Legalising Cannabis for medicinal purposes ??

[Ryatha]

In SA you used to be able to grow up to 10 plants and all the cops would do is confiscate them and give you a fine. Then it was reduced to 3 plants, and now I think it is only 1 - but don't quote me on it. When my cop friend gets online, I'll double check with him.

Just a clarification: Dope doesn't decrease intelligence, neither does mental illnesses, however the thinking process can be altered or slowed down while a person is under the effect of the drug or mental illness.

[Amity]

I have seen, first hand, on a number of occasions, the terrible outcomes caused by long term marijuana usage.
However, I have also seen, first hand, on a number of occasions, the terrible outcomes caused by long term alcohol usage.
And tobacco.

However, IMHO, marijuana causes MORE long term issues than either alcohol or tobacco. Probably because it's a type of hallucinogen whereas the other two are not.

I'm not going to comment on whether or not it should remain illegal - that's up to our Parliamentarians. Federal Parliament regulates what is "a drug".

I haven't done crime for a while so am not really up to what the current statutory penalties are for possessing cannabis. However, people are still regularly charged for it. Even carrying a bong can cause criminal charges to be laid. Depends on the copper, really!

[C~Q]

However, IMHO, marijuana causes MORE long term issues than either alcohol or tobacco. Probably because it's a type of hallucinogen whereas the other two are not.

!

What about compared to legal medication though...i'm talking about legalising it for medicinal purposes not recreational use. I just think that a lot of the awful pain meds that get handed out can cause a lot more damage and become far more addictive than marijuana...with less benefit quite often.

[Yeddi]

This is such a hard one. I don't think it should be decriminalised altogether and I don't think it should be given out like panadol medicinally for normal pain management long term (it's just got too much scope to be abused) BUT I do think it should be legalised for medical purposes for those with a fatal disease when people are near the end (so hospice care), so can't really cause any more harm than the other medications given in these times. When people are near the end they are often given large doses of pain meds like morphine, and I have seen personally what those large doses can do to someone - it makes them loopy. I know my dad thought people were trying to poison his drink and my little maltese dog was a spy - he truly believed it and it made him even more scared in an already scary time. It was the morphine that made him this way. Morphine and marijuana are similar in pain relief at these stages of life, but morphine is always a depressant while marijuana can a stimulant for many people (when it's a depressant it's just like morphine anyway). If there is a choice between the two when someone's on their deathbed I don't think we should make them feel crappier by giving them only depressants. I think the how it was administered though would have to be well thought out so that it wasn't abused and there was as much accountability as there is with morphine (which is often abused - gah!).

Okay, sitting happy on the fence...

[Catastrophic]

I haven't read all the replies (Apologies if this has been said)

But i'm all for it being legalised. The medicinal purposes it can be used for are HUGE. And depending on the way that it is grown the toxity is quite low. I did a huge assignment on this when i was in grade 12, and it really opened my eyes and has made me a believer in the goodness of it. There are more drugs in our PPS scheme that are alot worst then marijuana.

[AnyDream]

This is such a hard one. I don't think it should be decriminalised altogether and I don't think it should be given out like panadol medicinally for normal pain management long term (it's just got too much scope to be abused) BUT I do think it should be legalised for medical purposes for those with a fatal disease when people are near the end (so hospice care), so can't really cause any more harm than the other medications given in these times. When people are near the end they are often given large doses of pain meds like morphine, and I have seen personally what those large doses can do to someone - it makes them loopy. I know my dad thought people were trying to poison his drink and my little maltese dog was a spy - he truly believed it and it made him even more scared in an already scary time. It was the morphine that made him this way. Morphine and marijuana are similar in pain relief at these stages of life, but morphine is always a depressant while marijuana can a stimulant for many people (when it's a depressant it's just like morphine anyway). If there is a choice between the two when someone's on their deathbed I don't think we should make them feel crappier by giving them only depressants. I think the how it was administered though would have to be well thought out so that it wasn't abused and there was as much accountability as there is with morphine (which is often abused - gah!).

Okay, sitting happy on the fence...

My opinion tends to sit around about here too - I think the maximum benefit/least harm ratio seems highest around end-of-life palliative care. The associated mental health and addiction issues are an important consideration in the use of any medication. However many readily available meds are open to similar abuse - the one that sticks out in my head is codeine. I can buy it off the shelf, and yet a standard dose has me off my tree. Imagine if I had an injury that required more than a short-term pain relief use. How quick do you think I would become addicted, given how high I am on low-dose codeine?

But our medical system is not very good at helping people to manage chronic pain (at all). There is little attention given to non-pharma approaches to pain relief. No one helps people to identify the best dose for their pain and their body (there are a lot of people either over or under medicating, long term). And then, a dependency, whether physical or psychological develops. People aren't educated about coming off their meds. They don't understand that the pain they experience when they stop taking it is a rebound effect. That if they hang in there without it, they may start to feel better. So they keep taking it and a full blown addiction is born.

[C~Q]

MD - he got the patches yesterday. He had (I think) 10mg and 50mg...so he put a 50mg one on. He was pretty out there...not as bad as on Oxycontin but still pretty fried. He slept really badly though...kept waking and wasn't tired. Then this morning he took it off and the come down was pretty bad. I had to drive him to the hospital to pick up some Ensure and he wsa struggling not to throw up the whole time...had the junkie itches as well

He thinks they;re trying to get him hooked so he'll do what they want him to do...which makes him even more determind to stick with the weed and leave the pharma drugs alone.

I have to say actually going into the hospital with him made it all a lot realer (is that a word?!). Crazy thing is he still looks so healthy...when he picked up the Ensure the girl asked him where Graham was and when he said he was Graham she looked shocked and said sorry. He laughed and said it happens all the time!