Medical Marijuana Reduces Painkiller Deaths by 25%

[Ethereal]

Painkiller deaths drop by 25% in states with legalized medical marijuana (https://www.minds.com/blog/view/547170043763372032)

A study put out by the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2014 made an interesting discovery. In every state that had legalized medical marijuana between 1999 and 2010 (13 states in all), there was a 25% reduction in deaths related to the overdose of legally prescribed opioids.

...

Hardly surprising. Cannabis is far less dangerous than prescription pharmaceuticals. But the drug war has never been about reality. It's just about an alliance of corporate interests and control freaks assaulting the liberties of millions of non-violent Americans. One day this egregious and unconstitutional "war on drugs" will come to an end and people will view it in a similar light to slavery. It is that immoral and vicious a policy.

[Common Sense]

Dispensaries are popping up around my city all over the place. I used to smoke when I was younger but over the past decade I've only sampled occasionally.

I've had some issues with an old back injury and was prescribed some anti-inflammatories that basically did nothing and some percocets that actually did do something. However given all the stories of people becoming dependent on them, I went out and got a prescription for some indica to help with pain management when it flares up. It certainly helps me sleep when I do have issues. Much better for me than an opiate.

[texan]

My finger hurts so I have a prescription.

Mostly from poor flipping mechanics.....

[PolWatch]

If they ever legalize it in Alabama, I'll try it for chronic pain. I have quite a few friends (age 65 & up) that use it for pain. I'm a wuss & will wait for it to be legal.

[Tahuyaman]

It's legal here. A friend of mine opened a weed shop and he's been after me to buy into his shop. I'm reluctant to because the Feds are still lurking out there.

[waltky]

Legalized pot gains speed in the Americas...
:huh:
The movement to legalize pot gains speed in the Americas
April 22,`16 — With a swipe of his pen this week, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto proposed that Mexican citizens could legally possess up to an ounce of pot.


The day before, Canada’s health minister stood at a United Nations podium and announced that her country would introduce new federal legislation to make cannabis legal by next year. Already, people are free to smoke marijuana in four U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and medical marijuana is allowed in almost half the country. Uruguay has fully legalized weed for sale. And a large chunk of South and Central America, including Brazil, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica, have made marijuana more available in varying ways, whether it is for medicinal or recreational use.

In the shift toward legalization of marijuana, the Americas have emerged as a leader. This is a remarkable shift for a region that includes some of the world’s leading producers of marijuana, coca and opium poppy, and where the U.S. government has spearheaded a decades-long campaign against cultivation of the substances. “It’s undeniable that the terms of the debate about drugs are changing in Mexico and in the world,” Peña Nieto said during a speech Thursday announcing his new legislative proposal. “Fortunately, a new world consensus is gradually emerging in favor of reform.”


https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_480w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2016/04/22/Foreign/Graphics/2300mexicopot04xx.jpg?uuid=HcLxegjcEea_7e9l3_WXDQ

For many Mexicans, the prospect of such reform seemed unimaginable just a few years back. Using illegal drugs has long been taboo in this conservative, predominantly Catholic country — as is true in many other Latin American nations. Drug-trafficking groups have inflicted horrific violence on the country, with an estimated 100,000 people dying in the past decade as the cartels have battled for control of shipping lanes to the United States. Polls have shown a majority of Mexicans oppose legalizing drugs, fearing that would increase addictions and crime. To have a Mexican president come out publicly in favor of loosening drug laws struck many people as historic. “This was the breaking point,” said Jorge Diaz Cuervo, a Mexican economist and politician who recently published a book on the prospect of legalizing marijuana. “There is now a before and after.”

Peña Nieto’s initiative would make it legal for anyone to own up to 28 grams of marijuana — or one ounce — as long as it was intended for personal use. It would also permit the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, and make it easier to free prisoners who are being held on minor drug charges. The move came after five public forums held across Mexico this year to solicit public opinion and expert testimony on the prospect of changing drug laws. Mexicans were previously allowed to possess up to 5 grams.

MORE (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/the-movement-to-legalize-pot-gains-speed-in-the-americas/2016/04/22/211c7622-07f9-11e6-bfed-ef65dff5970d_story.html)

See also:

Mexico's President Proposes To Relax Marijuana Laws
4/22/2016 - The proposal of President Enrique Pena Nieto, a traditional opponent of liberalizing drug laws, reflects the country's growing disenchantment with the War On Drugs.


Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Thursday proposed legalizing marijuana-based medicines, raising the amount users can carry and freeing inmates on minor weed charges, in a major shift amid regional efforts to reboot drug policy. Pena Nieto, who is grappling with deadly drug cartel violence, said he will send to Congress a proposal to permit the use and importation of marijuana-based medicines, and raise the amount that weed users can legally carry to 28 grams from 5 grams. Growing and selling marijuana is illegal in Mexico and a mainstay business of violent drug gangs. Pena Nieto did not say where consumers would be able to obtain the weed they are then allowed to carry.

Pena Nieto said if his plan was approved, it would allow many people behind bars for marijuana offenses to be released. However, he gave no further details on what appeared tantamount to a retroactive pardon for such inmates. A traditional opponent of efforts to liberalize drug laws, Pena Nieto began to modify his stance in recent months, reflecting growing regional disenchantment with the so-called War On Drugs. "Our country has suffered the harmful effects of drug-linked organized crime. Thankfully, a new global consensus is gradually gathering steam in favor of a reform to the international drug regime," Pena Nieto said in Mexico City. "Instead of criminalizing consumers, it will offer alternatives and opportunities."

Pena Nieto's proposals are the fruit of a national drug policy review that he called for following a landmark Supreme Court decision in November, which allowed four plaintiffs to grow and consume their own marijuana, paving the way for a liberalization of weed regulations. After the ruling, Cristina Diaz, of Pena Nieto's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, presented a bill to allow the import of medical marijuana products. In January, she told Reuters she expected the bill to be approved by May. It is unclear what will now happen to her bill. A growing number of politicians in Latin America, where hundreds of thousands of people have died in drug-related violence in recent decades, have begun to express their unease with prohibitionist drug policies.

In the United States, two dozen states have approved marijuana for medical purposes, while recreational use of the drug has been legalized in Colorado, Washington state, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia. The president's announcement will be good news for many of the world's top companies cashing in on legal cannabis, who have been weighing a bet on entering Mexico. Pot private equity firm Privateer Holdings calculates a legal medical and recreational cannabis market in Mexico could be worth $1.7 billion a year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mexico-pena-nieto-relax-marijuana-law_us_571a2a00e4b0d0042da8df46

[waltky]

House okays bill to let VA Docs Talk to Vets About Medical Marijuana...
:cool2:
House Passes Bill to Let VA Docs Talk to Vets About Medical Marijuana
May 19, 2016 | The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a measure to let doctors at the Veterans Affairs Department talk to patients about using medical marijuana.


House lawmakers passed the legislation as part of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill by a vote of 295-129. The Senate was expected to approve a similar provision later in the day. If signed into law by President Barack Obama, veterans in states where medical or recreational marijuana are legal will be able to receive feedback from doctors at the Department of Veteran Affairs on how the drug may be used as part of their treatment for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.


http://images.military.com/media/news/equipment/marijuana-measured-.jpg
Marijuana is measured in 3.5-gram amounts and placed in cans for packaging at the Pioneer Production and Processing marijuana growing facility in Arlington, Wash.\

VA doctors are currently prohibited from filling out forms required for a veteran to seek the drug, even in places where purchasing it is legal. The new measure blocks the VA from spending any funds to enforce that rule -- effectively lifting the restriction and clearing the way for veterans to receive help. "One of the greatest tragedies of our time is our failure to adequately deal with the needs of our veterans returning home with wounds both visible and unseen," Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat who sponsored the measure, said in a statement. "Medical marijuana can be a safer, more effective alternative."

While the department concedes some veterans use medical marijuana to relieve post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, it questions its effectiveness and suggests the practice might actually be harmful. The language was included in a larger bill that includes $73.5 billion in funding for the VA, a 3-percent increase in funding over 2016. Similar measures have been cut from the bill in the past, including during the same legislative process last year. Medical marijuana is currently legal in 24 states and the District of Columbia.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/05/19/house-passes-bill-to-let-va-docs-talk-to-vets-medical-marijuana.html

See also:

Vets Pleading for Cleanup of Black Mold Festering in VA Hospital
May 19, 2016 | Veterans living at a long-term care facility in a Chicago-area VA hospital are pleading for congressional intervention over being forced to live the past 10 months with black mold growing in their housing complex.


Veterans Affairs documents indicate officials at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital knew about the black mold infestation in August 2015 but conducted no testing until mid-April 2016 and have yet to clean up the problem – though they are promising to act soon. The mold is contained in two rooms of the Residential Care Facility (RCF), a separate building housing 30 residents for indefinite stays. "I was going by the hallway and the door was open. The back wall was all moldy black," 81-year-old resident Raymond Shibek told FoxNews.com. "I went and told the director of nursing. She said, ‘How did you see that?' I said, ‘The door was open.' She said, ‘You weren't supposed to see that.'" Shibek said the mold covered an entire wall measuring roughly 10 feet-by-10 feet. Resident Dan James, 58, said the staff "sat on this for months until we started getting aggressive about it," and "only taped off the rooms a month and a half ago."

Veterans say no one knows how long the mold has contaminated the building, but they claim a large number of patients have fallen ill, even died, over the past few years. It is unknown if the mold was in any way related to the illnesses. An April 22-dated letter sent to Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and signed by 18 residents in the unit asked for congressional intervention. "Granted, these poor souls (veterans-patients who reside in the RCF unit) are a group of … patients who need around the clock care, but still there seems to be a high number of both staff and patient illnesses, and a very high rate of death for the RCF unit veterans," the letter said.

Kirk, chairman of the Senate Appropriations VA subcommittee, fired off a letter earlier this week to a VA supervisor seeking answers on the mold problem. "The saddest part about this work is that there seems to be no bottom – each time we discover a problem, there always seems to be a cover-up, instances of willful incompetence, and/or another problem right around the corner," he wrote. Kirk previously has criticized Hines management over an infestation of cockroaches in the hospital kitchen, prompting him to author a bill requiring mandatory outside health inspections. The VA says it is moving to address the mold situation.

An internal email dated March 4 from Rita Young, Hines' chief of Safety and Emergency Management Services, was sent to union stewards updating them. Young said the drywall in two rooms contained "black mold" caused by a pipe leak that has been repaired. It took until April 5 for VA officials to post a bid notice asking for "hazardous material abatement." The project will be awarded next month and is expected to be completed in July, VA spokeswoman Jane Moen said. The VA did not comment on the delay in cleaning up the mold other than to say, "Hines takes any allegations regarding patient safety and concerns seriously. Our veterans, staff and visitors are our #1 priority." The VA has not provided any memos or proof that mold testing was conducted prior to the April tests.

MORE (http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/05/19/vets-pleading-for-cleanup-of-black-mold-festering-in-va-hospital.html)

[donttread]

Hardly surprising. Cannabis is far less dangerous than prescription pharmaceuticals. But the drug war has never been about reality. It's just about an alliance of corporate interests and control freaks assaulting the liberties of millions of non-violent Americans. One day this egregious and unconstitutional "war on drugs" will come to an end and people will view it in a similar light to slavery. It is that immoral and vicious a policy.


NO, no, no. That can't be. It cannot be because it would be in line with literally all the real world evidence we have on the subject. If we apply logic, real world empirical evidence and facts to the argument than the pro-prohibition people have no material. If we look at actual events this is quite literally as one sided as a an argument can get.

[waltky]

The painkiller dilemma...
http://www.politicalforum.com/images/smilies/confused.gif
The Struggle With Painkillers: Treating Pain Without Feeding Addiction
May 29, 2016 | WASHINGTON — The "wonder drug" pain medications of the mid-1990s have turned out to be a major problem – and a big disappointment.


The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said not only do they run a high risk of addicting the user, but they can actually make patients' chronic pain worse. Public awareness of the opioid crisis has grown in the past few weeks, after the sudden death of pop star Prince, who died in April after reportedly seeking treatment for painkiller addiction, as well as with recent legislation passed by the U.S. House on opioid abuse. “More than 40 Americans die each day from prescription opioid overdoses,” Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement earlier this month. “Overprescribing opioids -- largely for chronic pain -- is a key driver of America’s drug-overdose epidemic." A single opioid overdose can also kill, because it can result in respiratory distress. The number of those deaths has been rising to a high of 29,000 in 2014 -- the latest year for which the figures are available.


http://gdb.voanews.com/64DEEBA5-871F-4A24-9CB1-C5479D34D3BB_w640_s.jpg

Of that number, 18,893 deaths were from prescription painkillers. The other 10,574 were from heroin, the opioid of choice when painkillers get too expensive or to difficult to obtain. In a study in the New England Journal of Medicine in April, Frieden and fellow researcher Debra Houry were blunt: "We know of no other medication routinely used for a nonfatal condition that kills patients so frequently."Vicodin, Oxycontin and their cousins, all synthetic versions of the narcotic found in the poppy flower, hit the market in an aggressive marketing rollout in the mid-1990s. They quickly became popular, providing a euphoric effect while they dulled pain. Studies at the time promised the drugs carried little risk of addiction.

Pain management

The introduction of the new drugs dovetailed with directives by medical experts for health care providers to focus more on pain management. Doctors began asking their patients to estimate their pain level on a scale of 1 to 10, giving patients more power over what drugs they were prescribed. It wasn't long before the drugs were getting used recreationally. Thirty-five year-old Nina, now clean, sober, and a successful caterer in Washington, D.C., was a recreational drug user in the 1990s. "People weren't tracking it like they are today," she said. "So I would 'lose' my prescription or it would 'fall down the sink' or I'd 'leave it behind at Grandma's.' "


http://gdb.voanews.com/36BFAED1-7DD9-4E1A-A9CF-0D0F23B04DC3_w640_s.jpg

Nina said it wasn't euphoria she was trying to achieve with her drug use; it was numbness that she wanted, because her mind was never quiet. Lou, a 60-year-old travel coordinator, also from Washington, D.C., worked as a pharmaceutical representative in the 1990s, a job that gave her access to drug samples in doctors' medicine cabinets. "I'd just take them," she said, smuggling home the controlled substances. She liked to experiment. The results were unpredictable. More than once, she went too far.

'It wasn't my time' (http://www.voanews.com/content/addicted-to-painkillers/3350561.html)

[Professor Peabody]

Maybe they can't remember where they left the bottle of painkillers.

[Captain Obvious]

So instead of being hooked on narcotics, they're hooked on pot.

Murica!

[Common Sense]

So instead of being hooked on narcotics, they're hooked on pot.

Murica!

Pot isn't addictive in the same way narcotics are (physically). Pot also doesn't have the same negative effect on your liver.

[Captain Obvious]

Pot isn't addictive in the same way narcotics are (physically). Pot also doesn't have the same negative effect on your liver.

Yeah, it just makes one stupider.

[del]

Yeah, it just makes one stupider.

while percs come with a trial membership to mensa.