Sequoiacrone
August 23rd, 2008, 10:26 AM
Comparison of medical marijuana to pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals are often cited as advantageous to herbal medicines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbal_medicine) for having measured doses of ingredients, whereas the quantity of medicinal compounds in herbal medicines vary by plant, season, etc. Medical cannabis has advantages over pharmaceuticals regarding expense, safety and acceptance, in that it comes from a plant and has been prescribed by physicians for more than 3,500 years.
One disadvantage of pharmaceuticals is that they are often economically out of reach for most of the world's population, half of which lives on less than $2 U.S. per day.[44] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#cite_note-43)[45] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#cite_note-44)[46] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#cite_note-45)[47] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#cite_note-46) Medical cannabis, in comparison, can be grown from seed for little or no cost and can provide medicine to many people who otherwise could not afford it.
Medical cannabis can be a safe alternative or adjunct to pharmaceuticals in some cases. In the U.S., which has just 4% of the world's population, 106,000 patients died from and 2.2 million were seriously injured by adverse effects of pharmaceuticals in the year 1994 (Journal of the American Medical Association (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_the_American_Medical_Association) [4] (http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/279/15/1200)) alone. In comparison, medical cannabis has very low toxicity, and has relatively moderate side effects. It has been prescribed by physicians for at least 3500 years (ancient Egyptian Ebers Papyrus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebers_Papyrus) medical textbook),[9] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#cite_note-ebers-8) and thus has a proven track record.
Much of the production of pharmaceuticals involves the use of hazardous chemicals (a hazard to workers at the very least) and produces toxic waste (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_waste), whereas cultivation of medical cannabis is primarily without such problems.
(For a more complete and far ranging information about Medical cannabis see the entire page or two at Wikipedia of course...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana )
Pharmaceuticals are often cited as advantageous to herbal medicines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbal_medicine) for having measured doses of ingredients, whereas the quantity of medicinal compounds in herbal medicines vary by plant, season, etc. Medical cannabis has advantages over pharmaceuticals regarding expense, safety and acceptance, in that it comes from a plant and has been prescribed by physicians for more than 3,500 years.
One disadvantage of pharmaceuticals is that they are often economically out of reach for most of the world's population, half of which lives on less than $2 U.S. per day.[44] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#cite_note-43)[45] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#cite_note-44)[46] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#cite_note-45)[47] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#cite_note-46) Medical cannabis, in comparison, can be grown from seed for little or no cost and can provide medicine to many people who otherwise could not afford it.
Medical cannabis can be a safe alternative or adjunct to pharmaceuticals in some cases. In the U.S., which has just 4% of the world's population, 106,000 patients died from and 2.2 million were seriously injured by adverse effects of pharmaceuticals in the year 1994 (Journal of the American Medical Association (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_the_American_Medical_Association) [4] (http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/279/15/1200)) alone. In comparison, medical cannabis has very low toxicity, and has relatively moderate side effects. It has been prescribed by physicians for at least 3500 years (ancient Egyptian Ebers Papyrus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebers_Papyrus) medical textbook),[9] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#cite_note-ebers-8) and thus has a proven track record.
Much of the production of pharmaceuticals involves the use of hazardous chemicals (a hazard to workers at the very least) and produces toxic waste (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_waste), whereas cultivation of medical cannabis is primarily without such problems.
(For a more complete and far ranging information about Medical cannabis see the entire page or two at Wikipedia of course...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana )