Archive for March, 2010
Police Want Legalization and Growers Insist Upon Remaining Illegal
I would have never believed I would live to the day where the Police of California want legalization of pot and the growers in the Emerald Triangle desperately want to keep it illegal.
The cops in large part want it to be legal because even they are getting sick of the stupid arrests. The growers want the status-quo because legalization may very well hurt their bottom line. Pretty funny. Can you picture picket lines where cops in uniform are holding legalize pot signs and hippie grower types are fighting with them!?!
Of course the bottom line for all of us is that cannabis is an herb – not a drug. We don’t want anything else but for people to recognize this and take it off all schedules. Oh yeah, let’s let the people out of jail.
Let’s Talk About Cannabis and Drug Schedules
As many of you know, Cannabis is scheduled on a federal level as a Schedule I Drug. This places it with cocaine and heroin. One of my biggest fear with cannabis is what happens with a change in schedule. We all naturally feel that re-scheduling to Schedule II or Schedule III would at least take it off the “illegal” list. No doubt, this is correct. This would allow any physician to write a normal “prescription” for Cannabis. The caveat being that the physician will have to write the prescription for a pharma based medication. There will be no “Trainwreck, 2 puffs every 4 hours. :). So, does this kill medical cannabis? It might. “Weed” will always be available, but I am concerned that if we are forced to use pharmaceutical cannabis products, we will just not be as happy.
So, what is the solution? I personally believe it should be de-scheduled. It is a herb, has always been and will always be. Let pharma and non-pharma sources create prescription and non-prescription medications.
Can’t we all get along? :)
What Happens to Dr. Frankel if Cannabis Becomes “Legal”
I favor legalization/taxation/regulation. There can be no question that ultimately this will be the outcome. It might come as soon as November by ballot initiative or by the legislature where new legislation was just introduced.
Just because it becomes legal, doesn’t mean that it isn’t great medicine. Will dispensaries function as they currently do? Will docs like myself have any “Recommendations” to write? Will the Feds “allow” legalization?
In a future blog I will be speaking about the issue of scheduling Cannabis. It is Schedule I now and if changed to Schedule III, any physician can write a regular prescription for it, although it would strictly be pharmaceutical.
So, what will I do? I am doing it very actively now. I believe that I will be involved in research and physician education. However, the areas I am putting the most time into are tinctures and Cannabis laboratories. These will always be needed and are desperately needed now. The structure of my practice may change but my involvement and commitment to Cannabis will only increase.
Tardive Dyskinesia Helped By Cannabis
Tardive dyskinesia is a condition that may develop in patients who use metoclopramide, a drug sold under brand names such as Reglan in the United States. When a patient has been taking certain prescription drugs over a long period of time, often in high dosages, involuntary, repetitive tic-like movements can result, primarily in the facial muscles or (less commonly) the limbs, fingers and toes. The hips and torso may also be affected.
Research indicates that tardive dyskinesia results from damage to the systems that use and process dopamine. Dopamine is a biochemical substance produced in numerous areas of the brain. It functions as a neurotransmitter, working with the brain to regulate movement and emotion within the body.
The best treatment for tardive dyskinesia appears to be prevention, either by lowering the dosage of a medication known to cause this condition or switching the patient to a different drug. Tetrabenzine, a medication that reduces levels of dopamine, has been of some use in treating tardive dyskinesia symptoms. Many kinds of “anti-Parkinsonian” drugs such as Aricept and Miraplex appear to offer some benefit as well. For more information please visit: http://www.tardivedyskinesia.com