How cannabis can help America’s drug problem.

[poledriver]

How cannabis can help America’s drug problem.

It’s no secret that America has an extremely dysfunctional relationship with drugs at almost every level you can imagine.

One example is the rising number of victims in the opioid epidemic (RIP, sweet Prince), which according to the CDC has a direct correlation with an increase of opioid prescriptions.
Alcohol is also a challenge with 88,000 deaths each year being attributed to excessive drinking. That’s almost 10 people every hour.

Even heroin is on the rise in the U.S. with the number of related deathsquadrupling between 2002 and 2013. This rise includes demographics we normally wouldn’t associate with heroin use: women, the privately insured, and people with higher incomes.
And these people aren’t just using heroin, they’re combining it with cocaine and opioids – increasing risk of overdose fatality.

Obviously we need to rethink our approach to drug education, which until now has been crafted around the bizarre notion of a drug-free America (has any civilization in history ever been drug-free?).
And for people who do fall into harmful addiction patterns, we need to treat them like human beings. Instead of stigmatizing them and forcing them into close-minded treatment programs – how about giving them some cannabis?

For those who don’t know much about cannabis, this may seem like a complete contradiction. Aren’t you just trading one substance for another?
The truth is that cannabis, like with so many other ailments, can save the day here. Instead of being a so-called gateway drug, cannabis can act as an “exit drug” from hard substance abuse and alcoholism.

Amanda Reiman, Marijuana Law and Policy Manager with the Drug Policy Alliance, gave a talk on this exact topic during her presentation at the 2016 Cannabis Health Summit.
She explained that what often locks people into the grip of substance addiction is the desire to hold off withdrawal symptoms:

Headaches
Tremors
Nausea
Loss of appetite
Insomnia

Cannabis helps with all of these things, which can make it a lot easier for somebody to break away from the addiction cycle.
Check out this classic heroin withdrawal scene from the movie Trainspottingand imagine what would happen if the character’s parents gave him a joint to help ease his symptoms instead of criticizing and reprimanding him.

Cont -

http://biomedportal.com/how-cannabis-can-help-americas-drug-problem/

 

[rhizome]

Umm... don't think there are too many folk in the US who have the connections to maintain an opiate/opioid habit who couldn't lay hands on some cheeb.
Most of the folks I've known who've used cannabis to treat w/d have found it to be slightly better than nothing at all, but a far cry from relieving physical symptoms.
Wouldn't it make more sense for them to be given, I dunno, a fixed daily dose of a long-acting opiate, from which they can slowly wean down?

I kinda think this is one of those medical uses for cannabis which are more about promoting cannabis than actually relieving suffering.

 

[Felonious Monk]

Umm... don't think there are too many folk in the US who have the connections to maintain an opiate/opioid habit who couldn't lay hands on some cheeb.
Most of the folks I've known who've used cannabis to treat w/d have found it to be slightly better than nothing at all, but a far cry from relieving physical symptoms.
Wouldn't it make more sense for them to be given, I dunno, a fixed daily dose of a long-acting opiate, from which they can slowly wean down?

I kinda think this is one of those medical uses for cannabis which are more about promoting cannabis than actually relieving suffering.

This is where people in illegal states are particularly uninformed. Smoking a bowl of something you bought on the street is not at all what is referred to as medical cannabis (or what's referred to in this article).

I would argue that those people you knew simply didn't get enough cannabinoids, or not the right ones. A high dose of oral THC, along with CBD, has been shown to significantly ease withdrawal in patients that are given PRN access. This, eased into a more balanced ratio of 1:1 and moving towards a high CBD ratio, can help patients skip opioid-replacement withdrawal or maintenance.

 

[MushroomRyder25]

I'm very pro-suboxone but I'm really starting to get sick thinking about the cycle of cash flow that comes from it...

Dole out something good, get ya hooked. That's cash flow right there.
Now you say you're done with your addiction....here's something to take over for it!

I think it's a great drug for pain (addiction) and pleasure but it's so fucked up to me that the money is going to the same place as the money Ben, Johnny, Paul, Sarah, everyone else spent at walgreens the nights they died.

I love it but I hate who makes it I guess. This really is blood money.

Edit: Started typing before FM's post came through...I agree wholeheartedly. Good BHO helped me tremendously while raw leaf increased my paranoia and made me cloudy. I'd rather be cloudy through wd than not but the paranoia sucked. I don't have access to mmj products but I can attest to higher levels of the goods being helpful.

Plus, no one said this so this isn't geared towards anyone here but...to think you can escape withdrawal symptom-free is dumb and shows you're not ready to learn to stop. The experience of wd, when it's time, imo is an important life lesson for addicts.