Marijuana and Health Claims

gabeygoat

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gabeygoat
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Hey, I'm going to be filming a review of some documentary tonight, and I suspect it's going to be one of those MARIJUANA CURES EVERYTHING sort of docs. If y'all could post some good links to valid health claims on marijuana, that would be greatly appreciated. I'm already going through QuackWatch, but others would be good too.
Thanks!


BTW, if you care, my general positions on Marijuana: I don't use it, I think it should be legal for a wide variety of reasons, It seems to have some medical benefits, however, I think overblown propaganda about it being a miracle cure-all only serve to make people write it off altogether.
 
gabeygoat said:
thanks, I'll ask a mod to remove this thread, as it seems it's already been well covered.
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Actually, from a look at those I don't think there has a been a thread specifically dealing with which health claims are backed up with valid studies and which aren't.

There are threads on a few claims individually, but not a general thread on the valid claims.

So if you haven't contacted a mod yet, or if the mod sees this, I would propose to leave this thread open.
 
The most obvious and tangible benefit to medical cannabis is it's appetite stimulating properties and in it's benefits for anti nausea and inhibition of vomiting. Because it can be inhaled through vapor or smoke, patients who cannot swallow their usual medication that requires both being able to swallow and being able to hold down the tablets as well as having to wait for digestion see obvious benefit there.


Any benefit in pain relief comes from nothing but distraction. It does not inhibit pain receptors, it's uplifting effect on mood can help to deal with the anxiety and emotional distress that comes with pain.
 
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Halfcentaur said:
The most obvious and tangible benefit to medical cannabis is it's appetite stimulating properties and in it's benefits for anti nausea and inhibition of vomiting. Because it can be inhaled through vapor or smoke, patients who cannot swallow their usual medication that requires both being able to swallow and being able to hold down the tablets as well as having to wait for digestion see obvious benefit there.

Any benefit in pain relief comes from nothing but distraction. It does not inhibit pain receptors, it's uplifting effect on mood can help to deal with the anxiety and emotional distress that comes with pain.
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Yes, I can report anecdotally that my sister, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1993, used marijuana for many years to stimulate appetite, fight back the nausea that came with swallowing dozens of pills every day, and just to make her feel better.

The head of the FDA once called marijuana "the safest therapeutic drug known to man", and I've never seen that claim falsified.
 
Vortigern99 said:
Yes, I can report anecdotally that my sister, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1993, used marijuana for many years to stimulate appetite, fight back the nausea that came with swallowing dozens of pills every day, and just to make her feel better.

The head of the FDA once called marijuana "the safest therapeutic drug known to man", and I've never seen that claim falsified.
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I had crippling depression and anxiety as a teen which made me unable to eat when I woke up in the morning. I would dry heave the discomfort got so bad. I started using cannabis then, which was a god send on the occasion that I needed it. After a few months I didn't need it anymore.
 
Some components of cannabis are being researched for other, more significant beneficial effects. Cannabidiol has demonstrated anxiolytic properties; and may be at least as effective as current atypical anti-psychotics in treating some forms of schizophrenia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabidiol

There is still a lot of research to be done, but it has the potential to be a very useful medication.
 
I suffer from epilepsy and it works. In the pre-seizure aura-state, smoking a bit can defuse the coming seizure. Not always, like an IV Atavan push, but it does the trick for me.
 
varwoche said:
Or maybe it does...?

Marijuana Provides Pain Relief, New Study Says
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It always seems to be about "maybe" when it comes to pain relief. I can say that I've never noticed anything of note. I've heard it may help inflammation caused pain for rheumatoid arthritis, but I'm too suspicious of people making miracle claims. Thanks for the link I'll look into it.

I know it's the last thing I'd want for pain relief. If it can't help a bruised elbow, a paper cut, a sprained ankle, a surgical wound in my armpit, a tooth ache, or a wisdom tooth removal, I don't see much use for it.
 
Now for something like the article touches on like MS, spinal pain, and muscle spasms, I am openly curious.

Headaches are a mixed bag. I've had head aches that seem to be brought on or aggravated as a result of cannabis many times. If my head was pounding I'd run far away from anyone offering me cannabis.

But when your head ache first starts to finally subside, it seems to offer a markedly rapid onset of relief if you smoke a little cannabis at that point in my anecdotal experience, anecdotes being what they are.
 
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I suspect any benifits from Marijuana will be significantly bosted by the level of patient control which makes comparisons with other options tricky.
 
geni said:
I suspect any benifits from Marijuana will be significantly bosted by the level of patient control which makes comparisons with other options tricky.
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Not to mention the variations in the effects of different types of marijuana; crudely divided between the sedative indicas and the stimulating sativas.
 
Halfcentaur said:
Now for something like the article touches on like MS, spinal pain, and muscle spasms, I am openly curious.
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I've been suffering from sciatica caused by a bulging disc. I manage okay during the day, but I can't sleep at night without pain meds (tramadol). I hate taking pain meds, though, so one night I decided to see if marijuana would take its place. I skipped my normal bedtime pills and instead smoked a few hits of pot. Feel asleep pretty well, of course. But I woke up a few hours later in agony and had to get up and take the pills and pace the living room waiting for them to take effect before I could go back to bed. So, anecdotally, it doesn't do much for nerve pain...for which I couldn't be more disappointed. :(
 
Vortigern99 said:
Yes, I can report anecdotally that my sister, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1993, used marijuana for many years to stimulate appetite, fight back the nausea that came with swallowing dozens of pills every day, and just to make her feel better.

The head of the FDA once called marijuana "the safest therapeutic drug known to man", and I've never seen that claim falsified.
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My ex-mother-in-law had stomach cancer and had horrible nausea sometimes, and we brought her some marijuana to see if it would help her. It did. This was a 60-something-year-old woman who you would never picture smoking pot!
 
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