Bextra vs Cannabis

[Dez]

Bextra causes heart attacks, and Cannabis prevents them.. hmmm .. no wonder the drug companies don't want cannabis legal.

[havocmom]

1. Ah, you saw through there nefarious plan

to squeeze every last dime out of suffering people.

Can't risk Big Pharm profits with something any twit can grow. Gotta keep the herb illegal. Gotta surpress all information showing how helpful is is. Gotta keep those CCU beds filled and the IVs flowing.

[Dez]

2. The American way!

Profits first! Even if people die as a result, profits are more important.

[Technowitch]

3. Pretty much, yeah

You should see how the Pharmas get the FDA to fight against Chinese herbal remedies and medications.

Some years back, I found this amazing stuff that helped my back and worked well with insomnia. It's called Jin Bu Huan. Totally non-addictive and small amounts worked wonders.

The FDA, of course, declared it illegal to import, along with a bunch of other traditional Chinese meds.

As I see it, there are three reasons why marijuana remains illegal.

(1) Inertia. In other words, once something's declared illegal, it's a pain to have it decriminalized. What most folks don't realize is that grass was outlawed during Prohibition -- along with a lot of other previously legal drugs (including cocaine).

(2) Economics. Yes, the pharmaceutical companies hate marijuana, because you don't need a factory to make it. Anybody can grow the stuff, creating an endless, renewable supply -- on which they can't make any money.

(3) Puritanism. Besides relieving pain (which these fundie types already disapprove of, because they see suffering as noble), grass makes people feel good. And if there's one thing we can't have, it's people actually feeling good.

[LdyGuique]

4. Research hints at benefit in marijuana

Since this is an AP article, it appears on multiple news websites:

Posted on Thu, Apr. 07, 2005

Research hints at benefit in marijuana

The Associated Press

Low doses of the main active ingredient in marijuana slowed hardening of the arteries in mice, suggesting a hint for developing a new therapy in people.

Experts stressed that the finding does not mean people should smoke marijuana in hopes of getting the same benefit.

“To extrapolate this to, ‘A joint a day will keep the doctor away,' I think is premature,” said Peter Libby, chief of cardiovascular medicine at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The mouse study is being presented today in the journal Nature by Francois Mach of Geneva University Hospital in Switzerland and colleagues. He said in an e-mail that he thinks that future work will focus on finding drugs that mimic the benefit without producing marijuana's effects on the brain.

[Selteri]

5. Bextra has a higher allergic reaction index too.N/T

[aneerkoinos]

6. Don't forget

Studies showing positive correlation with prevention of cancer, prevention of Alzheimers, not to mention easing neuralgic pain, relaxation of involuntary muscle twitching, easing eye-pressure, best nutritional value of any plant etc. etc.

It's also just plain fun and/or meditative ...

[madrchsod]

7. thc-not grass

smoking grass is worse than cigarettes when it comes to lung and problems. if you could score thc legally that would be very-very good...

[aneerkoinos]

9. Not exactly

Very few smoke weed 20-30 joints a day, or even daily, which is the norm with nicotine. Also there is no evidence that grass in equal quantities is worse to lungs than tobacco, the cancerous physical and chemical interactions and reactions in lungs are very complicated, and that claim is just interference based on what joint or cigarette contain, not actual clinical studies.

Pure THC ("Marinol") is no good and no fun, what makes marijuana marijuana is the combination of cannabinoids, of which THC is just one.

[amazona]

8. sort of a false comparison if you ask me

Agreed, I want cannabis available to me. I have Alzheimer's in the family, and I think of the two smokes that apparently have some protective benefit against this disease, cannabis is much the safer and more effective than tobacco.

I think cannabis is safe and should be legal. It has many, many good and important uses.

That said, I don't think Bextra should be removed from market. It is a life-saver for many people. Sometimes you don't want your head affected. You just want the pain to be gone. And this class of drugs worked very well for me in a situation where a narcotic or cannabis wouldn't work because I had things to do and places to drive.

I no longer have chronic pain but I remember the 20 years when I did. We need every tool in our arsenal that we can get. And especially every non-narcotic tool. If a patient is fully informed of the risk and a doctor can monitor the situation, I think it's a shame to pull the cox-2s away from those patients who do benefit.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72