profit-driven force behind this research may lead us to legalizing and refining a market that needs no more followers and worshippers than it already has.
according to scientific american: "The human brain naturally produces and processes compounds closely related to those found in Cannabis sativa...These compounds are called endogenous cannabinoids or endocannabinoids. As the journal Nature Medicine put it in 2003, 'the endocannabinoid system has an important role in nearly every paradigm of pain, in memory, in neurodegeneration and in inflammation.'...Yet outdated regulations and attitudes thwart legitimate research with marijuana. Indeed, American biomedical researchers can more easily acquire and investigate cocaine. Marijuana is classified as a so-called Schedule 1 drug, alongside LSD and heroin. As such, it is defined as being potentially addictive and having no medical use, which under the circumstances becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy...Any researcher attempting to study marijuana must obtain it through the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The U.S. research crop, grown at a single facility, is regarded as less potent--and therefore less medicinally interesting--than the marijuana often easily available on the street. Thus, the legal supply is a poor vehicle for studying the approximately 60 cannabinoids that might have medical applications...Some may argue that researchers do not need to study the drug--after all, there is Marinol, a synthetic version of marijuana's major active compound, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC; it relieves nausea and stimulates appetite. But patients are often disappointed with Marinol as compared with marijuana. A 1997 editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that 'it is difficult to titrate the therapeutic dose of this drug, and it is not widely prescribed. By contrast, smoking marijuana produces a rapid increase in the blood level of the active ingredients and is thus more likely to be therapeutic.'"
well, there's the "facts" if you want more info you can visit www.sciam.com.
their conclusion: "The reasonable course is to make it easier for American researchers to at least examine marijuana for possible medical benefits."
i would like to tell pfizer i think they've done enough.
evidently marijuana continues to be a hot topic in the medical world.
i had a friend in college who i swear was a microbiologist just to figure out the mysteries of cannibas and i am amazed at the countless others intrigued by this distinctive little plant. to my humble credit i know hardly anything about marijuana or really any illicit (or licit) drugs, in fact it wasn't until my freshman year when i was taking a botany course with some crazy lab partners that i learned the significance of 420. what is it about this crazy drug that people love? ...driving people like good old ben harper to tell us "if you don't like my fire then don't come around...?"
in fact, just the other day i learned that one of my closest friends happened to be a closet pot-head not so long ago and continues to struggle with his decision to leave bud behind.
i hear justifications all the time about how smoking marijuana is no more dangerous for one's health than smoking cigarettes, and how it really doesn't affect them like other drugs would. (then why do you continue to return to that nasty stuff?!)
in all honesty, i cannot consider myself even remotely close to being an authority on the subject, but i struggle to see any redemptive qualities in a practice that involves exposing oneself to a state of mind-altered-ness. friends of mine who don't pass on grass laugh about moments when they've hallucinated or done completely out of character crap that truly concerns me.
i suppose its just the mother in me, but there is much to be said about the pitfalls of repeatedly indulging yourself in things that are directly undermining one's health and well-being; which is why the sciam article that i stumbled upon today made me think twice about some of my liberal tendencies when it comes to legalizing medicinal marijuana.
who would have thought that the latest medical craze and one of the biggest untapped pharmeceutical territories would have distinguished professors scouring the streets for the best marijuana providers...and even offering co-authorship on journal articles in exchange for top-notch bud?!
just like almost every other pharmeceutical breakthrough in our very western u.s. of a, i am concerned that the profit-driven force behind this research may lead us to legalizing and refining a market that needs no more followers and worshippers than it already has.
according to scientific american: "The human brain naturally produces and processes compounds closely related to those found in Cannabis sativa...These compounds are called endogenous cannabinoids or endocannabinoids. As the journal Nature Medicine put it in 2003, 'the endocannabinoid system has an important role in nearly every paradigm of pain, in memory, in neurodegeneration and in inflammation.'...Yet outdated regulations and attitudes thwart legitimate research with marijuana. Indeed, American biomedical researchers can more easily acquire and investigate cocaine. Marijuana is classified as a so-called Schedule 1 drug, alongside LSD and heroin. As such, it is defined as being potentially addictive and having no medical use, which under the circumstances becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy...Any researcher attempting to study marijuana must obtain it through the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The U.S. research crop, grown at a single facility, is regarded as less potent--and therefore less medicinally interesting--than the marijuana often easily available on the street. Thus, the legal supply is a poor vehicle for studying the approximately 60 cannabinoids that might have medical applications...Some may argue that researchers do not need to study the drug--after all, there is Marinol, a synthetic version of marijuana's major active compound, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC; it relieves nausea and stimulates appetite. But patients are often disappointed with Marinol as compared with marijuana. A 1997 editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that 'it is difficult to titrate the therapeutic dose of this drug, and it is not widely prescribed. By contrast, smoking marijuana produces a rapid increase in the blood level of the active ingredients and is thus more likely to be therapeutic.'"
well, there's the "facts" if you want more info you can visit www.sciam.com.
their conclusion: "The reasonable course is to make it easier for American researchers to at least examine marijuana for possible medical benefits."
i would like to tell pfizer i think they've done enough.
posted by r.m. @ 10:34 PM
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