Totally. The authorities portrayed pot in such a ludicrous, cartoonish way they lost all credibility.
The “logic” they used was that using pot would ruin your life, so they will ruin your life by putting you in jail if they catch you.
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My MIL was dealing with severe back pain and had poor reactions to opioid treatments. Cannabis was the only thing that blunted her pain enough to make life tolerable.
She eventually got a spinal nerve stimulator implant, which brought her pain down to manageable levels, but she still uses cannabis balm for breakthrough pain.
Cannabis was extremely beneficial in her case, I don’t know what we would have done without it.
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Meditation works to cut chronic pay by half.
Pain can be a state of mind in some regards.
The problem is that cannabis is very difficult to study because it is a Schedule I drug. Researchers have to use government grown pot (the US government has a pot farm in Mississippi) as opposed to strains that are available to users, and then jump through a bunch of hoops from FDA and DEA. And of course get in big trouble if there are deviations from protocol. And good luck getting funding.
This could be largely alleviated by reclassifying it as a Schedule III drug. The chances of that happening in the next four years are zero. In the meantime, we don’t clearly know what the harms and benefits are.
In my MIL’s case, we were desperate to figure out something for her pain, so we visited a local pot dispensary. The budrista was extremely knowledgeable, talked us through the various options, and recommended some balm and gummies that his own grandmother uses for a similar condition.
It helped, and we’re really grateful we found him. But getting medical advice from the guy at the pot store isn’t a scalable solution. We need actual scientific research in order to make informed decisions.
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Apparently, you have never experienced severe, crippling physical pain.
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I’ve replied to this thread too much already, but one more anecdote. The key is to find a good budrista who knows how the strains work. A couple years ago I did some due diligence work on a former Nalley’s pickle factory in Tacoma. It is a huge building, that has been entirely converted to cannabis grow-ops, labs, and processing. The State of Washington strictly regulates these activities and each operation is limited by square footage. I’d guess there were 30 separate tenants. The amount of tech is wild, it like walking into Novo Nordisk or something. The effects of each strain are completely dialed in, and they create different blends to achieve different results.
A good budrista can guide you to the exact product you are looking for. For example, my wife has trouble staying asleep at night. So the budrista recommended a special night time gummy. I’ve tried it and it works great. It knocks me out, I get good quality sleep, and I wake up alert. I seldom use them because I don’t want to become dependent on a sleep aid, but it is an amazing product. I’ve tried Ambien before, and I stay asleep, but my sleep isn’t good quality and I wake up foggy.
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You’re being thick with that kind of response.
Before you go back down the reefer madness (inside story of the devil weed), let’s not compare opioid receptors and cannabinoid receptors. Let’s not create a commonality of schedule I substances.
Both cannabinoids and opioids effect/combine with the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The cannabinoid pathway is very different from the opioid pathway through GPRCs. I don’t pretend to believe that you have a background in cellular microbiology and nervous system. Also:
lidocaine can inhibit GPCR signaling. Its primary mechanism of action is blocking voltage-gated sodium channels; and this alters GPCRs signaling.
As well: caffeine primarily affects GPC receptors.
Rather than go comparing opioid and cannabinoid mediated cellular descriptions, it would be well to merely compare outcomes. Most importantly when comparing the risks and benefits of the two is the effect that opioids have on the autonomic nervous system. Cannabis effects the ANS but its effects are benign compared to opioids.
Death from an opioid overdose is respiratory failure. In the two years between 2022 and 2023 there have been 160,000 such opioid outcomes. In the same time, No deaths from overdose of marijuana have been reported.
https://www.dea.gov/factsheets/marijuana
cannabis is still illegal on the federal level As you pointed out.
As a schedule I Controlled Substance marijuana has some serious issues. I don’t know about other professional licensure, but if a nurse tests positive for THC, the BRN can revoke your license, and/or you can be immediately fired from your job. On the other hand, most opioids are Schedule II. A nurse with a prescription, for example for Vicodin, can test positive with w/o any problem. Furthermore, possession of a Schedule I can lead to a federal felony conviction. Possession of a Schedule II with a prescription is completely legal.
My grudge with your cautionary tale is that until the CSA reschedules marijuana, you should be aware and complain about the CSA folklore tale and legal implications. You should at least complain to the CSA and wait until marijuana can be studied scientifically. Tossing about anecdotal stories about marijuana and your bias about using it would better be contained to yourself. The legal ramifications of the CSA classification of marijuana has led to the disruptions of thousands of lives far more than the use of cannabis.
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That is an assumption that lacks intelligence. You have no clue.
If anything smoking as a teen caused great pain.
I’ve come across very few individuals (career/RealLife) who, in using opioids for appropriate pain relief, had anything but a poor reaction. I’ve mentioned it quite a few times in this context but, after antibiotics, the most frequent claim of “allergy” from patients to a medication over the years has been to some sort of opioid.
Obviously, an allergy is a specific response so important to tease out accurate information and, on further questioning the allergy always manifest itself in some form of the recognised pleiotropic effects. Imagine the disbelief when I explained that it wasn’t allergy, but the expected “side effects” (to varying degrees). I’m pretty sure that uppermost in their minds eas to wonder how folk took these meds for recreational purposes…I certainly do?
It’s the nausea, constipation, postural hypotension and disorientation that gets me. Only relief of severe and unremitting pain makes those worthwhile for me.
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Well, if that’s the sort of thing that you’ve experienced, no wonder you think a bit of meditation can cut your pain in half. Not smoking would’ve done it even better, I’ll wager.
Totally ridiculous response. Find another whipping boy. You make no sense when you do that.
Jon Zabat-Zinn’s first study was of chronic pain patients. He proved meditation cuts pain symptoms in half.
Yes not smoking was wiser. As I matured I figured that out. Perhaps you will mature.
I’m somewhat familiar with Kabat-Zinn’s work on mindfulness and stress reduction (and, for sure severe pain is very stressful) but his first study certainly didn’t “prove” what you’re claiming.
It was the very first scientific study ever published in regard to meditation.