- The Conservative Reader - https://theconservativereader.com -

Medicinal Marijuana

Medical Marijuana [1]In my years as a youngster I never thought that we would be seriously discussing whether Marijuana should be considered either for medicinal or recreational usage.  And as a conservative, I would have never thought that we would need to spend the time debating the pros and cons without a lot of easy standard lines: “It’s a Gateway Drug”, “Kills Brain Cells”, “Highly Addictive”.

But here we are, and frankly, I’m not prepared to just discard the discussion as unimportant or too obvious to spend time on.  That would be both a disservice and inconsistent with my belief that positions on policy should be reviewed and when challenged, they should be openly and honestly discussed.

I’m not a doctor, nor have I had the time to study this at such a level of depth as to call myself an “expert” on the topic.  But I have discussed this with doctors I know, and I’ve looked at some of the information currently available (here [2], here [3], here [4] and here [5]).  I’ve also been around friends that were regular users of Marijuana, and I even took one deep breath of the stuff (from a pipe) when I was younger.  Yes, I inhaled.  Didn’t like it.  And I was a tobacco smoker at the time.

Most of us here in the Midwest tend to just laugh at California for legalizing Marijuana for medicinal use.  We could have more or less predicted that dispensaries would become dealers [6] for all who wanted, not just those that actually needed it.  And as the debate is building here in Iowa, along with a new recommendation from the Iowa Pharmacy Board [7] to proceed with legalizing the medicinal use of Marijuana, many assumptions and absolutes of the past are now being challenged.

My biggest concern about this issue, as with most political issues, is the level of emotion injected into the conversation.  I have watched intelligent people who have a compelling argument fall apart in the midst of the anger and fear that can be associated with issues like this.

“How many people have lost loved ones to the side-effects of drugs?”

“What business is it of yours to tell me what I can do in my own hom”

“How many people have been victims of actions by those under the influence of Marijuana?”

“Don’t you care about people who are suffering?”

“How could anyone possibly think that making Marijuana available to anyone is a good thing?”

“This is part of my religion, and I have the right to practice my religion!”

“We have to protect our children, society, our country’s national interests!”

“You’re living in the Dark Ages!”

And so on.  Don’t get me wrong, fear and anger and love are all very real and important feelings that will naturally have an influence over how you look at this issue.  But allowing them to be too intense will certainly cloud your judgement.

I don’t pretend to have all of the answers.  However, it seems that the research and opinions of people on both sides of the issue tend to be fairly consistent regarding Marijuana use in these regards:

I’m not convinced that withholding access to Marijuana for medicinal purposes is a necessary control for our society.  If the value is real, and managed under the control of a medical professional like any other prescription drug, then I support the use of the drug to help patients in need.  As the use grows, I do hope that improvements in synthetics (Marinol) and other delivery technologies will eliminate the need for patients to smoke the drug, but the current state of delivery technology is apparently in flux, and likely because of the strained legal situation.

Why?  Because I have yet to see any substantive research that leads me to believe we should treat Marijuana unlike other prescription narcotics.  A good friend of mine, a politically conservative doctor whom I trust, supports this view.  I just don’t see any compelling reason to do otherwise.

Using the drug will clearly require not only access controls, but behavior controls for the patient.  Obviously, many patients that would use the drug are not in a position to drive a car or control heavy machinery, but the facts of the drugs impact on behavior need to be taken into proper account whenever it is dispensed.

An entirely separate discussion is required for recreational use of Marijuana.  At this point, I lack the will to address it since the pressure is not on (yet) to legalize the drug for casual use.  I am not naive; medicinal use is certainly an incremental step toward general access for some people involved in the medicinal discussion.  However, I think the recreational discussion does deserve the same thoughtful exchange of ideas and information to reach an informed conclusion, with the added area of how to classify and control the drug for general use, in a category similar to Alcohol and Tobacco.  Wider use will lead to issues with driving, working, public behavior, etc., and I expect that there will be even more emotion involved.  We will talk about this topic in the future.

Marijuana should be treated as any other prescription drug.  Although there are clearly hazards with using the drug, they seem no more of a risk than those associated with narcotics that are routinely dispensed.  It seems unreasonably punitive to restrict access to those who truly need it, and unnecessary to control the drug any differently than any narcotic-classed product.

Comments Disabled (Open | Close)

Comments Disabled To "Medicinal Marijuana"

#1 Pingback By Twitter Tweets about Marijuana as of February 19, 2010 | ReeferRX On February 19, 2010 @ 11:35 am

[…] 2010-02-19 15:25:03 · Reply · View TCR_Main: New post: Medicinal Marijuana [8] #tcot 2010-02-19 15:25:02 · Reply · View Nutrication: Studies Show Marijuana Has […]

#2 Comment By denbee On February 19, 2010 @ 10:10 pm

Cannabis is medicine to many people and every week seems to bring more evidence of this to light as study after study affirms this. As far as recreational cannabis I can only speak of my own 40 year history with it. I started using cannabis in Vietnam and it has probably saved my life. I come from a background of alcoholic parents and child abuse. The choice to use cannabis instead of alcohol throughout my life has saved me from enjoying some of the finer aspects of drinking! The violence, the vomiting, the slurred speech, the stumbling, the black outs, the liver damage…instead, I am a responsible father and husband who has been married for 30 years and has had only one job in my life, 40 years with the same employer and I have never missed a day of work. Put that in your recreational pipe and smoke it! As for a reasonable arguement for recreational cannabis read the following: “Our nation can acknowledge the dangers of cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana while still permitting their use. The only logically and morally consistent argument for marijuana prohibition necessitates the criminalization of all harmful recreational drugs, including alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. We can agree that such an infringement on personal freedoms is as impractical as it is un-American. The time has come to accept that our nation’s attitude toward marijuana has been misguided for generations and that the only rational approach to cannabis is to legalize, regulate and tax it.”
Dr. Nathan, a psychiatrist in Princeton, N.J., is a clinical assistant professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

#3 Comment By Steve D On February 19, 2010 @ 11:11 pm

People have the right to do what they want with their own bodies. No more needs to be said.

#4 Trackback By Caffeinated Thoughts On February 25, 2010 @ 10:12 pm

Latte Links (2/25/10)…

Some miscellany, a lot of health care reform links, for your evening. Rachel Motte: Declare the Word in Zion: America and the Middle East Read My Lipstick Network: White House Health Proposal Claims The Iowa Republican: Should Voters Call for a Constit…

#5 Comment By Steve On March 6, 2010 @ 2:13 pm

What I always find of most interest is people who feel the need to analyze something which has been established, and therefore beyond debate. Most who speak on the subject seem to be unaware there are 14 states (not only CA) which have currently Medical marijuana, and 15 moire states pending, with California having 2 proposals for statewide legalization quite possibly coming up for vote within 2010.

Average people, law enforcement, and many more seem fit to question the desires of 110,000 US physicians who petitioned to allow medical use.

Ponder you may, but at the very least acquaint yourself with the world around you and the facts within.