For the record, I personally don't care if marijuana is or is not medically efficacious. My basic take on the issue from the political standpoint is that it has always been a red herring and tremendous waste of resources. But from the medical standpoint, I say if it works for you, then great, go for it! After all, if we can have people having themselves stung by bees to treat pain, MS and various other ailments (which cannabis also seems to be effective for) -- while still others have bio toxins injected into their faces so they can pretend they aren't getting older -- then, surely, we can have people inhaling cannabinoids for their own purposes (medical or otherwise). Bottom line: if it works for you, then by all means, go ahead. Chronic pain is a horrible thing to deal with, and people in pain will literally try anything to make it go away (I know this personally, as I have been living in pain for the past 12 years). But make no mistake: our government doesn't want people to use marijuana for any reason. And they are prepared to go to great lengths and exercise great power against those who do.
The writing is on the wall, and it's time to pay attention: the FDA's recent announcement that smoked marijuana has no accepted medical use is going to result in some very ugly ramifications. The ugliest being that the DEA has just been given carte blanche to continue their campaigns against California's medical marijuana operations. All of you people are in very grave danger. The reason you are in so much danger is the confluence of several factors, among them: federal law trumps state law (otherwise known as abuse of the "commerce clause"), the DEA was petitioned long ago to re-schedule marijuana and deferred the issue to the FDA, and last -- the FDA just passed a death sentence on medical marijuana.
Add to the mix the fact that pharmaceutical preparations of natural cannabinoids extracted from marijuana are undergoing clinical trials in which they are being found medically efficacious, and it should be quite clear to the most thick-headed among us that California medical marijuana operations are in for a rash of raids from the DEA.
Yes, anyone studying the issue seriously will have no choice but to conclude that cannabinoids have medical utility. How else can it be explained that artificial THC is already an approved safe and effective medicine? However, the issue has been being debated since the 1970's, and all "progress" made by advocates of medical marijuana has been derailed by two factors: marijuana is irrevocably connected in the public mind to recreational substance use, and more importantly, there simply are not enough legitimate medical marijuana users to bring about the changes required.
The government won the propaganda war over medical marijuana long ago -- go back and read how they've adapted their language over the years. Once cannabinoids did prove themselves as medicine, the language of the propagandists adapted to it. They stopped saying that marijuana had no accepted medical use at all and started saying that smoked marijuana had no accepted medical use. They also went to great lengths to ensure that medical marijuana was viewed as a "backdoor to full legalization." Then they started adding in a little "science" by saying (rightly) that the actual dose received through smoking marijuana (or vaporizing it) could not be controlled with scientific rigor. It doesn't matter that a user can self-titrate based on the immediate feedback of inhaled cannabinoids. In the simplistic (and regrettably, entirely effective) jargon of drug war propaganda, marijuana as medicine is completely unscientific. Oh yeah, and "those people just want to get high."
By divorcing itself from the recreational movement, advocates of medical marijuana have dug themsleves into an untenable position, and they should literally start running for the hills -- 'cause there's a big assed target on your backs, and there simply are not enough of you to make a stand. Stop holding the recreational users at arms length and embrace the fact that their cause can include yours, but you have not allowed theirs to be part of yours. If you could just buy marijuana like beer, then you wouldn't have to go through all the political bullshit to use it for whatever ails you. Wake up already -- and, oh yeah, take cover! You're about to be under heavy fire.
Medical marijuana is dead. Sadly, it is likely that there will also be some humans dying along with it. We need a bigger army -- so it's time to unite for the one cause that makes sense: ending the war on drug users. Then people can use marijuana for whatever the hell they find it useful for -- as "God" intended.
3 comments:
I was quite surprised to read this. It is the height of good propaganda, albeit the type usual found on DEA websites. You roll out all the heavy ammunition of the drug warriors here, just retooled and disguised in “friendly clothing” so to speak.
Our goal must of course be the end to prohibition. Our strategy must embrace that which is a means to this end. But our tactics must be smart, must be nuanced, and should not resort to the traditional recriminations and unrealistic utopian fantasies that have for the last four decades failed to accomplish anything in the way of ending prohibition.
Now I’d like to address a few of the most outrageous of your assertions, since it is upon these few main points that your entire thesis really rests and depends.
Quote: “and all ‘progress’ made by advocates of medical marijuana has been derailed by two factors”
“Derailed”? No medical marijuana initiative has EVER FAILED to pass. And the percentage of Americans who support legal medical use of marijuana has INCREASED. And more and more states pass medical marijuana laws EVERY YEAR. And the DEA attempt to shut down or even control medical marijuana dispensaries has, while closing a clinic here and there, been largely unsuccessful relative to the widespread existence of dispensaries. And it’s becoming an increasing propaganda failure for them, a public relations nightmare that will only get worse for them.
Quote: “The government won the propaganda war over medical marijuana long ago”
Oh, really? Is that why the percentage of public support for medical marijuana continues to climb? Is that why every year the number of states with medical marijuana laws increases? Is that why the recent FDA announcement was met with massive ridicule and denunciation by media across the country? Is that why the number of medical professionals, professional organizations, etc who endorse medical marijuana increases every year? Is that why the Hinchey Amendment (which seeks to de-fund DEA targeting of medical marijuana in states allowing use of the drug) gathered a record number of votes this year? The government propaganda on medical marijuana is increasingly ridiculous in the face of the now almost monthly release of medical studies and reports showing the medical efficacy of marijuana, and these reports are starting to generate an increased amount of news attention.
Quote: “By divorcing itself from the recreational movement, advocates of medical marijuana have dug themselves [sic] into an untenable position, and they should literally start running for the hills -- 'cause there's a big assed target on your backs, and there simply are not enough of you to make a stand.”
Increased numbers of medical marijuana states and the increased move towards finding ways to create a legal market are absolutely steps towards an end to marijuana prohibition. States with medical marijuana laws see a decrease in teen use, no increase in crime rates, and increased public acceptance of these facilities in their midst – with only a few exceptions here and there, which get media attention but do not impact overall public support and perceptions. These things all make points to the public at large, these things go a long way towards debunking myths about marijuana. The opponents of medical marijuana – those on the government side I mean, as opposed to you – cry out that medical marijuana laws will result in increased overall use and children gaining better access to drugs etc, and all of that rhetoric is revealed as lies. The public takes note of this, and it shows. Besides, for many of these medical patients, it is literally a matter of life and death, of being able to simply function from day to day – they cannot afford to wait for utopians to finally enact full-scale legalization. They have every reason to step forward and try to relax prohibition so that at the very least the debate over marijuana is not leaving them gasping and dying. The question of medical marijuana is in many ways an honestly separate issue, anyway, but one that ultimately can only have positive ramifications for the broader movement to end prohibition.
Moreover, medical marijuana’s prominence in recent years as a political issue has led directly to increased public discourse about overall prohibition, and education about the health advantages of medical marijuana includes (inherently) debunking the government’s claims about the so-called “dangers” of using marijuana – which again aids in the overall fight against prohibition. So the only real area where medical marijuana patients are in danger is in relation to your last comment – that there aren’t enough of them “to make a stand.” And that is only true because they lack enough soldiers-in-arms with the guts and the integrity to stand beside them, because so many self-proclaimed “anti-drug war advocates” abandon them to the enemy.
Quote: “Medical marijuana is dead. Sadly, it is likely that there will also be some humans dying along with it. We need a bigger army”
Absolutely, we need a bigger army. But not because “medical marijuana is dead.” Medical marijuana, for those with the intellectual honesty and actual knowledge to comprehend current politics, is in fact the strongest and most currently vibrant aspect of ending the drug war. No, the lack of a bigger army is due solely to the traitorous actions of people who abandon and then condemn our fellow “soldiers” falling prey to injury, illness, and death on the battlefield.
This site has much to offer advocates of ending marijuana prohibition, and your hard work is readily evident. Which makes it all the more troubling that those positive aspects are marred by your continued tendency to advocate strife within our community of activists coupled with what seems to be a serious lack of effort to consider and comprehend the larger, long-term political and social aspects of our battle to end the war on marijuana. I sincerely hope you will reconsider some of your positions and tactics.
back in the 1970's there were 24 states that had "medical marijuana." from 1980 through 2004 there were 12.8 million arrests for marijuana. sorry, but that isn't even close to progress. as to all the wonderful reports of the potential medical uses that marijuana offers -- they read the same way back in the 70's. pursuing medical marijuana is, and always has been, a complete waste of resources -- so, no, i'm not going to back down from calling for anything less than a full stop in the drug war.
have you heard of marinol? how about sativex? carve it on your forehead: medical marijuana is dead.
and thank you for believing that i have so much power than my activities are thought to be "threatening" in some way to the overall reform movement. i had no idea that i am so important!
you sound like one of the many herring farmers i've dispatched in the past (indeed you sound exactly like a certain malignant canine), so should you wish to pursue this dialogue further, you can find me on political crossfire -- i assure you that you're done wasting my time here.
The way I view medical marijuana is more like "Exhibit A" in my fantasy "New Nuremberg" trials that will be held in a couple of years. Here ALL the politicians who EVER denied suffering people a dirt-cheap medicine will be tried for crimes against humanity.
It's only "recently" that marinol and sativex was created, but really, the whole "medicine good" and "illegal drugs bad" did not spring into existence because of scientific research. This faux distincion is almost entirely political/moral in nature - it's pretty much only the needless abuse of penicillin that's really a malum in se type of crime.
The fact that we now have to come crawling, begging and above all declare our subjugation to our doctor is all Drug War ideology.
Theoretically medical marijuana could "improve the image of pot". I just don't believe the net effect to be particularly positive. Why? Because the over-arching Drug War Ideology has implemented in medicine the same disgusting type of discrimination we see against pot.
I was reading Jacob Sullum's "Saying Yes: in defense of drug use". He makes a good point in one of his cases showing how drug war ideology is present in medicine as well:
There's this doctor. He has a terribly stressful work environment due to a crappy boss and he's really cracking up. Anyway, he gets some sort of very painful injury and prescribes some acetaminophen & hydrocodone pills for himself (the last is a synthetic opiod). To his surprise these didn't just help the physical pain but also gave him relief of the psychological pain. Eventually the DEA shows up at his door and makes him go through HELL because - in their medical opinion - he has abused his right to prescribe this painkiller. Allegedly because someone taking such drugs can't do their job. The pure irony comes later when he gets into another accident. Right away his new doctor prescribes him OxyContin (oxycodone), and NO ONE had a problem with it - although that synthetic is a lot stronger than hydrocodone.
The whole thing about drug use needs to be normalized. We need to start talking about drugs in the same way as we talk about other things. I can't see that happening unless drug users begin demanding everyone around them speak of their drug in the same terms as with alcohol.
Medical marijuana is too much thinking inside the box. And, incidentally, it's the same "disease" that afflicts pot users when they go overboard in their own hateful rethorics against the "evil synthetic drugs".
The whole point is that none of this is evil, it's not even a proper crime (malum in se). Hence we should NOT be punished for using such drugs - whether for recreational purposes or self-medication.
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