Ever wonder what the real reason is why marijuana isn't legalized across this country?

[mtnsnake]

Well, it seems that the pharmaceutical industry could lose half their sales of their own chemical drugs if marijuana is legalized, according to the article below. Imagine that. The drug companies in this country could lose half their sales because marijuana is said to be a much more effective substitute in treating a multitude of diseases than many of the chemicals produced by the drug companies.

(BTW, this thread is inspired by another thread which recently discussed cannabis as it relates to health issues.)

MARIJUANA, THE ANTI-DRUG

The extent to which medical cannabis users discontinue or reduce
their use of pharmaceutical and over-the-counter drugs is a recurring theme in a recent survey of pro-cannabis (PC) California doctors. The drug-reduction phenomenon has obvious scientific implications.

Medicating with cannabis enables people to lay off stimulants as well as sedatives -suggesting that the herb's active ingredients restore homeostasis to various bodily systems. (Lab studies confirm that cannabinoids normalize the tempo of many other neurotransmission systems.) The political implications are equally obvious. Legalizing herbal cannabis would devastate the pharmaceutical manufacturers and allied corporations in the chemicals, oil, "food," and banking sectors. Put simply, the synthetic drug makers stand to lose half their sales if and when the American people get legal access to cannabis.

A cannabis specialist soon becomes aware of two remarkable facts. The range of conditions that patients are treating successfully with cannabis is extremely wide; and patients get relief with the use of cannabis that they cannot achieve with any other pharmaceuticals.

"The testimonies that I hear on a daily basis from people with
serious medical conditions are moving and illuminating. From many
people with cancer and AIDS come reports that cannabis has saved
their lives by giving them an appetite, the ability to keep down
their medications, and mental ease. "No other drug works like
cannabis to reduce or eliminate pain without significant adverse
effects. It evidently works on parts of the brain involving
short-term memory and pain centers, enabling the patient to stop
dwelling on pain. Cannabis helps with muscle relaxation, and it has an anti-inflammatory action. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis stabilize with fewer and less destructive flare-ups with the regular use of cannabis.

"Other rheumatic diseases similarly show remissions. Spasticity
cannot be treated any more quickly or efficiently than with cannabis, and, again, without significant adverse effects.

"Patients who suffer from migraines can reduce or omit conventional medications as their headaches become less frequent and less severe. "About half of the patients with mood disorders find that they are adequately treated with cannabis alone while others reduce their need for other pharmaceuticals. In my opinion, there is no better drug for the treatment of anxiety disorders, brain trauma and post-concussion syndrome, ADD and ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are stabilized, usually with comfort and weight gain, while most are able to avoid use of steroids and other potent immunomodulator drugs.

"People who were formerly dependent on alcohol, opiates, amphetamines and other addictive drugs have had their lives changed when substituting with cannabis.

"Patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis and those with
transplanted kidneys show mental ease, comfort, and lack of
significant graft-versus-host incompatibility reactions in my small series. "Diabetics report slightly lower and easier-to-control blood sugar levels, yet to be studied and explained.

"Sleep patterns are typically improved, with longer and deeper sleep without any hangover or significant adverse effects.

"Many patients with multiple sclerosis report that their condition has not worsened for many years while they have been using cannabis regularly. MS and other neurodegenerative diseases share the common benefits of reduced pain and muscle spasms, improved appetite, improved mood and fewer incontinence problems. Many patients with epilepsy are adequately treated with or without the use of other anticonvulsants.

"Patients with skin conditions associated with systemic disease such as psoriasis, lupus, dermatitis herpetiformis, and eczema all report easement and less itching when using cannabis regularly.

"Airway diseases such as asthma, sleep apnea, COPD, and chronic
sinusitis deserve special mention because I encourage the use of
cannabis vapor or ingested forms rather than smoking to reduce airway irritation."

Much more at: http://www.dark-truth.org/nov122006-3-marijuana-anti-drug.html

[napi21]

1. That COULD BE, but I think it's more the puritanist side of our culture.

They still HATE that their will was over-ruled and alcohol is legal. They weren't about to let yet another "happy drug" be legalized too!

[ixion]

2. yeah, but they'll gleefully gulp down xanex and prosac

thus exposing their hypocrisy.

[mtnsnake]

3. That's what they would like you to think

There are just too many testimonials to the medicinal effects of marijuana by people who had NO LUCK with conventional chemicals their doctors were prescribing. Just google the word marijuana and any of the illnesses listed by that article and the testimnials will pop out right in front of you.

Imagine the billions, maybe trillions??, of dollars the drug companies would stand to lose if pot replaced half their own manufactured chemicals that often don't work anyway.

[napi21]

18. Oh, I agree, but there's NO REASON the same drug companies

couldnt get a license to grow the MJ, much the same as distilleries have to get a license to distill alcohol. It's cheap, and they'd still get their cut without any research $$! I still think it's mostly puritanism.

[Ghost in the Machine]

29. It's not even puritanism, it's Mormonism..

The Mormons & Utah were the first to criminalize marijuana.. the church decreed it and the state backed it up. Mormon dogma set rules and law in Utah.

[timtom]

25. Don't forget the loss to the prison industry.

[zabet]

4. I would bet you good money

that if these pharmaceutical
companies could develop a
patentable genetc hybrid
marijuana plant with a high
THC content, it would be legal.

[countmyvote4real]

16. I agree. Why wouldn't they want to profit from their version of legal thp?

Even if it ends up as on over-the-counter item as ubiquitous as aspirin, that's still a huge market. Frankly, I think that's the kind of economic stimulus we need. It stimulates agriculture (including industrial hemp), pharmaceutical and retail sales that are no longer underground that could be taxed appropriately.

[LaStrega]

5. Pharmaceutical manufacturers don't want us to be healthy ...

If they did they'd market pot.

[mtnsnake]

7. Yup. They know that legalizing pot could help sick people who can't be helped by any other drugs

and that would cut DEEPLY into their wallets...like cut their profits right in half.

So instead of their sons and daughters each having 160' yachts, they could only afford to give them 80' yachts.

[LaStrega]

17. it's fucking sickening ... no pun n/t

[EFerrari]

6. Lately I've been thinking that it's also agri business

controlling land use.

[skater314159]

10. You think ConAgra and ADM

wouldn't be all over a genetic super-breed of marijuana?

[EFerrari]

11. That would involve change and they've too much invested already

in the cr@p they're already doing, imho.

[tabasco]

8. More injustice as a result of rule by corporations.

Lives are ruined every day for nothing more than pot, a harmless herb that makes you feel relaxed.

[skater314159]

9. Thanks for posting this

... I *know* it helps when having to take chemo or other drugs that cause severe nausea. I have had nausea and vomiting so bad that pharmaceuticals like Zofran did NOTHING to stop my nausea, but marijuana helped me to stop vomiting and actually feel some comfort. If it helps people like it helped me, and others I knew who were getting treatment, then I think it should be available for people who have a prescription (if they don't want to just decrimnalise it).

The Zofran that I have to get when I go in the hospital like that is 600$ a dose. I had to have 6 of those shots in a single 24 hour period, and it did nothing. My doctor recommended the "herbal alternative" and it literally saved my life and my husband's ability to provide me medical care. It's easy for me to do the math and see why pharma companies don't want alternative therapies, herbal suppliments, or other natural remidies to catch on. IT'S ALL $$$$$$ !

I believe that plants and other natural remedies are a gift from Nature and God to heal and help us - I know others may not have this belief, but they could still support it because it is a medicine. It's too sad they have chosen to be fear-filled Puritanical Nazis who feel it shouldn't be available to anyone.

Just my opinion...

:hippie:

[mtnsnake]

12. Thank YOU! I hope everyone who's sick & not having luck with conventional chem drugs reads your post

because it could give them much needed hope. I have read online many other testimonials, and I know that those testimonials are true because the people making the claims stand nothing to gain financially by posting those testimonials, since there is no product that those people can legally sell. Sometimes you see testimonials online, but then at the bottom of the page you see they're just trying to capitalize on a product they're selling. With pot, they can't capitalize financially with testimonials, so they're testimonials are right from the heart.

Your post is inspiring and I'm glad you had good luck the natural way. :toast:

[smoogatz]

13. Obama advocates decriminalization of marijuana.

Does Hillary?

[mtnsnake]

15. Then at one of our debatess, he shouldn't have disagreed with Dodd who wants to decriminalize pot

Obama declared by raising his hand, along with the other Democrats (except for Dodd), that he disagreed with Dodd to decriminalize pot. You can't suggest to decriminalize it sometimes, and then not want to decriminalize it other times just because you want to play it safe politically.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131/NATION/896961936/1001

[Bongo Prophet]

23. I agree, he shouldn't do like bill Clinton did, say "trust us" then double incarcerations

...and then after getting OUT of office, he was FOR it again.
but DURING his presidency, it was all "General Barry MacCaffery, and Cheech and Chong medicine slippery slope omy god its 50 times worse than the 60s!!!" bullshit...

I do understand how "unpopular" it can be in an election, but i would appreciate consistency on this.
To their credit, BOTH Hillary and Obama have said they would have their DEA back off off the medical cannabis dispensaries.
That is a start.
Edwards said he wanted it handled by FDA, which has problems of its own bureaucracy, but it should be re-scheduled.

Has Hillary said anything about decrim? I heard her say she would support more research as medicine...I have heard that since Nixon.
We really should get over this drugwar mindset,

[cloudbase]

14. Add to the above

the billions funneled to law enforcement for prosecute the "war on drugs" as well as the corporate incarceration businesses.

[JosephSchmo]

19. the tobacco giants would profit from legalization

When they can sell joints at 7-11

[Wizard777]

21. Thay also profit from interdiction. For pot smokers that also smoke cigarettes.

When they can't get any pot. Cigarette consumption can double and even triple.

[Wizard777]

20. Marijuana was once used as a base for 85% of the countries medicines. n/t

[Faux pas]

22. Mother Natures products are better and safer than anything

man can screw around with or concoct. Why should someone be able to have something that grows like a weed when they can be charged up the wazoo for manufactured poison. The bottom line is that it is all about the bottom line.

[marlakay]

24. I always figured it was because it

would hurt the black market...shit I hadn't had any since my 20's and I told a friend of mine a few years back I wanted some for my 50th b'day. I was joking but during my party with friends and family she takes me away from them all and brings it out...I laughed and well...

Its not bad...they should have legalized it years ago.

[TransitJohn]

26. I always thought it was racism

because Blacks enjoyed the reefer in greater numbers than whites in the early 20th century.

[krkaufman]

27. Not to mention alcohol and tobacco sales.

What happens to all those corpo profits when you can grow your own?

[robbedvoter]

28. I am surprised frankly they haven't outlawed aspirine - the one remedy I occasionaly use

Willow bark - still sold at great profit - probably that's why

[Snarkturian Clone]

30. This is like the umpteenth reason I've heard

for marijuana's illegality.

Once I read...

...it was made illegal because Native Americans were selling it and making lots of money
...there was a string of violent crimes where marijuana was the scapegoat
...the black/brown/other population was using it and racism at the time demanded restriction by law
...there was a crackdown on medical quackery and medicine shows and marijuana was considered part of that
...middle eastern populations were moving in and marijuana was made illegal to curtail their efforts


so which ones are urban legends and which ones are true?

[mtnsnake]

32. But this makes sense because the people making the medical testimonials in favor of pot do not have

anything to gain, financially, by making their claims that cannabis helps alleviate their symptoms of disease, when no manufactured drugs do. Often, testimonials are bogus because the people making the testimonials are just trying to sell some product. However, the thousands upon thousands of people doing testimonials about marijuana's healing effect of their own diseases are obviously not making these testimonials for financial gain, since they can't post a link at the bottom of their testimonial to buy pot from them.

If you google marijuana alongside of any of the diseases listed in this article, the results are pretty amazing, and it's easy to see why big government, which is in bed with the giant pharmaceutical companies, would never agree to legalize a substance that could put a huge dent in the profits of the drug companies.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

33. These are the actual reasons marijuana is illegal.

http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/12/22/whyIsMarijuanaIllegal.html
:hi:

[High Plains]

38. Causes for pot prohibition

A. Native Americans. No.
B. Scapegoated for violent crime. Yes. A combination of Heart yellow journalism and Anslinger propaganda.
C. Black/Brown population was using. Yes. Mexican immigrants, black jazz musicians. Racism looms large in all drug prohibition.
D. Crackdown on quackery. No. That came earlier in response to the patent medicines, not marijuana.
E. Middle Eastern populations. Never even heard that one. No.

But now, of course, there are powerful groups with vested interests in maintaining prohibition. I suspect it's the cops more than the corporations.

[ms liberty]

31. KR&B n/t

[Jade Fox]

34. It's a re-occurring pattern in this country.......

one that emerged with a vengeance during the Bush years: Using this country's deeply Puritanical fears to cover up Corporate control.

[dionysus]

35. one toke over the line!

:smoke:

[dysfunctional press]

36. i have ankylosing spondylitis, and i smoke pot regularly.

before my condition was properly diagnosed, it was the ONLY pain relief i got. now i take 50-70mg. of methadone daily(plus the pot). AS is an autoimmune disease that causes the spine to fuse in a rigid position. because my ribs are also involved at the spine, they don't flex- therefore my chest cavity won't open enough to allow my lungs to fully "inflate", making breathing particularly difficult at times- but because pot is a bronchial dilator, it makes breathing much easier.
it also reduces overall inflammation, which is a big help when my sed rate hovers in the 75-90 range, as it often does.
it's criminal that using pot is criminal.

[High Plains]

37. It's not the corporations, it's the goddamned cops!!

And the prosecutors and the probation and parole officers and the prison guards and the prison contractors and everyone else invested in the prison-industrial complex.

Pot prohibition (and the broader drug war) is a huge gravy train for law enforcement.

Right now, the cops are screaming to high heaven, trying to get another $500 million for federal grants to fund multijurisdictional drug task forces. You know, the guys who love to kick down doors and bust crackheads and talk about how successful they are. Bizarrely, Bush cut those funds as a cost-cutting measure. The one thing he's done right.