I apologize because I didn't look hard enough, until now. I didn't look far enough. I didn't review papers from smaller labs in other countries doing some remarkable research, and I was too dismissive of the loud chorus of legitimate patients whose symptoms improved on cannabis.
Instead, I lumped them with the high-visibility malingerers, just looking to get high. I mistakenly believed the Drug Enforcement Agency listed marijuana as a schedule 1 substance because of sound scientific proof. Surely, they must have quality reasoning as to why marijuana is in the category of the most dangerous drugs that have "no accepted medicinal use and a high potential for abuse."
They didn't have the science to support that claim, and I now know that when it comes to marijuana neither of those things are true. It doesn't have a high potential for abuse, and there are very legitimate medical applications. In fact, sometimes marijuana is the only thing that works. Take the case ofCharlotte Figi, who I met in Colorado. She started having seizures soon after birth. By age 3, she was having 300 a week, despite being on seven different medications. Medical marijuana has calmed her brain, limiting her seizures to 2 or 3 per month.
I have seen more patients like Charlotte first hand, spent time with them and come to the realization that it is irresponsible not to provide the best care we can as a medical community, care that could involve marijuana.
We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that.
MSNBC last night covered the story and noted that very little research for the positive effects of marijuana is conducted vs. studying potential negative drawbacks. Gupta is very thorough and persuasive. Let's hope he's got some influence where it counts....(FDL) Jon Walker writes ~ Dr. Sanjay Gupta Apologizes for Previously Opposing Medical Marijuana
And Liz Allen sent this along ~
Long Search For 6-Year-Old’s Seizure Relief Ends With Medical Marijuana Where are Delaware;s medical marijuana dispensaries? We have thousand of people in need of relief...only the dumb and ignorant who are incapable of doing research, remain stuck on stupid.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/08/2432921/family-ends-long-search-for-seizure-relief-with-medical-marijuana/
Lots more information like this at: DelawaresVoice.com. Watch CNN Sunday night when Sanjay Gupta will have an entire program on the medical benefits of marijuana and the array of disease, illness, pain etc.
Also see: Newsmax.com ~ Dr. Sanjay Gupta Now Backs Medical Marijuana
CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, acknowledged on Thursday that he has changed his mind about medical marijuana and apologized for not looking "hard enough" at the facts until now.
"I didn't look far enough. I didn't review papers from smaller labs in other countries doing some remarkable research, and I was too dismissive of the loud chorus of legitimate patients whose symptoms improved on cannabis," Gupta wrote on CNN.com.
He said that marijuana doesn’t have a high potential for abuse but does have "very legitimate" applications in medicine. "In fact, sometimes marijuana is the only thing that works," Gupta observed.
Read More Here
And a note from AtTAcKaddiction ~
We need more people to sign up, please help our cause! Then attend our Delaware Overdose Awareness Day candle light vigil. 8/31/13 8:00pm to 11:00pm corner of Rt 896 and Main Street Newark. Honoring those we have lost and educating whoever will listen about Delaware’s New Law. The Kristin L Jackson & John M Perkins, Jr. Law…Good Samaritan 911 Law!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/342545630/the-anonymous-people
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