Things Like This Make Me Ashamed To Be Canadian :-(

[Jason Dunn]

:bad-words:

The fact that my tax dollars are paying for this just makes me sick... :pukeface2:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030916/ap_on_re_ca/canada_medicinal_marijuana_1

"Some of the first patients to smoke Canada's government-approved marijuana say it is "disgusting" and they want their money back. Health Canada, the federal health department, started selling marijuana in July to bring relief to patients suffering from AIDS (news - web sites), cancer and other diseases. The move followed a court order that patients should not be forced to get their marijuana from drug dealers on the streets. But some of the first to buy the government's marijuana say it is no good..."

[Janak Parekh]

Wait... are you ashamed because marijuana is legalized there for medicinal purposes, because the government is growing marijuana, or because the government's marijuana is crap compared to what you can get on the street?

Sorry, couldn't resist :lol:

--janak

[Fishie]

Actually I wonder about the exact same thing.

[upplepop]

Actually, I don't quite understand what Jason's beef is here. Are you angry that patients do not like the meds that the government is distributing? I believe that most patients don't like the side effects of their medication... that's why it's so hard to keep people on them.

Or... are you arguing the medicinal effects of marijuana? It has been scientifically shown that it is therapeutic for symptoms like nausea, pain, lack of appetite and vomiting... common symptoms for people with cancer and AIDS. Medicinal marijuana is especially useful to those people with allergies to standard medication.

Learn more about the benefits here (http://www.mpp.org/science.html)[mpp.org].

[ale2999]

Maybe he was talking about the 2nd part

Meanwhile, Vancouver inaugurated North America's first government-authorized drug-injection site Monday. The controversial government-funded project will give users injection kits and allow them to shoot up under nurse supervision.


Drug users sometimes use dirty needles and water from puddles to shoot up. Now, addicts wanting to use the new facility will be ushered into a brightly lit room lined on one side by open, mirrored booths where they can inject drugs.


After finishing, they will be taken to a "chill-out room," where they can receive counseling and peer referrals.

[Jason Dunn]

...are you ashamed because marijuana is legalized there for medicinal purposes, because the government is growing marijuana, or because the government's marijuana is crap compared to what you can get on the street?

I'm ashamed that my tax dollars are going towards a system that encourages drug use, even if it is for "medical" purposes. The "needle safe house" pissed me off more though - I can understand why some people are turning to MJ for AIDS treatment, but paying nurses to look after some heroin addict so they don't hurt themselves or get sick by sharing needles? That's just insane - if you live the lifestyle, you take the risks associated with that lifestyle. Trying to "save" people from those risks only legitimizes their poor choices...I support addiction counselling for people that want to break free of their addictions, not encouragements for them to keep going and killing themselves slowly.

[Jason Dunn]

Or... are you arguing the medicinal effects of marijuana? It has been scientifically shown that it is therapeutic for symptoms like nausea, pain, lack of appetite and vomiting...

I don't particularly care if it's helpful or not, but the fact that my tax dollars are paying for pot is what ticks me off. If someone wants to experiment with alternative/illegal (depending on where you are) treatments, that's fine, but don't do it with my tax dollars that should be going towards education, roads, paying down the debt, etc.

It's too easy to abuse government-based systems, and I can easily see this growing out of control. Pretty soon someone will find a loophole in the system and everyone will need "therapy MJ" to get over their "pain". :roll:

Then again, I'm not really surprised. This is the same wise Libertal government who paid for the meat dress (http://www.snopes.com/politics/arts/meatdress.asp). :|

[Kati Compton]

I don't particularly care if it's helpful or not, but the fact that my tax dollars are paying for pot is what ticks me off. If someone wants to experiment with alternative/illegal (depending on where you are) treatments, that's fine, but don't do it with my tax dollars that should be going towards education, roads, paying down the debt, etc.
Personally, I think it's very important to care whether or not it actually helps. If it helps, it's being used because it works and it's cheap. If it doesn't help, it's a front to recreational use.

First, let's ignore drugs which are currently illegal even for medicinal purposes. How many times have we heard about abuse of perscription pain killers? The completely-illegal drugs are not the only ones to be abused. Perscription-only drugs are frequently abused as well. Because these drugs have the potential to be abused, does that mean that they should not be perscribed to people at all? I can tell you that when someone I know had to have a third of his lung removed because of cancer, he was EXTREMELY happy to have access to a morphine drip.

Marijuana isn't being legalized for fun, and these people aren't "experimenting" with pot. They are using it, as they would use any medication available only with a perscription, for a specific purpose. Yes, this has the potential to be abused, the same as any other perscription medication.

The main problem here, as I see it, is the past connotations of marijuana prevent it, in many cases, from being taken seriously as a viable solution.

As for your tax dollars - they pay for other medications, such as Morphine, Valium, etc. All with the potential to be abused. Except for the above issues with past connotations, I'm not sure I see the difference. Better to pay for cheap marijuana than expensive manufactured drugs if they perform the same function.

[Jereboam]

...are you ashamed because marijuana is legalized there for medicinal purposes, because the government is growing marijuana, or because the government's marijuana is crap compared to what you can get on the street?

I'm ashamed that my tax dollars are going towards a system that encourages drug use, even if it is for "medical" purposes. The "needle safe house" pissed me off more though - I can understand why some people are turning to MJ for AIDS treatment, but paying nurses to look after some heroin addict so they don't hurt themselves or get sick by sharing needles? That's just insane - if you live the lifestyle, you take the risks associated with that lifestyle. Trying to "save" people from those risks only legitimizes their poor choices...I support addiction counselling for people that want to break free of their addictions, not encouragements for them to keep going and killing themselves slowly.

Now that is something we definitely agree on!! This sort of liberal handout nonsense drives me crazy, when, for example, my daughter won't get a British passport because she was born in Moscow...but so-called refugees are given housing, cash and a passport on the most tenuous of claims... :devilboy:

People quite clearly milking the system and not offering anything in return drives me mad. I have lived in Moscow for 11 years, and a few miles outside the capital city are people who are so poor that they can't afford anything...and quite literally have to go and shoot something for their dinner. Yet these people think they deserve something like this? And they do...most people think that this sort of thing is their right. Ship all these people out to deepest Russia for a few months and I'll guarantee they come back with a different perspective on what is important and worthwhile.

I'm literally driven more right-wing with each passing day.

J'bm

[disconnected]

I guess I'm kind of stunned by your anger.

If studies show that it helps, I'm all for it. From everything I've read, marijuana is a lot less dangerous than many drugs that are legally prescribed for pain relief. I think a few US states have considered legalizing it for medical use, and I think they should. Nobody in my family has been struck by cancer, for which I'm very grateful, but if they were, I'd like to think that they could have access to something as relatively harmless as marijuana for pain relief, without having to become criminals.

[hamishmacdonald]

My issue here is with the constructed reality. By reporting these two pieces of "news" together, the journalist has presumed to make a mental connection on behalf of the reader. If you were upset by the article, it's because it was designed to upset you.

I love the phrase "Weapons of Mass Distraction". Deconstruct the press any chance you get. Question the reality that's presented. Don't let them spill this ideological rubbish into your mental ecology.

Rehabilitating drug users and alleviating the suffering of AIDS patients will not mean the TransCanada Highway goes unpaved this year. Blaming the weak and the poor is an underhanded way to divert people from more pressing issues, like the corporate corruption of our governments.

Hamish MacDonald

[Jason Dunn]

The main problem here, as I see it, is the past connotations of marijuana prevent it, in many cases, from being taken seriously as a viable solution.

That's probably the root of the issue in my case. I've never known anyone who has legitimately used it for medical purposes - all I ever hear is people toking up for fun, because they can't seem to have fun or deal with their problems on their own. I'm equally opposed to people who get drunk every weekend for the same reasons, and don't view alcohol abuse, nicotine abuse, or drug abuse any different. I have a very hard time understand/accepting that marijuana has legitimate medical uses, because that's not what 99.999% of the people use it for. If cocaine were announced as the cure for cancer tomorrow, I'd be equally skeptical... :|

[Jason Dunn]

I made a mistake by posting this news story, even in the off-topic forum. I forgot the cardinal rule of running this site: don't mix politics into things. Thread locked before it gets any worse...