Bob in Mich

Wow, that is one of the worst posts I have ever read here. I can understand partisanship, but that is way over the top

This guy - David Schmader - makes some interesting points about stoners 'coming out' in this 12 minute video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfXGpVi-YRs

I guess my work here is done. I went back and looked at very early posts in this thread and y'all have come a very long way toward comprehension. I don't think there are actually any non-believers left...well, except for the earlier mentioned morons. So, if anyone has any cannabis related questions I will try to help but otherwise, I consider you all educated on the cannabis plant. Good luck. Here is the original posting. Many of you were incredulous at the time. Good to see most have come to accept the medical possibilities. Note that some of the links may no longer work. It was a couple of years ago.

The injustice wasn't that the police stopped me. I regret that they took my meds but commend them for using some level of good judgement and allowing me to go. The injustice is continuing to allow the feds to claim that this is a schedule 1 drug which, by definition, means that it has no medicinal value. Even several of the highly critical posters here realize that is a sham. Clearly there is medical value. There are now millions of medical cannabis patients in the country, both registered and unregistered. These are people who have a doctor's recommendation to use cannabis as medicine. There is no way in hell that we should be treated as criminals.

Chano, how in the hell are you not on my ignore list? I have to agree that Simon's observation is a bit too sweeping. It is a pretty good observation relative to the regular posters in this thread however. Btw, thanks Simon. Rather than seeing the possibility that the national laws should perhaps change, most posters see the cannabis laws as fixed. Worse than fixed, they are fine with them as they are. There seems to be little empathy for injustice if it doesn't directly impact them. Of course, I wasn't expecting morons like performer or Tom to get my point, but I did think some of you might see the scenario differently.

bbb, do you think this group has the maturity level to hear more personal details? No, no me either. I believe that I've said enough already.

No. Had the cruise control set at around 73 (in a 70). Hitting the gas pedal got me clocked at 78. He didn't ticket me...just a written warning.

You have heard of the opiate epidemic? That epidemic is comprised of individuals who are addicted to opiates. You may have heard that quitting them can be difficult for many. You may also have heard that opiate addicts are dying at an alarming rate - both legal and illegal users. I have been able to escape that addiction, though it nearly killed me. I ended up in the emergency room. Can you comprehend that a patient may want to avoid that situation again? Ex-dependents typically will not want to risk 3 weeks back on opiates. That is a slippery slope. Bringing up the funeral wasn't for your sympathy. I mentioned it to show that there are times when, in order to live your life, you need to travel away from home. Patients that need to travel, need to travel with their medicine. The real issue is the outdated cannabis laws. People should be able to choose cannabis if it works best for their medical circumstances and those patients should not be locked in their homes. Users of other medicines don't face such restrictions.

Ok, getting pulled over wasn't very smart. It has been decades since I had gotten stopped though, so I guess I was due. I sped up to avoid a dicey situation with a semi. Coincidentally, the radar car was right there and I was caught going 78 in a 70 zone. Guess that couldn't happen to you on a 1500 mile drive. You have no idea what is enough cannabis for my health condition or how I use it. You also clearly don't understand why a patient may bring different strains, resulting in a total amount that might be more than I would expect to use. Have you ever taken more pills on a trip than you used? And, of course I had implements to deliver my medicine. To do otherwise would be foolish. So, maybe the stupid part was deciding to go to an out of state funeral? Was it taking my medicine with me? Maybe it is just needing medicine in the first place? If you know anyone that has been dependent on opiates and then has gotten themselves off of them, you might understand why that patient wouldn't want to risk that road again. Some posters here have claimed that medical cannabis users should just shut up, stay underground, use at home in private, and all will be rosy. These posters are frustrated that they continue to hear about medical marijuana. In their mind, the cannabis laws are no big deal. IMO, they are horribly wrong as are you, Jim.

Your question, what good does the medicine do me if I can't use it away from home, was running through my mind as I sat locked in the back seat of a police car recently. A routine traffic stop in a non medical cannabis state by a K-9 unit got me in hot water in a hurry. I was locked in the police car, my vehicle was thoroughly searched by 5 officers, and I was read my Miranda rights. Since my plan was to be traveling for 3 weeks, I had about an ounce - 4 strains in separate baggies. This was bad as police historically have claimed that several baggies implied drug sales. I also had all sorts of cannabis paraphernalia - pipe, papers, vaporizor, etc. Worst case scenarios were running through my head. I was thinking I could likely avoid jail time but it could cost over $25K depending on if they seized my car or not. Fortunately I did not have much cash on me or I would have lost it on the spot. Luckily I was told that I wasn't a 'big fish'. They let me go....without my topical cannabis/coconut oil and without my 4 strains. For a while I had to fall back on prescription medicine, including opiates. While effective, I was soon reminded why I chose cannabis medicine originally. We are in the midst of prohibition repeal. It is state by state. It is very messy. Many unfortunate patients are getting caught up in the judicial wringer on a daily basis. Clearly I hope for changes to the cannabis possession rules ASAP. They are left over from the days before cannabis was considered medicine. Imagine having your prescription medicines confiscated simply because you were traveling to an out of state funeral. Doesn't seem right, does it? Your choice of medicine is a very personal choice. While it should be a matter of what works best, Individual circumstances, such as frequent air travel or pain management contracts, often dictate these options for very many, unfortunately.

Condolences. Losing a beloved pet can really hurt. I am sorry for your loss.

Ah performer, if only the study were true ... and if only both your parents were heavy cannabis consumers, we might have gotten lucky and you would have died in childhood. Alas your 'gotcha article' is rubbish....again As John Oliver talked about, you should look for the study underlying the sensational headline. Under this article you find not a cancer researcher as you might have thought, but lo and behold, another addiction 'expert', this one from Australia. The addiction experts have a financial interest in keeping cannabis illegal. Keep that in mind when analyzing their studies. Take a look at his slide show describing his 'study' and see if you can spot the logical flaws. He works by distracting you with a barrage of studies while he slides in his faulty assertions of causality. I especially like the slide that shows cannabis 'associated with' a long list of cancers. He then admits that some of the studies show positive outcomes related to cannabis use and cancer. In other words, some of the studies showed that the cannabis helped the cancer patient. It is a bit misleading then to include that study on the slide, don't you think? http://audioslides.elsevier.com/ViewerSmall.aspx?doi=10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2016.05.002&Source=0&resumeTime=0&resumeSlideIndex=2&width=800&height=639

Medical Cannabis Bill moving in Ohio Legislature. Fall cannabis ballot initiative still moving ahead. http://www.cannabisbusinesstimes.com/article/cbt-051016-medical-marijuana-bill-ohio-representatives/ From the article H.B. 523 would allow patients with qualifying medical conditions to buy and use medical marijuana with recommendation from their state-licensed physicians, according to Cleveland.com. It would allow vaping, but not smoking. The rules and regulations surrounding the program would be written by a nine-member commission within two years of the bill becoming law. The state would issue licenses for growing, testing, processing and selling medical marijuana.

Good points. Check the underlying study when possible because the author of articles which cite the study can spin things anyway they like. While some studies may be ambiguous, digging down to the study at least takes a layer of opinion off the information. John Oliver did a segment on 'scientific studies' and how they get spun on TV and in print. He makes lots of good points. I know I have linked to rat studies in this thread, to name one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rnq1NpHdmw

WGRZ in Buffalo had a segment on NY's medical cannabis program and some proposed changes. http://www.wgrz.com/news/families-say-medical-marijuana-a-life-changer/174445651

CBS Sunday Morning video segment on cannabis and older folks http://www.cbsnews.com/news/seniors-and-marijuana/

That is interesting. Thanks for that link. Previous studies that I have seen, such as this one, all seem to state that CBD produced a calming effect - anxiolytic. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-879X2006000400001&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en perhaps it is dose dependent?

Walgreens releases some information on medical cannabis. Getting kinda mainstream, eh? http://staywell.walgreens.com/post/143131696215/medical-marijuana Cannabinoids attach like a key to a lock to your body’s naturally occurring cannabinoid receptors, which make up the endocannabinoid (EC) system. Both the therapeutic and psychoactive properties of marijuana occur when a cannabinoid activates a cannabinoid receptor. Because the EC system is found in many parts of your brain and cannabinoid receptors are all over your body—in your brain, lungs, liver, kidneys and immune system—the effects of THC and CBD are wide-ranging.

Here is a link to the underlying report http://marijuanaharmlessthinkagain.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/BMJ-Open-2016-Gunn-.pdf See page 6, right side. It discusses the fact that known causes of low birth weight, alcohol and tobacco use, were unaccounted for in their analysis. They state: "..therefore, it is unknown if the effects found in this manuscript are related to cannabis or are a by-product of alcohol and tobacco use."

I am not saying cannabis is safe for expectant mothers. I don't know. I will however say that this appears to be another shot at fear mongering, rather than any new research study. I couldn't link to the underlying report. It was inaccessible through the link in the article. That article goes on to say The latest research drew from 24 different studies, some of which were observational. This made it difficult for researchers to draw solid conclusions about cause and effect, since there was some missing data on whether the mothers had used other illicit drugs or consumed alcohol during their pregnancies — two factors known to contribute to premature birth and low birth weight.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-behind-the-dea-s-long-war-on-marijuana/?wt.mc=SA_Reddit-Share “Of course cannabis has medical uses,” says University of California, San Francisco integrative oncologist Donald Abrams, one of the few researchers who have been able to obtain extremely limited, government-approved supplies of research cannabis for human trials. “It’s pretty clear from anthropological and archaeological evidence that cannabis has been used as a medicine for thousands of years—and it was a medicine in the U.S. until 1942,” Abrams adds. “I’m an oncologist and I say all the time, not a day goes by when I’m not recommending cannabis to patients for nausea, loss of appetite, pains, insomnia and depression—it works.”

There is great weighting given to physical strength and speed in the NFL, unlike most office jobs. Every player is some blending of both the physical and mental skills. If a player has outstanding physical skills, a boss (coach) might very well 'dumb down the job to appease the morons' so he can get the physical talent on the field. I don't know anything about Brown's intelligence and don't mean to insult him here, just saying ...

Holly Walker of The Nightly Show does a 6 minute segment on cramps, opiates, and medical cannabis - Lady Time http://www.cc.com/video-clips/4ufyih/the-nightly-show-with-larry-wilmore-lady-time-with-holly-walker---marijuana-for-menstrual-pain

An article on new topical cannabis products https://www.yahoo.com/beauty/heres-why-you-might-want-slather-marijuana-on-145107040.html