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Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Update On Marijuana

Nixon's War on Drugs demonized marijuana, but science keeps finding new benefits of that miracle plant. A recent study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine says that states that have legalized medical marijuana have seen a 25 percent drop in prescription overdose deaths. In fact, the longer that a state keeps this policy, the lower the rate of overdose. According to the researchers, after one year of legalized medical marijuana, these deaths dropped by 20 percent. However, after five years, prescription overdoses declined by 34 percent. The majority of these overdose deaths – about 60 percent – occur in patients who are prescribed opioids for pain. Because marijuana provides effective pain relief without the danger of overdose, many patients are making the switch. Other recent studies have shown that marijuana is also effective at treating nausea, providing relief to cancer patients, and more. It's no wonder that Big Pharma has made every effort to keep this natural remedy illegal.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have another reason for disliking pot that some may consider childish or selfish.My refusal to smoke it drove a wedge between myself and my friends in the late 60's and early 70's.I drank only,which meant that I no longer fit in,even with those who I had grown up with.I sometimes wonder what path my life would have taken if I had given in to the pot,AND acid,and all the other crap.

Anonymous said...

Your comment is pointless on this post, this is about the medical benefits of marijuana.

Anonymous said...

4:39
Good for you. Sounds like you simply hung out with a different group of people. I can almost guarantee you pot had nothing to do with the direction their lives took, unless they were unnecessarily arrested for it.

lmclain said...

4:39, you dislike marijuana because your friends DID and you didn't fit in? LOL! Sounds more like a social problem than any opinion based on science or fact.
What happened to your friends? They become President? Or take up study in astrophysics? Or become lawyers, doctors, and cops? And what did YOU become? An alcoholic?
But, I do know what you went through -- some of my friends stopped hanging around with me when they found out I didn't have much interest in watching cars drive around in a circle for 4 hours.
Damn that NASCAR.

Anonymous said...

You pot smokers are very defensive and to say the least strange. I support 4:39. You clowns seem to be selfish criminals. Pot is illegal and should be. You clowns are making claims that you are not experts at. You are totally clueless.

lmclain said...

Looks like I pissed 11:16 off. Probably something to do with my remark about watching cars drive around in a circle.
Notice there aren't any facts, research, or statistics in his post.
"Pot is illegal and should be"? Not everywhere, but then again, that's a fact. The President (and several other ones , too) have admitted to smoking pot -or worse). That's another fact.
Alcohol and cigarettes kill a MILLION AMERICANS. EVERY YEAR. That's another fact.
Pot? It has NEVER killed one person IN HISTORY. Another fact.
Who is the real clown here?

Anonymous said...

The medical benefits of marijuana, some very clearly superior to pharmaceutical industry products in terms of effectiveness and side effects, was the topic of this post, not the social aspects of recreational use among baby boomers.

My doctor says that when Maryland gets its act together, he'll write me a prescription or give consent for marijuana use for me in a New York minute to replace the drugs that he gives me to control my neurological symptoms that started after a diving accident eight years ago. And coming off of this pain medication, which makes me feel like half a zombie, would be a great relief.

Anonymous said...

2:05, thanks to omalley and the boys, you'll have to be zombied out or risk arrest until some time in 2016.

Anonymous said...

There is actually one long term issue that those late 60's and early 70's pot smokers experienced,and it's true with each and every one of them.Prescription medication in all forms had to be stronger for the long term pot smokers than for those who had never smoked pot.Their resistance to those drugs had increased significantly.I have never seen a study suggesting such,but it was obvious.Ironically the same was true for those who drank heavily.