Medical Marijuana and Depression
Clinical depression is a very serious illness. People with this condition have long-term, often debilitating feelings of sadness and low self-esteem. Depression makes ordinary tasks such as going to work, cooking, cleaning, even personal hygiene, very difficult. Researchers have found that low doses of medical marijuana increased serotonin levels in the brain, which helps to improve mood.
When I was speaking with my doctor about the different medication that were available to me (and I asked him for a marijuana recommendation) he had suggested that I speak with Marijuana Medicine Evaluation Centers to see if their doctor might be able to help.
They were… and my quality of life has improved dramatically since I found my local marijuana collective on Weed Maps.
Marijuana should be legalized for only one reason and that is to be used in the medical profession for patients that need it.
Doctors use marijuana for a variety of medical disorders. It should be noted that marijuana itself is not used but THC, which is derived from Marijuana. Marijuana is only used when patients and doctors harass the government with pressure. Dr. Solomon H. Snyder, Professor of Neuroscience, Pharmacology and Psychiatry at John Hopkins University, informs the public in his book “Uses for Marijuana” that a century ago marijuana was used as commonly for medical purposes as aspirin is used today.
Marijuana could be purchased in any American drug store without prescription and was used to treat medical problems such as ulcers, epilepsy, headaches, excessive menstrual bleeding, tooth decay, glaucoma {A group of eye diseases characterized by an increase in intraocular pressure, which in atrophy of the optic nerve may result in blindness}, in the control of serve nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy, and in severe pain due to the AIDS virus.
Although marijuana was used in the Far East as medicine for thousands of years it was not introduced to America and European cities until 1839. An Irish physician named W.B. O'Shaughnessy, who had discovered it while in India, tested it on over a hundred animals to determine the safety of marijuana. O'Shaughnessy found the drug to be an excellent muscle relaxant, pain-killer, and anti-convulsant.
Hobart Hare, a noted American Professor of Medicine, wrote in his 1982 textbook, “A System of Practical Therapeutics” that “Cannabis is very valuable for the relief of pain, particularly that depending on nerve disturbances; it produces sleep; it gives relief in paralysis and tends to quiet tremors…it is used in cough mixtures and does not constipate or depress the system as does morphine.” Cannabis is also widely recommended as a substitute drug when attempting to withdraw from morphine or from any drug containing or derived from opium.
Marihuana is not a narcotic and is not addicting. Can marijuana be addicting, of course. Like anything, chocolate, soda pop, barbiturates, alcohol, or my own personal addiction Mongolian Beef; that is consumed over extensively long periods of time in excess can become an addiction. So if you're sitting on your sofa drinking two whole six packs everyday, you may have a serious issue. One can use mild cannabis such as marijuana in small amounts for years and never suffer any physical or mental deterioration. More potent preparations of cannabis, such as hashish can induce psychedelic experiences similar to those of LSD but hashish is not used for medical purposes.
Some people who smoke marijuana feel no effects; others feel relaxed and sociable, tending to giggle a lot and sometimes lose track of place and time. Smokers of marijuana show in coordination an impaired ability to perform skilled acts, this usually last for a short period of time.
Alcohol can have similar side-effects as marijuana yet alcohol is not illegal. In this writers opinion that does not seem right. Scientific test suggest that a person “high” on marijuana is a much safer driver then a person who has consumed 0.05-0.1 percent of alcohol.
In 1973, the Presidential Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse came to the conclusion that: Alcoholism is Americas worst drug problem; that heroin is Americas second worst drug problem; and that legal use of “downers,” mainly by housewives is America's worst hidden problem. Cannabis use is a minor problem compared to other drugs and alcohol. The commission then restated its earlier recommendations that all criminal penalties for smoking marijuana should end, so those people who need it for a medical condition could receive it without having to purchase it illegally.
Alcohol is not used in the medical field yet it is legal. There are lots of drugs that one must use under doctors supervision such as morphine, Demerol, cocaine (Topical Anesthetic), LSD (Migraines and Alcoholism), codeine, and amphetamines all of which can kill. Aspirin causes bleeding and kills over 100 people a year; there are no known marijuana deaths.
Marijuana is currently being tested as an immunosuppressant, potentially of value for the inhibition of rejection of tissue and organ transplants. Marijuana is also being used for the treatment of hypertension, epilepsy, and depression.
Marijuana is a 'potential' drug. This drug could hold the cure for diabetes, cancer, tuberculosis, or even AIDS. Finding out if marijuana can help is not possible as long as it is illegal in all but 13 states. So when someone that is loved gets sick from a disease that has no cure or the painkillers prescribed are no longer working; that person is vomiting constantly, is in severe pain, has headaches, and other ailments are plaguing them; should they not have the right to be able to use marijuana if it can help them? This writer thinks so!
Writes Note: I would like to make it clear that I am in no way a supporter of recreational use of Marijuana. I have had many people in my family suffer greatly from cancer. My grandfather struggled for over a decade with stomach cancer which eventually would result in his death. The pain killers he was on were no longer helping. His doctor, long before Michigan even allowed medical usage of marijuana recommended it to my grandfather as an option to help his pain. He refused because that was the type of man he was.
When my aunt had her kidney transplant we were all very happy to see her doing well and not rejecting the kidney my uncle gave her. A few months ago she fell ill again, her kidneys are failing her and she needs another transplant. If there is any hope for those that suffer we should, in this writers opinion put aside our beliefs and look toward the possibility that marijuana might hold the potential to help or even in some cases cure what ails those we love.
I have Spinal Lumbar Stenosis with degeneration of the nerve endings in my legs. I take no pain killers for my pain even though my pain has never been below a 5 on a scale from 1 to 10. I manage my pain by doing what I always do, taking it one day at a time. The reason I take no pain killers is because I am drug sensitive. Pain killers such as Tramadol, Codeine, Vicodin, and Demerol have caused things like vertigo, nausea, vomiting, amongst others when I have taken them. For me as someone that suffers with large amounts of pain everyday, the whole point of taking a pain killer is to remove the pain so you can function.
I will share with you a story about why I wrote this article. Why I think it is important that we use everything available to us to help those that are suffering. I was diagnosed over 6 years ago when I started to notice that it was getting harder and harder to walk. Where before I would go jogging or walking almost everyday, I got to the point were I could not even walk 15 minutes without being hunched over in pain. As time progressed it was no longer my walking being effected. I was not able to carry a laundry basket any longer; I would have to do dishes while taking breaks after a couple, cleaning the house became like running a marathon. Just to walk around the grocery store to get groceries would put me in bed from pain afterwards.
These are things that people who do not suffer from pain take for granted. Imagine everything you do in your day, from playing with your children or picking up your baby, playing fletch with your dog, working on your car, riding your horses, mowing your front yard, working in your garden, working. Whatever it is you do in your day picture it, and then picture yourself not being able to do it for more then 5 minutes or not being able to do it at all. You can not pick up your 2 year old daughter and carry her to her bed, you can not walk down your stairs to do the laundry, or take your tire out of the trunk to fix your flat.
This is my life and the life of many who suffer from pain. I was prescribed lots of different things that did not seem to work until I was prescribed Tramadol. This stuff was fantastic, the only problem with it was once I took it I could not do anything anyways. Oh to be certain my pain was long gone but the vertigo that transfixed me was so bad I could not stand up without feeling dizzy.
The whole point of taking painkillers is so you can function and many people that take them still can not do the things they want to do. I am currently on no medications at all and no I do not smoke marijuana for those wondering. I have decided that for me the best thing I can do for myself is to push past the pain. Do things in moderation even if it means it takes me an hour to fold the laundry. This was the right thing for me, but for someone else it might be to use marijuana to help with their pain. That should be their right.
I would never tell anyone what they should or should not do with their bodies. Actress, Susan Somers, refused chemotherapy for the treatment of her cancer. That was her choice and she made the right one for her because she survived. Patrick Swayze chose to starve his cancer which had dire consequences, again that was what he thought was right. My humble opinion aside, in the end we only want what is best for our loved ones and we should explore all possibilities and research them thoroughly, making an informed decision, and that includes the ones involving marijuana for medical purposes. Don't just take your doctors word for it, look into it, whatever treatment it is they want you do, make sure you are informed.
Sources
Taber's Online
Goggle Books
Wikipedia
