My information came from my MO, explaining that as one reason why she would not sign my MMJ application. She only signs them for patients losing dangerous amounts of weight on chemo, or for Stage IV patients--and only for pain.

So I've had three CT scans now that show no new growth and in the existing cancer more shrinkage. I am taking Faslodex and medical marajuana

I can't wait I'm trying it all out for myself so far so good😊

Wendy

Here's a great article describing the DEA issue. http://www.livescience.com/55765-new-medical-marijuana-policy-hinders-researchers.html

Medical research on marijuana probably won't get any easier, experts say, despite a new government policy aimed at boosting the supply of the drug for medical studies.

That means the types of studies that are needed to address the safety and effectiveness of the drug as a medicine could still be a long way off.

Marijuana's legal status as a "Schedule I" drug, which makes it an illegal drug on the federal level, "severely constrains the access and the number and type of people who can do research with cannabis," said Ryan Vandrey, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who studies marijuana. "The unfortunate result of that is that we're now in a situation where you have literally millions of people using a drug for which we don't have established safety or efficacy data," Vandrey said.

Hi KayB,

As realtors say, "location, location, location."

Living where I do in N. California's MJ & MMJ territory, I have a totally different impression than others living further from this particular center.

20 years after California's legalization of MMJ, it seems like almost everyone has a MMJ license to drive - I know many grannies, great grannies and even a great-great granny who've incorporated what they call "my medicine" into their daily lives. I can't sit in judgement of their choices or even critique their reasoning. From their perspective, that would be unwanted meddling. I prefer to maintain good relations whenever possible.

KayB, from my perspective, I'd personally prefer MMJ to the morphine, methadone, zofran and reglan I'm dependent on for pain and nausea control, but I've not tried any MMJ formulations that do it for me...so big pharma it is for now.

And yes, there are many dark sides to the local trade from murder to sex trade to arrests to illegal grows to environmental degradation to belief in the oddest medical-scientific "evidence" about the effectiveness of MMJ. Proof of efficacy has an Alice in Wonderland quality here.

I'm interested to see the outcome of the upcoming election to legalize MJ in California, but doubt I'll live so long.

Ours is an ongoing saga that may outrun the longest running TV soap operas.

warmest healing wishes, Stephanie

Hi FallenLeaves,

Sorry to hear you lost your MMJ source. I'm afraid that will happen in my region too - all the smaller growers and producers will be forced out by big industry.

FL, since you're good at research and finding reputable sources, I encourage you to look into organic, biodynamic and sulfur-free wines.

I'm smack dab in the center of N. California's wine country, as well as MJ country, and these are important distinctions to consumers and the industry in both wine & MJ worlds. Seriously, people are juicing and sprouting MJ for its purported health benefits - a sorta meld of raw-food and MJ approaches.

I don't imbibe or inhale, so I'm more of an observer than a participant in local sub-cultures.

warmest healing wishes, Stephanie

This reminds me, the counter-culture folks are growing and rolling their own tobacco too. Human ingenuity never fails to amaze!

Just this morning, I told y'all N. California is a different state of mind - here's fascinating news from nearby:

California Hospital Considers Allowing Patients To Use Medical Marijuana

excerpt:

Since smoking is prohibited in hospitals, the medical marijuana would be delivered to patients in other forms, such as edible products.

Public health advocate Larry Cohen, executive director of the Prevention Institute in Oakland, said hospitals would be ideal for supervising use of medical marijuana.

"It's far better for the medical staff to know what people are using and to ensure the right quality and the right fit with other medications, so this is probably smart," Cohen said. "One of the biggest disadvantages of edibles has to do with unsupervised risk related to children, and clearly this is far less of a concern in a medical institution."

Stephanie, I should definitely look into biodynamic wines! My husband and I did a wine tasting trip near Healdsburg by bike a few years ago and two of the vineyards were biodynamic. I was really impressed. I love California, and would love to do another wine/bike trip. Right now I mainly buy Fetzer wine because it is an environmentally friendly company, but biodynamic is even better. We have a lot of wineries here in WA, but I don't know if any are certified biodynamic.

And I think that is so cool that Marin General Hospital is looking to make MMJ use easier! Ought to be like that everywhere.

Lisey, I'm with you in frustration over the DEA keeping marijuana classified as schedule 1 and blocking much needed research. But then I think much of the War on Drugs is a huge waste of resources...I think we should go the way of Portugal and ease up.

Longterm, I am aware of the classification issue. However, the article you posted also says: "The decision means that pot remains on a list of drugs that have no medical purpose. But the Drug Enforcement Administration did open the door to more research on the drug and its possible medical uses.".

Here is a full explanation of what that refers to: http://www.laweekly.com/news/dea-ends-mississippis...

From the article:"The implications of this are twofold. Licensing additional growers means scientists might not have to wait as long to get their product. But more important, adding new growers to the mix means researchers will finally have access to different strains of pot, which could impact what kind of research scientists will conduct moving forward."

Biodynamic wines are an example of technological knowledge wed to traditional wholly organic & natural agriculture. You might conjure up an image of a tiny winery run by either aging hippies or a cranky old winemaster--but it can be incredibly cutting-edge while safe for the consumer & the environment. When we were in Tuscany in July, we visited a winery near Terracioli (sp?) called “La Spinetta” (rhino). 100% biodynamic, and as high tech as a NASA lab and cleanly designed tasting room as some trendy restaurants. The landscaping was breathtaking. And the wines? Let’s just say that the shipping and customs fees for the two cases we ordered were well worth it.

that's it Lisy totally agree because MJ is a natural substance big pharma can't make money on something that already exists in nature. Canada is set to legalize MJ in November for medicinal use (I know Justin has been a little slow but he's cute so I forgive him) and it will be legalized all round so for recreational use in the spring. I for one can't wait for some decent trials and an end to this speculation.

Wendy

Not to belabor the point about location too very much, but everywhere I go in my region of N. California, I see people self-medicating and self-prescribing MMJ.

Yes, there's a good, but expensive MD experienced with MMJ for cancer

Dr. Jeffrey Hergenrather | Medical Cannabis Consultant

www.drjeffhergenrather.com/

But most folks I meet self-treat or rely on the less-than-reliable clerks at the MMJ center. Most MMJ doctors meet with patients only once to begin and annually to re-recommend, so nobody really knows the effectiveness of ineffectiveness or unwanted effectiveness of what can be a powerful substance.

It's going to take decades to move from in-vitro studies of MMJ to animal models to small phase 1 human clinical trials evaluating safety to larger phase 2 l trials evaluating effectiveness to phase 3 trials generating reliable statistics and data.

It's a logistical nightmare already and those doing self-experiments and comparing notes with other patients will be the state of the art for some time to come. Of course, the growers and medicine producers will have a say too - the speed at which new strains are developed (high CBD/THC ratio) and new formulations created are phenomenal, especially compared to the slowness of "big pharma" and FDA processes.

Wish I felt more optimistic about the timeline to generate reliable clinical data, but I don't.

California has allowed MMJ for 20 years, nearly a generation, without controlling for safety, effectiveness or reliable data.

Oh well, I really wish MJ weren't a Schedule I substance (wikipedia entry).

And recent news - U.S. affirms its prohibition on medical marijuana.

healing regards all, Stephanie

Wendy,

Medical use in Canada was legalized on August 17th with recreational use to be legalized in April 2017.

Although they are not legal (per say) we have a few dispensaries open here now, there have been a few news items on them but they are leaving them alone. I visited one last week I could not purchase or see the price list and showroom as I did not have my script. but now I have it I can purchase from there, but I have applied to Health Canada to grow my own just waiting for the paperwork to come back. I can grow up to 10 plants indoors or outdoors and make my own oil and butters etc.

I do think a lot more preliminary research could be done by culling and collating practices and experiences of actual patients. Susan Love's research foundation is making some baby steps in that direction, by having people fill out lifestyle questionaires, for example. Thanks to computers it is now completely feasible to collect and analyze large data samples, even fairly messy ones

This is a wider, global view of medical pain management told through videos, links and quotes (in italics):

From A Better NHS in the UK,

How doctors respond to chronic pain

In her essay, The Art of Doing Nothing, Iona Heath explains that, "in medicine, the art of doing nothing is active, considered, and deliberate. It is an antidote to the pressure to DO and it takes many forms." Too often when confronted by patients which chronic pain, we "do something" in order to get rid of them, we send them for another investigation or another opinion or we prescribe more drugs. I don't doubt that this partly explains why the rates of deaths from prescription pain-killers are so high. Another reason for "doing something" is because chronic pain traps us in the present and destroys a sense of progress. "Doing something" sets us in motion again, even if we're only going round in circles.

"Doing nothing" needs to be qualified, it is far from passive and far from easy. Heath wrote her essay at the end of a long career distinguished by exceptionally deep and considered reflection. Instead of "doing something" we should learn again how to listen, think, acknowledge and bear witness.

Listening to stories about chronic pain makes doctors feel helpless, exhausted, anxious and at a loss for words. Paying close attention we might recognise that this is because the restitution narrative is inadequate and that we are trapped in chaos. I've explained how to listen for these different narratives in a recent essay about forgiveness: it's both a warning and a ray of hope that we might be stuck in chaos for a long time (in the case I discuss, it's 18 years). Recognising this is in itself a therapeutic opening. As a doctor I must resist the temptation to push toward this opening prematurely. The chaos narrative is already populated with others telling the ill person that "it can't be that bad", "there's always someone worse off", "don't give up hope"; and other statements that ill people often hear as allowing those who have nothing to offer feel as if they have offered something.

xxx

more cuts from this documentary about documentary at:

https://www.youtube.com/user/LifeBeforeDeathMovie

And the website & free viewing at:

http://www.lifebeforedeath.com

xxx

Global State of Pain Treatment

Access to Medicines and Palliative Care

Human Rights Watch

Every year, tens of millions of people around the world with life-threatening illnesses suffer unnecessarily from severe pain and other debilitating symptoms because they lack access to palliative care, an inexpensive health service that aims to improve the quality of life of people with serious health conditions.

We found enormous unmet need for pain treatment. Fourteen countries reported no consumption of opioid pain medicines between 2006 and 2008, meaning that there are no medicines to treat moderate to severe pain available through legitimate medical channels in those countries…

Some of the world's most populous countries have very poor availability of opioids for pain relief. Consequently, in each of China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, and South Africa, at least 100,000 people die from cancer or HIV/AIDS each year without access to adequate pain treatment. The combined suffering due to lack of opioid pain medicines worldwide is staggering. Our calculations confirm that more than 3.5 million terminal cancer and HIV/AIDS patients die each year without access to adequate pain treatment, a very conservative estimate that assumes that all opioids are used to treat this patient group.

Please look at this report, if you really are interested in pain relief.

xxx

The United States makes up only 4.6 percent of the world's population, but consumes 80 percent of its opioids… From ABC news in 2011

And no real change to those figure in 2016

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/27/americans-consume-a...

So, while the links between addiction, prescription painkillers and medical pain management are huge issues in the USA, it's also worthwhile to shift focus from a global panorama and see how the different people in different places have different problems.

Think global, act local, as the bumpersticker reads.

toward the easing of all suffering everywhere, Stephanie