MARIJUANA HAS MEDICINAL BENEFITS

It's Your Health

Compassion Societies are those intrepid organizations that deal in
marijuana for medical use.

Motto: "Hey dude, where's my care?" Or as one client appreciatively
describes "They put the hash in compassion."

In an effort to weed out some of the misconceptions clouding this budding
market, I called the local Compassion Society and was invited to come down
and check out the joint.

Realizing that the location of the society is a well-guarded secret, my
inquiry, "How do I get there?" was met with "Use your freakin' car, man."

Knock knock knock.

"Who's there?"

"It's Dr Dave."

"Dave's not here man."

"No. I'm, Dave."

"Oh hey man, come on in."

Expecting to enter a pad full of tie dyed, red eyed, dread locked dudes
lounging about making rude noises with vacuum cleaner hoses sucking away at
their bottom lips (my dog hates it when I do that), I was surprised at how
clinical the office was.

Add some 1956 Time magazines, fuzzy mould, and a few screams of pain and
this could have been my own office.

Each patient at this clinic had a separate chart, complete with a referral
from a doctor.

Marijuana is doled out but not consumed on the premises. Local MD's refer
patients with illnesses ranging from irritable bowel to fibromyalgia to
multiple sclerosis.

Most of these patients have tried prescription after prescription without
success and have admitted to their doctor that the one thing that seems to
give them some relief is marijuana.

In fact, marijuana has been found to be useful for those who suffer:

1. Severe nausea,

often associated with chemotherapy.

2. Wasting diseases including cancer and AIDS. These folks need the munchies.

3. Spastic conditions secondary to neurological diseases.

4.Chronic pain syndromes including irritable bowel and fibromyalgia.

But many doctors are concerned about recommending marijuana. Aside from the
usual concerns of medication dosages, purity, and interactions, doctors
remain somewhat averse to yanking out their scrip pad and scribbling "Smoke
two of these and call me in the morning."

As part of the MD job description, we spend no insignificant portion of our
day describing in great detail how a patient will incur assorted horrible
cancers of assorted horrible organs if they continue to smoke.

It's then awfully awkward to instruct the next patient to "burn these
leaves and inhale the smoke deeply into your lungs."

But really recent relevant research has shown that there is, in fact, no
increase in lung cancer from smoking marijuana

Furthermore, vaporizers allow the active ingredients of marijuana to be
inhaled without actually burning the leaf.

Marijuana, like Valium and Demerol and other drugs should not be used
recreationally.

Marijuana can render serious users seriously stupid (hence Pauly Shore).

Marijuana users driving Pontiacs, dental drills, shopping carts or other
dangerous equipment is not what society needs.

However, medical marijuana is being further studied as an adjunct to
standard medical therapy for those who suffer and would benefit from its use.

I wish these altruistic cannabis experts good luck in their endeavor to
bring relief to the discomforted.