NEWSThis State Could Allow School Nurses To Administer Medical Marijuana

https://hightimes.com/news/state-allow-school-nurses-administer-medical-marijuana/

Hmm.

 

I'm reminded of that stupid statement I first heard Regis Philbin parrot, some years back - "marijuana is not medicine." Apparently, it is, Regis. I don't believe that was a medical degree you earned at Notre Dame, was it? I don't see how marijuana is as dangerous as - or more dangerous than many other medicines, or why administering it should carry protocols of draconian strictness. When it does, I begin to see the hype, fear and (mainly) stupidity that surrounds the subject of pot -- everywhere, where it is legal and where it is not. In years past, I could buy codeine cough medicine once every couple of years when needed; I did so because it worked better against a cough than anything else. Now, that stuff is 'way more dangerous than marijuana - and misuse can easily get a person 'way higher than pot! That's partially because ingested codeine undergoes demethylization, to produce a certain amount of morphine in the body. Combine the cough medicine with drinking alcohol and you could very possibly say goodbye to breathing! Yet I could buy it without a prescription - the druggist would look at me, determine I didn't look like his/her conception of a junkie - and hand it over.

I don't care about legalizing recreational marijuana but I'm OK with it - for one reason only: banning any form of stupidity will not reduce or eliminate it. If stupidity can be taxed (as it is with tobacco, liquor and marijuana, where legal) then perhaps the money can be used for public good. Perhaps all forms of stupidity should be categorized and brought to tax. Doing so wouldn't eliminate stupidity or even marginally improve the collective IQ of any country's population, but again, perhaps the money could be used for good ends. Perhaps recreational marijuana could be under the purview of a "Minister of Stupidity." Seems appropriate to me, somehow.

Medical Marijuana? That's different to recreational. Medicines don't have a stupidity component. And less potentially dangerous than any number of reasonably common medications. Why the hoopla?

 

Here is my take on the medical marijuana topic. This is my personal non-expert opinion. I am not concerned with whether anyone agrees but offer it as part of the discussion. I might even change my mind at some point.

I recall visiting the emergency room with my mom to get her a tetanus shot after she stepped on a nail. My mom is quite anti-medical establishment so getting her there was no small achievement. The emergency room doctor explained to her that the reason we take medicine is the good outweighs the bad. The benefits outweigh the side effects.

There are (or were last time I bothered to google the topic) THC capsules available. Here in Florida there is a legal liquid non-euphoric marijuana extract available that apparently offers benefits to people with epilepsy. In my opinion these are comparable to plant extracts and should be sold in natural food stores along side of vitamins and herbs and other similar items. If they are medicine in need of regulation let the FDA (here in the US, other countries use your equivalent) determine their drug category and let doctors prescribe them and let pharmacies sell them alongside other drugs.

However most of the proponents of medical marijuana want the smoking version. I have difficulty accepting that ingestion of carbon monoxide and soot (at a minimum) is necessary for a medicine when extracts offering the same medicinal components are available. In my opinion, the vast majority of proponents of medical marijuana simply want to smoke pot to get high. In this case, legalize recreational marijuana and tax it. Sell it in liquor stores and tobacco shops alongside what are, in my view, similar products.

If those in favor of legal recreational marijuana were serious and thinking things through they would come up with simple roadside sobriety tests (devices, coordination, etc) to check for impaired driving. Maybe the proponents of smoking marijuana are using too much of their own product to think things through. Ok that’s a cheap shot but it’s meant with humour and to inject a little levity into the discussion (smile). They would acknowledge problems of grow houses. Several years ago I attended a seminar given by a law enforcement investigator in a state that had medical marijuana and allowed home growing for oneself and a limited number of others. People would rent houses, set up their operations which includes indoor irrigation, and when they moved there would be mold. The homeowner’s insurance declined to cover the damages as they viewed it as a commercial greenhouse and the insurance was for a residence. The homeowner was on the hook for the mold, which amounted to demolition and rebuilding. It’s an extreme example, but it happens.

I anticipate legal recreational marijuana sold in stores would largely alleviate such situations. I believe people would prefer to purchase ready-to-go marijuana for the same reason they prefer to purchase ready to go tomatoes and frozen lasagna. It’s easier. Those wishing to grow at home could be subject to laws similar to those wishing to homebrew beer.

I’m not terribly concerned with whether recreational marijuana becomes legal. I’ve never smoked tobacco and don’t have a desire to smoke marijuana. Perhaps my biggest problem with the proponents of smoking medical marijuana is the hypocrisy. I’m sure if we examined my life closely enough we could find hypocrisy in me also. I enjoy the occasional drink so there you go. But I don’t kid myself it’s medicine.

 

Only two, Steve. The first druggist recognized my suit - the one he had given to the Salvation Army.