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LEGISLATION AROUND MEDICINAL cannabis is back on the political agenda today, with a bill tabled in the Dáil.
The Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulations Bill 2016 proposes to allow those with incurable illnesses like MS, to buy oils, sprays and tablets made from the drug to alleviate their pain. The Private Members’ Bill would also regulate a pharmacy-based model.
But does medicinal cannabis actually work? And doesn’t cannabis have an adverse effect on some users’ mental health? These are important, unanswered questions about its use.
We ask a politician and a doctor to give their views.
Gino Kenny, People Before Profit TD for Dublin Mid-West
WHEN I GOT elected last February one of the issues that I wanted to highlight was accessibility to medicinal cannabis.
I had very limited knowledge about the issue prior to being elected. A family from Clondalkin whose child was suffering from Dravet Syndrome – a very aggressive and intractable form of epilepsy – made contact to see if I could highlight the issue of CBD oil and its therapeutic benefits.
In July, I introduced the Medicinal Cannabis Use Regulation Bill 2016 to the Dáil to try and begin the debate about the medical benefits of medicinal cannabis. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.
Positive political response
The political consensus has been one of positivity. The high profile case of Vera Twomey’s daughter Ava, who has a diagnosis of Dravet Syndrome, has been a game changer.
Vera’s campaign for accessibility for treatment has brought about a review from the Department of Health on the viability of medicinal cannabis in Ireland. The report will be concluded by the end of January.
Later today I will be looking for support for this bill on the accessibility of medical cannabis for those who need quality assured medicinal cannabis for their medical needs, under a doctor’s recommendation. The bill also calls for a Cannabis Regulatory Authority and a Cannabis Research Institution to be set up.
We’ll be following other countries
At the moment over ten countries in Europe have enacted legislation for the medicinal use of cannabis. Outside Europe nearly thirty states in the United States have made medicinal cannabis legal. Australia did the same recently.
Professor Mike Barnes commissioned an All Party Parliamentary report for Westminster on the massive benefits of medicinal cannabis to the sufferers of chronic pain, MS, arthritis, cancer, epilepsy, fibromyalgia and a list of other disorders and conditions.
I believe the debate has started in Ireland in regards to medicinal cannabis and things are never going to be the same again. Policy and legislative change has to happen and will happen due to the public clamour for this Government to act.
Make it medicine
The time for stigmatisation and criminalisation of citizens who want to treat their own medical needs has to be enacted now.
It was the visionary and forward-thinking Irish doctor, Dr William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, who brought the medicinal use of cannabis back into the medical mainstream in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Let’s continue his forward-thinking and vision in this century. Make it medicine. Make it happen.
Professor Brendan Kelly, professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin
CANNABIS IS BAD for mental health. The scientific evidence is now clear on this point.
The overwhelming majority of studies demonstrate that cannabis increases the risk of mental ill-health, in the form of depression, schizophrenia and various other conditions.
Cannabis is widely used even though illegal
As with all drugs, not everyone is affected equally. Some people seem unaffected and other factors are invariably also relevant in each individual case.
But the scientific evidence is now clear that cannabis presents a significant risk to mental health and should be avoided. The fact that decriminalisation does not produce a rise in mental illness simply demonstrates that cannabis is very widely used even though it is illegal.
So what should policymakers do?
Saying that cannabis presents a substantial risk to mental health does not provide a clear answer as to whether or not cannabis should be decriminalised.
Drugs policies are generally very inconsistent in theory and even more inconsistent in practice. In Ireland, some harmful substances are legal but their use is regulated (e.g. nicotine and alcohol), whereas other harmful substances are simply illegal (e.g. cocaine).
It is not at all clear what lessons can be learned from experiences with these substances.
Sensible drugs policy should focus on reducing the harm caused by all drugs, including cannabis. Given the widespread harm drugs cause in society, pragmatism should trump ideology. Preventing or relieving the suffering caused by addiction should trump short-term political tactics or populist media posturing.
There are better painkillers available to us
The fact that cannabis presents a risk to mental health should certainly inform drugs policy, but it does not necessarily mean that cannabis should remain illegal, or that medicinal use should be avoided. The situation is far more nuanced than that.
Cannabis will never be an ideal medicine for pain relief, not least because there are other non-dependence producing medications which can and should remain first-line agents in the management of pain.
Many of these other medications do not present risks to mental health and they still offer substantial benefits to people with chronic pain or enduring physical health problems.
If, however, these first-line agents fail to produce sufficient benefits, or cannabis-based products are the only agents that work in particular cases, then cannabis-based medications should be permitted in specific circumstances.
As ever, pragmatism should trump ideology, and the absolute imperative to relieve avoidable suffering should trump everything else.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
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If sufferers of chronic pain say it works who am I, or anyone else to say they can’t have it? Legalise it and give the choice to the individual…
@O’Reilly: I had a bad case of the munchies…..So I opened the fridge door and to my eternal horror there was no food in the fridge-it was empty and barren like a desert of nothingness. Even though I was shocked, I shouldn’t have been, as I was well aware that I had spent my last $50 on a bag of grass that was meant to buy me the essentials for the next week. But sure wasn’t keeping the Mighty Vaporizer well stocked and supplied with Mary Jane one of the essentials? I briefly thought about pawning the family TV, but decided against this in case my parents took issue with the idea after they came back from holidays.
https://www.namastevaporizers.co.uk/blogs/news/is-the-mighty-the-mightiest-of-the-lot
@O’Reilly:
also, Massachusetts has voted rto legalise cannabis for recreational use.slipped under the radar during the US election. And Canada is also about to legalise it.
Can’t see Ireland doing the same unless the UK do it and they are actively talking about doing just that with even previous hardliners such as Tory MP Peter Lilley this week calling for legalisation.
The war on drugs has completely failed.
Time to legalise a drug that is less harmful than coffee and free up wasted time, effort and taxpayer money going after cannabis, with even a small tax able to generate many millions for much-needed public investment.
Lilley said the law was “indefensible” and compared it with prohibition in the United States.
“More people actually try cannabis in this country than in states where it is legally available,” he said.
“The reason that it is unenforceable is that it is indefensible. The argument that it has serious health risks has been effectively demolished by the (Medical Journal) Lancet study which concluded that on the medical evidence available moderate indulgence in cannabis has little ill effect in health. Any ban on cannabis should be based on other considerations.”
The argument that cannabis was a “gateway” drug which led to harder drug use was the most serious consideration, Mr Lilley said.
“I concluded, as did Lancet, that there is no way that taking cannabis encourages you chemically, or predisposes you to taking hard drugs,” he said.
@O’Reilly:
“Cannabis will never be an ideal medicine for pain relief, not least because there are other non-dependence producing medications which can and should remain first-line agents in the management of pain.”
Why am I not surprised that Professor Brendan Kelly, professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin promotes the use of poisonous non effective products peddled by Big Pharma despite all the peer reviewed evidence to the contrary?
Of course. The medical world needs to revolve around medicine, not money.
Make Ireland Green Again
Good man Ross…theres a motto we can all get behind… MAKE IRELAND GREEN AGAIN!!!!
Thats what I like to hear! We’ll bring a whole new meaning to the Emerald Isle!
@GameOverMan: +1
#MakeIrelandGreenAgain
YES
And I’m sorry but its a risk to mental health? What about the drugs that our out on the market right now making millions? Fluoxetine turned me into a damn zombie for the 4 months I was on them. There are more damaging substances than marijuana out there legally prescribed to us. Cannabis has been the best thing for my mental health along with many other people I know.
@Ross O’Sullivan: yes! Exactly
@Ross O’Sullivan: What none of these people can explain either is how we don’t see mental health issues like psychosis grow amongst a population as cannabis use increases.
This is a no brainer. Absolutely yes. In fact, in should be completely legalised. It’s a waste of Garda time and resources for a reasonably innocuous substance that could be taxed and monitored properly
@john Appleseed:
It alienates otherwise law abiding members of the public from An Garda Siochana.
Yes. Benefits for myself with glaucoma & for friends of mine with MS. And others I’m sure.
How can one professor (TCD guy) say its bad for mental health while Professor David nutt says the opposite. Surely it depends on strains and quality!
Nutt being the word
@Bairéid Rísteard: it depends on the person. One person could have a history of psychosis in their family which smoking triggers.
The same way it could just be triggered by a life event. It’s not fair to blame smoking if 99% can do it with no risk. Its just a nice excuse to use to block legalisation
I agree. Some people have terrible reactions to ibuprofen and yet that isn’t an issue.
@Bairéid Rísteard: A fact check would be interesting, plenty of verified research out there.
@Bairéid Rísteard: It depends on who’s payroll you’re on.
According to “Epidemiology of Schizophrenia” on Wikipedia, most countries with high cannabis use have some of the lowest rates of schizophrenia -The Netherlands are 173rd, Canada 177th, USA 181st, UK 185th, Iceland 191st and Australia last 192nd (Iceland is said to have the highest rate of marijuana/cannabis use in the world). The country with the lowest rate of marijuana/cannabis use in the world, Singapore, is said to have the 7th highest rate of schizophrenia.
A Harvard University study, published Dec 4th, 2013 in the journal Schizophrenia Research, adds support to the role of genetic factors in schizophrenia, and states that marijuana use alone does not increase the risk of developing the disorder. The latest findings provide enough evidence for Dr. DeLisi and her team to conclude that “Cannabis is unlikely to be the cause of this illness.”
Source: PII: S0920-9964(13)00610-5 doi:10.1016/j.schres.2013.11.014 —Published by Elsevier Inc.
LINK: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24309013
Association is not Causation:
Schizophrenia affects approximately one percent of the population. That percentage has held steady since the disease was identified, while the percentage of people who have smoked marijuana has varied from about 5% to around 40% of the general population.
Despite a massive increase in the number of Australians consuming the drug since the 1960s, Wayne Hall of the University of Queensland found no increase in the number of cases of schizophrenia in Australia. Mitch Earleywine of the University of Southern California similarly found the same with regard to the US population and Oxford’s Leslie Iversen found the same regard to the population in the UK. According to Dr. Alan Brown, a professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia University, “If anything, the studies seem to show a possible decline in schizophrenia from the ’40s and the ‘50s”.
Kindly Google any of the following combinations:
Nicotine and Schizophrenia
Alcohol and Schizophrenia
Chocolate and Schizophrenia
Sugar and Schizophrenia
Gluten and Schizophrenia
Should we hand the market in any of the above substances to criminals (which is what prohibition effectively does) because its use is “associated” with a certain minute part of the population?
No we should legalise weed fullstop
It’s like a lot of things that should be legalised in this country, legalising them for medical use shouldn’t be confused with having to use them.
Yes
Yes
The biggest problem for legalisation is Irelands massive pharmaceutical trade. They make a lot of money selling painkillers for chronic illnesses. The government has only been seriously considering the legalisation of medicinal cannabis since there have been cannabis based products produced by the pharmaceutical companies. In many situations Simon Harris has said he looks to legalise ‘cannabis based products’ rather than just saying ‘cannabis’ for medicinal use.
I believe we should just legalise it completely like many states in the US already have, but I think the government will just legalise the products based on cannabis.
@Andy K:@Andy K: yes that’s what many of us fear. The pharma substitutes. There’s no comparison to the real thing
Legalise marijuana for general use
Yes
Yes
Yah I was totally against it but changed my mind after reading how it helped people that were very sick.
When is ireland going to lead the way on a substance that is surely better than alcohol
Its a no brainer. Of course it should be legalised. The fact that it has to go through the process of a private members bill is scandalous.
I suffer from chronic pain and if it works, I would be willing to give it ago. Been on medication for years and at this stage. If it helps. then fantastic.
@LITTLEONE: it does. I’ve fibromyalgia. It’s one of the only things I got to try that did ease my pain and relax my body. One thing.. as opposed to various opiates, anti inflammatorys, muscle relaxants , low dose anti depressants , gabapentin , pregbalin, zopiclone… Not one combination of those ever worked in 12yrs. They’re doin a great job of making me look shit though.
@Jacky Dunne: I agree . They are the equivalent of taking smarties at this stage. The same taking tylex, gabentin, diazepam when it’s needed to control spasms I frequently get in back. At this stage sick of popping pills . Doing it now for 16 years. Yet constantly still in pain.
@LITTLEONE: Do you drink diet drinks Littleone? When I had a back injury the constant spasms only went away when I stopping consuming Aspartame and started taking regular epsom salt bath but weed was always my choice of painkiller.
@Gaucho Doyle: no I don’t. Plenty of water. I have a number of discs worn away in lower back and every now and then I get episodes as the doctor likes to call them where the back flares up. On top of that suffer with nerves in legs and currently waiting to get knee seen too which had decided to give me grief. Great fun. Ya I use epsom salts as well, heat pads, tens machines . Believe me this I will be going to see doctor about as have heard from other people, the benefits of it.
@LITTLEONE: I was crippled like that for nearly two years, pinched nerves and all, told I had disk damage but an Osteopath finally sorted me out and even back back playing football. Have you been to one?
@Gaucho Doyle: I have had many MRI done . Bone density etc. I have this problem now about 16 years . Discs completely worn away. .
@LITTLEONE: Fair enough littleone but you can’t trust Irish doctors to even read an MRI properly . An Indian coworker was recently told by his Irish doctors after an MRI that his back trouble was caused by an over grown bone. He went back to India to have the operation to cut it down. His Indian doctors told him that the diagnosis was complete bullshit and all he needed was to be straightened out. I would totally recommend you see a good osteopath, they can tell where your issues are just by watching you walk, stand or a touch examination. If it doesn’t cure you, it will certainly make your life more comfortable and in less pain. I use the one in Blackrock main street.
Would be cautious but hope it would be available
Yes
My nephew passed away from a brain tumour a year ago, aged 35 one of the awful symptoms of this truly awful disease was the seizures he suffered. Medicinal cannabis stopped those seizures in his last few months it alleviated his pain and put a smile on his face and giving him a better quality of life and his family more time to enjoy with him while he was still with us. That is priceless and something nobody should be denied.
Alcohal spirit is the most damaging sunstance on sale followed by wine,which is advertised with the full support of goverment,,,,,,TD should grow a pair and legalise cannibis period, they have absolutely no argument in keeping it illegal for people who prefer to use it,,,,,, the ,,evidence is overwhelming that it benifits society greatly both socally and economicly ,we live in the 21st centuary but alot of our inept politians live in the 20 th century and are incapable of moving foward , by soon enough these backword dinasores will die off…the sooner the better
Yes
Yes
Yes; but why not also in natural form? The artcle’s author indicates oils and sprays – do pharmaceutical s HAVE to be involved to get this bill passed?
@Lynne Colson: agree.. out they come with the Sativex. Watch.
Yes
Yes
The evidence that it is harmful to mental health is not as clear cut as Prof Kelly is suggesting.
There is no clear proof that cannabis harms mental health, only that a lot of people with mental health issues use cannabis. This does not mean their issues are caused by their weed usage.
Personally based on the studies I have read, I believe that heavy use of cannabis can bring on episodes in those with a pre disposition to mental issues but for otherwise normal people taking cannabis will not make you crazy.
That said, some of the effects of the cannabis high are similar in description to various types of mental conditions, paronia etc. but to say that it is giving users mental conditions is like saying alcohol gives users vertigo because it’s effects may include dissyness.
So in conclusion, cannabis should be regulated and available to who ever wants to use it but with appropriate warnings and education to make users fully aware of the risks and how to avoid them.
@john doe: Plenty of ongoing research which indicates that certain compounds in the cannabis plant have anti-psychotic properties. Prof Kelly fails to mention this fact, instead it is all gloom & doom, he is not to be trusted.
@john doe: I fully agree. Prof Kelly appears to be quite ignorant on this subject.
Health concerns regarding cannabis/marijuana tend to come from a self-fueling group of discredited scientists funded by the pharmaceutical, prison, tobacco, and alcohol industries. They push non-peer-reviewed papers, fraught with conjecture and confounding variables, while relying upon reports issued by others in their own group to further support their own grossly misleading research and clearly biased agendas.
Here’s the real science:
Study: Cannabis/Marijuana Use Not Predictive Of Lower IQ, Poorer Educational Performance
“… to test the relationships between cumulative cannabis use and IQ at the age of 15 and educational performance at the age of 16. After full adjustment, those who had used cannabis more than 50 times did not differ from never-users on either IQ or educational performance. Adjusting for group differences in cigarette smoking dramatically attenuated the associations between cannabis use and both outcomes, and further analyses demonstrated robust associations between cigarette use and educational outcomes, even with cannabis users excluded. These findings suggest that adolescent cannabis use is not associated with IQ or educational performance once adjustment is made for potential confounds, in particular adolescent cigarette use.”
Source: C Mokrysz, et al. Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London. Published January 6, 2016 in Journal of Psychopharmacology.
http://intl-jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/06/0269881115622241.full
Yes
Yes
If it helps .01% then yes of course.
I was able to quit my nicotine addiction with the help of cannabis – indica strains will block the nicotine receptors in the brain. Absolutely no struggle in quitting while vaping the purple maroc.
Medicinal being the big giveaway, of course it should be legalised!
No debate
It really depend on who you believe and can we trust the scientific evidence. Remember the scientific evidence that said butter was bad and margarine would save your life. That fats caused health problems but sugar you could drink as much of that as you could afford. If you believe the lady last night on utv who was dealing with serious head pains she survives on three drops of medicinal cannabis twice daily instead of a range of powerful pain killers that were not working for her. He doctors still keep giving her percriptions and will not discuss her use of cannabis because in her works they fear loosing their licences of practice in Ireland. Also you would execpt the island of Jamaica to be full of depressed schizophrenia suffering people but where is the evidence for that. The biggest losers in this argument are the big drug companies who will lobby endlessly to ban any natural plant because it can’t be copyrighted by them. No shareholder wants to hear that a natural product works because were is the profit for them it that. We have a huge problem with people getting addicted to painkillers and we supply vigra to pensioners on medicial cards. Many have turned to the pharmaceutical companies as there new God who can take away there pains and ease there suffering. But the side effects of medication is totally unrecorded.
Kelly used the words addictipn and dependence in relation to cannabis. So nothing else he says matters, because he’s either a fool or a knave to imply cannabis is addictive.
@Brendan. He in fact says ” because there are other non-dependence producing medications” which read properly could imply that cannabis is also a non-dependence producing medication. There is no doubt though that for many people cannabis can be psychologically addictive. My main problem with Mr Kelly is his blanket statement at the beginning that cannabis is bad for mental health. For some people this is true, for others, far less so.
With no reported overdoses ever it would be a lot safer than most medicines/drugs on the market.
Yes. It’s the only answer
Does the bill only allow the use of oils, sprays and tablets?
I was under the impression that there would be medical dispensaries where you could get it in herbal form. Still would be a massive step in the right direction
I lost friends and relatives to cancer this year, and THC; CBD and CBN oils helped increase appetite and restful sleep in the final stages for one, and moreover, as another being a chemist sought to treat their own pain, nausea, anxiety, with paracetamol and THC oil rather than medically prescribed morphine, in their case, increased coherence and lucidity in extremis, with in their estimation a tolerable amount of pain and discomfort that they were willing to take in exchange for not having the morphine rot them inside out.
University of Madrid molecular biology department last year released studies showing that THC actively kills cancer. The molecule locks onto certain aspects of the cancer cell, in similar ways to more advanced chemo, and triggers apoptosis. It does not do this to healthy cells.
Concerns about THC or one of its metabolites (e.g. CBD, CBN) playing a catalytic role in triggering latent schizophrenia aside, we have here a naturally occurring substance that kills cancer. Small wonder vast and monied interests are weighed against it in a country long in thrall to the wishes and demands of a powerful pharmaceutical industry.
Of course it should be legalised for medical reasons, if it works for pain relief then why not ?
Wouldn’t it save the HSE Millions to use a product that works rather than throwing good money after bad on crappy glorified Panadol !
If it is damaging to mental health, how come it has HELPED mine? I was diagnosed with Depression and General Anxiety Disorder. When I came off of Prozac, it was fine for a few months but then it began again. I was now over 18 and thus no one wants to hear from me unless I have 100 quid to spend per week to talk to someone. A collegemate handed me a joint at a party where I was feelig particularly bad and so I took a couple of drags.
That was the first time I felt my fears and sadness just leave. Prozac gave me energy to come up with an explanation as to why my fears weren’t called for but Weed just made them go away.
That was 4 years ago.
I only smoke it when I get so low that I can’t find anything else to help calm me, but when I do then I feel great. Like I was given a new battery. It has been almost 8 months since my last smoke, and before that it had been around the same.
@Ms. Shannon Napier: because it DOES and has been proven to help people with depression and anxiety. Depends on the strain used but you’re today right. Tarring all patients with the same brush when it comes to potential side effects is nonsense
Sure you could have diabolical migraine and nausea and suffer all sorts from taking tramadol . Another person could find it brilliant. I could take it and find it about as helpful as Panadol.
Most things have side effects
NUTS have side effects to nut allergy sufferers
Bread has a brutal effect on gluten sensitive people
Marijuana is either the right fit or the wrong one. Don’t enjoy being told if I use cannabis to treat severe fibromyalgia that il have mental issues. Damn don’t you think I already do having this damn illness 24/7 for 12years ? LOL
No debate, just legalize it!
It is worth signing this petition for Ava Twomey if you agree with it’s use for medicine, it’s incorrect to bring personal use into the debate. Its being discussed in the context of using it as an alternative to existing medical treatments.
https://www.change.org/p/6430676/u/18631196?recruiter=73441824&utm_campaign=petition_update_email_fb_dialog&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=petition_update
Medical card marijuana
Yes
I for one who has suffered with pain for many years and have tried many of the strong pain killers given to me by doctors and have yet to find one that works , I have met a lot of people in the same boat ,so if this is something we might try to see if it works and bring some relief ,it would be a God send and make a big difference to our lives .
Of course the very juxtaposition of two photos one of scruffy radical man and one of conservative respectable besuited man, will have their own effect on those less disposed to reflection than others in context of this article and the responses it engenders in the reader.
@John O’Driscoll: Except he’s not a “businessman” – He’s a professor of Psychiatry at Trinity.
@Ciarán FitzGerald: where did I say he was a “businessman”? Might want to check your prejudice and reread what I did say Ciarán.
@John O’Driscoll:
Just like the bankers in the auld canali suits.
According to a study published in the Frontiers in Pharmacology journal by researchers from McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Tufts University, administration of medical cannabis was associated with reduced prescription drug use and improved cognitive performance.
The study assessed three months of medical cannabis treatment on executive function, “exploring whether MMJ patients would experience improvement in cognitive functioning, perhaps related to primary symptom alleviation.” The study used 24 patients certified for medical cannabis use.
In addition to the patients experiencing “some improvement on measures of executive functioning” reflected by “increased speed in completing tasks without a loss of accuracy” using the Stroop Color World Test and Trail Making Test, patients also reported moderate improvements to their sleep patterns, decreased depression symptoms, and “attenuated impulsivity.”
Study participants also reported a decreased use of conventional pharmaceuticals — opiate use declined 42 percent, antidepressant use declined 17 percent, mood stabilizer use was reduced 33 percent, and use of benzodiazepines, such as Xanex, declined 38 percent.
Source: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2016.00355/full
Kindly google: “A Pilot Study Assessing the Impact of Medical Marijuana on Executive Function”
Professor Kelly is making a completely different argument to Gino Kenny.
Not once is Gino speaking about the legalisation of cannabis as a broad drug. This is purely for medicinal purposes which Gino states numerous times. In medical terms cannabis is hugely beneficial for sufferers of many illnesses and diseases. It need to happen.
The other argument is completely separate and for another day.
It’s all about money. Drug companies would be unable to charge huge amount of money for cannabis as they do for other drugs.
There is a naturally occurring anti psychotic in cannabis,it’s called CBD.When cannabis growers up the THC count then the CBD count goes down.Naturally grown cannabis is the solution,it’s easy,we could grow it ourselves,tax it accordingly. If there was a bit of foresight we could grow and export high level CBD cannabis to the world
i dont see what the fuss is…they will make it legal but its not the stuff that gets u high or that you smoke in a joint…a lot of drugs come from plants this is no different
Professor Kelly and Gino Kenny are arguing about two different things here.
This has nothing to do with legalizing cannabis in a broad sense, somehow Professor Kelly thinks otherwise. You cannot get any kind of “high” from medicinal cannabis.
Gino Kenny states several times throughout this article that this is purely for medicinal purposes. The benefits of which are huge.
This can be treated for so many different illnesses and diseases.
Legalisation of the drug as a whole is a completely different issue.
@Kevin Creagh: well actually yes you can get high from medicinal cannabis. In some cases that’s the whole point. A body high from an indica based strain would be heaven to the bodies of m.s/fibro/Parkinson’s etc. As has been said somewhere else cannabis without by the thc isn’t strong enough to deal with the range of more severe conditions that cannabis (with thc) can medicate. That brings me to the hundreds of different strains of cannabis, cultivated for their different effects on pain/fatigue/depression/anxiety/insomnia etc etc . Each one has different levels of cbd/thc. Have a look at the site http://www.leafly.com.
Maybe
The irony in your headline to a terminal / S4 cancer patient whose suffering could be relieved to some extent by some cannabis derivative be it THC CBD CBN etc. ”Is it safe?”
Lot of stoners in this morning.
Must be cannabis Thursday.
@Frederick Burden: burden by name Burden by nature. Fool of a man
Yes yes now
chemists would go out of business
different strains help in differents ways
sativa is for uplifting
indica is for relax couch locked
hybrid is for both uplifting and couch locked
different plants have different names
indica i would say would be good for paitents with high blood pressure
sativa i would say for getting out of a dark hole and be fully charged
hybrid is good for getting out of a dark hole
yes 100% because a cure is a cure
Responding to Professor Kelly;
There are several active substances in cannabis, primarily THC and CBD.
THC produces the main psychoactive drug effect, the ‘high’.
Different cultivars contain different levels of these substances. Many modern varieties have very high levels of THC, and very low levels of CBD, whereas other varieties have been bred to have high levels of CBD. Some varieties contain only traces of THC, (eg the medicinal variety ‘Charlotte’s Web’, which contains high levels of CBD, and less than 0.3% THC).
CBD is thought to be useful in conditions such as MS and treatment resistant epilepsy. There are claims that it has antipsychotic and neuroprotective effects.
(You can enter “CBD antipsychotic” or “CBD neuroprotective” into Google. Some of the results are from respected academic sources, eg nature.com.)
What I find hard to believe is that the Government are turning their noes up at some good hard cash that is currently going to illegal sources. It is projected that the correct handling of the legalisation and regulation of Cannabis would generate in th region of €500M a year.
Health benefits aside and their are many, it is less harmful than most of the stuff we are currently forced to use by the medical business. A no-brainer, but then most in the political circles rarely use their brains independently and instead follow one another like sheep.
A very informative piece.. A thesis by Ciaran Wallace
https://1drv.ms/b/s!AjdwqumIpI5i52VK0IrrzOt-yYrH
Yes, should have been a long time ago!
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