Michigan Medical Marijuana Clinic Will Trade Pot for Vote

Hemp and marijuana are terms for Cannabis sativa L.; any difference results from different strains, as hemp and marijuana are able to be interbred, and their offspring are fertile. Industrial hemp strains are Cannabis strains that usually have low amounts of THC, but higher amounts of CBD. Marijuana strains are Cannabis strains that usually have high amounts of the cannabinoid THC, but lower amounts of the cannabinoid CBD. Cannabinoids are compounds found in Cannabis. Strains of Cannabis containing higher amounts of CBD are being sought after in the many states with legalized medical Cannabis. Many patients report liking strains having a 1:1 ratio of THC:CBD.

A British company has recently developed an oral mucosal spray with this ratio of THC to CBD; the only problem is that it is really expensive. Some people report that Sativex costs ~$13 per spray. If someone could legally grow their own Cannabis, especially outside, the costs would be minimal. This spray shows that Cannabis does not have to be smoked to enjoy its medicinal, industrial, recreational, and dietary uses. Sativex also shows a way people make money from Cannabis being illegal.

CBD, and the other cannabinoids, are very interesting potential medications. Pharmaceutical companies cannot patent Cannabis. Even if they could make cannabinoids into medications, their cost would be prohibitive to someone not having good insurance. But if you don't need a prescription for alcohol and tobacco, then you should not need one for Cannabis.

There are methods of ingesting Cannabis that do not involve smoking. Many people use vaporizers when using medical Cannabis. Some people claim to find medical effects from using raw Cannabis ingested orally; this reduces a psychedelic effect, as most of the THC will still be carboxylated if not heated, though some sensitive people may find an "altered" state resulting from raw Cannabis ingestion. Cannabis oil extraction techniques exist, as do methods for topical use. Even though the vaporizers and oral ingestion methods are healthier ways to dose Cannabis, Cannabis has not been associated with COPD or lung cancer, according to Tashkin et al. at UCLA (2006).

The strains with higher amounts of CBD might be more useful for many people, because CBD can attenuate or block THC's effects. But many people are able to deal with marijuana, or THC alone, as a medicine or inebriant with problems resulting that are no worse than many legal things. CBD may be more useful than THC for many indications, but studies will likely show that some combination of the two (in conjunction with the other 80-something cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids found in Cannabis) will likely be more useful medically than either alone. There are Cannabis strains that are associated with sleep-inducing effects (e.g. Cannabis sativa ssp. indica). There are Cannabis strains associated with stimulating effects (e.g. Cannabis sativa ssp. sativa). Then again, there are the strains of Cannabis that give will not give overt psychoactive effects.

Regardless, even the worst effects of Cannabis are no worse than legal things, and could be dealt with easily if Cannabis were re-legalized. You can retrieve research from PubMed.gov that backs up my claim regarding the potential medical uses of cannabinoids. Cannabis should be allowed to be used medically, considering legal drugs. Cannabis has many industrial uses, and its seeds can even be eaten.

Of course, it is only advisable that people only use Cannabis where it is legal. There are certain people, like Irvin Rosenfeld, who still receive Cannabis cigarettes from the US Federal Government because they are in a Compassionate Investigational New Drug program. He uses it because he has many bone tumors resulting from a congenital disease; in the three decades he has been using smoked Cannabis, he has not had new tumors develop. He receives 300 joints a month from the Federal Government. He wrote a book called "My Medicine."

The War on (Some) Drugs has created a bloated, corrupt, and hypocritical Prison-Industrial Complex. Illegal drugs can rival, or surpass, precious metals in cost. Drug Prohibition isn’t meant to reduce addiction, but exploit it.

The police use drug dealers as informants, and the competing drug dealers, on whom the informants have snitched, are used as bribes and excuses for unproductive "drug-fighting" budgets. The police also seize property from people arrested for drugs; no convictions are needed. Another form of corruption is how officials receive “donations” from prisons and rehabs centers so they will vote for drug laws that feed the prisons and rehabs “clients.” When chewed, or made into a tea, coca leaves are probably just as safe as many legal drugs. The resources it takes to enforce ineffective drug laws could be used to fight crimes like theft, rape, and murder. The research needed to develop more effective treatments for addiction is also hindered by Drug Prohibition. Some techniques used to fight addiction are illegal under the Drug War, like iboga.

The Drug War continually creates a permanent underclass. People that get caught up in the drug enforcement system are often stigmatized for the rest of their lives, and can’t find employment with drug convictions on their records, being forever dependent on welfare or prison. Dr. William Halsted was a founder of Johns Hopkins, a brilliant surgeon, and a cocaine and morphine addict. I am not condoning the dangers of addiction; I am just saying that not all addicts are evil or useless.

The drugs will never be stopped by Drug Prohibition, even if the penalties are death or a life sentence. The corruption inherent in the system will always protect the big drug dealers. When a drug shipment goes through a border or a drug route, unlucky drug carriers are allowed to be decoys (and, some might say, bribes) that take the noose, bullet, or prison sentence, while the real drug shipment goes through unhindered.

Under Drug Prohibition, an explosion of organized crime syndicate activity has occurred, with concurrent alleged collusion with police, military, and intelligence agencies. The only honest way to deal with drugs is harm reduction; it utilizes education to reduce the dangers of drugs, and treats addiction like a medical problem, not a criminal one. L.E.A.P. is a group composed of police that want to end Drug Prohibition. Judge James Gray is a conservative judge; he also wants to end Drug Prohibition.

Cannabis can possibly treat and prevent cancers, chemo-induced organ damage, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cardiovascular disease, Huntington’s disease, prion diseases, dementia, ALS, osteoporosis, diabetes and its complications, Crohn's disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, anxiety, pain, insomnia, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, MRSA, strokes and stroke damage, cocaine addiction, et al. (sources: PubMed.gov) The US Federal government patented the neuroprotectant effects of cannabinoids in US Patent #6,630,507; it specifically mentions Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Of special interest is the cannabinoid CBD, because it is non-psychoactive, able to attenuate or block THC's effects, and illegal.

Cannabis can do anything that cotton, trees, and fossil fuels can do, but in more environment-friendly ways. Many successful people have been associated with Cannabis (e.g. Carl Sagan, Richard Branson, Steve Wozniak, Paul McCartney, Tim Lincecum, and Francis Crick). If you think that we shouldn’t overhaul our drug policies, think about how you probably eat too much processed, factory-farmed "food," over-consume Chinese-made "goods," are enslaved by the debt-based monetary system, are involved with corporations that knowingly pollute the environment to feed their addiction to profits, pop all sorts of pharmaceuticals, smoke tobacco that was raised with radioactive fertilizers (source: epa.gov/radiation/sources/tobacco.html), or drink alcohol to excess.