September 5, 2009 in Letters

Why not pot in a pill?

The Spokesman-Review

I am puzzled by all the debate about medical marijuana.

People use MJ (pot, hashish, bhong, the magic dragon, etc.) to alter their brain functioning, their consciousness, to induce euphoria, to “get high,” to create an artificial heaven (heaven is being stoned). MJ is a psychotropic drug.

Like any drug, MJ can be therapeutic, but can also be toxic and even lethal if its dosage, frequency and duration of use are not controlled. The THC content of MJ is not standard or uniform or predictable. “BC bud,” at 6 percent, has more than Colville mountain pot. “Punk” can be up to 25 percent THC. The toxicity of MJ is largely unmeasurable and uncontrollable.

That’s why educated and truly compassionate physicians prescribe marinol or dronabinol, which come in capsule or pill form. Dosage is thus measured, controllable and therapeutic. The toxic effects of leaf MJ are largely avoided.

And so I ask, why don’t medical MJ users take their THC in pill or capsule form? The registered pharmacist is easier and cheaper to deal with than the shadowy medical MJ dealers or street dealers, and marinol/dronabinol usage would almost eliminate MJ emergency room usage (16 percent of drug-related ER patients).

James J. Flynn

Spokane

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12 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

John_D on September 05 at 2:11 p.m.
Your confusion is not your fault. 60 years of propaganda and misinformation has created the ignorance that you display. Marijuana (cannabis) has never been causally linked to any death. Francis Young, the DEA’s own Administrative Law Judge said of Marijuana “Marijuana, in the its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known”.

THC is not the only active therapeutic agent in Marijuana. There are over 400 cannabinoids in marijuana. While THC content varies in marijuana, the user is able to easily titrate the dosage due to the effects of inhaled marijuana being nearly instantaneous.

Marinol is 100% THC and does not take effect for 30 minutes to 1 hour. This often does not help a patient especially one who is taking the substance due to nausea or spasms. The dosage is less controllable and patients either get a dose that is too low or, more often, too high. THC is the agent in marijuana that accounts for the high. Elimination of all of the other cannabinoids is not a good idea.

Marijuana patients do not smoke the leaf. Marinol is not cheaper than marijuana http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/vi… . Marijuana is not causal in 16 percent of drug-related ER patients. The statistic that you stumbled upon is from DAWN (Drug Abuse Warning Network) http://www.drugscience.org/Petition/C… . This tracks ER “mentions”. The patients were not admitted due to marijuana.

Your confusion is based on your ignorance. It is ignorance like this that jails sick and dieing people.

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Storm_Crow on September 05 at 5:38 p.m.
James, as a medical marijuana user and an educator, I feel I must rebut your letter! Bhang (not Bhong) is the name of the cannabis plant and also a popular drink made from it in India. A bong is a smoking device.

Where did you get your information about deaths from cannabis? I am quoting a US Federal Court document (Judge Francis L. Young- 1988) ” A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of cannabis within about 15 minutes to induce a lethal response. In practical terms, cannabis cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity ”.

You seem to be under the mistaken idea that THC is the only medicinal factor in cannabis. Cannabidiol (CBD) may turn out to be far more important medically than THC. Pure THC (as in Marinol) can cause panic attacks. THC needs the other cannabinoids to “mellow things out”. With Marinol there is also the problem of dosage- the situation is exactly opposite of what your claim! It is Marinol that causes the unpredictable problems with dosage and uncontrolled side effects.

When a person takes a pill for nausea from chemotherapy, how can they keep it down? Relief is half an hour to 2 hours away, IF the pill stays down. There are a lot of variables, body size, what was recently eaten, speed of digestion, etc with Marinol pills. Then there is dosage- everyone is different- will one pill be enough? Will you think one pill isn't working and take another just as the first cuts in?

Compare that with smoking (or better yet, vaporizing). The patient inhales the vapor or smoke and within minutes the nausea begins to fade. When you feel sick, speed of relief is important. The effects are almost instantly noticeable and dosage needed can be easily be judged by the patient.

And I hate to tell you but Marinol is by far more expensive to use than natural cannabis! Run a search on “marinol cost”, if you don't believe me! If a patient grows his or her own medicine, like I do, it is remarkably inexpensive. I have no need of shadowy dealers or dispensaries.

The 16% who test positive for cannabis in the E.R. are not necessarily stoned. The nonpsychoactive metabolites of cannabis remain in a person's urine for a month or longer. All this means is that 16% of the people in the E.R used cannabis sometime during the last month or so.

James, I am going to challenge you to educate yourself about cannabis. Forget the lies, rumors and half-truths and deal with the scientific facts! I collect medical studies about cannabis. My “Granny Storm Crow's list- July 2009” is over 120 pages of links to medical cannabis studies and articles. It is easily found on the internet. Or just go here- http://www.greenpassion.org/showthrea… Are you brave enough to deal with the facts and educate yourself? Or will you continue in ignorance?

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Marksman on September 05 at 7:42 p.m.
Ho ho. Thats a good one. It took me 3 years to get a Dr to reccomend using marijuana. He works for the THCF, every other Dr. said they would if they were retiring because the DEA will pull their prescribing privileges if they recomend marijuana.

The DEA routinely threatens Dr's with loss of income if they reccomend or prescribe marijuana.

I'd say truly educated Dr.s just say no, and quietly show their patients ads for CBR or THCF clinics. I can hardly wait for the Government to micromanage my healthcare …some more!

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Jigsy on September 05 at 8:35 p.m.
You:People use MJ (pot, hashish, bhong, the magic dragon, etc.) to alter their brain functioning, their consciousness, to induce euphoria, to “get high,” to create an artificial heaven (heaven is being stoned). MJ is a psychotropic drug.

Jigsy: This is non sequitur. As you are probably aware, the proponderance of ingested supplements, drugs, and even necessary dietary intake alter people's bio-chemistry including profound changes in brain function. For crying out loud, sucrose should be considered to be suspect for the endorphin elevation rise associated with metabolization to fructose and glucose. I am able to infer a rather moralistic prelude in this paragraph with the allusion to a synthetic heaven, how in the hell is that related to medical science? It isn't. Already you are on shaky ground if you were pretending, I mean intending some sort of point. And I'm so glad that after eons of searching from the greatest minds in philosophy, you have made clear what heaven is. Somebody get this man a Nobel Prize!!

You:…can also be toxic and even lethal if its dosage…

Jigsy: Let me stop you right there, cowboy. Can you cite something, anything, even farsical data, that even attempts to allude to something as proposterous as a lethal dosage of any cannabinoid from ingesting marijuana in the traditional manners? Wait, let me scan your article here again, em, nope, not a single citation to this effect. I'd argue this one out, but it seems it would be redundant of the above posters eloquent and factual rebuttal of this point. Please investigate more thoroughly, would ya? Your journalistic credibility is hangin' out there, don't ya know?? If I didn't know any better it would seem you had an agenda set to go before even outlining this abortion of an article…. I'll get to that, oh goody, I can't wait!!

You: toxicity … unmeasurable and uncontrollable.

Jigsy: Well that depends. What do you mean by toxicity, as there are several understandings of this. As you seem to be under the false impression that there is a lethality or biological harm to result from cannabis use, I would presume that is the level to which your measure of toxicity is set. Understand that toxicity in general is a rather subjective affair aside from this.
Intoxicants and that type of toxicity have varying measures when looking at the degree of influence on people, and rely on test subjects subjective interpretations at times. Now I feel as if I am getting a little sidetracked here, so to return to the point, No direct deaths have ever been reported due to overdose. None. Not at all in recorded history. Seems pretty predictable to me. But what do I know? As to the immeasurableness of MJ's toxicity, huh? I do believe you are conflating arguments here and rather less than subtly. Is it lethal or is it not? And to it's potency, and the variables from strain to strain, duh. But to a degree that diminishes efficacy? I don't think so, bud. See the above references to Marinol's unpredictability. How do you think that effects efficacy?

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Jigsy on September 05 at 8:35 p.m.
You: That’s why educated and truly compassionate physicians prescribe marinol or dronabinol, which come in capsule or pill form. Dosage is thus measured, controllable and therapeutic. The toxic effects of leaf MJ are largely avoided.

Jigsy: What a conclusion to be drawn from such limited and erroneous data. You seem seriously to make a case for compassion here through pharmaceuticals. Those who directed my attention to this entry were concerned that you were misinformed, and that you could use a little education. Call me a cynic, but I don't see this to be true. All of this info is available in a simple Google search, and your abilities to communicate (grammatical style, tone, etc.) belie such innocent misgiving. It seems that your submission here is to gear people toward accepting pharmacological eminence, a trait that does not come free in most circles. So I am left wondering, who employs you?

You: And so I ask, why don’t medical MJ users take their THC in pill or capsule form? The registered pharmacist is easier and cheaper to deal with than the shadowy medical MJ dealers or street dealers, and marinol/dronabinol usage would almost eliminate MJ emergency room usage (16 percent of drug-related ER patients).

Jigsy: And like clockwork, an eloquent summation designed for fear-mongering, entirely devoid of any factual data. Nice misrepresentation of the statistical data, as illustrated by the above posters citing the actual data and nature of collection. That is straight out of the playbook, you should get your raise. As for why, why would so many patients of debilitating illness choose to ingest Marijuana for their ailments rather than take the pills provided with the inherent dangers as noted? Do you think it is because they would like to get high and pull the wool over your eyes, and go out devil worshipping and stealing and maiming of innocents? Do you think they are uneducated and less capable of making that determination for what works best for them than, say, maybe you are? Morality aside, is there a reason to deny these patients that right short of them hurting someone else? Someone very close to me used MJ for pain control. He was a paraplegic who had many complications to his situation and made efforts with the pharma stuff including at later stages the Marinol. Nothing was as effective for his situation as vaporizing and inhaling the form you are resisting against here, and it should be an inalienable right to be that happy, at least. Please don't put out any more propoganda, there is room for profit in an ethical and reasonable manner, including accepting the healthy competition provided by nature herself.

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myke113 on September 06 at 1:40 a.m.
Rumor has it, this guy is a drug counselor.. (Do some googling, it'll become apparent quickly)

So he's one of those that directly benefits financially from cannabis being illegal.

-Myke
myke@compassionatecoalition.org
http://www.compassionatecoalition.org

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SomeDude on September 06 at 4:31 a.m.
James Flynn makes these comments because he was part of the Governor's Council on Substance Abuse. He should know better spreading LIES like these.

SHAME ON YOU FOR SPREADING THIS PROPAGANDA

http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/Gov…

James J. Flynn of Spokane has been appointed to the Governor's Council on Substance Abuse. Flynn, a registered substance abuse counselor, has been working in this field for 25 years. Since his beginning as Spokane County Court's founding director of Rehabilitative Services in 1971, he served a long career as a probation officer before retiring and becoming a counselor. Past and present professional affiliations include the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission's DWI Task Force, the Spokane County Substance Abuse Advisory Board and the Spokane County Mental Health Advisory Board. His term expires in 1998.

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SomeDude on September 06 at 4:33 a.m.
A fine alphabetized version of “Grannys List” is also located @ http://www.thecannabisnetwork.net/gra…

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SomeDude on September 06 at 11:01 a.m.
Here is some stuff for you to read James.. Get your facts right

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/

http://www.medicalmj.org/

http://www.drugscience.org/

http://www.maps.org/mmj/

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/54

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/section….

http://www.medmjscience.org/Pages/sci…

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7002

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/abo….

http://health.howstuffworks.com/medic…

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/d….

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=…

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DEBs_frm_GP on September 06 at 11:34 a.m.
Educating ones self is a wonderful thing. When some one does not know the facts to what they are talking about, well it's just sounds like someone who does not know what they are talking about, Plain and simple. I don't know if you are just ignorant in this subject or if you are thinking there will be someone out there who will believe in these lies you have created, either way, I for one am tired of hearing the lies and ignorance… Please educate yourself on this subject, then maybe we can meet half way and hear what each one has to say…Open your mind and you might find amazing things you thought not possible…

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myke113 on September 06 at 11:54 a.m.
James, what did you stand to gain, by NOT mentioning the fact that you are/were a drug counselor?

Why are you hiding this fact on here?

-Myke

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John_D on September 06 at 1:36 p.m.
Wow, if this guy is a drug counselor, what does that say about the education of these people? There are so many factual errors and prejudicial bull that I assumed that it was just a conservative idiot that was parroting the “this is your brain on drugs” drivel that we have all been exposed to.

You would think that someone that has been counseling the public on drugs for over 30 years would know something, anything, factual and scientifically based on drugs. Otherwise it seems that a person is just straining to keep the status quo through misinformation, scare tactics and lies.

People that have lied to keep the current system of imprisoning Americans will soon realize that they are going to have to have an embarrassing conversation very shortly; one that involves facts and science.

At least this guy is hip to the latest marijuana lingo. He comes off as cool and cutting edge.

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