Friday, April 9, 2010

Rx Weed

Not many educated people I come in contact with in my rough age group oppose the legalization of marijuana. Its use for medical purposes is currently permitted in 14 states and there is a decent chance it will be legalized for the same limited purposes in Illinois within the year (the bill passed in the Illinois Senate a few weeks ago and now need only pass in the House to take effect -- currently only THC pills and injections are permitted). I'm also surprised at how many conservatives support its legalization (for medical purposes at the very least) when you ask them.

There are really two issues: medical use and general legalization. General legalization is something I firmly believe makes sense but that is a recreational activity I won't discuss here. More importantly to the purview of this blog is its medical use. Pot is of substantial benefit to a huge list of diseases and ailments. It has been found to help of course with nausea and loss of appetite associated with cancer treatments, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer's, arthritis, Crohn's, epilepsy, glaucoma, migraines, MS, tourette's and a variety of other terminal illnesses and symptoms including chronic pain. It is, quite literally, a natural medicine. Rather than a pill that is developed in a laboratory, made of synthetic materials, tested on mice, apes, and human test groups, approved by questionably independent governmental agencies, guarded by BigPharma for patent value, sometimes dangerous when we have had a chance to actually view its long-term effects, and not infrequently having such bad side effects it trades one problem for another, here you have a natural product that has withstood the test of time.

Cannabis is a natural medicine. Just as aloe has distinct medicinal properties, so does cannabis. Adderall, pain killers, muscle relaxers and other prescription drugs are widely abused. Yet Adderall and similar drugs are being prescribed at record rates every year. The fact that weed it is not utilized and encouraged for medical purposes is a shame. It further emphasizes that this country's priorities are not proper. We do not effectively value nature and we do not appropriately distrust human intervention in nature. Weed is the tea and prescription drugs are the red bull.

No comments:

Post a Comment