the reason that the state of things suck is because too many people smoke weed

[pineapplemike]

Yeah I've never had much use of weed as pain relief, but there are still legitimate medical uses for the substance in some cases, so I don't understand the confusion in dis thread

[BjornP]

Weed does not fucking help with chronic pain. It just blasts your brain so that you are not even really aware of anything. That's not pain management. You can do the same thing with any narcotic. That doesn't make it a good idea.

Depends on what you mean by "help with". If we are talking ignoring pain, it can help. Price is cheaper than morphine, and you can ingest it as food to avoid smoking it. My own experiments with it - as pain relief, anyway - lasted a week. Found I needed too much of it to also be effective at my studies and work. Same dilemma with morphine. Could choose between not feeling pain or not being able to concentrate at university. No point in just taking a little weed in the case of pain relief - that’s like taking half a shit. Enough to not fully concentrate, too little to alleviate pain.

So for most chronic pain patients, it's not *good* pain management, we can agree on that. For some, though, those few who use morphine daily... it makes no difference.

[Speaker to Animals]

It doesn't help longterm. At first you will just be blasted out of your mind. But your tolerance will continue to grow. Eventually you will have to smoke massive amounts of weed to get that effect.

Weed really does fuck all for severe physical pain anyway. People are just using their chronic pain as an excuse to get high.

[BjornP]

It doesn't help longterm. At first you will just be blasted out of your mind. But your tolerance will continue to grow. Eventually you will have to smoke massive amounts of weed to get that effect.

Weed really does fuck all for severe physical pain anyway. People are just using their chronic pain as an excuse to get high.

That’s like saying chronic pain patients who use morphine medicine use it as an "excuse" to get high. Pain drugs alone is not a helpful long term solution, we agree on that. Accepting the pain as permanent, and how to mentally work *with* it, is what chronic pain sufferers need to learn. But over reliance on one type of pain meds is not more virtuous than the other.

[Otern]

Weed indeed isn't more dangerous than alcohol, but seriously.... wanna enjoy it recreationally, just argue that? Stop using *other peoples* health issues to legitimize *your* entirely recreational use. You undermine both their use and your use, by muddying those two different issues.

This.

I hate how weed is pushed by a lot of young people today as a "good thing". Like how the world would improve if everyone smoked weed, or how there would be no negative aspects of legalization. If we could somehow restart a fresh society somehow, it would make more sense to keep weed legal, compared to alcohol. But introducing weed to a culture, just because, seems like a bad idea.

Weed is not as popular here in Norway, as it seems to be in the US. And we don't have the same drug war problem as they do either, so I'm not having much of a problem with it being illegal here. But if there's any medical benefits of it, it should be possible to get a prescription of it for the ones who really need it, and not for recreational purposes.

Most people I know that smokes weed, turn to other, harder stuff too. Some do okay in life, but it's a stepping stone into abuse for many others. And it's part of a culture that is destructive. Maybe legalization would make it less destructive though, as they're now abiding by the law, while getting high, and it wouldn't be as much of a stepping stone into other drugs. But the whole drug acceptance pushed by comedians and Hollywood is not really a good thing. Weed will not improve most people's lives.

I don't do weed, and don't plan on doing it as long as it's illegal. Won't even do it if I'm in a country where it's legal, as long as it's illegal here. Don't know if I'd try if it was legal, probably. Maybe it should be legal, but it's not a good idea to only push the positive aspects of it, like a cigarette commercial from the fifties.

[Speaker to Animals]

It doesn't help longterm. At first you will just be blasted out of your mind. But your tolerance will continue to grow. Eventually you will have to smoke massive amounts of weed to get that effect.

Weed really does fuck all for severe physical pain anyway. People are just using their chronic pain as an excuse to get high.

That’s like saying chronic pain patients who use morphine medicine use it as an "excuse" to get high. Pain drugs alone is not a helpful long term solution, we agree on that. Accepting the pain as permanent, and how to mentally work *with* it, is what chronic pain sufferers need to learn. But over reliance on one type of pain meds is not more virtuous than the other.

Morphine actually does something about pain, dude.

And, yeah, quite a lot of chronic pain patients use their pain as an excuse to get high on opiates. It's a huge problem that has no easy solution.

[BjornP]

And, yeah, quite a lot of chronic pain patients use their pain as an excuse to get high on opiates. It's a huge problem that has no easy solution.

Unless they develop some way to see the degree of physical pain a patient is experiencing, doctors can't accurately determine who should get pain relief meds and how strong those should be. And I suspect even if they do invent that, it will be expensive and take time. Easier for the doc to prescribe pain meds (or simply anti-depressents).

[Speaker to Animals]

And, yeah, quite a lot of chronic pain patients use their pain as an excuse to get high on opiates. It's a huge problem that has no easy solution.

Unless they develop some way to see the degree of physical pain a patient is experiencing, doctors can't accurately determine who should get pain relief meds and how strong those should be. And I suspect even if they do invent that, it will be expensive and take time. Easier for the doc to prescribe pain meds (or simply anti-depressents).

Turns out, opiates make a lot of our chronic pain diseases worse. That happened to me.

Pain meds are really good for injuries and recovering from surgery. For long term use. we probably should be more discriminant than we have been in the recent past.

The other dimension to this problem is that doctors are ill-equipped to offer any solutions at all. What I needed was intensive physical therapy, strength and mobility training, for 3-5 days per week, for years.

I have some concept now of what is required to manage illnesses like my own, and there really is little to nothing like that out there. Insurance companies, including government providers, will rather mint another pill junkie than pay for all that.

[BjornP]

Iirc, there are two or three types of pain. Joint pain and pain from infection don't respond to the same treatment or even pain medicine. Everyone with chronic pain will be familiar with secondary pain, from tensing up in response to your primary pain. In that regard, excercise is always helpful. No matter what causes the pain.

[Kath]

Weed indeed isn't more dangerous than alcohol, but seriously.... wanna enjoy it recreationally, just argue that? Stop using *other peoples* health issues to legitimize *your* entirely recreational use.

First, my use isn't entirely recreational. Some is, not all.

Second, I'm not arguing it should be legal because it has health benefits. I'm arguing it has far more right to be legal than alcohol and cigarettes combined, regardless of why people use it.

Number of MJ related deaths in the history of the world? 0
Cigarettes? Millions and millions
Alcohol? Millions and millions

Of the three, one is the least harmful while also being the most helpful. This is the illegal drug.

Who wins? Big Pharma, of course. The alcohol companies win. The drug cartels win. The private prison owners win.

Big win for everyone, I suppose. At least, everyone that counts.