Obama Adminstration’s DEA Ignores Marijuana Therapeutic Research – Keeps Status Illegal to Protect Big Pharma

The recent 2016 DEA decision to keep cannabis as a controlled substance Schedule I drug came amidst high hopes that it would be placed as Schedule II or below. Schedule I means the substance is dangerous, addictive, and has no medical merit. Marijuana or cannabis is therefore still ranked with heroin, and LSD. Heroin is an addictive and dangerous opiate that in other opioid forms such as morphine is used to suppress pain with legal prescriptions. Yet on the federal level, doctors cannot prescribe marijuana, in spite of so much evidence of its therapeutic value. At the same time, however, in what appears as an obvious hypocritical move that benefits only Big Pharma, the DEA, while not removing the criminal legal status on marijuana, did relax the laws regarding medical research on marijuana which will soon benefit drug companies looking to patent drugs that mimic what the plant already does.

Older Americans Turning to Medical Cannabis to Heal Cancer and Other Diseases

A lot of attention and concern has been placed on kids using medical cannabis with parental or medical guidance. Many of the "concerns" are misplaced and out of date, based on the “Reefer Madness” propaganda of the 1970s, which induced an unjustified phobia of cannabis or marijuana. Some of the children who are afflicted with the most severe form of epilepsy, Dravet syndrome, are alive and doing well because of specially formulated cannabis that's low in activated THC. Others are surviving cancer and curing terminal Crohn's disease because of higher THC cannabis. Most of them manage well on cannabis almost completely, getting off most or all of the pharmaceutical medications that were worsening their condition. But what about older folks, people well into their 60s and older, 70s and 80s? Only a small minority who take responsibility for their health with good diets, the right supplements, and moderate exercise wind up managing well in those age groups. Most of them weren't aware of the Internet's “alternative” health information and warnings about mainstream medicine when they were younger. So most senior citizens wind up loaded on pharmaceuticals just to get by with daily routines, including decent sleep. But there is an increasing number of senior citizens catching on to the merits of one plant's ability to replace those medications for “age related” ailments. Some have even managed to walk out of hospice with "terminal" cancer after medical cannabis intervened.

Medical Refugees and Medical Tourism: New Options for Alternative Health Patients Rejected by Mainstream Medicine

According to quotes attributed to early Americans Dr. Benjamin Rush and Thomas Jefferson, medical freedom should have been inserted into the Constitution as part of the Bill of Rights. The fact that medical freedom has not been included in the Constitution's Bill of Rights has resulted in the establishment of “Pharmaceutical Medicine” as the only “officially” acceptable medicine and fostered the suppression of all other forms of valid healing. All unacceptable forms of medicine not considered “official” have been excluded from medical insurance coverage. The monopolist exclusion of insurance coverage for safer, less expensive, and more effective treatments creates a vast patient pool no matter the expense. For example a cancer patient may opt for chemo and radiation because his or her insurance covers that, but not natural treatments, which though less expensive, are beyond most people's budgets. This attempt by the U.S. Government, usually under the authority of the FDA, to suppress non-approved pharmaceutical alternatives that are often natural, non-toxic, less expensive, and more effective, has led to a new cultural phenomenon: Medical Tourism and Medical Refugees.

An Example of How Highly Successful People Use Medical Marijuana to Manage Pain

Sometime during the late 1980s, a Sunday talk show featured a “debate” on legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. The person against such legalization came up with an unintentionally silly line, “I wouldn't want to be on a plane with a pilot using marijuana.” Well, he wouldn't want to be on a plane with an alcoholic pilot either, and alcohol is legal. So legality has nothing to do with individual judgment or airline rules. That was a good example of a straw man argument. Such straw man arguments are common when it comes to discussions on marijuana, medical or otherwise. What was impressive then was the pro-medical marijuana advocate. He was a stock broker in South Florida who smoked 10 to 12 cannabis cigarettes daily. It was amazing that he could talk with anyone on a live TV telecast and argue his point. Advising clients on investment choices seemed to be even more ridiculous. But it turns out to be true. Irvin Rosenfeld was diagnosed with a rare bone disease called hereditary multiple exostoses (HME) at the age of 10. The pain from the bone tumors, usually non-cancerous, irritating skin and muscle tissue could only be made manageable with dangerously addictive narcotic prescriptions. Medical marijuana turned out to be a much better solution, and eventually the federal government was supplying him medical marijuana to manage his pain.

The Virtues of Hemp: The Most Underappreciated and Misunderstood Crop

Do you know the difference between marijuana and hemp? The confusion between those two terms has cost us the benefits of industrial hemp, which can do a lot of what other materials are doing with much less ecological damage than what exists now. According to George Blankenbaker, president of Realhemp, Inc, hemp is the most misunderstood and under appreciated crop there is. And the confusion between marijuana or cannabis and hemp has made growing hemp without THC illegal only in this country, the USA. We get most of our hemp products, especially hemp seeds and oils, from Canada and some from Europe. Both regions have relatively thriving hemp agricultural and industrial enterprises, and even theirs are not enough to sooth an ecologically unbalanced planet. China grows 90 percent of the world's hemp. Blakenbaker's interview was done by the Cannabis Summit among the several interviews and gifts offered elucidating medical cannabis' properties and its surrounding legal and social issues. What he reveals that has been kept from humanity in addition to cannabis' medicinal qualities is staggering.

Former Cancer Research Biochemist Cured His Cancer with Cannabis

Among all the health professionals, M.D.s, herbalists, osteopaths, chiropractors, legal advisers as well as grass roots activists promoting medical cannabis for various applications interviewed on the Holistic Cannabis Summit, the interview of Dennis Hill is unique because he self-medicated with cannabis and cured his prostate cancer in six months. Dennis Hill is a biochemist who worked in the research department of the prestigious MD Anderson Cancer Institute in Houston for several years. Decades later in 2010, he was diagnosed with aggressive Stage III adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Not wanting to endure the harmful side effects of conventional cancer treatment that he saw while working at the MD Anderson Cancer Institute, he took a friend's advice and began to look at cannabis as a possible alternative treatment. After only three months, the main tumor was gone, but a few metastatic lesions remained. In another three months, all traces of cancer were gone.

Cannabis Remedies for Epilepsy Were Discovered and Buried in the 1940s

Applying low THC high CBD cannabis or cannabidiol successfully for seizures has become relatively widespread among families with children who are having chronic seizures, even several grand mal seizures daily. This awareness was greatly enhanced by an unusual mainstream August 2013 media report by CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, M.D., called “Weed.” Since that report, high CBD (cannabidiol) low THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), the psychoactive compound of cannabis, is being used successfully for children with terminal seizures throughout the nation. Harken back to the days of former alcohol prohibitionist Harry Anslinger who was appointed head of The Bureau of Narcotics, formed around the time of the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act. You may be surprised to find that in 1947, a similar study was underway for using a synthetic form of THC with at least 50% success rate for children with intractable seizure issues. Anslinger and company did what they could do to prevent the news from getting out. But the study papers slipped through and were recently discovered. Let's explore what could have existed for 66 years as relief from the ever increasing numbers of seizure stricken children, which corresponds with the increased CDC childhood vaccine schedule.

Medical Cannabis is Healing Autism

The subject of autism and its causes is getting more attention due to the documentary Vaxxed. It's like a continual road show going from city to city with its crew of key personnel conducting panel discussions after showings. That's great and sorely needed. But there's little awareness promoted for treating autism among the vaccine damaged. The Cannabis Summit revealed several medical practitioners of different stripes who are willing and able to use cannabis in their practices. One of them was Dr. Bogner who presented on the topic “New Frontier on Autism Spectrum Disorder Recovery: Medical Marijuana."

How Cannabis Can Be Used for Safe and Effective Opioid Drug Withdrawal

Dr. Dustin Sulak, DO, is considered an international expert in clinical medical cannabis. Dr. Sulak heads his own Integr8 Health Clinics in Maine and a satellite clinic in Massachusetts where not only does he practice medical applications of cannabis, his clinic analyzes different cannabis strains and researches their specific applications. He also provides a free online educational service for health practitioners and patients that provides the latest data and advice for using cannabis medically. Dr. Sulak delivered a two hour presentation in Portland, Maine to a live audience that was carried simultaneously online. His lecture focused on how he uses cannabis to replace prescribed narcotic opioid pain killers, such as Oxycontin and morphine, to avoid or cure opioid addictions.

First Holistic Cannabis Summit Seeks to Educate Public on Health Benefits of Marijuana

Seems like there's always some sort of summit being held online for various aspects of alternative health, which should be called real health. These summits gather several experts relating to a particular health topic, diet, optional cancer treatments, etc. But this author never expected a medical cannabis summit. Nevertheless, there is one now. Speakers from several medical and nutritional practices who prescribe cannabis partially or wholly with their individual practices are available in this summit, the Holistic Cannabis Summit. The amount of cannabis experts weighing in represents a very encouraging growing trend towards medical marijuana acceptance by holistic M.D.s and medical practitioners of all types.