Originally Posted By Mr X **It is very hard for a doctor to prescribe a specific amount of marijuana for someone because the strength of it differs from batch to batch. You don't really know how much drug you are getting, so it's not something easily done unless it was legalized and grown in a legit manner so it can be controlled.** Yet another reason for it to be legalized for medical purposes. Duh. **Some people are so very sick when they take this, that they can't even smoke it themselves, they have to have the smoke blown into their faces so they can breath it in.** Like I mentioned though, it can also be eaten. And that's another one of the advantages of the drug as well...a patient who is too sick to keep anything down can have the smoke blown in their face so they feel a bit better, and then when they can actually eat they can add a little of the drug to some eggs or something and manage to get some nutrition. Yeah...horrible drug. Should definitely be illegal.
Originally Posted By jonvn Problem with eating it is if you can't keep anything down at all, that doesn't work....it has to be inhaled. That's how sick these people are who get it blown into their faces.
Originally Posted By Mr X Yup...that's why I mentioned the blown into the face followed by eating, of course that would be an "if possible". Much of the reason for the medicine, if course, is so they CAN eat a little and hopefully keep it down.
Originally Posted By ncnike7 "Are you suggesting a child on chemo that can't eat and is wasting away should just die?" Don't EVER suggest that I think that any child should "just die". I watched my 1 year old baby brother be poked, probed, tied down and have bone marrow extracted, endure radiation treatments and endless scans, I calmed him when he woke up screaming from night terrors, I sat in emergency rooms until 4 a.m. wondering if he was going to come home at all. I watched nurses in full gowns complete with protective goggles and gloves pump poisons into him all while telling us it was going to make him better. I listened to rude comments from inconsiderate adults about “how bald that baby isâ€. I sat with him post op rooms with feeding tubes down his throat and heart monitors stuck to his chest scared to death at and not understanding what was happening to him. It broke my heart, so I would appreciate it if you would never make any assumptions like that again.
Originally Posted By ncnike7 "Marijuana abuse also has the potential to promote cancer of the lungs and other parts of the respiratory tract because it contains irritants and carcinogens9,11. In fact, marijuana smoke contains 50 to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke12. It also induces high levels of an enzyme that converts certain hydrocarbons into their carcinogenic form—levels that may accelerate the changes that ultimately produce malignant cells13. Marijuana users usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do, which increases the lungs' exposure to carcinogenic smoke. These facts suggest that, puff for puff, smoking marijuana may be more harmful to the lungs than smoking tobacco." <a href="http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html" target="_blank">http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofa cts/marijuana.html</a> Yep, that's exactly what we should be giving cancer patients
Originally Posted By ncnike7 And after treatment, when little Johnny is going through withdrawls, then what? Or maybe in a few years after they do more research and find out that marijuana actually does more harm than good, they'll have a "massive recall". And it really isn't ethical to give a child a drug that can have so many adverse side-effects. Chemo and radiation already does enough harm to developing children, let's not put even more potentially harmful drugs into them.
Originally Posted By Mr X I'm sorry to hear about your brother, but I didn't make any "assumptions", I challanged your statement about giving this medicine to kids. And it seems to me that you, of all people, would be in FAVOR of any medicine that might help. Your argument about the harmful effects of marijuana don't relate to this issue, by the way, since it is generally subscribed to the already very sick as a pain relever and anti-nauseant. As Kar2oonMan suggested, to help with the quality of life...not a "cure" or anything remotely like that. As Jon said, it's an effective medication and that is well documented.
Originally Posted By Mr X ncnike, you continue to make patently false statements. It has ALSO been well documented that marijuana is not at all physically addictive. Thus, no withdrawls. Same can NOT be said for percocettes and other pain pills that are widely subscribed...those medicines CAN put a patient through detox.
Originally Posted By Mr X **And it really isn't ethical to give a child a drug that can have so many adverse side-effects.** Now you're the ethics board? All drugs have side effects. And yes, as a parent and in consultation with a doctor, I would certainly consider the use of medical marijuana if my daughter needed it...if it were still illegal in America, we'd move to Holland if necessary.
Originally Posted By ncnike7 "ncnike, you continue to make patently false statements.It has ALSO been well documented that marijuana is not at all physically addictive. Thus, no withdrawls." What about his? "Long-term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction for some people; that is, they abuse the drug compulsively even though it interferes with family, school, work, and recreational activities. Drug craving and withdrawal symptoms can make it hard for long-term marijuana smokers to stop abusing the drug. People trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, and anxiety. They also display increased aggression on psychological tests, peaking approximately one week after the last use of the drug." It has ALSO been well documented that marijuana is not at all physically addictive. Thus, no withdrawls. The fact that marijuana ellivaiates pain might be well documented, but the effects that it can have on a small child is not. Oh wait, yes it is..."Students who smoke marijuana get lower grades and are less likely to graduate from high school, compared with their nonsmoking peers21,22,23,24. A study of 129 college students found that, among those who smoked the drug at least 27 of the 30 days prior to being surveyed, critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning were significantly impaired, even after the students had not taken the drug for at least 24 hours20. These "heavy" marijuana abusers had more trouble sustaining and shifting their attention and in registering, organizing, and using information than did the study participants who had abused marijuana no more than 3 of the previous 30 days. As a result, someone who smokes marijuana every day may be functioning at a reduced intellectual level all of the time"-<a href="http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html" target="_blank">http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofa cts/marijuana.html</a>
Originally Posted By ncnike7 "All drugs have side effects." Escatly, cancer patients are already recieving potentially harmful drugs, so why add one more that could cause even more adverse side-effects down the road? My brother had to endure years of tests and scans to make sure that the cancer didn't return, and now has to worry about cancers that he could get from the chemo and radiation he recieved. Do you think that he would want to worry about even more side-effects from drugs that were used not to save his life, but to elliviate the pain he was in? It might have been good at the time, but I don't think he would want to deal with the effects now. I know that I wouldn't.
Originally Posted By Mr X Now his is getting foolish. There are no more "harmful" withdrawl effects from pot, even long term use, than a coffee drinker that gives it up. You're simply making stuff up at this point. "I know that I wouldn't"?? Then you're a fool to deny yourself medicine that might make you feel better.
Originally Posted By Mr X Sorry, shouldn't have said "might". Almost certainly it WOULD, it's very effective.
Originally Posted By ncnike7 "You're simply making stuff up at this point." No I'm not, check the website! <a href="http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/marijuana.html" target="_blank">http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofa cts/marijuana.html</a> It looks more like you're making stuff up with all your "it's well documented" cop-out crap. "Then you're a fool to deny yourself medicine that might make you feel better." No, you see, I'm thinking of the long-term effects, not just what would make me feel better at that moment.
Originally Posted By ncnike7 I got this from an article on cancer.org "The recent US Supreme Court decision that the prohibition against marijuana has no exemption for medical use is only one of several important reasons why smoking marijuana to lessen side effects from chemotherapy is not a particularly good idea, say cancer experts. Experts note marijuana’s active ingredients can help some cancer patients alleviate nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite from chemotherapy, but caution that must be weighed against the cancer risks of smoking the drug, especially in light of the availability of other, less risky alternatives." Here is the link to the full articel: <a href="http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/update/NWS_1_1xU_Experts__Pot_Smoking_Is_Not_Best_Choice_to_Treat_Chemo_Side_Effects.asp" target="_blank">http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ NWS/content/update/NWS_1_1xU_Experts__Pot_Smoking_Is_Not_Best_Choice_to_Treat_Chemo_Side_Effects.asp</a> You see, I am not "making stuff up"
Originally Posted By Mr X Whatever. It's obvious you know nothing ABOUT the drug, but you're simply dismissing it under the "drugs are bad" catagory. And I resent it, because people like you are the reasons we have polititians like Romney pandering to you and I resent the fact that it might, hopefully not, have an affect on me or my loved ones. YOU might not want to have any if you undergo chemo or something, but I sure as hell would!
Originally Posted By Mr X **can help cancer patients alleviate nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite from chemotherapy** Well, I'd take my chances. Besides, if you've already GOT cancer what the heck do you have to lose anyway?
