Posted on 10/29/2013 10:36:31 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP -- A 2-year-old with epilepsy is now receiving medical marijuana in New Jersey after her parents' months-long push to get her the drug they believe will help treat her.
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
I never implied a child would smoke it. Can you cite me some major studies that show Cannabis in any form doesn’t have a hugely negative effect on a developing brain?
I could name at least 7 anti seizures medications that have went through years of clinical research.
You better tell all those medical marijuana states it doesn’t work when smoked, because they all say they’re smoking it for medical reasons!
I’m pretty indifferent to an adult smoking an occasional joint, although most people I know that stop become more productive with their lives.
If it’s all that works for you, so be it. My father only drank when he had the flu, and said the only thing that worked was Jack Daniels. I guess it would kill some germs!
I don’t think I argued that what I said about marijuana didn’t hold true for other drugs. In fact, I think if you take a second look at my original post, you’ll see we are basically on the same page here.
Of course no drug is perfect, or treats all things. I was just making reference to the endless claims of marijuana being some sort of super-drug by some of its advocates. THC and CBD have some documented/proven uses, no question. It also has a lot of claimed benefits that haven’t been scientifically verified. Epilepsy is one of the latter. CBD may help in some cases, but the evidence that it is an effective treatment for epilepsy is very mixed at best.
Other claims I’ve seen border on the patent medicine sales pitches of a century ago. Weed can cure everything from acne to impotence, if you believe some of the pro-legalization sites. These claims always talk of “potential” benefits and never seem to have much in the way of reliable scientific research to back it up. Thus, I maintain folks who pursue marijuana as “The Cure” for a malady it can’t really help with are chasing Fool’s Gold, after a fashion.
It scarcely seems possible.
The girl has been diagnosed with Dravet syndrome, and has a heart and oxygen monitor, so I'm sure she's under the care of MDs. From the Dravet Foundation:
Dravet syndrome, also known as Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy of Infancy (SMEI), is a rare and catastrophic form of intractable epilepsy that begins in infancy. Initial seizures are most often prolonged events and in the second year of life other seizure types begin to emerge.
Development remains on track initially, with plateaus and a progressive decline typically beginning in the second year of life. Individuals with Dravet syndrome face a higher incidence of SUDEP (sudden unexplained death in epilepsy) and have associated conditions, which also need to be properly treated and managed.
http://www.dravetfoundation.org/dravet-syndrome/what-is-dravet-syndrome
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So if it were up to you, would you allow the girl to be treated with marijuana?
I’m afraid there’s a lot of stoners on FR.
Orrin Devinsky, director of the New York University and Saint Barnabas Epilepsy Center, said he believes cannabis can play a role in helping children with epilepsy."
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/05/relief_elusive_for_njs_younges.html
If it’s stupid and it works, it isn’t stupid. Some drugs that are otherwise illegal have legitimate medical purposes including both heroin and cocaine. If a tincture of marijuana oil is what works to alleviate a severe medical problem, then so be it.
I’m not so naive as to think that the majority of those getting “medical marijuana” actually have a problem that nothing but marijuana will help with, but there are some where that may well be the case.
Our drug war is a complete and abject failure. While I’m not a particular fan of the legalization of pot, I am warming to the idea. I’ve noticed that neither Colorado nor Washington state have descended into chaos as a result of it’s legalization last year. Ultimately, I think that the people who really want to get high will do so, so why continue to indirectly subsidize the mafias as a result?
I don’t view it as the state’s job to dive in and protect people from their own nonviolent folly.
Everybody must get stoned (just kidding!)
I haven’t even had marijuana at all let alone gotten stoned on it.
I’d like to see an accommodation for herbal remedies containing marijuana. Is this the right time for it? That could be debated.
If anything, even the stoners will generate less criminal chaos this way.
It happened before the hippies stopped bathing -- before many were even born. Like everything from hurricanes to dandruff, it's the Republicans fault!
(Fiorello LaGuardia was a Republican politician.)
Here’s another article that goes into more detail. This little girl is going to die.
I recently learned that there are two major active ingredients in pot. THC gets you high. CBD does not and relieves pain.
The parents have been trying to get the child access to plant strains that are low in THC and high in CBD to treat her seizures.
It saved a kid before: http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/
As the kid is dead without it (nothing modern medicine can do) what harm is it to try to save her life? Isn’t a Hail Mary called for?
These are extreme cases. Kids with terminal cancer and severe seizure disorders should have access. Most physicians who prescribe medical MJ agree that it should be limited to those cases because MJ can have a negative impact on a developing mind.
Well, we do use the animals for food.
What’s wrong with using plants for medicinal purposes?
That's fine, so long as Montsanto and Big Pharma get their cut.
“My father only drank when he had the flu, and said the only thing that worked was Jack Daniels.”
I do that occasionally when I have a really bad cold. I figure it might work, or it might not, but either way at least I won’t care that I’m sick anymore. :)
*groan*
I've seen the future, I can't afford it
Tell me the truth sir, someone just bought it
Say Mr. Whispers, here come the click of dice
Roulette and blackjacks, build us a paradise
Larger than life and twice as ugly
If we have to live there, you'll have to drug me
ABC ~ Who Wants to be a Millionaire
Even if she lived her brain would most likely be fried anyway, without it. If nothing else has worked, may as well try it.
I’m not at all a fan of rec use, but if someone’s dying of cancer and the combination of properties gives them enough strength to live because they want to eat and can keep it down, or frying their brain from intractable seizures, there’s quite literally nothing to LOSE by trying.
Like any drug, prescribe it wisely, where it may do good.
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