Tag: cannabis

 Medical marijuana has also been used to reduce acute and chronic pain associated with cancer patients terminally ill with remarkable efficiency. It also has a rich history of providing relief from such things as nausea, headaches, menstrual cramps and painful muscle spasms.

After cataract, glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness worldwide. He reached over 60 million people worldwide. Glaucoma is caused by a progressive accumulation of excess fluid in the body of the eye. When excess fluid causes increased pressure in the eye, the optic nerve can become seriously compromised leading to blindness. Research results from as far back as 1970 found that marijuana contains active ingredients that can both reduce intraocular pressure in the eye and the pain caused by the actual state.

The medical benefits of marijuana are not a new phenomenon in this country. In contrast, before 1937, there were about 27 different types of prescription drugs that contain THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. A pharmaceutical company like Eli Lilly and Squibb has developed several of these drugs based on THC with relatively high degrees of success. However, the federal government, by adopting the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, caused the general prohibition of marijuana to be used as a medicine legally.

Works exactly how medical marijuana in glaucoma is not completely understood, but it is thought that marijuana produces certain chemicals that can effectively reduce intraocular pressure in the eye.

Conventional treatment for glaucoma has focused on the preservation of vision by slowing the deterioration of the optic nerve caused by a dangerous increase in intraocular pressure. Treatment options involve drugs that lower the pressure inside the eye. This is why medical marijuana has received much attention in patients with glaucoma. However, a new generation of glaucoma is now released promising to be more efficient, while medical marijuana because of the ability of these drugs actually reverse the disease progression.

A major disadvantage of having to use medical marijuana to relieve symptoms of glaucoma is that marijuana has a fairly short-lived duration of its effectiveness is usually limited to only two or three hours. This requires that glaucoma patients use cannabis to eight times a day to get the same kind of relief other glaucoma medications currently provide.

Like most of the marijuana taken to treat glaucoma is consumed by smoking, a patient must consider the risks associated with smoke inhalation. Street marijuana is not organically grown and therefore often contains impurities that can irritate and cause damage to both the lungs and trachea of the patient. This is less true with medical marijuana, which is one reason why patients with glaucoma have urged lawmakers to legislate the use of medicinal marijuana.

Currently there are 17 states that allow medicinal use of marijuana for certain types of diseases. Glaucoma is one of them. Currently, in states like California, medical marijuana is legal as long as the patient can produce identification medical marijuana card and the recommendation of 420 doctor use, which identifies the patient as a person who received a recommendation for physicians to treat disease medical subject.

Upon obtaining these documents, a patient may consult a medical marijuana dispensary in local or clinic and get their medicine themselves.  

cross-posted from Sum of Change

On Friday, May 14th 2010, I got the chance to sit down with Neill Franklin, the Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

Neill Franklin, LEAP’s incoming executive director, is a 32-year law enforcement veteran who spent more than two decades with the Maryland State Police (leading the drug division’s education and training) and then moved to Baltimore PD. Like a character from HBO’s “The Wire,” Neill could tell you stories of colleagues being gunned down in the line of fire, as he did in this Washington Post op-ed.

Full, Unedited Interview (highlight clips below the fold)

cross-posted from Sum of Change

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Gabriel Sayegh of the Drug Policy Alliance. He told me that Titan 360 has now completely changed their reasoning for rejecting the ad. At first, they were going to work with the Drug Policy Alliance to place the ad with another landlord but have now decided that the ad goes against their policy and cannot be run anywhere. We are still trying to get in touch with Titan 360 for a comment.

Booze, strip clubs, breasts, and casinos. What do they have in common? All are billboards you will find along the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE). But the following was rejected:

pdf of add here. It reads: “Nearly half of all New Yorkers have tried marijuana – including Mayor Bloomberg. We can’t arrest them all but Bloomberg is trying.

Marijuana arrests last year: 55,000

Cost to taxpayers: nearly $100 million”

Cross-posted from Sum of Change

On Friday, April 23rd 2010, I got the chance to sit down with Dale Sky Clare, the Executive Chancellor of Oaksterdam University and the Spokesperson for Control and Tax Cannabis 2010. We talked about the upcoming ballot initiative to legalize cannabis in California.