Medicinal Marijuana

My father tells the story that once when he was in Mexico he had a really bad headache. They gave him a tea to drink that cured his headache up fast. It ended up being marijuana tea.

He now swears that marajuana tea is better than smoking for medicinal purposes. He contends that a tea mixture allows the healing properties of marijuana to work better than smoking it does.

Is this true?

Note for the record: my dad is a non-drinker, non-smoker, Christian, totally square 78 year old man who only did this once and it was antediluvian.

I’d imagine that you get a different mix of compounds from the tea than you would from smoke. Consider that if the euphorogenic components of MJ were highly water soluble, water pipes would be useless. By making tea, you are biasing the mixture to include the most highly water soluble companents of MJ. Of course, the water is heated as well, so that substances with only limited solubility are extracted.

In summary, you get different components in tea than in smoke, but how this affects medicinal potential, I’m not sure.

[sub]Wait a minute. Didn’t the Supreme Court just decide that MJ has NO medicinal value? Tell your father to stop his rambunctious behavior immediately.

Your Dad may very well be right.

Smoking produces results very quickly, but ingestion while taking longer, has more to work with.

There is a synthetic compound available, THC called “Marinol.” I know a number of people with HIV who take it to help with their appetites. But apparently smoking marijuana works a lot better. We tried to pass a medical marijuana bill in our state and it failed this year. I’ll ask about the tea thing.

THC is not water-soluble. It’s not the only chemical in pot, but it’s the main drug. IIRC, the other substances are insoluble in water, too. I suspect that the tea was something other than marijuana…or that your dad experienced a placebo effect.

Peace,
TN*hippie

As a neurologist who sees many patients with migraine (and as not only the president of the migraine club, but a member)I can say that smoking anything is not good for vascular headaches.

I realize that there are “pot doctors” here in California who advertise that they will write a letter recommending pot for dopers who want to score at the local CBC. Having migraine, PMS, back strain, chronic fatique, fibromyalgia, hang nail, and many other “painful conditions for which marijuana may be helpful” serve as a ticket for these potheads to claim emdical necessity to get high.

I do believe that marijuana can help people with cancer, end-stage AIDS and a few other quite serious afflictions. It may even be helpful in certain cases of migraine, but certainly not in the smoked form, which is preferred by those who seek the euphoric buzz of pot.

(Note: I haven’t given links because I think the mods might frown upon it.)

TN*hippie:

http://www.erowid.org’s cannabis section describes “bhang”, which is some sort of tea containing milk. THC is soluble in oils (milkfat) and alcohol, so perhaps this is what the OP’s father was given.

Oils and alcohol: yes, definitely. I hadn’t considered that possible concoction. Thanks.

Peace,
TN*hippie

Marijuana is also used to relieve the pain of
patients who suffer Multiple Sclerosis on a “softer” way , instead of the hard drug painkillers.

‘There is a synthetic compound available, THC called “Marinol.”’

There was a lab that made that next to my college UCSD. I wanted to order some it was only $40 for a small amount back then. But I chickened out putting it on the lab materials request list :slight_smile:

Perhaps you are not familiar with vaporization techniques of ingestion.At those temperatures(180-250 F.)there is not there side affects related to actual smoking.When are you self appointed pros going to get off your high(or low) horse.You have absolutely zero experience, yet with your degrees and positions,You have everyone fooled with your contrived expertise.I know hundreds who are far more experienced than you and your ilk on this issue.And we enjoy marijuana and have for decades.We are functional, productive, enlightened and most of all,TOLERANT.Your kind continue to make criminals out of 30 million otherwise good citizens.We can only laugh when you say that there not enough scientific evidence ,or it warrants more study.Whatever diversionary tactic you use you are ignoring the whole of human history and the role cannabis has played.Go back to whatever university spat you out and study a little herbal history and educate yourself on the merits of this truly miracle plant.

khalidee, with all due respect, what the heck are you talking about?

Why I’m getting a vision of Sylvia Plath having her head in the oven for a whole different reason, I don’t know.

Hey, my low horse is too short for me, can I ride your middle-horse?

Bad news, it’s really starting to have an effect on your ability to articulate.

ah, ok… do you have a technical term, there in the land of enlightened tolorance for “our kind”? Are you trying to give Research Junkies a bad name? That’s intolorant!

I can understand how that might happen.

Well, considering most drugs have an acceptable doseage for use and marijuana, in all it’s varieties and strengths, has a tendancy to have a varying effect on different people across the board… I guess it’s just hard to recommend a specific joint size. “columbian, grande, rolled but not twisted, thank you”

Good idea, where might we find your commune?

Pot Tea - a friend just mentioned this in the movie, Saving Grace. :wink:

Go here for a… scintilliating… conversation on pot tea… I was especially…uh…interested… in this person eating the soggy marijuana leaves out of the tea ball. Mmm, tasty!

There is a possibility that other chemicals in marjiuana make a nice relaxing herbal tea - kind of like… mint, or chamomile.

meg

regarding vaporization?

If you read the good doctor’s contribution you’ll see he took low ground, cheap shot of referring those seeking medicinal marijuana for other than the “official” maladies as common potheads.I’ve got news for him,The average recreational user has many supply channels available to him. It is those with the medical necessities who will continue to be denied a legal supply by those like him who mcontinue to spread their anecdotal misinformation.

So this:

Refers to this:

Which I’d have to agree with. Why waste time going to the doctor to have him write you a prescription when you can talk to so & so at work… etc.

I may have jumped the gun and have smarted off unnecessarily, I apologize.

I am curious as to what the heck you meant about “vaporization,” if you don’t mind clarifying.

Meg

Vaporization is the process of releasing essential compounds with the minimum heat.Many at the cannabis clubs are using a vaporizor device. Others use a Makita heat gun on lowest heat(250F).Some simply hold the lighter flame away from the bowl using just the heat necessary to vaporize.This technique yields a better flavor.Those who pull a flame all the way through the bowl and suck hard on the bong are missing the whole point of $400 kind bud.Theyve never tasted anything but tar and ash.

Your first reply was curious and amusing

400$…coughcoughchokecoughhackcoughwheeze… damn.

Ahhh, there’s nothing like a scalded throat to mellow you out.

Tell me you didn’t cock your head sideways… please. I’d like to think my little puppy teeth are knitting needle sharp… in case I ever have the need to bite an ankle in defense, of course… :wink:

Meg

Just a thought here:
There does seem to be some ancedotal difference between smoking pot and taking Marinol (the Rx form of THC, very commonly used in cancer and AIDS type situations). It appears that it’s just in patient perference of delivery mode. I suppose if your stomach was very upset —if you had a history of problems keeping things down— then smoking might be easier to handle. Perhaps also the rate at which the THC is take up by the body is slower; there might be some nicotine related studies on this.

The main problems with using pot medicinally (as I see it) are:

  1. That you can’t measure how much of the active ingredient is in any given amount of the plant. That is, that 100mg of Marinol has 100mg of THC in it, but that a bag of pot could have a lot more or a lot less because it’s basically the unrefined version of the medication. An under-dose doesn’t produce the therapudic effects desired, and an overdose renders the patient less than lucid. Remember, not everyone likes to be stoned. This would be especially so when you know your time on earth might well be limited. If they told me I had only six months to live, I think I’d want to spend the time on things more productive than going to the 7-11 for giant size bags of M&M’s.

  2. It appears the medicinal pot issue is being used as a way to get backdoor legalization of pot, and then you get into the whole debate over legalized “recreational” drugs. Doing this at the expense of people suffering from cancer or AIDS or whatever seems more than a little ethically challenged.

  3. As was suggested above, if pot were legalized or at least tolerated for medical uses, then immediately the debate would shift to which medical uses are legitmate and which aren’t, with an effort by those who currently support medicinal pot to expand the list of legitmate uses as far as possible. We’d also see a lot of dubious Rx’s being written. I am reminded of the medicinal alcohol situation during prohibition.