Medical Marijuana

So much has been said and written about the Pros and Cons of Medical Marijuana by people from all walks of life and strata of society, it just doesn't seem to matter, we're going to suffer the consequence of the reefer madness brain-washing for years to come. However, on the scientific side of the argument "should marijuana be legal for medical use" tomorrow a 56 year old stockbroker from Florida, named Irvin Rosenfeld (see: No Dope: Ft. Lauderdale Man to Smoke 115,000th Joint) will add his record to the case studies by being the first person on record to have smoked 115,000 reefers while in a Federal Drug Administration's Investigational New Drug Program. Not only are there no signs of negative health issues or work performance in the case of Rosenfeld but he provides yet another powerful testimonial of the benefits derived from this plant.

The medical marijuana that Rosenfeld is supplied by Uncle Sam comes from the University of Mississippi Weed Farm, the only federally approved farm in the United States. Mahmoud A. ElSohly, PhD, whom we once wrote about in this blog, is a Research Professor at the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Mississippi, stated the following in a Dec. 19, 2005 interview with the Journal of the International Hemp Association:

"Cannabis as a smoked product, in my judgment, would not be a useful product simply because of the lack of standardization, the fact that it's a smoked material: you can't determine the dose, people smoke in different ways, plus the interaction of the many different components and degradation products, and the tars associated with smoked materials. So smoking is not a good delivery system.

However, cannabis as a plant that is rich in chemical components, would have potential for producing useful drugs, for example THC. Now THC in the oral preparation, it doesn't seem to be doing the good job it should or was expected to. My personal view on the reason for this is the 'first-pass effect.' The material taken orally goes through the liver and is converted to the 11-hydroxy metabolite, which is 4-5 times more potent in terms of psychoactivity, before getting into the bloodstream, and the profile of these two drugs is quite different."

Not sure if I completely agree with the good Doctor since some people may have placebo effects from smoking their medicine but this brings up a good argument for just legalizing marijuana because obviously no-one has, can, or will, be hurt from smoking weed, so let's get cracking on the research. Also, let's separate the medical marijuana debate from recreational ganja and begin two distinctly different dialogs. Legalize both!