The Case Against Medical Marijuana
Mar 31
The Political Observers Health, Medical Marijuana, Medicinal Marijuana 24 Comments
This is not going to discuss energy savings, shutting down oil refineries or offshore drilling. In this case, Going Green is referring to Cannabis Sativa, Mary Jane, Blunts, Roaches, Joints, Spliffs, Bongs, THC, Bob Marley, yes….marijuana.
California has captivated headlines by saying that they’re going to place an initiative on their ballot to legalize marijuana. This is happening even as numerous states are running into numerous problems with their Medical Marijuana laws.
Some of you know that I live in Colorado. Colorado has a Medical Marijuana law and it has exploded in use over the last couple of years. There are currently more marijuana dispensaries in Denver than there are Starbucks and they continue to pop up. Each night on the news I hear stories about another robbery or burglary happening at another marijuana dispensary. Cities across the state are now scrambling for ways to better regulate these facilities.
A very basic question that I have is this. THC, the ingredient in marijuana that people are smoking it for, is available in pill form already. Why then do we need to have smoked marijuana available with all the problems that it brings? Marinol is a prescription medicine that can be prescribed by a doctor and dispensed from a controlled pharmacy. http://www.rxlist.com/marinol-drug.htm
I live in a suburban neighborhood in Fort Collins, CO that is filled with middle to upper middle income families. Crime is essentially non-existent and the homes are all single family dwellings filled with families that have roughly 2.54 kids each. The only crime other than an occasional vehicle break-in was an armed Home Invasion Robbery. What prompted this to happen? The two residents of the home are medical marijuana patients. When the masked gunmen forced their way into the home they asked for one thing: marijuana. They didn’t want money or electronics…just the drugs.
Denver (in 2010) passed a new ordinance that requires all dispensaries to have a special license. It requires applicants to complete a background check, submit dispensary diagrams, security plans and pass zoning/fire inspections. This is significant because dispensaries have been popping up next to schools and in residential areas where other businesses could not be located. Can you imagine a marijuana dispensary opening in the home next to yours?
On January 31, 2010 Christian Thurston published an article in the Denver Post entitled Smoke and Mirrors. Christian is the Medical Director of a substance abuse treatment program in Denver. Christian provided an example of a 19 year old being treated for “Severe Addiction”. This 19 year old walked in to dispensary, gave them $300 and discussed his depression with a “doctor”. He was then given a medical marijuana card. One pregnant woman was given a marijuana card to smoke because of her nausea. Yes, she was told to smoke marijuana during the pregnancy.
We have people showing up to work stoned and claiming no foul because the marijuana was “prescribed” for them. We have 18 year olds obtaining a license to smoke joints daily for an ear ache, depression, etc.
When the people of Colorado passed this law, the thought was that this would be an alternative to people with debilitating illnesses another option for treatment. We did not think that this was going to be an epidemic of hippies and teens look for a legal way to get their fix.
There are other states in the same situation and others contemplating placing similar marijuana laws on the ballots. Hopefully, they will plan ahead better than the State of Colorado has and only put the law on the books when they’re prepared to handle all the problems that come with the law.What needs to change?
- More stringent guidelines to obtain a medical marijuana card.
- Conditions like ear aches should not be included
- If they aren’t going to be more specific, then legalize marijuana so we can hopefully get past the crime that has come with the law
- Better zoning regulations so we don’t have dispensaries set up next to each other, located in residential areas or near schools.
- Mandatory security in these dispensaries to reduce violent robberies and burglaries.
- Better definitions of a caregiver and restrictions on growing quantities. This too is turning residential neighborhoods into marijuana farms.
- Dispensing marijuana should be done through a controlled environment like a pharmacy, not the corner house where Guido is set up.
- Better education of patients
- This does not give them the right to smoke and drive
- This does not give them the right to smoke then go to work and operate a forklift
- The granting of a medical marijuana card should require the prescribing doctor to visit with the patient’s Primary Care Physician and thoroughly review the patient’s medical history. Is there a history of drug abuse? Is this appropriate therapy for the combination of their conditions?
Following the passing of the new healthcare system, it will be interesting to see if we will now begin covering the cost of medical marijuana. Will Little Johnny down the street be able to walk into the local dispensary, choose from Raspberry flavored marijuana and have us pick up the tab?
Squeaky…
Peter Rabbit
Mar 31, 2010 @ 11:04:29
I agree with your points.
I think legalizing some drugs can be a good thing but providing controls around the process is critical.
I think the positives are:
1 – Increased Tax Revenue
2 – Perhaps decrease in abuse by minors
Point 2 is probably not well proven but I think that sometimes countries that do things like allow anyone over 18 to drink have fewer college binge drinkers as a fruit that is no longer forbidden is not as exciting.
But in your example it looks like one problem has been substituted with another (increased crime).
Squeaky
Mar 31, 2010 @ 12:12:19
Ya, I have to agree. Point 2 was made more out of frustration than anything. I’d rather not have the problems that come with medical marijuana or legalized marijuana. It’s still a dangerous drug (in my opinion) and kids that use repeatedly make stupid choices. Had I smoked marijuana when I was young I probably would have been the poster child for stupid choices.
Most people voted for this law with sympathy for those with terminal illness and cancer. Most people are also ignorant to the fact that Marinol exists so smoked marijuana is not required to obtain the benefits they are looking for. It’s just too bad that the majority of people with cards have obtained them for petty illnesses like ear aches…likely just to obtain legal pot. It’s a major hole in the system.
Thanks for the comment.
kosmo
Mar 31, 2010 @ 12:23:44
I’ll admit that I wasn’t aware of the existence of Marinol.
Eric
Mar 31, 2010 @ 13:51:07
I would have far more respect for the “medical marijuana crowd” if they had simply found a way to legalize recreational use. The laws, regulations, and marketing campaign surrounding medical marijuana are a complete joke and are an insult to the intelligence of informed people. Does anyone really believe a medical marijuana “farmacy” is anything more than the foot in the door? Why can’t we just call it what it is and discuss the real issues?
One major point I don’t see discussed often: modern marijuana is not the same stuff people were smoking in the 60’s and 70’s. “Marijuana classic” may not have been any worse than many legal products. However, many marijuana plants are now bred or engineered for much higher THC levels than in the past. One is left wondering if comparisons to legal alcohol and tobacco use remain valid.
Squeaky
Mar 31, 2010 @ 15:20:21
Some great points Eric. It does seem that the voters were told to vote with our hearts for the cancer patients, but it was the daily recreational users that were just setting up a great scenario for their use. It is insulting to have legislation pushed through in this manner.
Marijuana is worse for you than tobacco cigarettes simply because there is no filter on marijuana like there are tobacco cigarettes. Add in the hybrids created by Carl Spackler (Caddyshack if you’re a young pup) that were created especially for the better high they produce and you have added concerns.
The attitude today kills me. People think of marijuana as a medicine or something as casual as a cigarette. It is a mind altering drug and needs to be treated as such. I still can’t believe that it’s allowed to be sold in an uncontrolled situation yet if you develop a bacterial infection you must go through a doctor and a pharmacy. Take that $10 generic prescription, add the $175 doctor visit and your illness just got expensive. There should be some medications available either OTC or through a two minute consult with a pharmacist. I know…another topic for another day.
Thanks Eric.
Megan
Jan 31, 2011 @ 12:41:28
Squeaky,
How can you say that marijuana is worse than tobacco cigarettes when tobacco is naturally addictive (due to the nicotine), is a carcinogenic, and kills more than 400,000 people each year (CDC.org)? Marijuana research shows there is not a link between cannabis and cancer (only in those who smoke tobacco AND marijuana) and marijuana does not have any addictive substances in it. Also, there are many cigarette brands (such as Camel) who have non-filter cigarettes, invalidating your claim. Where are you getting your information? Perhaps you haven’t read the statistics by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Furthermore, many people are against popping pills (especially seeing as they are chemically created by humans, giving more room for error), thus removing Marinol as the “solution” you so eagerly suggested. If you’re concerned about the welfare of our society, you should be preaching about tobacco and alcohol, which cause many more accidents, death, rape, and domestic violence each year. [Editor’s note: off-topic personal attack on the article’s author was deleted from the end of this comment. Let’s stay civil and on-topic, folks. -Kosmo]
William Nie
Apr 01, 2010 @ 11:51:10
One of the major problems behind the whole issue locally and nationally is the lack of credible research on both sides of the issue. Although common sense is on your side, there is no study which has ever shown negative consequences to consuming marijuana during pregnancy. There are very few studies exploring the actual medical efficacy of the substance.
On the issue of violence you are incorrect. The Denver PD conducted a study and determined MMJ dispensaries to have less crime than liquor stores and about the same level as a Colorado pharmacies. The difference is suburbia loves turning on the news and hearing about the evil degenerate MMJ crowd in their state.
I agree with you that the medical marijuana industry is a farce. But, as a staunch Libertarian, I am against the entire War on Drugs and believe we need to have a rational conversation as a nation about ending it.
One final thing, when there are `84 Walgreens in Colorado and 400 dispensaries in Denver something isn’t right.
William Nie
Apr 01, 2010 @ 11:52:45
184 Walgreens, my apologies.
Medical "Pothead"
Apr 03, 2010 @ 17:06:02
I find it amazing that in 2010 the reefer madness mentality still exists in our world.
I will make a few points here for the obviousily uninformed to consider.
1.Medical marijuana sales comprise less than 1% of all the marijuana sales in this country. The remaining 99+% is controled completly by criminal elements.
The last thing they want to see is the legalization of marijuana. The criminals want to sell their extremly profitable product without paying taxes in the huge income they make. Most important of all they could care less if their “customers” are 10 years old or 100. If you have the cash, they have the product.
2. Billions of tax dollars are spent each year in the so called war on drugs.
If marijuana were completly legalized with controls on sales (much like tobacco and alcohol) those billions would become revenue rather than a tax burden.
Prohibition will never work…it has been proven over and over again.
3. I urge everyone to look at all the research that has been done on marijuana. Its out there if you care to look. Like many things in our daily lives marijuana has positive4s and negatives attached to it. In all honesty the down side to marijuana is far less than either nicotine or alcohol.(once it is removed from the hands of the criminal element)
4.Marinol is an attempt to synthythize THC to provide the benifits of marijuana in pill form. It does not include the resins and cannaboids that make marijuana so effective in the treatment of many serious illnesses.
Does it strike anyone as an odd thing that the “offical” Federal doctrine is that marijuana has no legitimate medical use, yet the FDA has approved Marinol as an effective treatment for the same medical symptoms that they deny is effectively treated by marijuana.
All I ask of anyone is to “not” become (or continue to be) one of the sheep being told what to think and say by a corrupt government.
Think for yourself. get off your lazy butts and do the what is necessary to discover the whole truth to the things that surround our lives.
kosmo
Oct 05, 2010 @ 13:31:05
I’d like to give a shout out to the students at Whitworth College. I’m noticing quite a lot of traffic from you guys – what’s going on? Is this a hot issue up in Spokane?
Anonymous
Nov 10, 2010 @ 09:25:35
yo that is one of the dumbest things i’ve ever heard people are still going to break in places and rob places it don’t matter if its weed or not it depends on what they want. and why not have it in pill form instead of smoking form well lets see i watched a video of a man in canada who has stomach cancer and had 2/3 of his stomach removed now i dare u to try and eat some pills in that condition he can berly smoke he has to take some week vaps cuz its the onily pain med he has so dont tell me we cant have it in smokeable form cuz its ment to be that way
Squeaky
Nov 10, 2010 @ 20:26:04
@Anonymous—Yo, thank you for reading my post.
You can think what you like about burglaries, robberies and the safety of the dispensaries, but I’m living it and I have facts to back me up. As for the Canadian cancer patient with no stomach and the inability to use Marinol—if you actually read my post you may notice that my main objection is not about cancer patients using marijuana (although I sometimes wonder the necessity). What irritates the hell out of me is when people go in with an ear ache and walk out with a canister of cannibus and a package of zig zags and a prescription they can continue to fill over the next 12 months. It is totally unnecessary and complete overkill for the situation.
The local dispensaries are reckless with their lack of security. They are not only putting themselves and their customers in harms way, they are endangering innocent citizens that live and work near their location. I have no idea what the situation is in Sauk Rapids, but I assure you in Colorado the experience has not been a positive one.
If you can clarify what you meant when you said that “…he has to take some week vaps cuz its the onily pain med he has…” I’d appreciate the clarification.
Squeaky…
Jolegs
Nov 17, 2010 @ 21:13:05
FYI, In canada, Marinol 2.5mg that regulate an autonomic system dysfunction for me has been off the shelf because of non availability for the last 9 months. Marinol 5 is available, but since the binding agents are different, they don’t work the same. As for Marinol 10mg, they are completely off the market for good. So now with the Compassion clubs closed and pharmacologie not being able to provide, what is a person with this dysfunction supposed to do. Even the specialists have no answers without this med on the market. Anyone know how to get pharma companies like Abbott who own the company that makes Marinol, make this pill available and not have us wait more than 9 months for medication
jo
Nov 21, 2010 @ 13:45:59
this article is all bull crap.
rae
Nov 21, 2010 @ 13:49:38
hey sqeaky, i like this article and want to use it in my college essay. What is your real name so i can cite this website?
kosmo
Nov 21, 2010 @ 17:45:58
@ Rae – I’m afraid that several of the writers on the site have made a conscious decision to keep their indentities anonymous.
Also, I know that you and Jo are using the same computer (or at least the same router). I’m not sure if you are roomates with very different opinions, or just one person playing games.
Anonymous
Mar 08, 2011 @ 13:33:10
We have an applied ethics policy-making course. This is one of many articles assigned for us as resources for policy-making activities.
Duncan20903
Nov 27, 2010 @ 09:18:47
The “problems” that the states are having with medical cannabis laws can be laid directly at the feet of the idiocy of the proven failure of public policy which we like to call the war on (some) drugs. These “problems” are minimal except when blown out of proportion in the hysterical rhetoric proffered by Know Nothing prohibitionists. Mountains from molehills indeed. These “problems” would be resolved rather than exacerbated by the creation of a regulated retail distribution chain for recreational cannabis.
I wonder why you think a comparison of the number of a single chain of coffee shops is in any way a valid comparison to single outlet businesses? A search of the yellow pages returns 488 coffee shops of any stripe, A search for Starbucks returns 92. Does Denver have any companies in the dispensary business operating 92 outlets? I think this read herring fallacy is intellectually dishonest. How many pharmacies are in Denver? The yellow pages says 648. You know, you might get more mileage using Rite-Aid as your red herring instead of Starbucks. There are only 11 of those instead of 92 Starbucks, plus you get an apples to apples red herring as dispensaries are arguably in the same business as Rite Aid.
You might find it interesting that cannabis is one of the few medicines well tolerated by mom & junior during pregnancy, and has been being presrcibed for mom’s nausea for a number of centuries, perhaps millenia. I suppose a guy like you doesn’t need any facts or knowledge of the subject’s basics as long as you have some hysterical rhetoric like smoking (omg!) chilled wrens! omg!) or the ultimate what about the child wrens fallacy, fetuses. Again, smoking isn’t required.
I don’t want to know squeaky’s real name, but I’d sure like to know his qualifications as a pharmacy expert. Are you a licensed pharmacist? Perhaps an accredited researcher? Do you have a medical degree? If so, could you tell me which medical school, where you did your residency, specialist or general practice, are you board certified? May II see your CV? If none of the above exist what in the world makes you think you’re in the least qualified to post your opinion, especially when you use such an authoritative tone?
Some real, accredited experts in the science of pharmacy disagree with your assertion that cannabis isn’t valid medicine. Earlier this year both the Oregon and Iowa Boards of Pharmacy recognized cannabis as medicine and moved it to each states respective schedule 2. The interesting thing about the Iowa BoP’s action was that they required being sued in court and to be court ordered to consider the petition filed by a Mr. Carl Olsen of Iowa. After being dragged kicking and screaming to the table they voted 6-0 to recognize cannabis as a valid medicine.
Oregon is one of two states that has made a doctor’s RX required for pseudoephedrine which is the very popular OTC sinus remedy and precursor to methamphetamine..
Iowa had moved JWH-018 earlier this year with very little study. JWH-018 is the synthetic cannabinoid that is the ‘active ingredient’ in Spice and K2 which were legal until falling victim to the witch hunt this year.
Neither state’s BoP is staffed by hippies. Oregon may have some liberals, but I find it hard to believe that the Iowa BoP does.
In 2009 the AMA adopted a resolution asking the Feds to recognize cannabis as medicine and to reschedule to schedule 2. That would be the American Medical Assocxiation, you know, that bastion of avatar reading, dope smoking, living in the common unwashed Marxist style communes and begging on the corner to be able to afford to buy more pot to “smoke”.
Your comments on smoking are a straw man fallacy. Smoking isn’t required or desired. It doesn’t matter if it makes you drop dead with one inhalation. .It’s actually a byproduct of the prohibition which you find so endearing. Previous to the 20th century everyone ate their pot or used tinctures, which were sold over the counter to anyone who wanted it and had the money. Cannabis wasn’t invented in 1964 by the Beatles and Bob Dylan. Smoking is heavily lobbied against by doctors and patient advocates in the medical cannabis community. Vaporization has been proven safe in studies done for the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research which was commissioned by the State of California and is operated by the University of California. We can toss that nonsense right out the window.
Ironically the CMCR was started by politicians with the political agenda of discrediting cannabis as a valid medicine. It’s nothing new that blue ribbon panels commissioned by Know Nothings in order to “prove” cannabis is dangerous have unanimously disagreed dating back at least to the 1894 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission report. If you go to the CMCR site be sure to read the glowing endorsement from John Walters, former head of the ONDCP and foaming at the mouth Know Nothing extremist. An endorsement he no doubt regrets I’m sure.
I dunno Squeaky, what do you say that we leave the decisions about what is or isn’t medicine in the hands of licensed physicians and accredited research science. For some reason I don’t think that it’s within the scope of expertise of Know Nothing prohibitionists and especially not of politicians with a political agenda.
If you have a problem with the absurd medical cannabis laws the correct direction to forward your complaints is to the Federal government, which is intransigent in it’s opposition to bringing needed relief to the sick and suffering. I’m not worried about the 84808 patients on the Colorado Medical Cannabis Registry that are malingering. If Amendment 20 disappeared without a trace at 9 AM tomorrow the malingering cohort would have cannabis in hand by noon. No, I’m more concerned about the 1731 people who are suffering and in significant pain or distress. I think that only a despicable waste of oxygen would worry more about his desire to inconvenience the malingering slightly while forcing a quadriplegic or a cancer patient with projectile vomiting to go to the shadowy places where black market cannabis vendors lurk in order to obtain their medicine, or even worse to not get their medicine and suffer more than is unavoidable. Wouldn’t you agree?
(1731 is a wisp of vapor more than 2% of the registered patients in Colorado. 2% is the number which Know Nothings love to include in their hysterical rhetoric about why cannabis isn’t medicine. I’ve accepted these numbers arguendo)
Your absurd piece of hysterical rhetoric about raspberry flavored cannabis and your lame attempt to suggest that there would be free pot for kiddies if universal health care is implemented is absurd and now you’re to the point of being morally bankrupt by trying to connect another subject which you hate to cannabis. “Little” Johnny is much less likely to get his hands on cannabis in a regulated system. We’ve got plenty of evidence to demonstrate my assertion, and only people like you blowing wind off the wall to support the opposite conclusion. But one of the primary reasons I stand with the tea baggers in opposition to Obamacare is because it’s more likely that potheads will suffer urine testing and denial of benefits or forced “treatment” for coming up positive than the absurdity that “little” Johnny will be “smoking” raspberry flavored cannabis. Your irrational hatred of both pot and Mr. Obama have you arguing against a public policy which might end up causing a few potheads to choose drinking alcohol or sniffing model airplane glue to get high instead. Now that’s a heckuva goal.
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One other question, slightly different topic. Why is it that there are no black market vendors that carry schedule 3 Marinol as a product? Heroin addicts sure love their schedule 2 oxycodone. It’s a lot easier to get schedule 3 drugs than schedule 2. Why don’t potheads love Marinol if it’s identical in effect to cannabis? Not only are we not interest, many of us think the only good use for Marinol is to get an exception on drug testing required at the forced reeducation foisted on many potheads by irrational prohibitionism. I’d really appreciate if someone could ‘splain it to me. It isn’t price. Heroin is much cheaper than oxy.
Duncan20903
Nov 27, 2010 @ 09:22:01
Kosmo, don’t the people who use the free wi-fi at McDonald’s, Starbucks or the public library show up as the same IP address? I know for certain that the free wi-fi that some dispensaries in California provides does that though it’s unlikely any Know Nothings are using one of those.
kosmo
Nov 27, 2010 @ 09:35:19
@ Duncan – True about the free wi-fi. However, the fact that comments were posted 4 minutes apart from the same IP address – and on an article 6 months old – suggests that it was either one person using two identities or two people with knowledge of each other’s activity (i.e. one person recommended the site to the other). The odds of two people using the same shared wi-fi network stumbling across the article is such quick succession isn’t particularly likely.
I certainly encourage people to share their thoughts on the issues … but if this was one person using a puppet for one of the opinions, then it really doesn’t properly advanced the discussion.
Duncan20903
Nov 27, 2010 @ 09:45:01
Oh my. I forgot about the armed robbery in the residential neighborhood. Why would anyone think that it’s anything other than the idiocy of prohibition perverting the wholesale and retail distribution chains as the cause that this robbery occurred where it did?
Got any bootleggers selling moonshine whiskey in your neighborhood?
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Peter Rabbit, you’ve got it backwards. There is substantial supporting evidence that age controls work, and that 21 is a much better age. Perhaps allowing 18 year olds to dink in a ‘by the drink’ establishment. When I was in high school 1975-1978 in Virginia the drinking age was 18 for beer and wine. Some enterprising 18 year old seniors would purchase kegs and set them up in the woods beside the school, and starting at 7 AM would sell to all comers including 13 year old freshmen. Today the youth of that age group report that it’s much easier to get cannabis than alcohol. There are no age restrictions on cannabis. Oh my, let’s keep pounding this fallacy by pointing out that tobacco use among underage youth started falling significantly when they started to card youth. In 2009 reported tobacco use among youth was lower than reported cannabis use for the first time in history. In that same high school we attended the students were allowed to smoke tobacco in designated smoking areas. Ironically these smoking areas were within 10 feet of every entrance except the main entrance. Both significant reductions in use without making the object illegal for adults.
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“I’ll admit that I wasn’t aware of the existence of Marinol.”
kosmo are you aware of the existence of Desoxyn? That’s available by prescription to anyone age 6 or over. You probably have heard of it by it’s “street name”, which is “meth” or “crystal meth” Yes indeed, methamphetamine, good friend to society, and they’re selling that to school children every day of the week. On the other hand there are dispensaries in California that have monthly sales revenue in excess of the nationwide, annual sales revenue for schedule 3 Marinol. Marinol is not a substitute for medical cannabis, or even for recreational cannabis. Not in any way, shpe or form. What the Know Nothings that love to beat up that straw man don’t understand is there are a lot more cannabinoids in cannabis than THC, and save cachexia and severe nausea THC isn’t the medical cannabinoid.
Megan
Jan 31, 2011 @ 12:44:24
Duncan,
THANK YOU for clearing up all the nonsense I wish I had time to reply about! Well said.
kosmo
Nov 27, 2010 @ 10:05:54
@ Duncan – FYI – your longer article got temporarily caught by my spam filter because of the number of links – not due to any sort of censorship.
We do strive for balance on the site – we alternative conservative and liberal viewpoints on Thursday. Another writer, Zarberg, had an article last December suggesting that the war on drugs was a waste of money. You can find it here: http://www.thesoapboxers.com/losing-the-war/
I wasn’t aware of Desoxyn, per se, but did know that meth existed as a prescription drug.
Justin
Dec 27, 2014 @ 04:33:59
It is really unfortunate that there would be more marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks! I really hope that it won’t ever come to the point where we would be flipping for the bill for some kid getting weed for an “ear ache” but maybe it’s not that bad considering so many pharmaceuticals out there produce so many drugs with horrible side effects and doctors are prescribing them left and right and we pay for that! Even in states that marijuana is illegal people can show up to work stoned all the time. The drug testing can also be cheated as there are so many websites out there telling you how to or giving you a product like: http://drugrehaballiance.com/best-synthetic-urine-reviews-vs-powered-urine/ so that people can cheat their drug test and get jobs.