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Hi Moremiles,
I personally don't have a "conspiracy theory" against the drug companies and I don't feel that pot addresses the causative issues with MS but I'm old and aware of the years and years of unwarranted paranoia aimed specifically at pot and I have to wonder what drives it?

At face value I can only assume pot helps to relieve some MS symptoms. Heck, maybe it does nothing more than alter someone's consciousness enough to take their mind off their pain and irritations, but considering the side effects of the legal MS symptom relief drugs and comparing that to the fact that pot has been used and abused by billions of people over the centuries (I personally didn't inhale) with no documented ill effects......it is just beyond my understanding why society considers pot specifically such a big menace?
Bob

Harry Z, Thanks for getting my point. For those who missed it and made the assumption that I'm a cannabis paranoiac (not the kind who is under the influence), I was merely pointing out a sad irony. My husband and I thank God every day for escaping the grip of such a monstrous and monstrously enforced lie. Truly, the emperor's new clothes are remarkable.

Lyon wrote:At face value I can only assume pot helps to relieve some MS symptoms. Heck, maybe it does nothing more than alter someone's consciousness enough to take their mind off their pain and irritations

I think I have also read that it may be a neuroprotective.

The NMSS is funding a study on smoked marijuana because all of the effects people talk about don't come from taking Marinol. That stuff doesn't work because you can't control the dosage you are after. The NMSS is also looking to see if there are neuro protective properties as Cure mentioned. I don't know if it will be in our lifetime that we would find out if something is neuroprotective because we dont know when and why the disease is more active.

I hope they find out what it is. All I know is that I'm of the attitude that if marijuana was just discovered, there would be a ton of research surrounding it and hemp would seriously be being researched as a source of paper pulp and everything else. "Reefer Madness" was made by the paper mill industry to make sure they could keep deforesting and using trees to make paper pulp. In this day and age, any attempt to stop research on something that could save trees would be supported heavily by the environmentalists and the stigma would probably not be so strong.

MJ helps some people get through their day. If you take it to relax, to take the pressure off, how is that different from people who have a beer or two after work? Personally, I don't think it would help me at all... But I'm not going to tell someone they shouldn't take it when they think it helps them.

CureOrBust wrote:I think I have also read that it may be a neuroprotective.

Hi Cure,
The closest I can say is that I've read speculation that pot is neuroprotective and I concede that it might very well be proven to be neuroprotective someday but my point is that even if it "only" relaxes someone and takes a person's mind off the pain/spasticity (sp?) etc.....it's less dangerous than most anything else they might use, so what problem could/should society at large/medical community/government have with it?

Bob

Can I get an Amen! That's the point a lot of us are trying to make. It is not evil, it is not anything but a plant that has pain relief and axiety relief properties. It also happens to be illegal and that is where all the fun starts!

Loobie wrote:It also happens to be illegal and that is where all the fun starts!

I have to admit that back in the late 60's and I was young, a good part of the fun involved it's illegality and the good feeling of ignoring the rules of the "establishment" but I don't think that's the kind of "fun" that older, respectable adults with MS should have to deal with.

Most people would rather make adult decisions which don't hurt anyone else and would rather not be jailed martyrs.

Bob

Oh, I totally agree. I was absolutely being facetious. I think it's a crime that we can take all kinds of drugs that could kill us if we take too much, make us feel like not doing anything AND make us depressed, but we can't have MJ. I agree with you; that's not my idea of fun anymore either.