Representatives Knollman and White have introduced HB 1370
concerning medicinal marijuana. It requires the executive board of the state department of health to enact procedures for people to be medicinal marijuana cardholders. It exempts the cardholders and medicinal marijuana dispensaries from marijuana criminal laws.
An individual would receive from the state department of health a medicinal marijuana card if the department approved their application. The application would have to include a verification from their physician that they had a “debilitating medical condition,” defined by the statute as: (1) cancer; (2) glaucoma;(3) positive status for human immunodeficiency virus;(4) acquired immune deficiency syndrome;(5) hepatitis C; (6) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis;(7) Crohn’s disease; (8) Alzheimer’s disease; (9) nail patella;(10) multiple sclerosis; (11) injury or disease to the spinal cord, spinal column, or vertebra; (12) myelomalacia; (13) celiac disease; (14) sickle cell anemia; (15) a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or the treatment for a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition that produces:(A) cachexia or wasting syndrome;(B) severe or chronic pain; (C) severe or chronic nausea;(D) seizures, including seizures that are characteristic of epilepsy; or(E) severe or persistent muscle spasms; or (16) any other disease, condition, or symptom that the state department of health has determined by its rulemaking authority under IC 4-22-2 to be a debilitating medical condition.
I certainly don’t disapprove of using marijuana for medicinal purposes for those conditions where it helps. But, I don’t think the resources and power of the criminal apparatus are properly used on people whose only offense against society is smoking marijuana. But, be that as it may, I also don’t want medicinal marijuana being used as a fig leaf for recreational marijuana use. I think that would undermine respect for the criminal law and for the medical field.
“Primum non nocere”
Prescribing marijuana to be smoked is not medicine. The risks of burning anything & putting it into your lungs are well documented. To me, it is obvious people are getting around the law to legally enjoy a recreational drug when they get marijuana for smoking.
Pills, brownies, milkshakes, etc that contain marijuana, sure, no problem. Don’t see any reason to stop that.
But its OK to poison your liver ?
Its obvious you have not had a family member suffer from cancer and seen how medical marijuana can help them.
But lets go ahead and poised our bodies with alcohol
the risks of smoking marijuana have been researched, and its quite negligible …
heres the actual research:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/307/2/173.abstract
dont get cigarettes and marijuana confused man, not a good argument
Marijuana does not HAVE to hurt your lungs… there is a device called a vaporizer where you only inhale water vapor that has the thc in it.
Funny you should mention that. A study recently released suggests that moderate smoking of marijuana does not have detrimental effects on your lungs.
In any case, lots of medicines have negative effects on the body – the question is really whether the risks outweigh the benefits. Probably should be up to the doctor and patient to decide on a case-by-case basis.
That study doesn’t pass the common sense test. Why would one form of burnt organic matter inhaled into the lungs cause cancer, but the other would not?
I understand that tobacco is used far more frequently than marijuana, and the dose makes the poison, but still, it does not make sense.
In any case, lots of medicines have negative effects on the body – the question is really whether the risks outweigh the benefits. Probably should be up to the doctor and patient to decide on a case-by-case basis.
The FDA doesn’t let doctors do that for any other “medicine”, why should marijuana be exempt?
Where are the “studies” proving the efficacy of marijuana? That is the bar that every single medicine on the market must pass.
The Australian National Task Force on Cannabis determined, “Smoked cannabis, and to a lesser extent oral THC, have an acute bronchodilatory effect in both normal persons and persons with asthma”. A handful of human studies demonstrate this effect, including one that showed smoking even low THC cannabis produced bronchodilation nearly equivalent to a clinical dose of isoproterenol. The House of Lords 1998 “Ninth Report” on cannabis acknowledged that cannabinoids seemed to work as effectively as conventional asthma drug treatments. And, because Cannabis is also antiemetic-it causes cancer cells to starve of oxygen while leaving healthy cells alone. There are 18,000 studies and journals if you google scholar endocannabinoid. You can also google cancer + cannabis + lung
the thing people dont understand fully is… alcohol, cigs,coke, crack, meth spice, ect are man made chemical substances that have seriouse and detremental effects on the human body, Marijuana is a plant, u can simply plant a seed in the ground walk away come back in a couple months and there ya go Pot :-) you cut it and dry it… thats it! no rat poison or butane or whatever else goes into makeing these horrable drugs… the fact that the goverment can tax and make money on alcohol and cigs is the only reason they are legal, the thing they dont see is you finally have a chance to tax something people are willing to pay taxes on! you have tens of millions of Lb’s of marijuana in lockdown right now, there is ur stockpile, start packaging regulating and selling it! Also the guy who rapes and murders a woman or the childmolester who abuses children frequently get probation or mabey a yearin jail, but if u get caught with pot u face YEARS in prison extream fines and penalties and loose the ability to obtain a higher education? The fact that 90% of people in jail for Marijuana possesion are NON-violant first time offenders.
“Why would one form of burnt organic matter inhaled into the lungs cause cancer, but the other would not?”
What an ignorant question. Do you understand the process of combustion, or that not all “organic matter” is created equal?
Similar to the reasons that drinking full strength undiluted organic H20 is fine while drinking full strength undiluted organic H2O2 will kill you. Yep a single little extra O atom will kill you. Doesn’t make a lick of sense does it? That drinking one form of organic liquid will hydrate you while the other kills you.
Different content of the organic matter, I presume. Possibly the presence of inorganic matter in cigarettes?
Wrong.
For example, when the EPA regulates particulate matter, it doesn’t say “PM from organic sources (like wood burning stoves) is acceptable, but PM from inorganic sources (like diesel exhaust) is not”. It just regulates ALL PM, including naturally occurring DUST from various sources. It’s ALL bad.
Presumably cancer is indifferent to how the EPA regulates things that cause it or do not.
??? You need to explain that one. The EPA regulates PM because of its (alleged) impact on health, including cancer. And that is just an example anyway.
Just pointing out (or trying to) that the original discussion had to do with the actual harm caused by smoking marijuana as opposed to regulatory approaches to marijuana.
Jason said, “The risks of burning anything & putting it into your lungs are well documented.” I pointed to a news report on a study that called that statement into question. You asked, “Why would one form of burnt organic matter inhaled into the lungs cause cancer, but the other would not?” I suggested that the cause might have to do with differing materials. You responded that I was wrong and offered a statement about how the EPA regulates things. My response to that was intended to point out that causation would be present or absent regardless of how the EPA regulated things. (In other words, the EPA’s approach to regulation may or may not comport with the objective reality of the situation.)
Not to be a defender of the EPA, but they would not regulate it if it has not been shown to cause harm.
Yes, cancer is one of the reasons the EPA regulates pollutants. It’s not the only reason. So it is not necessarily the case that because the EPA regulates its atmospheric release, it is not a carcinogen.
This is really a basic college class in logic: The EPA regulates all carcinogens (I don’t know if that’s actually true or not, but for this example it’s beside the point), but not everything the EPA regulates is a carcinogen.
Dude, it is just an example. And, in fact, lung cancer and PM are linked.
The idea that burning something and inhaling it could not have adverse health effects is what I find odd. And one study is not going to change my mind, we need a preponderance of evidence on a subject like this. I would say that the preponderance of evidence is that smoking a drug is a very foolish way to take it, especially when there are alternatives.
funny how buzzcut applies a much stricter standard toward marijuana use (which only harms the smoker, if anyone) than he does toward, say, hydraulic fracking (which harms entire communities).
The Australian National Task Force on Cannabis determined, “Smoked cannabis, and to a lesser extent oral THC, have an acute bronchodilatory effect in both normal persons and persons with asthma”. A handful of human studies demonstrate this effect, including one that showed smoking even low THC cannabis produced bronchodilation nearly equivalent to a clinical dose of isoproterenol. The House of Lords 1998 “Ninth Report” on cannabis acknowledged that cannabinoids seemed to work as effectively as conventional asthma drug treatments. And, because Cannabis is also antiemetic-it causes cancer cells to starve of oxygen while leaving healthy cells alone. There are 18,000 studies and journals if you google scholar endocannabinoid. You can also google cancer + cannabis + lung. Smoking this weed is not like smoking other things that do not have the same cannabinoid properties.
benefitsofmarijuana . com lists several studies, as far as one being as bad as the other, tell you what. I will take a big smell of the bleach, then the floor cleaner then mix them for you to smell the mix if you are convinced than all things that enter the lungs are equal.. LOL Yes some people abuse the law, this is not news. Guess what these people are smoking weed already! I have friends and family are that suffering law abiding people that will not use a product unless it is legal. The only part of this legislation is that it seems it makes it ok for a dispensary employee to stand with a sign and a bag of weed on the doorstep of a school, I think to blanket make exemptions on this statute for certain titles of employees ensures that we will be re-writing this again later after it passed.
Based wholly upon (probably unreliable) anecdotal evidence, baked brownies would be a far superior method of cannabis delivery over burning.
funny how buzzcut applies a much stricter standard toward marijuana use (which only harms the smoker, if anyone) than he does toward, say, hydraulic fracking (which harms entire communities).
Listen, I am no fan of the FDA. I think that proving efficacy of drugs is BS. But let’s be consistent here. Why does MJ have to meet a lower standard than any other medical drug?
If we are going to say, “Let the doctor and the patient determine if this drug is good for that patient”, why do we have the FDA requiring that drug makers prove safety and efficacy? Get rid of the FDA, and let the buyer beware.
If that is where y’all are ready to go, I am with you. Somehow, I don’t think so.
Buzz –
“The FDA doesn’t let doctors do that for any other “medicine”, why should marijuana be exempt?”
When a doctor writes a prescription to treat your ailment, you probably assume that the drug has been approved for that use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That’s a reasonable assumption, but it is not always true. One in five prescriptions in the U.S. is for a use not approved by the FDA. And most of those (about 75 percent) are for a use that lacks any evidence or rigorous studies to back it up.
When a doctor prescribes a drug for an unapproved use, it’s called an “off-label” prescription. The term refers to the fact that all drugs have “labeling” — detailed written descriptions of their intended use based on studies submitted to the FDA. (consumerreports.org)
We are already there!
That’s true, but that is not what we are talking about with marijuana. Marijuana’s safety and efficacy has never been established for ANY ailment. That is quite a bit different than off label use, where at least the safety has been established (which is why the off label use is allowed).
Seems to me like the nit-picking is over two things. Issue #1 is whether marijuana is safe? Simply put, enough of “anything” will harm or even kill you. At the doses most people use marijuana, it has been proven to be safe for the short term (there are many studies out there, google ’em). If you have a terminal disease, short term is what you’re really looking at anyway.
Issue #2 is the delivery mechanism. Is smoking it better than eating a brownie? I would agree that smoking anything is bad for you in the long run. But looking again at terminal diseases, it’s the short run we are interested in and it is more efficient to get the chemical into the bloodstream through inhalation than through digestion. That said, why isn’t someone marketing a medical marijuana inhaler? Instead of smoking it, have an inhaler just like an asthma victim uses. Easier to regulate and control plus perfectly legal should ease the troubles both sides of the issue have.
There is a new drug called “Sativex” that is being considered by the FDA for MS-spray under the tongue.
You’re so big on Google, you didn’t Google “THC inhaler”?
Regarding “Issue 1” (in your best John McLaughlin imitation), I have no doubt that you are 100% correct. That doesn’t change the fact that the argument holds no water with the FDA (they would never allow a drug with long term effects to be used by the terminally ill just because “they’ll be dead soon, anyway”).
No I didn’t because I’ve better things to do.
As to your other point, just one word – morphine.
Man, that opens up even more crazy FDA issues. There are old drugs like aspirin and morphine that would NEVER be approved if they were just coming on the market now.
The FDA is a mess.
Actually, marijuana/cannabis, is safer to consume than water. There is a ton of mis-information, lies, propaganda, and yellow journalism to pull out of your mind before you can grasp exactly what this plant can do for the average Joe. In 8000+ recorded years of history, no one has died from consumption, plenty of people have had a headache, it upset their stomach, made them feel paranoid-but in these situation the answer is clearer than you realize: The endocannabinoid system in all humans, vertebra’s, etc. is probably functioning properly and has sufficient cannabinoids performing. But there are cases where the body is not creating enough of its own natural cannabinoids. This is referred to as Clinical Endocannabinoid Deficiency (CECD). Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much for the body to have this deficiency, especially after a trauma. It can be seen in cases like Fibromyalgia, Irritable bowel syndrome, Migraines, Parkinsons, Altzhiemers, and many more including cardiovascular, immunology, oncology (cancer), reproductive (cannabinoids are created during child birth to calm the baby and help them to forget the trauma-just as in the positive effect cannabis has on patients with PTSD to succeed in talk therapy and to forget the trauma), blood sugar, digestive-the endocannabinoid system is the largest in the body (heaviest concentrations in the liver, brain, reproductive). It’s an analgesice, antiemetic, and so much more. The reason it has been used in society is that a very little dosage on a regular basis is even more successful as a preventative. The latest research in cannabinoid therapy through the use of marijuana indicates that it is more akin to a vegetable, than a narcotic. Yes, you can get high, but guess what-you already are when you run long distances, childbirth, do physical therapy, yoga, and so on. Another report recently proves that the lungs of people who smoke marijuana are BETTER than those who smoke nothing at all. The reason why is because its a bronchildiolator, it also starves cancer cells of oxygen, leaving healthy cells to survive, hence the cancer cells die. There are over 18,000 medical journals to read on a google scholar search of endocannabinoid. Marijuana is the safest plant on the planet. But education and erasing decades of misinformation must be the first action. And don’t get me started on Industrial Hemp……
Showtime will be releasing a movie soon which shows the benefits of juicing the raw plant=no psycho active properties prior to decarboxylating (heating/curing) it=means 10 times the dose and it doesn’t get you high, but has helped people come off of pharma all together-I’m sure this will effect sales of fancy pills that have a million side effects-I myself would like to heal, not make it worse.
Thank you CJ for all the good information to help educate us.
In response to:
Jason January 11, 2012 at 7:28 +00006
“Primum non nocere”
Prescribing marijuana to be smoked is not medicine. The risks of burning anything & putting it into your lungs are well documented.
The bill wasn’t prescribing the method of consumption that is up to the individual.
I would personally use a vaporizer if i had a prescription for it.
What are the benefits of vaporization?
* No smoke! Is the number one benefit of using a vaporizer. As the medical marijuana vaporizes you will note that a thin mist of vapour is created at this lower 338 °F (170 °C) temperature. Compare that to a typical marijuana joint which burns at temperatures of up to 2,012 °F (1,100 °C) and in the process creates many harmful carcinogens.
* Save money – Since vaporization takes place at temperatures below combustion up to twice as many active constituents are delivered to the user than one would get from smoking, according to studies. Cannabinoids are highly combustible, and many of the delicate glandular trichomes may be destroyed when simply smoked.
se a vaporizer if it was made legal instead of smoking it.
All the pain medications are derived from the same forum “opiates”
The raw forum is Opeam make heroin. Man made a synthetic forum and calls it safe. HAVE U ever had a opiat addiction I know how ugly it realy is
All the people trying to keep this plan down need to under stand that the illegal sale/ and use of prescription goes on every day with all the med every body that we have been told are safe. Usumption the mother of all F•*• ups. The plant is not man made it is a natural thing. No one has to mix ‘ cook ‘ add Anything it grows the way god wants it to. The war on meth TO U KNOW MAN MAKE PRESCRIPTION METH. THERE ARE OVER 20 diff brands & from 10mg -80 mg or more. Amphetamine All it is is meth- full name methamphetamine When a big name is stamped one it it becomes safe. look up how many people have died from man made FDA approved priscriptions. Marajuana is not a gate way drug. It a f•••ing plant. Coca plant has to be mixed with a chimacal. Marajuana let it grow.
Why have we become a society built to impose on other peoples’ choices and lives? Do we honestly want Big Brother (should be small brother) regulating everything we do as people/parents? Bath salts may be put behind counters in order to keep kids off them. Seems like an issue of bad parenting and relieving parents of their job to teach their children to be good, mindful citizens. But back to MMJ…
It’s a choice to smoke a cigarette, shoot heroin, drive drunk, walk into a rushing river, I could go on. Personally, medicinal cannabis is ridiculous. Yes, cannabis has medicinal effects but to stamp a dozen restrictions on who and who can’t use it is also ridiculous. We all know that with all drugs, people are going to get them any way they can.
We are all drug consumers. Caffeine, coffee, pills, aspirin, tylenol, morphine, alcohol…it is our choice whether or not to consume them. My parents don’t support cannabis and they don’t want to try it. They have no problem with it, that’s just their choice. They’ve chosen to say “Meh, I really don’t care if people smoke as long as it doesn’t effect my day-to-day progression in society” which is the perfect saying. My parents taught me to respect others and their usage whether it be alcohol, cigarettes, or pills as long as I’m not put in harms way. Cannabis has never and will never give people the opportunity to do harm alone; that’s a choice.
As for addiction, shed me some new lights because from my experience (experience being more important than reading some textbook full of facts) damn near everything has some sort of mental/physical addictive properties. The true difference is the mental addiction. Your own influential empowerment can stop you from smoking cannabis, cold turkey. To most cannabis consumers, it’s a habit. It has mild physical addictive properties that compared to everything else, is a cake-walk. In society today, we’d rather put regulations on items instead of support people in conquering their physical and mental addictions.
Regulation
Individuals found in possession of small quantities of drugs are issued summons. The drugs are confiscated, and the suspect is interviewed by a “Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction” (Comissões para a Dissuasão da Toxicodependência – CDT). These commissions are made up of three people: A social worker, a psychiatrist, and an attorney.[9][10] The dissuasion commission have powers comparable to an arbitration committee, but restricted to cases involving drug use or possession of small amounts of drugs. There is one CDT in each of Portugal’s 18 districts. Several options are available to the CDT when ruling on the drug use offence, including warnings, banning from certain places, banning from meeting certain people, obligation of periodic visits to a defined place, removal of professional licence or firearms licence. Sanctioning by fine, which may vary by drug involved, is an available option. If the person is addicted to drugs, he or she may be admitted to a drug rehabilitation facility or be given community service, if the dissuasion committee finds that this better serves the purpose of keeping the offender out of trouble. If the offender is not addicted to drugs, or unwilling to submit to treatment or community service, he may be given a fine.[1][11][12]
Alright Portugal, way to be about letting the buyer beware :)
I hope I haven’t offended anyone or fueled their fire more-so. We gotta get back to simplistic construction for the better of the individual.
All of a sudden something you consume has to be perfect for you.
The nation is on the verge of an opiate epidemic, (Vicodin and oxycontin)
Burger King has the triple whopper with bacon.
Pizza hut has hot dogs in the crust.
We want to drill more oil burn more coal.
Yea cannabis might not be a jog around the park or a hug from grandma but it doesn’t ruin your life instantly (unless you get caught with it)
I thought the point of the Constitution and America was to give individuals Liberty.
Moderation. Everyone is guilty of not moderating sometimes. We all “pick our poison” if you don’t moderate it’s a problem.
I live a very strict lifestyle, I only give helpful tips, but if we must all follow the rules of the most conservitive of us isn’t that more akin to fascism?
I have ADD, panic attacks, Scholiosis, a titanium hip…. constant pain and I am only 24 years old this is a life condition for me… it will never go away. People like me have much to gain for medicinal marijuana… I won’t even take pills for pain cause I do not like the harmful side effects they have… I am the type of person who smokes weed on a semi daily basis, which is why I can’t have a job at a descent place because the second they see weed in your system they fire you… It is not like I am high on the job I smoke before I go to sleep so I can sleep pain free. Medicinal Marijuana would make it possible for me to do the only recreational drug out there I believe in and be able to keep a job and be a productive member of society. I was just about to say F it and move out of this state to a better state that doesn’t rape people of money and time over smoking a harmless plant. There is no reason what so ever why weed is illegal it is way better for you then Alcohol or ciggs ever will be…. and when I have kids I will be encouraging them to do weed over smoking ciggs or doing pills or abusing alcohol… Weed is safe…. all those other things are dangerous killers.
Smoked, Vaporized, eaten or drank Medicinal marijuana is good in all forms saying someone can’t do one or the other is stupid. Make it for medicinal purposes for people like me…(and maybe in the future just legalize it for everyone 18+) and not only will you see more people contributing to society you will see less crime in that area when it comes to that particular drug.
Why take IBprofun when it destroys your liver, Pills are dangerous… Marijuana is safe… always has been always will be… and people will always do it, why not legalize it for the people who need it first then legalize it for the world to save countless innocent peace loving people from jail time and stop turning peaceful people into hardened criminals over smoking something that makes you calm and relaxed. This drug does not make people kill people or cause violent tendencies… It just makes you want to sit in your house, enjoy a nice dinner and movie with your family and help you sleep pain free; allowing you to wake up feeling refreshed with NO harmful side-effects…..unless you count hunger. Either way if this bill is not passed within the next couple of months ill be bidding adiu to this State for good… I may have been born and raised here, and love this area with all my heart but if I have to look over my shoulder for smoking a harmless plant for much longer I am going to go insane.
-Sincerly
Derek .H.
Aka
Axcelion420
pass the bill its not just for recreational use
One thing i found is they do not actually know what causes cancer. Could have been paint fumes, living in New York, exposures of one kind or the other. Tobacco companies are paying a settlement for charges they were lying to people about addiction. There no such proof of a Marlboro cancer or a zinc chromate paint cancer or a cannabis cancer. Lung cancer is rare on top of that. Once you unleash the powers of things that might or might not happen or could have been a cause and assign a weight to how probably it is or not (like 95 percent reliable) it opens up a huge area you can make a claim and no one can rebut it. You cannot prove it does cause it yet you cannot prove either that it does not. Alaska Permanent fund states right in it that a team handles there share of the money and that the settlement law suit protects the tobacco companies from being sued to death. People are even going to jail these days like Judge Sanders saw coming not for something they did but what some expert who often does not even know them, predicts they might do. Enjoy your life and use you head.