Should People with Cronic Illness Be Free To Get Marijuana?

Of course it should be legal to get medicinal mj for these ails-- they have fewer side effects with mj than those RX drugs that can cause all sorts of damage and even death from taking-- c'mon nobody has ever died from or od'ed on mj. this is a no-brainer--but like Drew said they like to equate mj with heroin!!! Geez!!the world we live in --

Of course smoking marijuana should not be legal for those with any illness since it has not been proven to be safe (a requirement of the FDA to approve any drug) . Marijuana is today just like cigarettes were in the 1950s...it is chic for everyone to be doing it, but just as with cigarettes in the 1950s it is assumed to be safe because the studies have not been done to prove long term safety. It has killed thousands if not tens of thousands of people from cancer, lung diseases, traffic fatalities, and drug culture crimes. It is a no-brainer for the FDA.

The Fda is not doing long term research on some of these new rx drugs they put out there that are damaging peoples' organs and in some cases even killing them-- i am sure you have seen the commercials and heard of the litagation. Personally , i think the fda is a joke...like so many other agencies these days --they are not doing their jobs and throwing these drugs out there for pharmaceutical profits. It is a fact that cigarettes and alcohol are killers--the research on marjuana pros and cons are at an all time high (no pun intended)--there are no pros to cigarette smoking or alcohol consumption --none....however both of these are legal. You actually think the fda is out there to protect the people? i agree with u the fda has no brain or conscience. Peace==did u even watch and listen to the video????

The FDA does not perform any research but approves drugs submitted to it as "safe and effective" insomuch as is possible given the data available. If there is insufficient data, then the FDA requires further studies by the manufacturer.

The fda is the overseer of all the drugs that are put out there on the market for human use. Yes, and again there is something wrong with its checking and balancing system when drugs that are supposedly "safe and effective" wind up killing people or causing irreversible organ damage or lesser but still significant side effects. And they even have the audacity to promote some of these drugs on tv and state that "death may occur"--as the very last possible side effect. Again, i say they are not doing their job at protecting people from potentially harmful drugs--neither are the people doing the research. Why don't u do some research on the fda kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies? It does not seem that further studying is being expected by manufacturers of drugs that they are publicly stating serious side effects may occur!!! And that indeed should be a "red flag" for the fda --or they themselves will just know better not to touch the drug.i would really like to know if u bothered to view Drew Carey's video or did u just vote 'no" on the poll.

I have no interest in what a comedian says about marijuana.
The FDA does not promote drugs nor does it advertise them on TV. Manufacturers list all serious side effects as required by law but if you note the stratification of these events have been collated into statistical probability segments in drug information sheets. No drug is completely safe, no chemical is completely safe. The FDA's job is not to insure products have no side effects with proper or improper use. Their position is to define the side effects, determine relative risks of these side effects, then if sufficiently safe to release on a population when USED AS PRESCRIBED, permit the manufacture, advertising, and sale of the product. It should be pointed out, the FDA is not a monolithic structure, nor is it intransigent. The regulation imposed on drugs today compared with 40 years ago is several orders of magnitude greater. Don't you ever ponder why acetaminophen or aspirin have very short information sheets with virtually no side effects at all listed? It is not because there are not any side effects, nor are the drugs safer than many prescription drugs in the same classes today. The reason is that the FDA has evolved over time into an entity that requires full disclosure for new drugs. You decry the release of drugs with bad side effects....well guess what? Acetaminophen (Tylenol) kills hundreds to thousands of people each year in the US as does aspirin. There is no long list of side effects during their advertisement since they were approved using different standards during a different era in which far fewer clinical studies were required before approval.
Certain delivery systems such as smoking a drug have so many known inherently malevolent side effects that consideration of such would be verboten by the FDA. If the FDA ever considered marijuana to be made available, it would definitely not be in a form in which causes cancer, lung disease, liver damage, and death, but would be in the form of a pill. Oh, the recreational drug users posing as medical orphans trying to get the drug "legally" will state the drug is not effective as a pill. But how would they know? They have never tried it. The FDA may eventually legalize some form of marijuana, but it will not be smoked and it will not be in a form that recreational users will want. And if approved, it too will have a long list of side effects including death.

Yes, but there will have to be a way to separate it from the drug culture and illegal activities that surround that culture.

Of course the fda does not promote dugs nor advertise on tv!!!! By "they" i meant the pharmaceutical companies. It seems u like play semantics and dwell on the little things so as not to deal with what is actually being said. If i say "they" , u automatically refer back to the fda instead of the pharmaceutical companies --give me a break --i am sure other people know what i am talking about.... it is lost on u.

asspain1955 wrote "I have no interest in what a comedian says about marijuana. " Then why are you spouting off, ALGOSDOC???? Watch the video or shut up already...

http://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=HG9fawpC3GA

Bobbette did not say that the FDA advertised drugs. The only kind of doctor you are is a spin doctor and a fraud, algosdoc/asspain1955....

Homerx--of course it is more than odd--but let the baby have it's bottle--it'll be empty soon-----B---Isn't Drew Carey not only a very intelligent , amusing comedian but also a long-standing activist for many worthy causes?? I have such disdain for people who discredit others without even knowing about who they really are and what good they are doing in the world. Someone who won't even watch a video re: the topic posted on this site is not even worth talking to--closed-minded. plp B

Here's what TV sitcom star Drew Carey doesn't like: censorship, anti-smoking laws, drug laws, immigration laws, "stupid big government in general" -- and award shows. (They're "publicity stunts" for needy actors, he explains.)

Here's what Drew Carey does like: freedom, competition, free minds, free markets, and -- he won't deny -- beer, dirty jokes, and gambling.

Those likes and dislikes tell you pretty much everything you need to know about Carey. He's not afraid to speak his mind. He's proud of his blue-collar sensibilities. And he's a libertarian.

Carey left no doubts about his political philosophy in a November 1997 interview with Reason magazine. He had a quick answer when asked, "What's your basic attitude toward government?" Carey said: "The less the better. As far as your personal goals are and what you actually want to do with your life, it should never have to do with the government. You should never depend on the government for your retirement, your financial security, for anything. If you do, you're screwed."

Carey's libertarian perspective extended to a wide range of issues. Some examples from the Reason interview:


• On censorship: "What right does [a politician] have to tell me what I can and cannot watch? Change the channel if you don't like what's on TV!"

• On the free market: "Some people don't like competition because it makes them work harder, better. I'm competitive at everything. It's a natural driving force, a way of testing yourself, of measuring how you're doing. How can people not know that competition makes everything better?"

• On drug laws: "Liquor prohibition led to the rise of organized crime in America, and drug prohibition has led to the rise of the gang problems we have now."

• On government power: "P.J. O'Rourke once said the government has passed enough laws -- it should just stop. It oversteps its bounds so often. Giving it a little bit of power is like getting a little bit pregnant..."

• On freedom versus security: "I think a lot of people are afraid of freedom. They want their lives to be controlled, to be put into a box... People like that cradle-to-grave concept because it says you don't have to think too much, you don't have to worry too much, because someone else is looking out for you. But that also means you can't do as much as you want. Why should someone else put a limit on how much fun I can have; how much I can accomplish?"


Carey's career is a tribute to exactly how much -- in the Washington Post's classic description -- "a tubby dork in a crew cut and thick-rimmed glasses" can accomplish.

After a stint in the U.S. Marine Reserves (where he adopted his trademark crew cut), the Cleveland native spent several years doing stand-up comedy. He was catapulted to household-name status in 1995, thanks to his top-rated ABC sitcom, The Drew Carey Show. The program, which ran for nine years, starred Carey as a put-upon office worker in Cleveland, and combined standard blue-collar sitcom gags with innovative song-and-dance sequences. (And an occasional libertarian plug: On a January 15, 1997 show, Carey's character wore a Reason tee-shirt.) The Drew Carey Show won the comedian two People's Choice Awards.

In 1997, Carey published the best-selling book, Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined, which combined autobiography, short stories, an inside look at his TV show, and bawdy jokes.

Carey also hosted the comedy improvisational shows Whose Line Is it Anyway? (ABC, 1998-2004) and Drew Carey's Green Screen Show (The WB, 2004). In 2007, he took over as host of the popular syndicated game show, The Price Is Right.

Despite all the success, Carey's libertarian views haven't changed. In 1998, he engaged in an act of civil disobedience when he lit up a cigarette in a bar in California to protest the state's new anti-smoking law. "I don't think there should be a total ban," he told CNN. "It should be up to each bar owner and patron to decide if they want to smoke or not."

And in 2004, Carey penned an introduction to a Reason retrospective book, Choice: The Best of Reason. "We need a magazine like yours to help fight the stupid drug laws, the stupid immigration laws, and stupid big government in general," he wrote. "'Free Minds and Free Markets!' Right on, my man. Freedom!"

-- Bill Winter



Quotable

"I never thought I was a libertarian until I picked up Reason magazine and realized I agree with everything they had printed.." -- Drew Carey in Time (August 9, 2007)

oOHeather, I couldn't have said it better...Thanks for taking my POLL!! Peace and Love,HomerX

Thanx heather!!! i did not know about the smokeless pipe-- how cool. Sorry, it was my error to infer that the fda did research-- they are the watchdogs for the research being done and of course the pharmaceutical companies are the ones doing the ads-- i had not had my coffee completely downed when i wrote that-- but they get kickbacks anyway. Some people think our govt and govt. agencies are doing a good job and looking out for our best interests. Bobbette