- Deaths from marijuana use: 0
- Deaths from aspirin (U.S. per year): 180 - 1,000 +
- Deaths from legal drugs (U.S. per year) at doses used for prevention or therapy: 106,000.
- Before 1937, there were over 1000 medical cannabis products in the US.
- For at least 3,000 years, marijuana extracts (buds, leaves, roots, etc.) were the most commonly used real medicines in the world, for the majority of mankind's illnesses.
nicotine, heroin, cocaine, caffeine, alcohol, and cannabis in the following categories;
1) Severity of withdrawal symptoms.
2) Substance's ability to get users to take it again and again.
3) How much is needed to satisfy increasing cravings for it.
4) How difficult it is for the user to quit.
5) Level of intoxication and increases in personal and social damage a substance may cause.
In this study, cannabis scored the same as caffeine, as the most benign of these drugs. As you may have guessed, heroin scored the highest, rating it as the most detrimental. But what may surprise you is that alcohol rated a close second, rating it as more detrimental than nicotine or even cocaine.
Withdrawal: Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawal symptoms.
Reinforcement: A measure of the substance's ability, in human and animal tests, to get usersto take it again and again, and in preference to other substances.
Tolerance: How much of the substance is needed to satisfy increasing cravings for it, and the level of stable need that is eventually reached.
Dependence: How difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate, the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating users give their own need for the substance
and the degree to which the substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.
Intoxication: Though not usually counted as a measure of addiction in itself, the level of intoxication is associated with addiction and increases the personal and social damage a substance may do.
- See more at: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Addictive_Properties#sthash.0FMmdIlw.dpuf
Withdrawal: Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawal symptoms.
Reinforcement: A measure of the substance's ability, in human and animal tests, to get usersto take it again and again, and in preference to other substances.
Tolerance: How much of the substance is needed to satisfy increasing cravings for it, and the level of stable need that is eventually reached.
Dependence: How difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate, the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating users give their own need for the substance
and the degree to which the substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.
Intoxication: Though not usually counted as a measure of addiction in itself, the level of intoxication is associated with addiction and increases the personal and social damage a substance may do.
- See more at: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Addictive_Properties#sthash.0FMmdIlw.dpuf
Withdrawal: Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawal symptoms.
Reinforcement: A measure of the substance's ability, in human and animal tests, to get usersto take it again and again, and in preference to other substances.
Tolerance: How much of the substance is needed to satisfy increasing cravings for it, and the level of stable need that is eventually reached.
Dependence: How difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate, the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating users give their own need for the substance
and the degree to which the substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.
Intoxication: Though not usually counted as a measure of addiction in itself, the level of intoxication is associated with addiction and increases the personal and social damage a substance may do.
- See more at: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Addictive_Properties#sthash.0FMmdIlw.dpuf
Withdrawal: Presence and severity of characteristic withdrawal symptoms.
Reinforcement: A measure of the substance's ability, in human and animal tests, to get usersto take it again and again, and in preference to other substances.
Tolerance: How much of the substance is needed to satisfy increasing cravings for it, and the level of stable need that is eventually reached.
Dependence: How difficult it is for the user to quit, the relapse rate, the percentage of people who eventually become dependent, the rating users give their own need for the substance
and the degree to which the substance will be used in the face of evidence that it causes harm.
Intoxication: Though not usually counted as a measure of addiction in itself, the level of intoxication is associated with addiction and increases the personal and social damage a substance may do.
- See more at: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Addictive_Properties#sthash.0FMmdIlw.dpuf
Delving into research on cannabis, I've found it to be quite possibly the most remarkable and versatile medicinal known to humanity. Take a look....
In 1988, Italian researcher Vincenzo De Marzo PhD discovered the "endocannabinoid System". A system that exists within all species other than insects. With receptors throughout the body, this system effects nearly all emotional and cognitive processes. The cannabinoid's our body produces are identical to the medicinal components found in cannabis. The cannabis plant cannabinoids (or CBD's) effect almost every system within the body, by keeping a balance of these systems.
De Marzo wrote "CBD's help humans with eating, sleeping, relaxing, forgetting and protection." There are so many strains cannabis is a kind of "31 Flavors". A strain for whatever ails you!
Eating
You've heard of "the munchies". Need I say more? Cannabis helps with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. But interestingly, cannabis assists in weight loss for people suffering from obesity!
Pain
Presently, western medicine prescribes opiates for significant pain. The problem is that opiates are highly addictive. Patients become very addicted to them, needing more and more to avoid withdrawal symptoms. The most common concern with opiates is constipation that increases to the point where patients actually need surgery. Opiates are depressants. So, while on opiates, patients are often prescribed anti-depressants. Severe nausea is another side effect of long term use of opiates.
A clinical trial conducted at UC Davis demonstrated significant relief of pain caused by damage to nerves. This "neuropathic" pain is notoriously resistant to treatment with conventional pain drugs, including opioid narcotics. UC San Diego conducted a 10 year study at a cost of $8.7 million, concluding that cannabis provided relief of nueropathic pain caused by injuries, infections, diabetes, and other medical conditions affecting the nervous system. It soothes and relieves pain from arthritis, MS, fibromyalgia, headaches, backaches and skin disorders-redness and itching.
Sleep
Insomniacs and patients with sleep disorders have reported a better quality of sleep than with many of the sleeping pills available.
Forgetting
Certain strains help people deal with emotional pain and trauma. Perhaps most dramatic is with vets returning with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Upon returning, they suffer greatly, being haunted by their memories of war. So much so, that the highest rate of death in the military is due to suicide by veterans. For every soldier killed by enemy combatants, 25 kill themselves! A sobering reflection.
The endocannabinoid system is integrally related to memory extinction; the normal, healthy process of removing associations from stimuli. This has profound implications for patients with PTSD. By aiding in memory extinction, cannabis helps patients reduce their association between stimuli (ie. loud noises or stress) and the traumatic situations in their past.
Protection
Cannabis helps strengthen the immune system, as an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory. With multiple sclerosis and cancer patients, it has actually shown to help regenerate nerve cells. Whereas chemotherapy kills all cells (cancerous and healthy), cannabis discriminates between cancerous and healthy cells, killing only the cancerous.
Cannabis research has demonstrated therapeutic value and complete safety in the treatment of many health problems, including AIDS, alcoholism, asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, glaucoma, nausea, tumors, epilepsy, infection, stress, migraines, depression, rheumatism, arthritis, and herpes.
A New Paradigm
Since the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) has labeled cannabis as a "Schedule 1 Substance", the amount of legal research and development that can be done is strictly limited.
In order to serve their patients, the medicinal marijuana industry has taken the "lemon" of these restrictions and made some wonderful "lemonade". They're taking an approach to patient care beyond the old paradigm of "doctor knows best"; a kind of "top down" approach, where the patient is told what will cure them and is given little choice or responsibility in their healing.
In addition to prescribing a certain strain of cannabis, care professionals advise their clients to journal about their experiences while medicated and return with their journal, documenting their experiences with that particular strain. This leads to anecdotal results rather than a "one size fits all" determination. We all react differently to chemicals and as our body chemistry is always changing; what previously worked for us may not be the best for us now.
By having a more open ended dialogue with the care provider, there is more collaboration with the patient. In this arrangement the patient plays a greater part in their medicine choice and inevitably finds a medicine that fits their individual needs.Over 100 CBD's have been identified in the cannabis plant, while only two; THC and CBD have been studied in depth. Imagine what more we might we find!
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