Good morning Ladies - Just reading about the forthcoming legalisation of Medical Cannabis.
I wonder if it will be available for cancer patients? Read this on-line
What are the medical benefits of cannabinoids?
ANSWER
Cannabinoids -- the active chemicals in medical marijuana -- are similar to chemicals the body makes that are involved in appetite, memory, movement, and pain.
Research suggests cannabinoids might:
• Reduce anxiety
• Reduce inflammation and relieve pain
• Control nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy
• Kill cancer cells and slow tumor growth
• Relax tight muscles in people with multiple sclerosis
• Stimulate appetite and improve weight gain in people with cancer and AIDS
I would anticipate yes. The trouble is I think our government are generally quite good at being ignorant. To me it feels a little like a political point rather than serious inroads to treatment and health. They would need it to be run supplied and maintained by the government. So training, storage, science, dosage, legislation, GP training in its benefits and uses, prescription requirements. Consultant training etc
It just feels like it’s sensational headlines with an impossible time frame.
Hello Lily - Anne, how are you today? Better I hope. I have bought some cannabis oil on the internet CBD oil. Only because it has been proven to help with pain management and relaxation, and with an impending op I thought I might need a little extra help, I will keep you all informed as to weather it works or not. My mother had Multiple scleroses and she used Marijuana for her symptoms and it worked. It wasn't a cure but it improved her quality of life 10 fold, anything able to do this is ok in my book. Shame it has taken a mothers plight and her efforts at making her son's needs high profile news for the government to finally take any notice and stop being so "politically incorrect".
I used the oil for two years and I do think it can help. It was especially good during chemo. I’m not taking it at the moment as my BP is a bit low and that brings it down more
I’m a bit better today in the fact that finally I can pass water. Just really dizzy could be lack of sleep
Well, the announcement this week is a start, but there's a long way to go. People using the actual full spectrum plant oils are not entirely thrilled, because its clear what the government is talking about are pharmaceutically prepared extracts, or chemically synthesized drugs - these are not the same as the full range of cannabinoids you get from the whole plant. Someone I knew with MS still used marijuana instead of the Sativex she was prescribed, because the whole plant is more effective, with fewer side effects, than the pharmaceutically prepared drug. And if they want the pharma companies to muck about with the plant to synthesize it, that means drug trials, and drug trials take decades...
The children whose epilepsy responds to cannabis are currently being given whole plant, full spectrum product (including THC, the bit that makes you high) because that's what works for them when nothing else does. Yet it looks as if the idea of selling varieties of the plant cannabis in various forms through sales outlets via prescription, as they do in Holland, Canada and parts of America, might remain a distant dream here. Even Sativex, which has been around for over 20 years here, has been chemically altered and synthesized - great efforts were made to remove the THC from the drug during development. I think the Government has visions of a nation of rabid, ungovernable drug addicts arising from allowing people to use the plant, which is ridiculous, because drugs are everywhere in society anyway, just illegally. I doubt there's many people under 40 who went to university who did not take marijuana and certainly MDMA (known as Ecstasy back then).
I find it extraordinary that alcohol, which is far more damaging to both society and a person's health, and causes more deaths annually than any of the illegal drugs, is freely available, but something like cannabis (and MDMA come to that) are considered almost evil and are completely banned. Statistically, aspirin, alcohol and many pharmaceutical medicines are more dangerous to health than either MDMA or cannabis... and despite knowing that, the idea of 'drugs' as opposed to 'medicine' still causes an extreme reaction in those that govern us, as well as much of the population. As far as cannabis is concerned, it never killed anybody... though it is proven that it should not be used regularly and recreationally in those under about 18 because it affects brain development.
But, it's a start - and cancer was mentioned when the announcement was made as being one of the things it might be used for, although it was only mentioned in regard to use during chemotherapy (it reduces nausea better than most medicines) and pain relief. That might be partially the result of the open letter sent by many nurses recently to the Government regarding their patients' use of illegal cannabis as a means of pain relief - when I told my Palliative Care nurse that I had the oil here for such use later on, much to my surprise, she didn't turn a hair...
We are waiting for Cannabis Oil to be legalised in South Africa.Its illegal to sell but okay to buy. How its grown - only in Swaziland and Lesotho - makes a difference. The better stuff is grown in hothouse tunnels using the best water and fertilisers available. Different strains known by recreational names such as Durban Poison, Congo Red, Malawi Black etc have been experimented with. Extraction of the oil is not standardised and some methods even dangerous. Also is removal of THC (the happy juice) beneficial or does it impair the healing properties? We have a long way to go to use this God given plant properly, its worth a try.
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