First, I'd like to declare I am not in the medical profession
nor in the legal profession (anymore). Everything I comment is
based pure on my own opinion and facts gathered from certain online
websites. The conclusion is up for you to decide.
Cannabis is a first scheduled drug according to singapore's
Misuse of drug act and possession/consumption of a certain amount
leads to the death penalty. We were taught from secondary school
that cannabis is dangerous and could lead to addiction and bodily
harm.
But now, debates in the US are threatening to render everything
we learnt about cannabis for the past 30 to 40 years invalid.
First, let's talk about addictivity. According to several
pro-cannabis website and testimonies in America, Cannabis is
non-addictive but possibly habitual. The chemical compound in
Cannabis called delta 9 tetrahydro cannabinol is the cause of the
"high" feeling when someone smoke/consume cannabis. However, this
chemical compound does not cause physical dependency unlike tobacco
and alcohol. Long story short, cannabis is less addictive compared
to tobacco and alcohol.
http://recoveryguy.hubpages.com/hub/Is-Marijuana-Addictive
Next, let's talk about the harmful nature of cannabis. According
to the CNB website, consumption of cannabis could cause the
following syntoms.
Inability to concentrate.
Slow reaction.
Distorted thinking and perception.
Poor balance and coordination.
Extreme anxiety, depression and paranoia.
Decrease in motivation and drive in long term use.
The above syntoms are the exact same syntoms as if someone were
to consume alcohol. But in Singapore, though heavily taxed, alcohol
remain legal.
Also, there have been no recorded death from cannabis
consumption alone aside from accidents. The cannabinol compounds is
not toxic in humans in small amounts. There are theories that the
lethal amount of Cannabis is if someone were to smoke 3x their body
weight, average 210kg, of Cannabis in a 15min period.
Research into if Cannabis destroy brain cells shows surprising
results. It turns out if taken in the correct amount, the compounds
in Cannabis actually repairs nerve cells.
http://www.selectsmart.com/DISCUSS/read.php?16,693724
Next, the claim that Cannabis is a "gateway drug" and it induces
a Cannabis user to try harder drugs. This is actually a flawed
claim. There are currently thousands of Cannabis users in America
that never even try harder drugs.
The arguement is that Cannabis users tried harder drugs simply
because the illegality of Cannabis causes users to get their supply
from black market which also sells harder drugs.
So the theory is, if cannabis is not illegal and is sold in the
open market, Cannabis users will not be exposed to the black market
and harder drugs.
So, we already established that Cannabis is less addictive than
alcohol and tobacco and also less toxic. You may not advocate the
use of intoxicant and I respect that, but there is a reason why you
should look at Cannabis.
Recent studies in the west shows that the chemical compound in
cannabis actually have anti tumor and cancer fighting
properties.
http://www.nowpublic.com/thc_marijuana_hel...s_harvard_study
http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist...lls_the_mun.php
The delta 9 THC and CBD compounds in Cannabis have the
properties to induce the cancer cells to commit suicide while
leaving healthy cells untouch, according to these articles.
Also, there is currently only one company in the world that is
actively researching on using cannabis for medical purposes.
http://www.cannabisscience.com
One of their latest news shows positive results in their
cancer/cannabis treatment research.
http://www.cannabisscience.com/news-a-medi...ncer-cells.html
A POT (Patients out of Time) conference was held in Arizona,
America on 29 Apr 2012 at 0027 HKT. Speakers of the conference are
qualified medical doctors and researchers in cannabis.
The video of the conference was recorded on live stream and was
later uploaded to YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/user/NORMLnet
Speakers of the conference touch on topics on addictivity of
cannabis and it's medical uses in HIV, neuropathic, cancer,
alzymer's disease and many more.
One of the video to take note of is Cannabinol and Cancer care,
presented by Donald Abrams, MD. Qualifications:
[url="http://medicine.ucsf.edu/hemonc/faculty/donald_abrams.html"]http://medicine.ucsf.edu/hemonc/faculty/donald_abrams.html[/url]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8KW_j2KGUA
Claims made:
Cannabis via vapor inhalant induces appetites in HIV patients
who suffers from anorexia and body degradation.
Cannabis helps in pain management in peripheral neuropathy
patients who suffers from HIV, cancer and those undergoing
chemotherapy. Cannabis causes anti inflammatory effects and studies
shown to be more effective than opiates like morphine and
neuropathic drug like pregabalin.
Studies also shown that usage of vaporized cannabis are safe for
patients use together with oral opiate drugs.
Note: Dr Donald Abrams mentions that it is important that the
word "cure" is not used as it shows bad image for the research and
may sound like quackery. However he admits that studies has shown
that Cannabis could be used as an effective complimentary treatment
together with conventional treatment.
It is also important to not ignore conventional treatment
I do not condone the use of cannabis in Singapore as it is
illegal and it carries the death penalty.
But this question must be raised. If all the claims turns out to
be true. If Cannabis turns out to be less dangerous and addictive
compared to alcohol and tobacco. And that it has medicinal
properties that could help in cancer treatment. Why are we hanging
people for it? Why is it still illegal?
