Cannabis hotline plan to help users kick drug

[freako420]

it can kick in mental ilness in those prone to it, i have seen that with my own eyes...it also turns memory into swiss cheese in those who have used it from their teen years, im living proof of that and it also has alot of withdrawal effects like insomnia, sore joints, etc....

 

while the risks are there, as it has been stated before, that is mainly for teenagers and young adults....the withdrawal effects depend person to person and how much you smoke, been there, done that, i wasnt the nicest person to be around for 2 weeks untill the cravings stopped 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well, it's an issue that isn't really worth arguing about.

 

I do know a guy who's wife has bi-polar disorder and has medicinally smoked marijuana for many years in place of medication, and she's been stable on the pot and not so much back when she was taking medication.

 

Of course, if she suddenly was without her marijuana medication, she'd probably lapse into an episode. Which, depending on your perspective, would be seen as evidence that marijuana caused her episode. If you can see my point.

 

That's a true story by the way, she's solid as a rock with marijuana. There has been research proving the effectiveness of marijuana to treat depression and anxiety related illness.

 

edit: To put that another way. Someone smokes some pot for a bit, stops smoking, has a bout of mental illness. You can see that as marijuana causing mental illness, or as someone self medicating at a time when they are already prone to having a bout of mental illness, they stop smoking and lapse into it.

 

To put a blanket "marijuana causes mental illness" over the entire issue, is preventing further research into medicinal usage and depriving people of what could be a wide ranging medication for many mental illnesses with none of the extreme side effects prescription medication can have.

 

Or tow the line of prohibitionist propaganda "Reefer Madness", why anyone would smoke pot and believe that line of drivel is beyond me.

Edited December 14, 2005 by freako420

[WantDaChronic]

im glad cannabis is working for her :thumbsup

 

dont get me wrong, im one of the biggest supporters of marijuana i know, everyone that i come accross that has something against marijuana, like you i can turn it around and give them a good point about it and continually do it untill they give up with the shits or i have converted them into believing marijuana is good instead of evil :smoke

 

while im a strong believer in the benefits of using cannabis, it does have its side effects, especially in youth :thumbdown

[freako420]

im glad cannabis is working for her  :thumbsup

 

dont get me wrong, im one of the biggest supporters of marijuana i know, everyone that i come accross that has something against marijuana, like you i can turn it around and give them a good point about it and continually do it untill they give up with the shits or i have converted them into believing marijuana is good instead of evil  :smoke

 

while im a strong believer in the benefits of using cannabis, it does have its side effects, especially in youth  :thumbdown

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah, I do completely agree that marijuana should be legalised so as to restrict it from youth. Any substance with an effect on the mind, whether it be caffeine, or nicotine, or sugar or marijuana, can no doubt have a negative effect on growing brains.

 

Ideally I'd like to see a distinction between medicinal and recreational usage, and laws to restrict marijuana in the same way as alcohol.

[mull]

Reminds me of the movie.. half baked..

 

(At a NA meeting)

Hi Im Thurgood..

I'm here today... because Im addicted... to marijuana..

 

WHAT.. YOUR HERE FOR WEED... MAN THAT'S SOME BULLSHIT.. BOO this man!!!

 

(there was another reference about how far one will go for coke too)

 

 

I gotta agree that's there is little need for a cannabis hotline. Really. If things are that bad and the person is that young and dependent on cannabis (alone!) then he/she should be fronting up at the docs! Not sitting on a help line talking to .... who the hell will man these proposed lines anyway??

 

@freako420 - mate that was very interesting to hear about your mate's wife. Thanks for sharing that and please send her my best regards :smoke

 

A final thought about cannabis and psychotic linked mental illness - 'if' cannabis is the trigger for mental illness, then it also might be an invaluable tool, in diagnosis.

 

Right now its prohibition hysteria and reefer madness still. Maybe one day cannabis will be the test for bi-polar/manic depression and other such mental illness.

 

And the hotline will be for ppl with the mental illness.

[freako420]

It doesn't cause mental illness!

 

Ah, forget it

[HighRising]

Right with Niall on this one, I know plenty of people who've tried to quit weed (mostly just because family/workmates tell them it is "Bad") and had real problems doing so, even suffering (albeit mild) withdrawl symptoms. Having the helpline there doesn't force people to ring it, but if it helps out some people who are having problems, why not? Not sure of mandatory testing of people who come to doctors for mental help (More likely to stop them coming at all imho) but I can't say I totally hate the idea - there just needs to be a reasonable approach around the whole thing instead of just "Drugs are bad!"

 

The Herb will never be legalised "Just because," we have to play it by their rules and acknowledge that like everything else in this world, anything that good is a double edged sword.

[dsyfer]

Reminds me of the movie.. half baked..

 

(At a NA meeting)

Hi Im Thurgood..

I'm here today... because Im addicted... to marijuana..

 

WHAT.. YOUR HERE FOR WEED... MAN THAT'S SOME BULLSHIT.. BOO this man!!!

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You ever suck dick for weed? ::

[Doob]

Cannabis doesn't have any addictive properties.

Rehab, hotline are not needed, if you actually DO have problems go to a councilor.

[Guest niall]

Marijuana DOES NOT CAUSE MENTAL ILLNESS.

 

Thankyou.

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Read my post, I didn't claim that it did. What I said was that cannabis can cause problems, and that making advice and health services available to those who do experience problems is a good thing. Researchers have not found a casual relationship, but there is a massive amount of anecdotal evidence piling up to suggest that it can trigger early onset for those who have an as yet undiagnosed or underlying mental illness. These people should avoid cannabis, but thankfully they are a very, very small percentage of the population. Minors should not be using cannabis, that's just common sense. It is likely that we will discover other medical conditions and circumstances in which cannabis use is more harmful than what it is to the other 99.9% of the population.

 

Denying that there's a problem, or not understanding the facts and the arguments at hand, is only going to increase harm for cannabis users and society.

[freako420]

Read my post, I didn't claim that it did.  What I said was that cannabis can cause problems, and that making advice and health services available to those who do experience problems is a good thing.  Researchers have not found a casual relationship, but there is a massive amount of anecdotal evidence piling up to suggest that it can trigger early onset for those who have an as yet undiagnosed or underlying mental illness.  These people should avoid cannabis, but thankfully they are a very, very small percentage of the population.  Minors should not be using cannabis, that's just common sense.  It is likely that we will discover other medical conditions and circumstances in which cannabis use is more harmful than what it is to the other 99.9% of the population.

 

Denying that there's a problem, or not understanding the facts and the arguments at hand, is only going to increase harm for cannabis users and society.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

There is also scientific evidence that medicinal marijuana can treat these same people. Anecdotal evidence can go jump.