Don't underestimate power of pot: UN

VIENNA — A UN drugs agency warned Thursday against danger of underestimating the dangerous power of cannabis. "The international community may wish to review the issue of cannabis," the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) wrote in its annual report.

www.vancouversun.com...

Yep, the UN is warning about the "danger of underestimating the dangerous power of cannabis." That dangerous cannabis has been the reason for an increase of emergency room visits. Not to mention the danger of people buying cannabis from dangerous internet pharmacies, that dangerously trick people into using cannabis.

It also urged governments to "stimulate" the controlled use of opiate-based painkillers to help "alleviate unnecessary suffering of millions of patients."

"...the access to controlled medicines, including morphine and codeine, is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be a human right...

At the same time they are encouraging the use of opiates, used to "alleviate suffering," considering it a human right. Oh, thank you UN for your genuine concern for the well-being of the world's citizens.

Everyone, the lesson for today is that cannabis is dangerous and opiates are good. Class dismissed.

reply to post by TheComte


Nice

Although I would assume it would be tougher to convince the intl community of this apposed to tUSA

So they could use cannabis to alleviate pain and suffering worldwide but then what would they do with all the poppy being grown in Afghanistan?

This smells like old propaganda to me.

reply to post by LDragonFire


Good Question

I am pretty sure though they already grow poppy in some central or southern america country for most of the pharmaceuticals actually. I have seen the fields in a picture, and there is like only a fence or rope surrounding the poppies. It's a pretty crazy sight

reply to post by GreenBicMan


It seems crazy that they would want the world to take more opiate based drugs with all the addiction and health side affects.

BTW the INCB controls both the licit and illicit manufacture of, trade in and use of drugs, worldwide.

Its obliviously a ploy to boost the pharmaceutical industry profits.

[edit on 16-2-2010 by LDragonFire]

Yeah, beware it might open your mind to the BS around you more like :/

It's this simple. Anyone can grow pot. When people grow pot, they may not buy the state sponsored drugs from big Pharma... and then the greedy governments won't get their kickbacks.

IRM

Originally posted by GreenBicMan
reply to post by LDragonFire

 

Good Question

I am pretty sure though they already grow poppy in some central or southern america country for most of the pharmaceuticals actually. I have seen the fields in a picture, and there is like only a fence or rope surrounding the poppies. It's a pretty crazy sight

Drive through Germany (Deutschland) some time. Pink Floyd didn't write about the "poppy fields and graves" for no reason.

anyone saying opiates are less dangerous then medical marijuana instantly loses all credibility in my book


all personal experience, all scientific study, all medical advice ive ever heard states the exact opposite

opiates, any form of them, even things like tramadol which are merely similar to opiates, are all significantly more dangerous then medical marijuana in each and every single way


the only single upside to opiates over medical marijuana according to any scientific or medical fact is that in some people pain relief may be more prominent in opiates


with that said one has to ask themselves, at what cost is this increased effectiveness worth it?

is it worth mental and physical addiction, is it worth all the side effects from opiate use, let alone worth the withdrawal symptoms once its use is ceased?

the worst you can medically/scientifically say about marijuana is that in SOME people it CAN be mentally addictive


personally id take mental over physical any day


oh and lets not even get into the ld50 issue when comparing things like morphine or hydrocodone to medical marijuana

id say if 50 percent of people can die with significantly lower levels of morphine and hydrocodone then marijuana, that says a lot


i mean even aspirin has a ld50 of around 200mg/kg

marijuana at its most lethal estimates is still around 1300mg/kg


hydrocodone and morphine dont have a definitive ld50 because of tolerance, after extended periods you can take more as part of the physical addiction

but even without a definitive number, i bet if you got anywhere near the ld50 for marijuana with any opiate, you're going to be hurting pretty bad


anyone making the claim opiates are safer in any way simply has something to gain by doing so, and the safety of others is not of their primary concern

medical marijuana can do many of the same things opiates can, and they can do them a hell of a lot safer according to all unbiased studies ever done

Hmmm, now I'm gonna have to definately try pot one of these days.

Anything that is purely natural and is herbal, and none of this man made pharmacutical crap, I can live with. I found a interesting theory (or not) of why pot was banned.

It was a huge money maker that helped, clothing, agriculture, fuel, industries. If pot was legalized here today, it would have over run the profitablility of these oil companies. Another reason why it was banned is that it helped people who have aches and pains kept the doctors away, so big pharma would've became little pharma and pot with it's hallucinogenic qualities, people experienced a heightened awareness, and not once have I seen anyone that has smoked pot were violent, except those who are growing, and protecting their own cash crop. If only you can get and grow pot anywhere. There would be no need to protect it, because well it's everywhere, and selling it for money wouldn't be expensive.

Oh man they have been parroting this crap since the early nineties. Marijuana does not cause overdose deaths. The number of people in hospital emergency rooms who say they have used marijuana has increased. On this basis, the visit may be recorded as marijuana-related even if marijuana had nothing to do with the medical condition preceding the hospital visit. Many more teenagers use marijuana than use drugs such as heroin and coc aine. As a result, when teenagers visit hospital emergency rooms, they report marijuana much more frequently than they report heroin and coc aine. In the large majority of cases when marijuana is mentioned, other drugs are mentioned as well. In 1994, fewer than 2% of drug related emergency room visits involved the use of marijuana.

They probably released this statement to counteract the Universty of Californias Smoking gun research that proves the medicinal validity and safety of smoked raw cannabis .

blog.norml.org...

The issue of medical marijuana is one of the only cases of world-wide injustice that is clearly visible to the simple man. My point is that you don't need to be incredibly smart or enlightened to see how corrupt the world is when it comes to cannabis.

I suggest everyone to look for documentary films about the absolute miracles medical marijuana has performed to sick people, even people that have been deemed to certain death by some doctors.

An almost personal experience I'd like to share:

A friend of my family, 42 years of age, hiking and extreme sports enthusiastic has some time ago developed brain cancer. The man was the most hyperactive person I have ever met.. always looking for an extreme adventure around the world, always looking for that harder mountain to climb.
After a few months of being sick he has lost his energy completely. Nothing of the 'accepted' medical treatment has helped, and at some time (about half a year earlier than today) his doctors gave up on him and told him he has about _a month_ to stay alive. Tops. His daughter refused to accept this fate and was aware of something called medical marijuana. She has tried reaching numerous doctors about trying that method on her father, but none of them thought this could be helpful in any sort of way and kept insisting on known (expensive) pills that didn't do anything to make his situation better in any way possible. One day a very respectable doctor made contact with his family, telling them that he believes medical marijuana could make his situation better, atleast if he is deemed to die.
..The guy at the time was almost a goner. Almost no eating or drinking, not getting out of bed (and I'm talking about a person that has searched for adventures around the world), almost no will to communicate with anyone including his family.
After receiving the doctor's prescription of medical cannabis the man didn't jump the gun at first place. After the first 'joint' the man has gotten the munchies, started eating like he hasn't for quite a time, got out of his bed and felt his energy coming back to him. The man was a zombie for some time, and medical marijuana caused him to interact with people just like he used to.
He smokes one-two joints per day and keeps living a completely normal life, instead of dropping dead long ago like his doctors told him he would.

I may not be the best story-teller, but to anyone that knew this man this story is simply amazing.

Some background; Not only medical marijuana is WAY less harmful than most conditional medicine, if you choose to still look at it as a "drug", it's way less harmful than a cigarette, way less addicting than caffeine, NOT a drug that tweaks visual perception (or even depth perception) like most drugs, NOT man made like most drugs and medical pills, NOT hallucinogenic, and most importantly IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERDOSE ON.
Actually, the strongest qualities of marijuana (all kinds and not just medical) are the feeling of the rising urge to eat (munchies) and the feeling of being happy.
Unlike alcohol and other dangerous drugs that only project the illusion of happiness, marijuana does not actually bring up happiness, but opens your mind to the joyful things in life. The strongest feeling a person that smokes his first joint will feel is the feeling of extreme joy out of even the simplest of things (eg. cracking up when you're 'stoned').

The only way for marijuana to be harmful is if someone has tempered at it with a home-lab, or any kind of man-made-changes in the process of making it. Some dirty people even add some hallucinogenics to the mixture from time to time.

How to prevent "dirty cannabis"? - Legalization.
Sell it exactly the way alcohol sells, tax it, put an age limit on it, put some limitation to it (no working under influence, no driving under influence), and voilla. . . but that is a completely different story.

Continued..

Marijuana isn't nearly as profitable for the pharmacy companies as lab-made pills. Especially because nobody can tag a patent to the cannabis (natural plant) and no one will be brave enough to make a minor change, then patent it, because marijuana is a social, federal and medical taboo.

I'm not a hippie that demands everyone to puff once in a while, but atleast don't be ignorant to the reality. The word is coming from up there, the elitist pharmacy enterprises that can't make profit out of it, say marijuana is the work of satan, thus giving guide-lines to certified doctors, which cause paranoid moms to educate their children that marijuana is a harmful drug that should never be accepted.
Don't be a part of this ignorant chain of events!

And one last bit - Medical cannabis was once not only legal but a primary method used by medical facilities all over the world for relieving pain, dealing with trauma and depression, and sometimes even against cancer.
All of that of course before the world has gotten to be such a capitalistic, materialistic place where a dollar bill has more significance than a person's life of freedom.

[edit on 25-2-2010 by SparKzzz]

Very inspiring story of your friend SparKzzz, about the power of the Natural Medical Cannabis plant. It is amazing that it could flip a cancer patient back into a normal human. One of my friend's dad has died from cancer on his hip about a monthish ago. The doctors had put him on Chemotheropy, and he suffered for a year. He was 2 weeks into retirement before he was diagnosed with cancer.

What he should have done was to get the doctors to hook him up to get some Cannabis plants, instead of Chemotheropy which offsets his body, and sends unwanted toxins, making him sick, dehydrated, making him age faster. I didn't see him but my dad said he looked like he was 100 years old, he was 58 years old I think.

Supposedly Baking Soda also does wonders to cancer patients.