drugs and other indoor sports
once again i am hearing debate after debate over medical marijuana. legalize? decriminalize? legislate? tax? regulate?
i actually heard someone say this morning on the radio, "if you advocate legalizing marijuana, what do you want to do next? legalize heroin? cocaine? crack?" (yes, crack is a form of cocaine, but you're missing the point...) this is someone who is usually pretty on the ball and articulate. so what's with the knee jerk jerkiness? seriously? like if you get your wisdom teeth pulled why don't you get all of your teeth pulled? or if you have your appendix taken out why not just do a hysterectomy and a colostomy at the same time?
so, at this point in my self-righteous condemnation, i must confess that i too used to think legalizing marijuana was heretical. just to get it out there, i have never been high. like ever. no, i'm not a goody goody (ok, well kind of...) but i am just really uptight and controlling... anyway, i used to believe the popular image that people who smoked "pot" (why is it called that?) were all toked out idiots losing brain cells by the millions and floating through life being unproductive and seedy. my sister had several friends in high school who pretty much fit this description. and let's just say one makes assumptions about certain people one sees in the world who are performing -ummmm- not up to societal expectations???
then i got sick. really really sick. for a long long time. and because i am freakishly passionate about doing research (in spite of my blondness), i did a lot of reading about the medical uses of marijuana. it was interesting, but i was already on so many medications and was so unwilling and unable to fight the good fight, i just sort of filed away the info.
flash forward to more recent times. i still have a chronic illness, and when times are bad i look for solutions. i have found over the years that you need to be able to be your own advocate, and doctors are just as often unable as they are unwilling to think outside of the conventional box. so i have tried lots and lots of meds. a few hospital stays ago they sent me home on morphine (with a scrip to be filled every few weeks so i could stay on it...)yes, really. so when i was listening to the radio show this morning, someone called in and said, "how would you feel if the guy in the cubicle next to you was high on pot?" and i thought, "how would the people in line at the grocery store feel if they know i was on morphine? or vicodin? or oxycontin? or valium? or a boatload of other potent mind-messing drugs that i have actually been on over the years. yet i function normally (as normal as that is...) and when i have bad days i am in bed- not because i am stoned on drugs, but because my pain and nausea and other symptoms are so bad that even the strong drugs don't touch it. and i keep coming across books and articles from reputable places that say marijuana could help with every problem i have...
i asked a friend who is an oncologist his opinion on marijuana (i know several cancer patients who have smoked marijuana and also been prescribed maranol- synthetic THC- which is the supposed active ingredient in marijuana; they all say without hesitation that maranol just doesn't come close to actual marijuana.) he suggested some other drug combinations instead, but then admitted that if he has patients who are smoking pot and it is helping them, he would absolutely not tell them to stop. hmmmmmmmmmmm...
there seems to be good solid research out there backing up medical uses for marijuana. yes, it has potential for abuse, i guess (some things i've read disagree), but i will tell you for sure that about 95% of the medications i've been prescribed have potential for abuse and my doctor has decided the benefits outweigh the risks and has prescribed them for me anyway.
i don't want to recap the entire debate over medical marijuana, but i just wonder why this particular drug raises soooooooooooo much fright in so many people. yes, i know most of the conspiracy theories. but those things could be said of other drugs as well. so seriously, any theories on why marijuana has the power to terrorize otherwise sane people?
i still haven't gotten past my hang-ups enough to try marijuana, even though i am fairly sure it would probably help me. but i am seriously considering becoming more involved in the movement to legalize it. after all, why should irrationality trump good sense???
i actually heard someone say this morning on the radio, "if you advocate legalizing marijuana, what do you want to do next? legalize heroin? cocaine? crack?" (yes, crack is a form of cocaine, but you're missing the point...) this is someone who is usually pretty on the ball and articulate. so what's with the knee jerk jerkiness? seriously? like if you get your wisdom teeth pulled why don't you get all of your teeth pulled? or if you have your appendix taken out why not just do a hysterectomy and a colostomy at the same time?
so, at this point in my self-righteous condemnation, i must confess that i too used to think legalizing marijuana was heretical. just to get it out there, i have never been high. like ever. no, i'm not a goody goody (ok, well kind of...) but i am just really uptight and controlling... anyway, i used to believe the popular image that people who smoked "pot" (why is it called that?) were all toked out idiots losing brain cells by the millions and floating through life being unproductive and seedy. my sister had several friends in high school who pretty much fit this description. and let's just say one makes assumptions about certain people one sees in the world who are performing -ummmm- not up to societal expectations???
then i got sick. really really sick. for a long long time. and because i am freakishly passionate about doing research (in spite of my blondness), i did a lot of reading about the medical uses of marijuana. it was interesting, but i was already on so many medications and was so unwilling and unable to fight the good fight, i just sort of filed away the info.
flash forward to more recent times. i still have a chronic illness, and when times are bad i look for solutions. i have found over the years that you need to be able to be your own advocate, and doctors are just as often unable as they are unwilling to think outside of the conventional box. so i have tried lots and lots of meds. a few hospital stays ago they sent me home on morphine (with a scrip to be filled every few weeks so i could stay on it...)yes, really. so when i was listening to the radio show this morning, someone called in and said, "how would you feel if the guy in the cubicle next to you was high on pot?" and i thought, "how would the people in line at the grocery store feel if they know i was on morphine? or vicodin? or oxycontin? or valium? or a boatload of other potent mind-messing drugs that i have actually been on over the years. yet i function normally (as normal as that is...) and when i have bad days i am in bed- not because i am stoned on drugs, but because my pain and nausea and other symptoms are so bad that even the strong drugs don't touch it. and i keep coming across books and articles from reputable places that say marijuana could help with every problem i have...
i asked a friend who is an oncologist his opinion on marijuana (i know several cancer patients who have smoked marijuana and also been prescribed maranol- synthetic THC- which is the supposed active ingredient in marijuana; they all say without hesitation that maranol just doesn't come close to actual marijuana.) he suggested some other drug combinations instead, but then admitted that if he has patients who are smoking pot and it is helping them, he would absolutely not tell them to stop. hmmmmmmmmmmm...
there seems to be good solid research out there backing up medical uses for marijuana. yes, it has potential for abuse, i guess (some things i've read disagree), but i will tell you for sure that about 95% of the medications i've been prescribed have potential for abuse and my doctor has decided the benefits outweigh the risks and has prescribed them for me anyway.
i don't want to recap the entire debate over medical marijuana, but i just wonder why this particular drug raises soooooooooooo much fright in so many people. yes, i know most of the conspiracy theories. but those things could be said of other drugs as well. so seriously, any theories on why marijuana has the power to terrorize otherwise sane people?
i still haven't gotten past my hang-ups enough to try marijuana, even though i am fairly sure it would probably help me. but i am seriously considering becoming more involved in the movement to legalize it. after all, why should irrationality trump good sense???
posted by BlogBlond @ 11:53 AM
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