Robert Celt
New Member
Oklahoma's Green the Vote activists have unfortunately failed to gather the necessary signatures to place medical marijuana on the 2016 ballot by November. The all-volunteer activist group collected just over 70,000 signatures, but needed to reach a threshold of 123,725 in order to qualify.
While this is unfortunate, the activists will undoubtedly be back this year even more determined to reach their goal. And they should be, because the cause they are championing has the potential to save hundreds of lives, as well as improve the quality of life of many thousands more, through the use of medical marijuana.
Marijuana, despite the social stigma stubbornly clinging to it, has numerous health benefits and almost no downsides. Among the list of benefits include the alleviation of chronic pain, treatment for glaucoma, alleviation of the pain from multiple sclerosis, and acts as a treatment to counteract the side-effects of chemotherapy and Hepatitis C treatments, which include nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, and muscle aches.
Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers and those afflicted with Crohn's disease can find relief in regular marijuana use.
In 2014, the National Pain Center conducted a survey of over 1,300 fibromyalgia patients and found that marijuana is by far the most effective means to treat the symptoms of fibromyalgia, far more than the FDA-approved prescription drugs used to treat the condition.
Dravet Syndrome is a severe form of epilepsy that begins in infancy and many believe that it's only known effective treatment is the use of marijuana. Those suffering from Dravet syndrome can have 100 seizures a day.
Stories abound, however, of children responding very favorably to cannabidiol, CBD, a non-psychoactive compound in marijuana, after every other treatment proved unsuccessful. Families are now packing up and moving to Colorado in hopes of safely and legally treating their children with what they believe is their only hope in reducing their intractable epilepsy.
Marijuana has also been shown to be a highly effective treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. A 2014 study showed that smoking marijuana was responsible for a 75 percent reduction in PTSD-related symptoms. Chronic stress, a major cause of depression, can be alleviated with the use of marijuana.
Many of these medical conditions listed have as their only effective treatment the use of medical marijuana. The side-effects of the pharmaceutical cocktail that many sufferers have to take on a daily basis is often worse that the illness they suffer from.
No one has ever overdosed on marijuana, the lethal dose being 1:20,000, or 20,000 times the amount of marijuana that is contained in a single cigarette (alcohol, by contrast, has as its lethal amount only about one liter of hard liquor). Marijuana is not a "gateway drug", despite what you were told by the DARE officer in school, that kid-friendly peddler of the Prohibition racket (the gateway to harder, more dangerous drugs was opened by the drug warriors themselves, who, by forbidding access to safe highs, shuffled users into the hands of meth cooks and crack dealers).
Medical marijuana is truly a gift from nature, and it has the potential to be the miracle drug that thousands have been waiting for, and one that could be inexpensively, and safely, grown at home. It would beat the exorbitant price tag of chronic pain pharmaceuticals, with sufferers in the US coughing up $17 billion annually for Big Pharma treatments.
But this leads to the obvious point that pharmaceutical companies rely on marijuana prohibition for their captive customers. Legalization of medical marijuana has the potential to make a big dent in their profits as their customers switch to a safer, more effective form of treatment.
So finding out that, along with police unions, pharmaceutical companies have been leading the fight against legalized marijuana is not surprising at all. They've got their monopoly on the painkiller racket, and they want to keep it that way.
They've got tens of thousands addicted to their pills, and dying in record numbers every year, and they're scared that legal marijuana would change that. But it must change here, for the sake of the health and safety of Oklahoma's citizens.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical Marijuana Is A Life-Saving Resource That Oklahoma Needs
Author: Shane Smith
Contact: Red Dirt Report
Photo Credit: TJ Baker
Website: Red Dirt Report
While this is unfortunate, the activists will undoubtedly be back this year even more determined to reach their goal. And they should be, because the cause they are championing has the potential to save hundreds of lives, as well as improve the quality of life of many thousands more, through the use of medical marijuana.
Marijuana, despite the social stigma stubbornly clinging to it, has numerous health benefits and almost no downsides. Among the list of benefits include the alleviation of chronic pain, treatment for glaucoma, alleviation of the pain from multiple sclerosis, and acts as a treatment to counteract the side-effects of chemotherapy and Hepatitis C treatments, which include nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite, and muscle aches.
Rheumatoid arthritis sufferers and those afflicted with Crohn's disease can find relief in regular marijuana use.
In 2014, the National Pain Center conducted a survey of over 1,300 fibromyalgia patients and found that marijuana is by far the most effective means to treat the symptoms of fibromyalgia, far more than the FDA-approved prescription drugs used to treat the condition.
Dravet Syndrome is a severe form of epilepsy that begins in infancy and many believe that it's only known effective treatment is the use of marijuana. Those suffering from Dravet syndrome can have 100 seizures a day.
Stories abound, however, of children responding very favorably to cannabidiol, CBD, a non-psychoactive compound in marijuana, after every other treatment proved unsuccessful. Families are now packing up and moving to Colorado in hopes of safely and legally treating their children with what they believe is their only hope in reducing their intractable epilepsy.
Marijuana has also been shown to be a highly effective treatment for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. A 2014 study showed that smoking marijuana was responsible for a 75 percent reduction in PTSD-related symptoms. Chronic stress, a major cause of depression, can be alleviated with the use of marijuana.
Many of these medical conditions listed have as their only effective treatment the use of medical marijuana. The side-effects of the pharmaceutical cocktail that many sufferers have to take on a daily basis is often worse that the illness they suffer from.
No one has ever overdosed on marijuana, the lethal dose being 1:20,000, or 20,000 times the amount of marijuana that is contained in a single cigarette (alcohol, by contrast, has as its lethal amount only about one liter of hard liquor). Marijuana is not a "gateway drug", despite what you were told by the DARE officer in school, that kid-friendly peddler of the Prohibition racket (the gateway to harder, more dangerous drugs was opened by the drug warriors themselves, who, by forbidding access to safe highs, shuffled users into the hands of meth cooks and crack dealers).
Medical marijuana is truly a gift from nature, and it has the potential to be the miracle drug that thousands have been waiting for, and one that could be inexpensively, and safely, grown at home. It would beat the exorbitant price tag of chronic pain pharmaceuticals, with sufferers in the US coughing up $17 billion annually for Big Pharma treatments.
But this leads to the obvious point that pharmaceutical companies rely on marijuana prohibition for their captive customers. Legalization of medical marijuana has the potential to make a big dent in their profits as their customers switch to a safer, more effective form of treatment.
So finding out that, along with police unions, pharmaceutical companies have been leading the fight against legalized marijuana is not surprising at all. They've got their monopoly on the painkiller racket, and they want to keep it that way.
They've got tens of thousands addicted to their pills, and dying in record numbers every year, and they're scared that legal marijuana would change that. But it must change here, for the sake of the health and safety of Oklahoma's citizens.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Medical Marijuana Is A Life-Saving Resource That Oklahoma Needs
Author: Shane Smith
Contact: Red Dirt Report
Photo Credit: TJ Baker
Website: Red Dirt Report
