Human studies have shown cannabis to be an effective treatment

Patient populations, including the elderly, the terminally ill are
seeking comfort in their last days. Help them in their misery.
legalize marijuana.

Please ..treatment for severe pain,..... all opiates have the
potential to induce nausea. . elderly need marijuana for pain and
nausea.. Cannabis almost immediately relieves pain and eliminates the
nausea that many patients experience...

Medical Marijuana and Chronic Pain Relief
Published by Jan
Chronic Pain: What is the definition?
Taken from an online Medical Dictionary: Pain (an unpleasant sense of
discomfort) that persists or progresses over a long period. In
contrast to acute pain that arises suddenly in response to a specific
injury and is usually treatable, chronic pain persists over time and
is often resistant to medical treatments.

Chronic pain is a discomfort that gradually increases over a period of
time and eventually becomes a consistent pain and is often unaffected
by medical treatments. Acute pain is just the opposite. It occurs
because of an accident or injury and is treatable. There are different
causes for chronic pain: back injury, arthritis, carpal tunnel
syndrome, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, scoliosis and multiple sclerosis
are just a few of the conditions that can lead to chronic pain.

There's a Better Way
Unfortunately, until recently, the United States government has had
outdated views on marijuana. Classed a Schedule I drug, it has been
illegal and considered a dangerous drug with no medical value.
However, views are slowly beginning to change. Medical Marijuana is
beneficial in the treatment of chronic pain. In addition to its
analgesic effects, cannabis has anti-inflammatory properties as well.
It can work very well as an adjunct to other medications. Although
opioid medications are effective in treating the pain in the
beginning, over time, a tolerance can develop causing the patient to
take more and more. Research has shown that except for the potential
damage to the lungs, cannabis is safer than many of the legal drugs
used for pain. There is no known case of legal overdose with cannabis.
Not only can marijuana effectively treat pain, it can also treat the
nausea associated with opioid medications. Unlike Marinol (synthetic
THC), inhaled marijuana offers immediate relief because it is absorbed
right into the bloodstream. It also contains quite a few other
cannabinoids like CBC and CBD. Marinol is synthetic THC only. Marinol
is just not as effective as medical marijuana.

Chronic pain has reached epidemic proportions in this country. Chronic
pain is often defined as pain that lasts three months or longer.
Although it is more common in older adults, anyone can experience it.
Approximately 50 million people suffer from chronic pain, and another
25 million suffer from acute pain caused by surgery and accidents.

One of the main problems with chronic pain is that it is usually under
treated. According to the National Chronic Pain Outreach Association,
seven million people are unable to relieve their pain without taking
opioids. Many doctors, for many different reasons, will not prescribe
an adequate dosage to combat their patient's pain. Tragically, living
with intractable pain can lead to depression. Depression can lead to
suicide.

"Severe chronic pain is usually treated with opioid narcotics and
various synthetic analgesics, but these drugs have many limitations."

Opioids are addictive and tolerance develops. The most commonly used
synthetic analgesics - aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), and
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen -are not
addictive but they are often insufficiently powerful. Furthermore,
they have serious toxic side effects including gastric bleeding or
ulcer and in the end a risk of liver or kidney disease. Stomach
bleeding and ulcers induced by aspirin and other NSAIDs is the most
common serious adverse drug reactions reported in the United States.
These drugs may be responsible for as many as 76,000 hospitalizations
and more than 7,600 deaths annually.

Acetaminophen is increasingly prescribed instead because it largely
spares the digestive tract, but it can cause liver damage or kidney
failure when used regularly for long periods. Medical researchers have
estimated that patients who take one to three acetaminophen tablets a
day for a year or more account for about 8% to 10% of all cases of end-
stage renal disease, a condition that is fatal without dialysis or a
kidney transplant.

Given the limitations of opioids and non-addictive synthetic
analgesics, one might have expected pain specialists to take a second
look at cannabis, but the medical literature again suggests little
recent reconsideration. Medical Cannabis may be especially useful for
the kinds of chronic pain that people who survive catastrophic
traumatic accidents have to live with the rest of their lives.

Take side effects, for instance. Most prescription drugs come with a
multi-page rider of possible bad things that might happen with regular
use – liver damage is synonymous with long-term use. Baked goods,
butters, oils, suppositories, tinctures and salves are all ways to get
the medication into your system easily.
The number one benefit of marijuana: it is natural. It is not
processed, refined, or chemically enhanced. It does not contain an
endless list of unpronounceable ingredients. It is naturally pure. . .

Many patients are unaware that there is a safer and more effective way
to treat chronic pain. Cannabis (marijuana) contains medical compounds
called cannabinoids. Scientists have identified cannabis receptors in
the human body that are located in the central nervous system (brain
and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system as well (the nerves
that innervate muscles and organs). This means that when inhaled they
bind to the nerves that regulate pain throughout the body and “block”
or dampen the body’s response to pain. The amazing thing about these
cannabinoids is that they have a safety profile that is unprecedented
in medicine. There has never been a documented overdose from cannabis.
In addition, the potential for addiction is very small. Most patients
who have trouble controlling their use have other drug addictions.
Cannabis almost immediately relieves pain and eliminates the nausea
that many patients experience... Many elderly patients have a
difficult time healing because they are not getting the necessary
nutrition that they need. Patients can medicate throughout the day
without the fear of taking opiates. One of the other side effects is
that cannabis will stimulate a patient’s appetite. This is a positive
effect for the elderly.

Please consider helping the elderly. Cannabis almost immediately
relieves pain and eliminates the nausea that many patients experience

Seniors and Medical Marijuana – Sometimes It Makes Sense ...
Congress can help, Write to your representative and remind him or her
that it is cruel to allow the elderly to suffer when there is help
available in the use of marijuana as a treatment

They’re supposed to be our golden years, but for some seniors living
in constant pain, daily living is anything but golden. The litany of
illnesses responsible for their non-stop agony is familiar: arthritis,
cancer, chronic pain, glaucoma, migraine, multiple sclerosis, and
seizures, to name a few. So, too, is the lineup of medications on
bathroom or kitchen counters: opioids to kill pain, muscle relaxers,
medicines to control nausea from chemotherapy treatments or other
illnesses, and on and on. The trouble is, many of these medications
work against each other or, worse yet, don’t remedy the pain. For some
seniors, however, there is one thing that does provide some relief:
medical marijuana. And cannabis for the elderly is growing in
popularity in California.

Should They or Shouldn’t They?

Please consider.helping us. Present pain medications don’t remedy the
pain.
http://www.treatmentcenters.net/advocacy-public-policy/seniors-and-medical-marijuana-%E2%80%93-sometimes-it-makes-sense/

Doctors Speak Out

The website ProCon.org lists doctors’ comments on the subject of
medical marijuana. They are illustrative of the type of fierce debate
going on in this country. Here are some excerpted comments in response
to the question, “Should marijuana be a medical option?”

• Dr. Dean Edell, M.D., Physician and Radio Host – “Cannabinoids and
THC also have strong pain-killing powers, which is one reason medical
marijuana should be readily available to people with cancer and other
debilitating diseases.” (2000, The Dr. Dean Edell Show)

• David Katzenstein, M.D., Associate Medical Director of Stanford
University AIDS Clinical Trial Group – “…it is clear that there are
people who use marijuana solely to ameliorate symptoms associated with
chronic disease, such as HIV/AIDS. This suggests that cannabinoids
have potential benefit as a therapeutic class of agents.” (Feb. 2004)

• Kate Scannell, M.D., Co-Director of Kaiser-Permanente Northern
California Ethics Department – “From working with AIDS and cancer
patients, I repeatedly saw how marijuana could ameliorate a patient’s
debilitating fatigue, restore appetite, diminish pain, remedy nausea,
cure vomiting and curtail down-to-the-bone weight loss.”