Sanjay Gupta’s CNN documentary has been doing the rounds on YouTube, and just in case if you haven’t seen it, I will summarise – a young girl with a severe form of epilsepy is apparently completely cured by taking cannabis oil, which is high in CBD, one of the many cannabinoids in the cannabis plant. It’s transformative and has to be seen to be believed – here’s the link.
This video has really put a cat amongst the pigeons.
According to High Times:
“Lawmakers in Florida, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Kentucky who had introduced medical marijuana bills in the past are now abandoning those plans and introducing bills that only legalize “Alepsia”-style medical marijuana”
Ignorant lawmakers appear to be once again putting stigma before science, by changing medical marijuana bills to only allow CBD medicine. This really is a dangerous and stupid step in totally the wrong direction.
“You can’t get high on it, and it has no street value,”
Apparently. This is what a former state trooper said to the Huntsville Times recently. I would say it has enormous street value.
Even Republican Senator Paul Sanford has stated that:
“If my child was having 300 seizures a month and there was something I could give them that would cut it down to four, by golly, this gentleman would be making sure I got it,” Sen. Sanford told the Huntsville Times following a forum Tuesday night. “And I’ll be frank: If it meant I had to break the law, I would break the law so I wouldn’t have to watch my infant child go through something like that. If that makes me a bad person, so be it. I think it would make me a great parent, to be honest.”
which leads us to:
“I’m not asking for the legalization of marijuana, whether medically or recreationally,”
Dalton, a parent of a child with Dravet sundrome told lawmakers.
“What I’m asking you to consider is that CBD oil as a marijuana derivative should be considered much in the same way we use morphine, which is derived from opium.”
Don’t get me wrong – it’s life changing for the kids who are suffering now that may soon be able to get treated – of course. But there is much more to do than simply allow CBD-based medicines. There are many other important cannabinoids in the cannabis plant:
CBDA which reduces inflammation and inhibits the growth of cancer cells.
CBG which helps with sleep, promotes the growth of bones, slows bacterial growth and inhibits the growth of cancer cells.
THCV which reduces convulsions and seizures as well as many others.
That’s not to mention the relief THC gives chemotherapy patients, as well as its ability to stop muscle spasms. You get the picture. We need all of it.
The sum is greater than the individual parts here, according to the scientists.
In a recent chat I had with Dr Bob Melamede, he happened to address this matter directly:
“the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and when you take a cannabis extract versus a pure compound of THC or something else, the extract has always been shown to be more effective. Because the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and there are so many different cannabinoids and other biologically active materials – flavonoids, isoflavonoids, terpenes etc that are in the cannabis plant”
It’s also the users who report that they prefer using the whole plant to extracted versions of THC every time. It’s much easier to dose with a smoke. Popping pills you can’t control the does as easily, and if you get it wrong, it can last for hours.
Removing the THC completely renders the medicine useless to people suffering from AIDS, Cancer, Crohn’s and others. Why would you want to do that? So that prohibitionists can say they are doing the right thing, even if it is completely the wrong thing?
Meanwhile British firm GW pharmaceuticals, who secretly grow warehouses full of cannabis hidden away deep in the English countryside, have got FDA approval to start testing their cannabis extract (which they are calling Epidiolex) and permission to treat 125 epileptic children in the US.
This is cannabis!
CBD is also hitting the headlines in the UK. It’s clear that parents who hear about this effective medicine for severe forms of epilepsy would demand it for their children – wouldn’t you?
Remember – the experiment is not legalisation. The experiment has been prohibition, and it has been an utter failure and cost many their lives.
It has stopped genuine medicine getting to people who need it, and it has been a catalyst for racist police officers to be more racist, amongst many other tragedies.
