Proof Marijuana is Medicine

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Proof: Marijuana Is Medicine

She Who Remembers
http://www.geocities.com/sheremembers~
"Don't hate the media, become the media"
~Jello BiafraFrom: "Kay Lee" kaylee1@charter.net
Reply-To: stonesoupgroup@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 23:18:26 -0800
To: "SEEKING PEACE" kaylee1@charter.net
Subject: [stonesoupgroup] FINALLY WE HAVE VALIDATION!
WE KNEW IT 5000 YEARS AGO AND NOW WE'RE LEARNING IT AGAIN!

I know it is hard to shake so many years of propaganda, but much research is
available that gives us a clear look past the panic of "reefer madness" into
the truth that, whatever else the plant can provide, cannabis is indeed
medicinal. Now would be a good time for the government to gracefully back
away from the lies before the laws hurt more good people.

Legislators need to admit with dignity that a great mistake has been made, and that no
prohibition should forbid the medical use of a plant that can provide sick
people with a higher quality of life. Yes, there are other options for many
of the symptoms marijuana helps, but as responsible adults, we should be
able to compare the side effects of one medicine to another and make our own
choice in treatment.

God didn't make no junk.
Kay Lee
1290 Overlook Terrace
Titusville, Florida 32780
Making The Walls Transparent
http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/starke
~*~*~*~NEW RESEARCH~*~*~*~
http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,587299,00.html

Cannabis a medical miracle - it's official
Scientific tests of 'wonder drug' give patients new hope
Anthony Browne, health editor
Sunday November 4, 2001
The Observer

Cannabis is a 'wonder drug' capable of radically transforming the lives of
very sick people, according to the results of the first clinical trials of
the drug. Tests sanctioned by the Government are proving far more
successful than doctors, patients and cannabis campaigners ever dared
hope. Some of the patients are simply calling it a 'miracle'. Taking the
drug - which it is still illegal for doctors to prescribe - has allowed a
man previously so crippled with pain that he was impotent to become a
father; a woman paralysed by multiple sclerosis to ride a horse for the
first time in years; and a man who couldn't sit up in a chair on his own
to live without a carer.

Until now claims of the benefits of the drug for certain conditions have been
anecdotal. But the preliminary results of the UK government trial, started
last year, suggest that 80 per cent of those taking part have derived more benefit
from cannabis than from any other drug, with many describing it as 'miraculous'.
The results make it almostinevitable that the Government will bow to public
pressure and legalise the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes by 2002.

Scientists now predict that cannabis - first used for medicinal reasons 5,000 years ago -
will follow aspirin and penicillin and become a 'wonder drug' prescribed
for a wide range of conditions. Bowing to pressure for a less hard-line
attitude, the Home Office started the first major cannabis trials in the
world to see whether there was any scientific basis for its use as
medicine. A licence was granted to a specially formed drug company to grow
the plants under controlled conditions in a secret location in southern
England. Twenty-three patients, suffering from multiple sclerosis and
arthritis, were recruited on to the first trial, and given daily doses of
cannabis by spraying it under the tongue, before wider trials were
started.

The remarkable stories of the patients will be revealed tonight
on the BBC programme Panorama , which was granted unique access to them.
Alex Ure, a former paratrooper, suffers from a severe spinal condition.
The pain was so bad he considered suicide; he found legal painkillers
turned him into a zombie and he couldn't have sex with his wife, Wendy,
for five years. But after starting the trial he became a father. 'I
couldn't even bend down and play with a child before - I could do anything
now,' he said. His doctor, Willy Notcutt, of James Paget Hospital in Great
Yarmouth, was sure the cannabis was responsible: 'His pain has been
sufficiently controlled to engage in sex again,' he said. Tyrone Castle, a
former publican, started suffering from multiple sclerosis when he was 21
and became so incapacitated he needed two helpers to winch him out of bed.

He also suffered from uncontrollable spasms. Cannabis has transformed his
life. 'It has really helped sort out my spasms. It helps me sleep because
I don't spend the night jumping about. The difference in my legs is
unbelievable - they are no longer stiff as a board,' he said. Jo, the wife
of a school chaplain, suffered so badly from multiple sclerosis she would
struggle to lift her legs up in the air six times. After she started the
trial, she could lift her legs 25 times.

'It's miraculous, really extraordinary. I've never had any sort of relief of this
kind, and I've tried pretty well everything,' she said. Notcutt said the trial was a
success: 'The results have exceeded what I dared hope for. We're getting
80 per cent of patients good-quality benefit from the cannabis. For some
we are getting almost total relief from their pain, with pain scores going
down to zero.' Doctors believe cannabis could eventually prove useful in
conditions such as osteoporosis, cancer, HIV and Aids, arthritis, spine
injury and certain forms of mental illness.

http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,587299,00.html

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