Pubdate: Sat, 28 Feb 2004
Source: Red Deer Express (CN AB)
Copyright: 2004 Red Deer Express
Contact:  http://www.reddeerexpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2920
Author: Dr. Dave Hepburn
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)

MARIJUANA HAS MEDICINAL BENEFITS

It's Your Health

Compassion Societies are those intrepid organizations that deal in 
marijuana for medical use.

Motto: "Hey dude, where's my care?" Or as one client appreciatively 
describes "They put the hash in compassion."

In an effort to weed out some of the misconceptions clouding this budding 
market, I called the local Compassion Society and was invited to come down 
and check out the joint.

Realizing that the location of the society is a well-guarded secret, my 
inquiry, "How do I get there?" was met with "Use your freakin' car, man."

Knock knock knock.

"Who's there?"

"It's Dr Dave."

"Dave's not here man."

"No. I'm, Dave."

"Oh hey man, come on in."

Expecting to enter a pad full of tie dyed, red eyed, dread locked dudes 
lounging about making rude noises with vacuum cleaner hoses sucking away at 
their bottom lips (my dog hates it when I do that), I was surprised at how 
clinical the office was.

Add some 1956 Time magazines, fuzzy mould, and a few screams of pain and 
this could have been my own office.

Each patient at this clinic had a separate chart, complete with a referral 
from a doctor.

Marijuana is doled out but not consumed on the premises. Local MD's refer 
patients with illnesses ranging from irritable bowel to fibromyalgia to 
multiple sclerosis.

Most of these patients have tried prescription after prescription without 
success and have admitted to their doctor that the one thing that seems to 
give them some relief is marijuana.

In fact, marijuana has been found to be useful for those who suffer:

1. Severe nausea,

often associated with chemotherapy.

2. Wasting diseases including cancer and AIDS. These folks need the munchies.

3. Spastic conditions secondary to neurological diseases.

4.Chronic pain syndromes including irritable bowel and fibromyalgia.

But many doctors are concerned about recommending marijuana. Aside from the 
usual concerns of medication dosages, purity, and interactions, doctors 
remain somewhat averse to yanking out their scrip pad and scribbling "Smoke 
two of these and call me in the morning."

As part of the MD job description, we spend no insignificant portion of our 
day describing in great detail how a patient will incur assorted horrible 
cancers of assorted horrible organs if they continue to smoke.

It's then awfully awkward to instruct the next patient to "burn these 
leaves and inhale the smoke deeply into your lungs."

But really recent relevant research has shown that there is, in fact, no 
increase in lung cancer from smoking marijuana

Furthermore, vaporizers allow the active ingredients of marijuana to be 
inhaled without actually burning the leaf.

Marijuana, like Valium and Demerol and other drugs should not be used 
recreationally.

Marijuana can render serious users seriously stupid (hence Pauly Shore).

Marijuana users driving Pontiacs, dental drills, shopping carts or other 
dangerous equipment is not what society needs.

However, medical marijuana is being further studied as an adjunct to 
standard medical therapy for those who suffer and would benefit from its use.

I wish these altruistic cannabis experts good luck in their endeavor to 
bring relief to the discomforted.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom