Tag Archives: PTSD

The Medical Marijuana Hoax, Part 3: The Strategy

“We are trying to get marijuana reclassified medically.  If we do that, we’ll be using the issue as a red herring to give marijuana a good name.”  Keith Stroup, Emory University,  February 6, 1979

Stroup is founder of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law).  Thirty – five years later,  Stroup and his followers think his plan is  working.   Social media has helped the marijuana movement, which markets itself to teens and young adults, for votes and for new marijuana users.

TODAY, promoters claims marijuana holds the cure for nearly everything, including ebola.  Despite its intensive genetic alteration of the marijuana plant over the last 20 years — to make it more potent — advocates call it an herb. They don’t take responsibility for the damage pot does to the environment, or for the psychosis and mental health problems it causes in some people.   See The Medical Marijuana Hoax, Part 2: Mental Illness.

Parents Opposed to Pot believes the decision of January, 2013, by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, to keep marijuana a Schedule I drug (high potential for abuse), is correct.  Marijuana is a dangerous drug because of its perceived harmlessness,  and its cult-like following.   Americans would be wise to look into what happened when marijuana was rescheduled in Great Britain.

Marijuana can cause psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, addiction and psychosis.   In January, 2014, Dan Linn of NORML Illinois said that there has always been the cannabis and schizophrenia connection.  If NORML has known this link, how in good conscience can they push for legalization?   A typical reader may compare it to the tobacco industry, fast-food restaurants, etc.  However, marijuana-induced mental disorders can appear within a shorter period time, as opposed to other unhealthy choices that take years off the end of life.   Not everyone is susceptible to problems with marijuana and not everyone will use in excess, but the industry preaches that marijuana is harmless and non-addictive .

How They’re Pushing the Medical Marijuana Hoax

Reading the “weed blogs” gives insight into the mind of the “Pot Lobby.”   First comes decriminalization, followed by medical marijuana, followed by full legalization.  Californians voted on Proposition 215 and approved medical marijuana in 1996, because huge campaign donations funded that ballot.  The roll of money to legalize has been nonstop ever since, with billionaires such as George Soros funding the movement. Oregon and Washington had ballot initiatives for medical marijuana in 1998.  Alaska, Maine and Colorado came shortly afterwards.    Pot policy makers are going for a checkerboard pattern of states, so  that states without it will be forced to join their neighbors.

Medical marijuana businesses depend on catchy names while guaranteeing no consistency in their product.  One strain had no buyers until it changed it name to Chocolope.  This lack of consistency is a huge red flag.  As the Los Angeles Times article further explains, “Chemist Jeff Raber examined 1,500 samples of marijuana in California and found little genetic cohesion between varieties of the same name.”

Medical marijuana has always been the cover for a plan to bring full-scale legalization. The marijuana industry plays the “compassion” game to gain sympathy supporters and gradually get public acceptance, slandering members of Congress who disagree. (See The Medical Marijuana Hoax, Part 1: Do Patients Go to Jail?)  Once the industry markets itself to potential patients, many of these so-called patients get “hooked.”   The industry’s tactic of getting more people addicted has succeeded by introducing the potent strains of marijuana, and by targeting the young.

If they succeed in getting enough people high, it is easier to control their minds.   For a year or two, the pot industry has been telling us that legalization is “inevitable.” — another manipulative tactic.  The plan is that states without medical marijuana will face extreme political pressure to join their neighbors.

Medical marijuana advocates now count 23 states as having some form of medical marijuana.   However, Florida, the 4th most populous state in the country, recently rejected a medical marijuana ballot which needed 60% of the votes to pass.   Marijuana lobbyists are active in every state, and they believe full legalization is right around the corner.Weedmaster2_0003

A Cure for Everything

In early 2011, the .  At first, marijuana was promoted as an aid for cancer and AIDs treatment, because the THC in marijuana can help nausea and stimulate appetite of cancer victims.  At this time, not more than 5% medical marijuana patients actually have cancer or AIDS, as a political site fact – checker  published.   Today, the common condition those who seek medical marijuana is “pain,”  a sign the industry is trying to nurture dependence, and not cure people.  (A shot of whiskey also cures “pain.”) If those who use marijuana for “pain” treatment, sought a chiropractor instead, their treatments could be for a limited time.

Marijuana has been promoted from its status, as the cure for nausea in cancer patients, to being the cure for cancer, as marijuana advocates claim today.  The biggest argument against marijuana as a cancer cure is that pharmaceutical companies from around the world would be marketing it, if it were truly a viable cure.  The claim that marijuana cures cancer is reminiscent of the laetrile controversy  30 years ago, explained in a recent article by Robert Weiner in AlcoholismDrugAbuseWeekly.

Treating Epilepsy, Seizures, Etc.

Regardless of safety or efficacy, it is understandable how parents may want to try an alternative to the  strong cancer-fighting and epilepsy drugs.   However, we do not support any treatment for children that has THC which can alter brain chemistry.   We ask that marijuana providers provide warnings, (See our article of the Medical Marijuana Risks for children), as pharmaceutical companies are required to do.

No qualifications are needed to be a “ganjapreneur,” in today’s “green rush.”  How can we continue to allow self-proclaimed wizards of pot to hold all the cards, without warning about the side effects?  Regulation of medical marijuana has been very difficult in the West, due to the objection of the industry.  Oregon finally implemented regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries this year, but faced industry opposition.  When Washingtonians voted for pot legalization in 2012, there was a consensus that medical marijuana was not being regulated and perhaps the limits of I-502 could  bring commercial marijuana under some regulation.

Since we published our story on Medical Marijuana and PTSD,  a new story has come out about how marijuana makes PTSD symptoms worse.   A ploy of the medical marijuana industry has been using is to convince people that marijuana is the only medicine for their ailments.  They try to find people who are “chronically ill.”

The road to HELL is paved with good intentions” explains the path of medical marijuana.  One former medical marijuana patient wrote to PopPot, explaining that after two years of using medical marijuana for an auto-immune disease, it brought on psychosis.  How can the Marijuana Policy Project, Drug Policy Alliance, NORML, Americans for Safe Access and United for Care not see that it is ethically wrong to promote something which such strong and horrific side effects—particularly in the mental health arena?   We already have a mental health crisis in the US.  Why add to it?

The vast majority of ordinary citizens who don’t use marijuana also don’t take the time to figure out the deception.

The Medical Marijuana Hoax, Part 2: Mental Health

Medical marijuana tries to bypass discussion of the mental health risks.  Marijuana is linked to long-term psychiatric problems such as schizophrenia, anxiety and psychosis.  There is mounting research to suggest that youth usage of marijuana greatly increases the chance for both depression and suicide, as recently reported in the The Lancet Psychiatry Journal.

The PTSD Marketing Strategy

It was a good publicity stunt, but a cruel trick.  The marijuana industry recently staged an event in Denver to attract veterans. They gave out free marijuana for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  PTSD is very real, and it’s a condition to be taken seriously.

The medical community should find solutions that would bring veterans back to their previous state of functioning before combat.  Louis Zamperini, the hero of a book by Laura Hillenbrand and movie directed by Angelina Jolie, Unbroken, had severe PTSD from World War II.  He had been beaten in a Japanese prison camp and lost at sea 46 days on a raft. It’s unlikely he would have healed and charged forward so well if marijuana had been offered as the solution.  The movie will be in theaters on December 25.

Marijuana numbs certain emotions.  It also effects memory.  PTSD symptoms are different for different people, but it can include numbness, too.  If fear, numbness and depression are present with PTSD, there should be a means that re-build connection to everyday life, rather than avoid the reality of life.  Dogs and Yoga are amongst the best treatments for rebuilding connection.  Time is a great healer, too.

Handing out free so-called “marijuana medicine” makes a mockery of recovery.  It’s hoped our veterans could get back to work and not face long-term disability.   Keeping “patients” addicted and under the thumb of medical marijuana industry may do the opposite.  The best book on the subject, Judith Lewis Herman’s Trauma and Recovery, doesn’t suggest masking memoryOur first choice should always be therapies that go to the root of the problem, rather than masking the symptoms.  Medical marijuana has the potential for masking symptoms.  It also risks making a person apathetic and numb.  It could give the illusion of getting better without deep healing.

Why does marijuana cause dependency?  As explained in a testimony, marijuana usage interferes with the natural processes and messes with brain chemistry.   After stopping marijuana use, irritability, anxiety, depression, nervousness, restlessness, insomnia and and suicide can be part of marijuana withdrawal.   As time can heal marijuana withdrawal symptoms, time can heal PTSD.  If we want veterans to not be permanently disabled, Congress should not allow marijuana for veterans suffering from PTSD.

A Cruel Attempt to Treat Psychiatric Disorders

Marijuana may increase the burden of mental illness.  It is well-known in medical circles that marijuana makes the course of mental illness worse and successful treatment less likely.  In fact, marijuana is the most common illicit drug to trigger a psychiatric disorder.   For this reason, extreme caution should be taken before recommending marijuana to anyone, for any reason.

There’s strong evidence that mental illness is increasing in America. According to Robert Whitaker, author of Mad in America and Anatomy of an Epidemic, an increase in bi-polar disorder is driven in part by the expansion of diagnostic boundaries, but it is also being fueled by the widespread use of illicit drugs.

Whitaker explains that studies of first episode bipolar patients, roughly 1/3 suffered their first bout of mania or mood instability after they had abused illicit drugs — amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana and hallucinogens.  Marijuana, as the most widespread of the illicit drugs, poses the most risk.  (See 10 Marijuana Myths Advocates want you to Believe)

A culture of medication teaches our children to look for easy solutions; it may be influencing the widespread desire to self-medicate with marijuana and other drugs. Psychiatric medications are over-prescribed — anti-depressants, as well as anti-psychotics and ADHD medications.  Whitaker also believes that the use of psychiatric stimulants and anti-depressants increases the risk of getting the bipolar diagnosis.

Does-weed-kill-brain-cells2
The cannabinoid neurotransmitter, anandamide, may be displaced with marijuana use over time, giving users withdrawal symptoms when they quit, including anxiety, depression.

Leafly, a cannabis company in Seattle run Privateer Holdings, solicits users by advertising  88 strains of marijuana to cure bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety and ADHD.  This type of advertising should be censored due to the lack of evidence and high risk for psychosis that comes with marijuana.  Any psychiatric treatment demands strict oversight by a qualified medical practitioner, and is often done on a test basis. Medical marijuana “providers” often don’t have to meet standards or qualifications, other than being at least 21 years old.

Prevention over Substituting Addictions

Those who disagree with medical marijuana do not necessarily advocate for the alcohol or pharmaceutical industry.

Some of us notice that people who become addicted to any drug usually began their drug usage with marijuana, which is another reason we wish to prevent youth from using it at all costs.   In fact, when it comes to teens and young adults, addicts almost always begin their drug usage as a marijuana user.   The marijuana industry gives lip service to wanting to keep it from those under age 21, while using the social media and other tactics try to get young people to support them.

Opiate Addiction Solved by Marijuana ????

Recently an article suggested that marijuana can be a tool to beating opiate addiction,  because of a study which opined that states with medical marijuana have fewer opiate overdose deaths. The study shouldn’t be interpreted as proof that medical marijuana brought a drop in opiate use or death.

States with the highest marijuana usage, including use by ages 12-17,  tend to also have the highest opiate pill, cocaine and heroin usage.   Oregon, Colorado and Vermont will need to limit youth marijuana usage, if they truly want to bring down other problems.  To  a certain extent the current heroin problem has arisen because people addicted to the opiate pills have been unable to get the pills.

The logical way to avoid death by opiate overdose is to keep it in the hands of only those who need it, teach responsible use, and avoid over-prescribing.  Not everyone who uses opiate pills needs to get addicted.  Many people use vicodin, percocet and oxycontin only for the limited duration until the pain is gone.   Twisted, illogical thinking is suggesting that we must substitute one addiction with a drug that can also work on the mind and cause psychosis.

If we are to solve the problem of addiction in a lasting way, we need to help children and teens not begin to use.  We emphasize proper usage, not substituting one addiction for another, or “lilypadding” from drug to drug.  Prevention before abuse starts has the BEST chance of success.