# Medicinal Marijuana **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 18, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicinal-marijuana/65856 "2001-05-18T21:57:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![khalidee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@khalidee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/khalidee)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicinal-marijuana/65856/21 "2001-05-21T13:58:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JCHeckler \* > \*\*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. > > \*\* The main problem with using marinol medicinally is that it doesn’t produce the desired therapeutic affect and is nauseating by most reports.Thats the miracle of medicinal marijuana,it works in any dose.The ridiculous assertion that patients will live their life on a perpetual munchie binge is hardly grounds for scepticism as to its effectivness.In fact thats what the medical community hates about marijuana.It works,no one knows why and what is the proper dose.IT JUST WORKS .Accept it.Many patients would be glad to have the energy to walk to the 7-11.Marijuana in some cases gives patients the relief from discomfort so they will go take a walk.No one I know is using this issue as a backdoor for legalization.As I’ve stated before, illicit recreational users have their sources.Sure we would love to have the govt. off our backs but recreational users have their forums and strategies for legalization.Then there’s the industrial hemp issue…And as far as legitimate medicinal uses, My experience with doctors is they have little clue ,They are on a trial and error approach anyway as any given patient wil respond uniquely to whatever prescribed therapy.I’m for patients right to self medicate.Are you willing to be told what prescription is best for you when you may be looking to alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicinal-marijuana/65856/22 "2001-05-21T18:30:43Z")
OK, so apparently, the whole leaf works better than the purified THC. That would mean that there’s something else in the cannabis plant that’s causing the good effects. Wouldn’t you like to know what that other substance is? That way, we could purify it, instead of the THC, and we’d be able to give controlled doses of something that helps more and has less side effects. We would need controlled scientific tests to figure that out, just like with any other medicinal drug. And yes, of course, I’d rather have my physician decide what prescriptions I should have. He doesn’t tell me what algorithms to use in my programming, so why should I tell him how to do his job? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medicinal-marijuana/65856.md?page=1)