What If?

On the local news last night there was a report on some research with marijuana and cancer. It turns out that the active ingredient in marijuana might stop cancer. The story seems to be an update to this one:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070417193338.htm

Add that information to a 2006 report that showed no connection between heavy marijuana smoking and lung cancer:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729_pf.html

Before I continue, let’s join hands and repeat “Medical stories in the media are always wrong…medical stories in the media are always wrong.” So this blog post is more of a “what if” sort of thing.

What if it turns out that smoking marijuana doesn’t cause cancer, and actually inhibits it better than anything you can buy in a baggie from a guy who has a suspicious rash?

I know, I know, the cancer-fighting component of marijuana probably needs to be administered in some concentrated form to be effective against cancer. So smoking marijuana, or eating it, probably wouldn’t work. But this is a “what if” post.

Now take a look at the “Fact Sheet” produced by a division of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse folks.

http://www.well.com/user/woa/fspot.htm

If the science around marijuana curing cancer were to become indisputable, and if smoking marijuana delivered the medicine, would they ever mention that in the fact sheet?

In other words, might the “fact sheet” ever be balanced for both the good and the bad?

Updated Marijuana Fact Sheet

1. Marijuana cures cancer.
2. Marijuana reduces stress.
3. Marijuana helps digestion.
4. Marijuana improves your sex life.
5. Marijuana is expensive, thanks to your government.
6. Marijuana is illegal, thanks to your government.
7. Marijuana will make kids lazier and stupider than usual.
8. Marijuana causes psychological dependence, similar to jogging.
9. Marijuana is expensive, similar to an iPhone.
10. Marijuana reduces the number of highway accidents.

That last one is just a guess based on the weasel-wording used by government groups to describe marijuana use and driving. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard of an accident caused by marijuana use alone. But I’ve heard of several accidents caused by people who WEREN’T gripping the steering wheel with both hands, focusing intently on the road, and driving 5 miles per hour under the speed limit.

NOTE TO KIDS: Don’t use marijuana. There are good reasons you aren’t allowed to do adult things such as vote, fornicate, or sign legal documents. Your brain isn’t developed enough to understand those reasons.

If science someday proves marijuana promotes good health and safety, would the government ever recommend it for adults?

Comments

[Kristal]

I'm not sure if it was previously mentioned as I did not read all the comments, but most drugs used in cancer chemotherapy are....cancer causing agents.

This is because cancers are rapidly dividing cells and some drugs capitalise on this fact. Your immune system is also rapidly dividing, so it is also affected. And these cells of your immune system are supposed to get the odd cell that turns into a clonal [cancer] cell.

So, because marijuana doesn't cause LUNG cancer, doesn't mean it can be used to CURE cancer, or that it does not CAUSE other forms of cancer.

And btw, cancers arise due to the interactions of NUMEROUS influences from your genetic heritage and environment, so because Scott does this and doesn't get cancer, it doesn't mean Adam can do it and get away with it if there are other factors involved.

[danb]

"Similarly, opium addicts don't kill anyone while driving because they're passed out.. but I'm not hearing anyone claiming opium shouldn't be illegal."

another comment on this... you've clearly never tried opium.. you've probably never tried any of these drugs you think are so evil.. all you do is swallow propaganda and regurgitate it... health risks and uselessness of something are no reason to limit individual freedom.. that sir, is the road to fascism.

[danb]

"but I'm not hearing anyone claiming opium shouldn't be illegal."

Opium shouldn't be illegal.

No drug should be illegal.. unless it can only be administered by force... never heard of that one...

If you think drugs should be illegal, you should also think booze should be illegal because it is at least as addictive as most drugs and causes far more "problems" in society... and now that booze is illegal, caffeine and nicotine should be illegal.. as they are also unhealthy and addictive... better get rid of sugar and fat too... unhealthy and addictive... come to mention it, I'm pretty damn addicted to the internet... man.. this logic takes us to some interesting places!

Keep your laws off my vices... I don't care what you are addicted to.. you shouldn't care what I'm addicted to.

[Music]

Humor is a great thing.

[jerry w.]

You ask:

Which of these two things is easier?

A. Planning the invasion of Normandy
B. Planning a holiday party

The obvious answer is B.

The obvious reason: You don't have to deal with the French.

http://boskolives.wordpress.com/

[Tex]

I believe in repressive Drug laws.... That is why, I would, for a change... make alcohal a controlled substance, and make pot as legal as alcohal is. That way, I could put cops in jail for drinking the alcohal that they can;t live without!!! What a show on the other foot that will be!!!!

[Ocala Computer Services]

Our company is Ocala's number one source for onsite computer and network installation, upgrades & repair.

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[mr_poopyhead]

dear president alan,

clearly pot has impaired your ability to make use of proper grammmar when dispelling myths about stoners. good job...

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[Ministry of Cannabis]

Greetings by Ministry of Cannabis, a cannabis seeds bank, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

[Unsympathetic]

Scott, you need to ask a doctor who works with an inpatient drug dependency unit. Marijuana is highly physically addictive - if people who are daily users "could" quit but "choose" not to, please find any example of that actually being tested. They can't quit.. because they're addicted. And, as previous posters pointed out.. it leads to extreme paranoia; also, the high reduces in intensity the more you do it.

Marijuana makes you slower and dumber in both the short and long term, and a rather large problem with that drug in particular is that people who are a half step above functionally retarded are the ones who use the most. Sure, there's success stories that include weed -- there's also people who have smoked black tar heroin and lived. Should heroin be a vitamin? Similarly, opium addicts don't kill anyone while driving because they're passed out.. but I'm not hearing anyone claiming opium shouldn't be illegal.

Marijuana is a drug. It affects your body just like any other drug. Claiming it's something other than a drug is.. factually erroneous and ultimately irrelevant, because its effects are the same.

[Dani]

Well, as a public high school student, my opinion is that we will not see marijuana legalized any time soon. I waste 45 minutes of my life every day taking a Health class taught by an uncertified auto teacher. We watch movies made years ago and filled with such profound statements as:
"If you have sex outside of one, permanent monogamous relationship, and that means marriage, you WILL pay the price. No one has ever gotten away with having sex outside of this context."
My point is, the government requires me to watch videos which inform me that a joint contains 5 times more carcinogens than a cigarette, is a contributing factor in 40% of highway crashes, ect, ect.

I might find it more believable if they hadn't stated that everyone who has ever had premarital sex contacted a STD or got pregnant.

But who ever thought the government was a credible source anyway?

[Dave]

True story, from about 15 years ago, when my brother got pulled over late one night in a 50 mph zone, whilst very stoned:

"Do you have any idea how fast you were going?"

"I'm not sure, about 45, 50?"

"Son, we clocked you at 12 miles per hour."

[Marcus]

all of your readers are 12 years old...

[hiikeeba]

Part of me says that it should be legalized and taxed like cigarettes. The tax money could be used to fund drug abuse programs. Kind of like the way cigarette excise taxes are being used to pay for all those smokers who are sick without insurance. Oh that's right. Cigarette tax money pays for children's health insurance. Sorry. Got that mixed up. (Does that mean I am now legally required to purchase a pack of smokes so children can have insurance?)

[Mark]

Dear Scott,

I hope to one day live with you under a puritanical, oppressive regime, but until I'm as blessed as some of your angry 'fans', and allowed under the constitution to retort to others' views with firearms, would you please try not to think outside the approved bounds? Comedy is only funny if someone falls over (without hurting themselves, of course), or Dilbert's budget gets sliced in half (champagne comedy, right there!).

I expect you, as a respected citizen of the greatest country in the world, to be supportive of your regime's policy of criminalizing everything enjoyed by minorities (except petty things, like violence, torture, miscellaneous human rights' abuses, and so on, but they're mostly done by the ruling class, I guess...). These policies have proven effective since day one, and a really fun way to spend public money. I really don't think "what if" hypotheticals are going to fund more penitentiaries to hold the apparently endless supply of 'druggies' just begging to be locked up for incinerating a naturally growing plant in close proximity to their lungs. (Where ARE they all coming from? Obviously USA society wouldn't produce such riff raff - must be coming over the Mexican border. Or from Canada. Yeah, build a wall there. Oh, um, where's Canada someone?)

In future, please stick to making jokes about project schedules and management bungles. I don't want to be exposed to free thought, or think about important social issues rationally. That's just not the sort of thing the rest of the world expects from the good ol' US of A.

[Aditya Simha]

You know if alcohol and tobacco can be sold without too much fuss, I don't see why marijuana should be such a big deal. The reason is probably because of the alcohol/tobacco money that politicians receive. A simple solution to get marijuana on the market legally would be for marijuana marketers to get the politicians on their side and then to pretend that jobs will be created through marijuana marketing/farming.

[Jason Levine]

Might they legalize it? Possible. There have been worse medical practices in history.

The 10 Most Insane Medical Practices in History
http://www.cracked.com/article_15669_10-most-insane-medical-practices-in-history.html

[DavidD]

[the Dutch decriminalized dope and there now appears to be an even bigger problem with Hard Drugs]

No dear: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/thenethe.htm

And people need to sort out their stereotypes too.

[loser of guitar picks]

look, the fact is, who gives a shit if marijuana causes or cures cancer. weed is enjoyable to many people (including yours truly), and the negative evidence against it simply isn't very compelling. i'm never going to say that i think smoking the sticky is beneficial to my health- just the other day i went on a bike ride, and boy i'll tell you it was difficult, no doubt in part because of the amount of reefer i smoke. the point is, i love weed, and if it helps retard the growth of tumors, well than that's good for everyone (especially those with cancer). however, that's not why it should be legal. it should be legal because, like alcohol, it just isn't worth keeping illegal. and for those who like to promote the "dangers" of smoking, i'll let you in on a little secret. the most damaging effect of smoking regularly is not that it causes bad decisions or that it makes you less intelligent, which to me is mostly bogus. no, the reason why i, despite being a stoner, would never recommend smoking on a regular basis for anyone is that it makes you very, very happy without any effort on your part. i'm absolutely serious.

[syn]

People that are commenting on this subject that have never used the drug should just keep there mouth shut!

So i should take meth to prove its bad?

All of the stereotypes are getting to be a little ridiculous. I smoked pot all through high school (and I don't mean a little bit, between my friend & I we would smoke at least a quarter ounce a day). I graduated with a 3.5 GPA and had 10 more credits than I needed and I'm now a President of a company.

A president who has time to read and make long comments on a comic. The stereotypes are true, we ALL know "loser stoners" who will never do anything with their lives except play playstation. You succeeded despite mj, most dont.

Granted I haven't smoked in around 20 years but it didn't have the stereotypical affects on me, I didn't turn out to be a menace to society.

Of course dope was MUCH weaker then.

[MalAFS]

# 72% of Americans agree Marijuana should be a choice, not a crime
# Each year $12 Billion of your tax money is spent to keep marijuana illegal.
# Over $40 Billion is spent each year by the government on the war on drugs.
# Over 10 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges since 1972.
# Marijuana offenders regularly serve longer sentences than those convicted of violent offenses.

this was a national survey done a couple years ago. i think it shows that whatever the effects of marijuana are, the government is wasting way too much money on this war we are most definitely losing. I used to smoke a lot and still do on occasion. it never turned me into a mindless zombie( i own my own financial business and probably make more than you), and i am perfectly healthy, no problems at all. And since my family has a lot of cancer in its history, this shows that it might not be a cause for cancer. Whether its legal or not, the people who want to use a certain drug will find a way to use it, so it really is a senseless arguement anyways. For those of you that bash on drug users, let them make their own choices and worry about your own damn self

[Sean]

We are simply in a period of prohibition, just as was done with alcohol in the 20's and 30's. It will be legal again it is only a matter of time. Many other countries are already giving up on the war, i.e. Mexico and Canada.

On a side note, Wikipedia Prohibition of alcohol, you'll notice there was also prescriptions for medicinal liquor...sounds sort of like the current state of marijuana.

I've also heard rumors that Marlboro is ready for a line of Mary Jane cigarettes.

[Fabio]

"If science someday proves marijuana promotes good health and safety, would the government ever recommend it for adults?"

We'd have to get DuPont out of our way, first. Ganja never was a problem until the 1940's >>> birth of synthetic polymers (like nylon). This comment may seem off-topic, but it isn't.

>>>

"Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere!" -George Washington, The Writings of George Washington Volume 33, page 270 (Library of Congress), 1794

"Congress should definitely consider decriminalizing possession of marijuana... We should concentrate on prosecuting the rapists and burglars who are a menace to society."-Dan Quayle, U.S. Representative and Vice president under President Bush, March 1977

"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marihuana in private for personal use...Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce [28g] of marihuana." -Jimmy Carter, U.S. President, Message to congress, 1977

"In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. It is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." -Francis L. Young, Administrative Law Judge of the US drug police DEA, September 6, 1988

[Trayce]

The gov is as likely to recommend marijuana for adults as I am to give Bush a teeny modicum of credit for whatever might appear to be slightly working in Iraq if you stand on your head and squint sideways every other Tuesday on a full moon.