Treatment Denied

A why is treatment denied? Because it is unavailable. So reports the Army Times.

Treatment, not incarceration, should be the first option for veterans who commit nonviolent drug-related offenses, a group advocating alternatives to the nation’s “war on drugs” said Wednesday in a new report.

The Drug Policy Alliance report [pdf] also called on government agencies to adopt overdose prevention programs and policies for vets who misuse substances or take prescription medicines, and urged “significantly expanded” access to medication-assisted therapies, such as methadone and buprenorphine, for the treatment of dependence on opioid drugs used to treat pain and mood disorders.

Now that is a change. People use drugs to change their minds. Or at least how their minds make them feel. I wonder if they are suggesting that idea because it is now more acceptable? Addiction or self medication?

Those close to the issue point out that about 30 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war vets report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, depression or other mental illness or cognitive disability, and that 19 percent of veterans who have received care from the Veterans Affairs Department have been diagnosed with substance abuse or dependence.

Guy Gambill, an Army veteran and advocate for veterans’ rights who took part in the conference call, noted that one of the hallmarks of PTSD “is a tendency to self-medicate. People do that with drugs, people do that with alcohol.”

In my article originally published in 2002, Addiction or Self Medication?, I voted for self medication. I guess it is catching on. Took 'em long enough.

H/T Drug Policy Forum of Texas

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Another State Legalizes Medical Marijuana

Rhode Island is about to legalize Medical Marijuana with the State licensing dispensaries.

PROVIDENCE — Nearly a decade after patient advocates first pressed for full-scale legalization of marijuana for medical use, Rhode Island on Tuesday became only the second state to establish state-licensed dispensaries to sell the drug to the critically ill.

Senate lawmakers gave final approval to the House and Senate versions of the legislation, sending it to the governor’s desk with enough votes to override a veto, if necessary.

Governor Carcieri, a longtime critic of medical marijuana, confirmed in a brief interview Tuesday that he will “do the same thing I’ve done with it in the past.” A year ago he vetoed a compromise plan to study the concept, saying it would “move Rhode Island further down the path of weakening the laws governing — and public perception of — illicit drugs.”

But Senate lawmakers approved the legislation in an easy 31-2 vote Tuesday, days after the House approved the same plans in a 63-5 vote. Both tallies are well beyond the three-fifths majority needed to override a veto.

Senate sponsor Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, predicts that if required, the Assembly will override a gubernatorial veto before the session ends later this month.

“That’s one of the reasons that we [passed] it as fast as we did it,” Perry said. “We still have a few weeks left here … I just can’t imagine the leadership wouldn’t have the will to override a veto.”

So how many States would that be total?

Fourteen since California started the ball rolling in Nov. of 1996. A bit more than one a year. Not too bad.

Salt - The Natural Anti-Depressant

Yep. New research shows that salt may be an anti-depressant.

Does demolishing a salty bag of potato chips seem to put you in a better mood? If so, you're not alone, according to psychologists at the University of Iowa who say salt may be nature's anti-depressant.

Researchers based the conclusion on studies on rats. They found that rats that were deficient in sodium chloride avoided activities they normally enjoyed, like drinking a sugary substance or pressing a bar that stimulates a pleasant sensation in their brains.

"Things that normally would be pleasurable for rats didn't elicit the same degree of relish, which leads us to believe that a salt deficit and the craving associated with it can induce one of the key symptoms associated with depression," said University of Iowa psychologist Kim Johnson.

The study cannot definitively conclude that the salt-deficient rats are suffering from depression, but the lack of interest in normally pleasurable activities is a key sign of the condition.

So why is the mayor of New York pushing an campaign to cut the amount of salt in processed and restruant foods in half? Does he want to see a lot of depressed Americans?

Actions have consequences often unforeseen. Take the campaign against tobacco. A lot of schizophrenics self medicate with tobacco. Do we really want a lot of unmedicated schizophrenics on our streets? Is that really a good idea? Fortunately if this salt initiative gets enacted they will have a lot of depressed people to keep them company.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Vitamin C Works As Antibiotic

The US Government has done some research (1998) on Vitamin C as an antibiotic and found that it works.

This study has shown that 4 weeks daily high dose vitamin C treatment in H. pylori infected patients with chronic gastritis resulted in apparent H. pylori eradication in 30% of those treated. In those patients there was also a highly significant rise in gastric juice total vitamin C concentration which persisted for at least 4 weeks after the treatment ceased. A significant, though less marked, gastric juice total vitamin C concentration increase was observed during vitamin C treatment even in subjects with persistent H. pylori infection, though this was not maintained after treatment ended. The mechanism whereby vitamin C treatment appeared to result in H. pylori eradication is unclear. Further confirmatory studies are indicated.

The studies used a dose of 5 grams a day. I'd like to see a much higher dose used (20 grams a day) and see if that didn't work for a larger percentage of the population.

Of course this study says nothing about Vitamin C and the common cold. Because the common cold is caused by a virus. Still, because of its low toxicity it couldn't hurt.

H/T alexjrgreen at Talk Polywell

Cross Posted at Classical Values

National Geographic Does Pot

I got the video from National Geographic Explorer - Marijuana Nation - a review.

Cultivation of Marijuana (hemp) stretches back from George Washington’s farm when Pot was the leading cash crop in the United States, to today, with annual profits surpassing $65 billion.

The documentary reveals more than 200 million people around the world smoke the natural herb. Producers claim two million Americans alone will try it this year.

Users represent a cross section of our society, conservatives to liberals, teens to the elderly, from top-earning medical and legal professionals to housewives, laborers
and truck drivers.

It is the single most valuable cash crop in the country, spawning a shadowy multibillion-dollar industry that thrives in communities throughout America.

Correspondent Lisa Ling goes undercover to private fields and indoor state of the art hydroponic farms talking to the very reasonable and resolute people who will not buckle under possible legal ramifications. The movement to end the draconian punishments for possession and growing increase every day, as the population is getting older and sicker, insurance is harder to obtain and pay for and who refuse to be held hostage by Big pharmaceutical companies gouging consumers for legal alternatives.

So far 19 states have either medical marijuana laws and/or have decriminalized marijuana. Michigan and Massachusetts were added to the list this past election season.

This article discusses the legal alternatives: Class War. The thesis is: those who can afford the costs of the medical cartel use cartel approved medicines. Those who can't go to the black market. In Round Pegs In Round Holes I look at the nature of the chemicals - legal and illegal. The short version - the chemicals all fill the same receptors in the brain. If you get your receptor fillers through a doctor from a pharmacy - you are jake. If you get them from the black market or grow your own you are a drug fiend. Same receptors - similar chemicals. Different status under the law.

Self defense is enshrined in our Constitution explicitly. For self medication you have to rely on the vague IXth Amendment. The so called penumbras.

National Geographic www site - an overview of the program. You can watch another preview video here.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Right Name

Commenter ccarino has some very interesting things to say about my post Addiction or Self Medication? I do take exception to one statement made:

Trust me, you need an alternative to opiates.

You might as well say we need an alternative to vitamin C.

The prejudice against opiates is just that. Prejudice.

If you have an endorphin deficiency opiates are indicated (in many cases). We know that such deficiencies may decrease over time for some people (I'm assuming that is your case). We also know that for some the need never goes away. (it may be satisfied by substitutes - hence methadone or marijuana).

So why are we having a drug war? Prejudice. We once had such prejudices against coffee, tobacco, and tomatoes. Eventually experience cleared our heads (the social constructs changed). Now instead of raiding coffee houses we have them on every corner and tax them. No one gives a damn about coffee junkies. You know - the folks who can't get a move on without the first three cups in the morning and 15 more during the day.

So why are heroin junkies so fearsome? We have made it hard for them to get their "3 cups" in the morning. This changes the whole social dynamic.

We saw similar effects in Germany right after WW2. When cigarettes were almost totally unavailable you could buy a sex encounter for one cigarette. Then it became a pack, a carton, finally reverting to the "normal" price - around a case (well for the classier ladies).

By creating a permanent shortage we have re-created the social ills that normally follow a war. i.e. we are in a permanent state of war and post war with all the black market activity and criminality associated with such situations. The "Drug War" is exactly the right name.

Round Pegs In Round Holes

Suppose you have a machine that depends for its proper operation on wooden pegs in wooden holes. Say that it has been traditional, if wooden pegs were not available, that brass pegs were an accepted substitute. Now suppose the government outlawed the use of brass pegs and decreed that if you didn't have wooden pegs only gold pegs were acceptable. Would that be right?

What am I getting at? Brain chemistry.

The holes are receptors. The wooden pegs are the body's naturally made receptor fillers. The brass pegs are substances you imbibe (in one way or another) to make up for a lack in the bodies' natural chemistry. What would the gold pegs be? Dr. prescribed medicines.

Let us take the case of marijuana. Mice have been developed which do not naturally produce enough CB1 receptor fillers. They are genetically different. They have long term memories of fear situations. They live in fear and that fear is easily excited. Not a pleasant way to live. Modern medicine has developed substances that can relieve that constant fear. Doctors are allowed to prescribe such substances. However, marijuana can also fill those receptors and relieve constant fear and anxiety. We have made marijuana illegal even though there is no objective difference between the doctor prescribed medicine and marijuana (with respect to brain chemistry). Is that right?

This line of thought came to me in an e-mail discussion of Treatment Vs Recreation and Class War.

You can read more on this line of thought - I have been at it for six years - at the following articles:

PTSD and the Endocannabinoid System
Addiction or Self Medication?
Genetic Discrimination
The War On Unpatented Drugs.
The Pain In The Brain
Addiction Is A Genetic Disease

and way more articles at:
The Nature Of Addiction

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Libertarians On Drugs

This essay Freedom Fetishists by Kay Hymowitz is making the rounds in libertarian and conservative circles.

Ilya Somin of the Volokh Conspiracy has some things to say about Kay Hymowitz, Libertarianism, and Lifestyle Excesses:

To reiterate a simple but oft-misunderstood point: that which should be legal is not coextensive with that which is desirable or right. Libertarians believe that racist and communist speech should be legal; that does not mean that libertarianism implies support for such speech. The same is true of excessive drug use, cheating on your spouse, and so on. "People ought to be free to do whatever the hell they want, mostly, so long as they aren't hurting anyone else" is not "the libertarian vision of personal morality." It is the libertarian vision of the limits we should place on the power of government.

Well the "excessive drug use" bit caught my attention. What exactly is up with that?

How can drug use still be called destructive when people who chronically take drugs do so because of medical need?

Addiction Is A Genetic Disease

Heroin

PTSD and the Endocannabinoid System

People who think drugs are a "lifestyle" issue have bought into the "conservative" view of the subject. Of course it is why after 90 years of trying we have made so little progress. We are lost in "choice" when we should be focused on "need".

If we don't want people to take drugs to solve their problems then we have to make sure their problems are solved some other way. Of course that just multiplies government intervention. Better than jailing people for their needs and jailing their suppliers for serving those needs.

So of course the question comes up what portion of the chronic drug users population is need based on need and how much is recreation.

Actually we don't know if those who need are a few, many, most, or all.

No comprehensive studies have ever been done on the subject. The closest we come is Dr. Lonnie Shavelson's book/study mentioned in the above "Heroin" link.

He found that 70% of the women chronically using heroin were sexually abused when children. So for women using heroin we can say the number is at least 70%.

My take on the subject: no one will do the study because our whole drug war will be seen to be based on a wrong premise. You might as well say insulin use is a life style choice.

Ever notice how hard the courts fight the medical necessity defense? There is a reason for that. It would open the floodgates if allowed.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Self Medication Tragedy

My friend Eric at Classical Values tells of a self medication tragedy:

Most people who suffer from schizophrenia smoke. A lot.

This is one of those stereotypes that not only happens to be true, but there's a special reason why schizophrenics smoke:

Cigarette smoking may improve attention and short-term memory in persons with schizophrenia by stimulating nicotine receptors in the brain, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers in the June issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry.

This explains not only why they smoke, but why they smoke so much more than people who don't have schizophrenia. They are engaged in self medication.

Why is this a tragedy? Read the whole thing.

And, if the subject of self medication interests you I have written a little on the subject.

PTSD and the Endocannabinoid System
Addiction or Self Medication?
A well known secret

I forgot to mention that nicotine is an anti-depressant, as is marijuana.

Cross Posted at The Astute Bloggers

Alcohol Eases Anxiety

I have been looking for this information for a long time. Alcohol in large enough quantities is a depressant. However used in moderation it has anti-anxiety effects. Similar to anti-depressants.

Alcohol is a drug, but for many people it's also a tool.

Many people have a drink or two from time to time to feel more comfortable and relaxed.

Dr. James Bolton, a psychiatrist at Health Sciences Centre and an associate professor at the University of Manitoba, said the use of alcohol as a sort of social lubricant is nothing new.

"Alcohol is the oldest anxiety remedy known. People drink because it works," he said.

"For most people, enjoying a few alcoholic beverages as a social lubricant is fine. It's people who have anxiety disorders or other mental illnesses who are at risk."

Bolton was one of the authors of a recent paper involving people with anxiety disorders who self-medicate with alcohol.

They are more likely to use alcohol as a social lubricant and more likely to run into problems with drinking, he said.

"People use alcohol with the intention of relieving anxiety, but unfortunately the effects of alcohol seem to worsen the symptoms of anxiety and actually lead to other problems with mental illness," said Bolton.

After drinking, people who self-medicate with alcohol often feel even worse, said Bolton.

"The withdrawal effect the next day leaves people more anxious," he said. "What seems to happen over the long term with chronic alcohol use is that people have elevated rates of anxiety."

So the anti-anxiety effects are immediate and the depression doesn't set in until later and long term use as an anti-anxiety medication can lead to a worse psychological state.

Is there something better out there? You bet.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2005 (UPI) -- Scientists said Thursday that marijuana appears to promote the development of new brain cells in rats and have anti-anxiety and anti-depressant effects, a finding that could have an impact on the national debate over medical uses of the drug.

Other illegal and legal drugs, including opiates, alcohol, nicotine and cocaine, have been shown to suppress the formation of new brain cells when used chronically, but marijuana's effect on that process was uncertain.

Now, a team led by Xia Zhang of the department of psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon may have found evidence the drug spurs new brain cells to form in a region of the brain called the hippocampus, and this in turn reduces anxiety and depression.

Marijuana appears "to be the only illicit drug whose capacity to produce increased ... neurons is positively correlated with its (anti-anxiety) and anti-depressant-like effects," Zhang and colleagues wrote in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Well what do you know? Marrijuana has positive short and long term effects when it comes to treating anxiety. I also looked at the issue in Brain Growth.

In the aftermath of the American Civil War alcohol was considered an acceptable drug for treating PTSD (although it didn't have a name back then). I covered that in The Soldiers Disease. Typically we used anti-depressants these days although some doctors think Cannabis is the Best Medicine.

H/T Anxiety Insights

A well known secret

I have been a monomaniac for the last three years promoting the idea that most drug users are self medicating for undiagnosed conditions. A lot of PTSD, some bipolar, some ADD/ADHD etc. Below I have reprinted two reports from the field. One a drug counselor and another from a doctor.

Both point to the fact that a lot of problem drug users are self medicating. Clayton Cramer, with whom I have been having a most interesting private discussion, has brought up a number of interesting questions. The most important is this: he does not doubt that some chronic users may be self medicating (although which users and which conditions is still in contention), what he does believe, though, is that there might actually be a large number of recreational users to whom harm is being done (we will leave out the libertarian question of whether self inflicted harm is any of the governments business, except for the up coming war on food eaters). And with that question although I have my beliefs I have no proof.

Which brings up a most important question. Why don't we have better studies on this question? We are studying drugs deeply. Why aren't we studying drug users?

REPRINTS

First what a drug counselor says:

From Winds of Change:

#3 from Guy Hall on April 26, 2003 03:08 AM

As a drug and alcohol counselor, I agree wholeheartedly with pain being the main cause of alcoholism and chemical dependency. PTSD is but an extreme example of the pain that alcoholics and drug addicts suffer. For many of my clients, abuse both phyisical and emotional was the means used to teach them destructive beliefs. The more "energy" used in the abuse, the more pain carried into adulthood.

Consequently, that results in more "energy" needed to overcome those beliefs.

Oh, and the one emotional pain that I see? Shame.....whether it be men or women, it is shame that routinely surfaces as the undelying pain being covered up with drugs/alcohol. Women who suffered incest speak more about the pain they felt when, after the deed was done, they got the look of scorn and disgust from their father.

And then this bit from a doctor commenting on a study I reviewed on Adolecent Drug Use.

Originally posted at Grand Rounds 29 Sept '05

The Grand Rounds for this week is up and they have been kind enough to comment on a recent post of mine More Vindication.

Power and Control shares a compelling review of research supporting the hypothesis that drug abuse is self medication for pain/anxiety. This is one of the self-evident "truths" that most of us accept without good science to back us up. Last week I suggested an antidepressant medication for a man who drinks heavily - smokes marijuana often, and uses cocaine to "keep stable." But he doesn't want to take a medication for fear it will alter his physiology. "Man - you ARE taking medications" I meekly suggest. He doesn't see it that way.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Why most people don't use drugs

I was visiting Winds of Change and discussing VodkaPundit's blogging burnout. He says he is tired of arguing without changing minds. I have had a little better luck with my educational stuff on drugs/PTSD. So after a rest I can come back. I do take fairly frequent rests although you can usually find me in various comment sections. I like Winds of Change a lot.

In any case Vodka is going to be much busier soon. Mrs. Vodka is expecting.

In any case the subject of drugs came up and it triggered my monomaia as one wag put it. And so it did. Here is my latest rant copied from the comments with spelling and punctuation improved. I'm discussing the topic with Fred:

Fred,

I see exactly where you went wrong.

Let me start with this statement.

Drugs are maladaptive....

Here I agree. In part. Just as the chemo drugs are a deadly poison for the general population. They are in fact indicated for AIDS.

Now at least 1/2 the population in the youth cohort tries drugs. Only about 20% of that 1/2 (10%)continues with drugs. Adolescence is a time of maximum stress due to personality formation. Kids take drugs to relieve some of that stress. By age 25 or 30 only the chronic 10% are still using.

So we see that drugs are a real danger to only about 10% of the population. For the rest use is transient. So the fact that drugs are maladaptive if you don't need them is actually the way most people live. As with alcohol most continued use if any is in moderation.

What benefit do the 10% (chronic users) get from drugs?

People with PTSD get great value from not living in depression and fear. The 10% who are long term users in my estimation are victims of PTSD. For some people learned fear never goes away. We call this PTSD.

Now with all of the statements I have made I actually have research to back them up if you are interested.

Some of the statements have direct proof. Others have indirect proof (they fit in with several lines of research although not directly addressed).

For me the drug issue is not a matter strictly of liberty. Although I'd like to see more Americans as strict Constitutionalists - it is not going to happen. The drug issue for me is science. Why do people take drugs. What do we know about the brain, genetics, physical manifestations, life histories etc. etc. that would point to answers on these questions.

So I will not contest you if you think drugs are bad and the government has a duty to prohibit them.

The question then is: if only people with serious long term PTSD are chronic drug users is putting the full weight of the law on them the right thing to do - will it fix the problem?

Joe has run a number of my articles - see the side bar - on my estimation of the drug/PTSD problem.

There are more links on the side bar at my blog Power and Control

Scroll down.

I'm happy to discuss the research with any one interested. BTW a number of medical people who have seen my work agree with me and think it is important. Of course there are those who don't.

Let me tell you how it is going. When I started out two or three years ago stating that long term PTSD had a genetic and trauma component, that idea was not widely accepted. Today it is not even under discussion.

In time the connection to drug use will be on firmer scientific ground.

I'd bet on it.

In any case I'm against persecuting the traumatized. How about you?

*

Police and PTSD

All too many police officers are victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD. This disorder is a response to traumatic stress. Seeing victims of violence. Having to kill some one in the line of duty. Being hurt in the line of duty. Seeing the death of a child.

This disorder was first identified as "shell shock" and soldiers were it's first identified victims. As time has gone on and further work has been done in the field; we have learned more. In the aftermath of the Viet Nam War we learned more about "shell shock" and stated calling it PTSD. With more research we found that soldiers were not it's only victims. We found out that police and firemen also "got" PTSD. Then we found that victims of severe child abuse and childhood sexual assault also got PTSD.

Now we know even more. The drunken cop who abuses his wife is a regular stereotype. Drinking alcohol to numb the pain and taking your pain out on those close to you are two recognized symptoms of PTSD. Alcoholism may not be a "disease" but a response to pain.

In fact we now know even more. Police in some jurisdictions are being trained to look for signs of PTSD in the populace they police in order to better help keep the peace. Some markers that stand out in children are abuse of legal and illegal drugs. Cocaine. Alcohol. Heroin. Pot.

The Western New York Rural Mental Health Partnership advises police that " 'self medication' with alcohol or illegal drugs is a common complication found in adolescents with mental health problems."

The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health says "Youths who suffer from PTSD frequently use alcohol or other drugs to 'self-medicate' in an attempt to dull painful memories or psychological torment."

Police in the above mentioned jurisdictions are given booklets with the above guidelines in them. The only thing left out of the guides is that what afflicts children can also afflict adults. In fact not even the police are immune.

Just as we should have compassion for children with PTSD problems so we should also have compassion for the police and all other adults whose pain is still all too real. Running a steam roller over those already hit by a truck does not live up to the American ideal of justice or compassion.

An online health guide to PTSD advises:

"It is important to be gentle on yourself and to give yourself time to heal."

Just as it is true of the individual so it also ought to be true of society in general. Once we see that what we have been doing for so long is inappropriate we will need to change our behavior at once. After changing our ways we are also going to need time to heal. Because hurting those who didn't deserve it is a stressor. And stress can lead to PTSD.

Addiction or Self Medication

"Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize an undercover dictatorship. To restrict the art of healing to one class of men, and deny equal privilege to others, will be to constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic, and have no place in a Republic. The Constitution of this Republic should make special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom." abridged quote --Benjamin Rush, M.D., a signer of the Declaration of Independence

Let me start this little essay on the uses of marijuana with an idea. A very simple idea. An idea that strikes at the very heart of the drug war and it's moralistic foundation. The very idea that those who use unapproved drugs are the lawful subjects of religiously motivated government persecution.

What we call addiction is in fact self treatment of undiagnosed pain.

This is a truly revolutionary idea. If it is in fact true then the whole notion of a drug war to save the children is a lie from beginning to end. Those of you who have read my article on heroin have a window into this new idea. What I tried to show in that article was that medical research shows that victims of sexual abuse and severe physical abuse ( PTSD ) are many times more likely to get addicted to heroin than the general public.

Let us next look at the case for marijuana.

Natural molecules similar to an active ingredient in marijuana play a part in helping the brain clear fearful memories and keep them from being permanently debilitating. The British journal Nature has reported this discovery by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany. The scientists of the Institute say that this has implications for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder and other fear based conditions.

It turns out that anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in the United States. They are worth $46 billion a year to the pharmaceutical industry. You don't suppose this fact has any thing to do with the pharmaceutical industries being in the forefront of the Drug Free America campaign do you? Of course not. They are just trying to keep you from being addicted to natural products at the cost of 1/10th of a cent per dose when they are more than willing to sell you an FDA and doctor approved, pharmacy sold product that will do the job for a dollar a dose. They have only your best interests at heart. Just ask their accountants.

All humans show fear reactions to dangerous situations. However, in the case of one out of ten people ( surprisingly the same percentage of people who are susceptible to substance addiction ) the fear does not die down in the absence of the dangerous situation. The fear stays at debilitating levels even in the absence of danger. These people have a definite if ordinarily invisible problem. You cannot find this problem with x-rays. It is possible that this problem could be found with a many thousand dollar PET scan. Or you could take a few puffs of a joint and see if that helps. If the joint was legal. Which it is not.

Pankaj Sah of Australian National University believes that chronic marijuana users are self medicating for anxiety problems. He goes on further to say that we self medicate for head aches with aspirin and this causes no social problems. He speculates that people experiencing emotional problems are taking cannabis for relief. Of course since this medicine is not doctor approved it is against the law. Especially it is against Federal Law as a number of states have made medical use of marijuana legal. The Feds in California know how to stop this though. They put the sick, the dying and the pain wracked in jail to show their compassion. You don't suppose it has anything to do with maintaining at all costs the State and Federal $50 billion dollar drug war do you? Not a chance. They are the government and they have only your best interests at heart. Trust them.

You can read a good review of the report here.

Let me leave you with a final quote from a Supreme Court Judge:

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." Justice Brandeis

That quote and an impassioned speech for the right of self medication can be found here

Addiction or Self Medication?

Roger L. Simon (same middle initial and last name - otherwise no relation) is getting on to the topic of medicine and has a kind word or two about the drug companies(they do good). They also do what is called in economic circles rent seeking(they do bad). I'm covering the bad. This is a piece I wrote about two years ago. Still true.

--==--

"Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize an undercover dictatorship. To restrict the art of healing to one class of men, and deny equal privilege to others, will be to constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic, and have no place in a Republic. The Constitution of this Republic should make special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom." abridged quote --Benjamin Rush, M.D., a signer of the Declaration of Independence

Let me start this little essay on the uses of marijuana with an idea. A very simple idea. An idea that strikes at the very heart of the drug war and it's moralistic foundation. The very idea that those who use unapproved drugs are the lawful subjects of religiously motivated government persecution.

What we call addiction is in fact self treatment of undiagnosed pain.

This is a truly revolutionary idea. If it is in fact true then the whole notion of a drug war to save the children is a lie from beginning to end. Those of you who have read my article on heroin have a window into this new idea. What I tried to show in that article was that medical research shows that victims of sexual abuse and severe physical abuse ( PTSD ) are many times more likely to get addicted to heroin than the general public.

Let us next look at the case for marijuana.

Natural molecules similar to an active ingredient in marijuana play a part in helping the brain clear fearful memories and keep them from being permanently debilitating. The British journal Nature has reported this discovery by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany. The scientists of the Institute say that this has implications for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder and other fear based conditions.

It turns out that anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in the United States. They are worth $46 billion a year to the pharmaceutical industry. You don't suppose this fact has any thing to do with the pharmaceutical industries being in the forefront of the Drug Free America campaign do you? Of course not. They are just trying to keep you from being addicted to natural products at the cost of 1/10th of a cent per dose when they are more than willing to sell you an FDA and doctor approved, pharmacy sold product that will do the job for a dollar a dose. They have only your best interests at heart. Just ask their accountants.

All humans show fear reactions to dangerous situations. However, in the case of one out of ten people ( surprisingly the same percentage of people who are susceptible to substance addiction ) the fear does not die down in the absence of the dangerous situation. The fear stays at debilitating levels even in the absence of danger. These people have a definite if ordinarily invisible problem. You cannot find this problem with x-rays. It is possible that this problem could be found with a many thousand dollar PET scan. Or you could take a few puffs of a joint and see if that helps. If the joint was legal. Which it is not.

Pankaj Sah of Australian National University believes that chronic marijuana users are self medicating for anxiety problems. He goes on further to say that we self medicate for head aches with aspirin and this causes no social problems. He speculates that people experiencing emotional problems are taking cannabis for relief. Of course since this medicine is not doctor approved it is against the law. Especially it is against Federal Law as a number of states have made medical use of marijuana legal. The Feds in California know how to stop this though. They put the sick, the dying and the pain wracked in jail to show their compassion. You don't suppose it has anything to do with maintaining at all costs the State and Federal $50 billion dollar drug war do you? Not a chance. They are the government and they have only your best interests at heart. Trust them.

You can read a good review of the report here:

Pot like chemical helps beat fear

Let me leave you with a final quote from a Supreme Court Judge:

"Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." Justice Brandeis

That quote and an impassioned speech for the right of self medication can be found here:

The right of self medication