Robin Prosser (50) committed suicide after being denied the use of marijuana for

[dandeelyon]

http://www.mydeathspace.com/article/...dical_purposes

I really wish they would legalize marijuana.  I personally can't stand smoking it, made me too paranoid, but I have seen the benefits for people with pain.  So many more positives to the negatives when compared to synthetic rx's or opiates.

Poor woman.   Her pain is finally over, I hope she is at peace.

[perry]

Fixed link.

http://mydeathspace.com/article/2007/11/15/Robin_Prosser_(50)_committed_suicide_after_being_d enied_the_use_of_marijuana_for_medical_purposes

RIP Robin. I am sorry you had to live with so much pain.

[beautiful.disaster]

everyone already knows how i feel about this issue.  so sad.

RIP Robin

[sarabei]

http://www.mydeathspace.com/article/2007/11/15/Robin_Prosser_(50)_committed_suicide_after_being_d enied_the_use_of_marijuana_for_medical_purposes

This one is sad, she seemed like she was really accomplished and became disabled and was hurting no one...sad!

[Karalicious]

I cant see the article :(

[HomicidalLlama]

[quote author=Karalicious link=topic=10923.msg610584#msg610584 date=1195062010]
I cant see the article :(
[/quote]

All your dreams are dead.

[PCP777]

"She was a high-profile campaigner for the Montana Medical Marijuana Act, and like others, she was dismayed when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that drug agents could still arrest sick people using marijuana, even in states that legalized its use. "

That makes no sense to me.
Pot being illegal makes no sense to me.

Over the years we've filled our prisoners with non violent marijuana offenders when we have such "bigger fish to fry" as a country. Let's take the money being spent on marijuana interdiction and use it to help treat people that are addicted to real drugs like  meth, coke and heroin. Let's tax marijuana and channel the money to treatment centers! let's leave the people who are smoking pot in the privacy of their own home alone!

RIP Robin

[Josephine]

From her blog:

what if they robbed the 'pony express' and took your grandmother's heart medicine? what would you do? and say the kindly neighbor had headache pills, and they gave them to you, hoping to help? of course headache pills won't help your grandma's heart. and the DEA has taken grandma's medicine away.
i am sick. and i'm tired of it. all that i want is to have the medicine to treat my disease, same as anyone else.
i've gone on hunger strike, protested, written letters, begged, pleaded, and still - i sit here, sick.
i've been at the mercy of street dealers, dependent on whatever's available at a high price. now no one on the streets wants anything to do with me, because they assume the DEA is always watching me.
i've had two caregivers now, as our state law allows. a caregiver is supposed to grow six plants for you, to keep you in the medicine you need. marijuana is not all that simple. i need a sativa-dominant strain. and i need quality product.
my former caregivers brought the wrong kind of medicine to me twice in six weeks. i can't pay $220.00 for something that doesn't help me. and where is MY medicine, anyway? i can guess by the reds of their eyes.
so then i get a new caregiver. things haven't gone so very well at all. i'm as sick as it gets now, over six weeks without the right medicine - headache pills for heart trouble.
i don't want to struggle anymore, or fight. all that i wanted was some freedom from disease.
i'm fed-up with those who claim to have patients' best interests at heart who are truly just using medical marijuana patients to further the general legalization issue.
i am tired of college students all sitting around smoking the best marijuana available, because they can afford it, they can find it - the DEA isn't bothering with them.
i give up.
happy trails, y'all.
my happiness will never be on this earth, i know now. and i don't see the sense in putting myself through this for - what? whom?
won't be much missing, in the end. just a little less bullshit to read, one less person who needs medicine, so maybe there'll be some for grandma.
i did my best and i feel i helped to make some slight difference - leaving the world a little better than i found it.
that's all that matters.

This just makes me so sad.  As a nurse, this is upsetting to me beyond words; she phrased it beautifully. 

I work with a lot of disabled vets who are too ashamed to let anyone know that they smoke pot, even though that is the one thing that really eases the pain of TBI related headaches, improperly healed fractures, and the list goes on.  The VA gives them high dose narcotics that leave them feeling groggy but that don't really help with the pain.  Why?  Why give out narcotics like candy and then imprison people - or, worse for some of them, revoke their earned medical benefits - for using something that is much more benign?

It's not right!  The world is short a great mind and a great advocate for many on this one. 

[ashcash]

That blog is so sad. I definitely would have given up my stash for her. The illegalization of marijuana has never made any sense to me especially considering the legality of alcohol.

RIP Robin...

[ChrisClu80]

[quote author=ashcash link=topic=10923.msg613914#msg613914 date=1195227738]
That blog is so sad. I definitely would have given up my stash for her. The illegalization of marijuana has never made any sense to me especially considering the legality of alcohol.

RIP Robin...
[/quote]

Sheeeeit if anything should be illegal it should be cigarettes. 400,000 people die a year due to complications from smoking.

[Lonzi07]

[quote author=ChrisClu80 link=topic=10923.msg613926#msg613926 date=1195228100]
Sheeeeit if anything should be illegal it should be cigarettes. 400,000 people die a year due to complications from smoking.
[/quote]

...are you snorting your maryjane?

[beautiful.disaster]

[quote author=Lonzi07 link=topic=10923.msg613951#msg613951 date=1195228814]
...are you snorting your maryjane?
[/quote]

he was talking about cigs.

there has never been any deaths linked to smoking pot.

[PCP777]

[quote author=ashcash link=topic=10923.msg613914#msg613914 date=1195227738]
That blog is so sad. I definitely would have given up my stash for her. The illegalization of marijuana has never made any sense to me especially considering the legality of alcohol.

RIP Robin...
[/quote]

True that! I've never heard of someone getting into a fight or wrecking their car because they smoked to much weed, but DWI fatalities and drunk asshole fights happen everyday. Nobody has ever overdosed on pot, but people can drink themselves to death. Not that I have anything against alcohol, I love scotch on the rocks. As you point out, it makes no sense that marijuana is illegal and alcohol is OK. Pot should be legalized, regulated and taxed just like alcohol. Not only would this create a new revenue stream for the government, but it would also free up the court system and law enforcement to fight the real problems. People who think pot should be illegal or is a dangerous drug are simply ignorant. They need to light up! :2grin:

[Lonzi07]

[quote author=beautiful.disaster link=topic=10923.msg613959#msg613959 date=1195229224]
he was talking about cigs.

there has never been any deaths linked to smoking pot.
[/quote]

I understand that he was talking about cigs. But if you honestly think that smoking marijuana can't give you lung disease or lung cancer, you're delusional. (I you) Smoking anything can and will damage your lungs. Inhaling smoke of any kind can damage your lungs. You're lungs are not created to ingest smoke, period.

And no, I'm not against pot, and I used to smoke.

[beautiful.disaster]

[quote author=PCP777 link=topic=10923.msg613962#msg613962 date=1195229381]
True that! I've never heard of someone getting into a fight or wrecking their car because they smoked to much weed, but DWI fatalities and drunk asshole fights happen everyday. Nobody has ever overdosed on pot, but people can drink themselves to death. Not that I have anything against alcohol, I love scotch on the rocks. As you point out, it makes no sense that marijuana is illegal and alcohol is OK. Pot should be legalized, regulated and taxed just like alcohol. Not only would this create a new revenue stream for the government, but it would also free up the court system and law enforcement to fight the real problems. People who think pot should be illegal or is a dangerous drug are simply ignorant. They need to light up! :2grin:
[/quote]

me neighbor just got 5 years for selling a half pound of shitty weed to some undercover cop.  when i heard that, i was SO angry.  i CAN NOT believe that the court system wastes their time and money on such non-violent offences. 

[Lonzi07]

[quote author=PCP777 link=topic=10923.msg613962#msg613962 date=1195229381]
True that! I've never heard of someone getting into a fight or wrecking their car because they smoked to much weed, but DWI fatalities and drunk asshole fights happen everyday. Nobody has ever overdosed on pot, but people can drink themselves to death. Not that I have anything against alcohol, I love scotch on the rocks. As you point out, it makes no sense that marijuana is illegal and alcohol is OK. Pot should be legalized, regulated and taxed just like alcohol. Not only would this create a new revenue stream for the government, but it would also free up the court system and law enforcement to fight the real problems. People who think pot should be illegal or is a dangerous drug are simply ignorant. They need to light up! :2grin:
[/quote]


Actually, there have been a few articles posted recently where malicious beatings took place during/after smoking pot.



...but I don't think it was because of the pot. I'm just throwing that out there...

[ashcash]

Lonzi...what about the numerous studies that have found that marijuana can reduce cancerous tumors in the lungs by up to 50%?

[Lonzi07]

[quote author=ashcash link=topic=10923.msg613973#msg613973 date=1195229850]
Lonzi...what about the numerous studies that have found that marijuana can reduce cancerous tumors in the lungs by up to 50%?
[/quote]

50%? I've never heard of such studies, but provide a link and I'll review it.

I'm not contesting marijuana use for medicinal purposes, but if you think smoking it won't damage you're lungs, you're not thinking.

[ashcash]

This is just one article from the washingtob post. I'm on a phone so can't paste a link right now.

Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana ConnectionBy Marc KaufmanWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, May 26, 2006; A03The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years."We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."Federal health and drug enforcement officials have widely used Tashkin's previous work on marijuana to make the case that the drug is dangerous. Tashkin said that while he still believes marijuana is potentially harmful, its cancer-causing effects appear to be of less concern than previously thought.Earlier work established that marijuana does contain cancer-causing chemicals as potentially harmful as those in tobacco, he said. However, marijuana also contains the chemical THC, which he said may kill aging cells and keep them from becoming cancerous.Tashkin's study, funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse, involved 1,200 people in Los Angeles who had lung, neck or head cancer and an additional 1,040 people without cancer matched by age, sex and neighborhood.They were all asked about their lifetime use of marijuana, tobacco and alcohol.

The heaviest marijuana smokers had lighted up more than 22,000 times, while moderately heavy usage was defined as smoking 11,000 to 22,000 marijuana cigarettes. Tashkin found that even the very heavy marijuana smokers showed no increased incidence of the three cancers studied."This is the largest case-control study ever done, and everyone had to fill out a very extensive questionnaire about marijuana use," he said. "Bias can creep into any research, but we controlled for as many confounding factors as we could, and so I believe these results have real meaning."Tashkin's group at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA had hypothesized that marijuana would raise the risk of cancer on the basis of earlier small human studies, lab studies of animals, and the fact that marijuana users inhale more deeply and generally hold smoke in their lungs longer than tobacco smokers -- exposing them to the dangerous chemicals for a longer time. In addition, Tashkin said, previous studies found that marijuana tar has 50 percent higher concentrations of chemicals linked to cancer than tobacco cigarette tar.While no association between marijuana smoking and cancer was found, the study findings, presented to the American Thoracic Society International Conference this week, did find a 20-fold increase in lung cancer among people who smoked two or more packs of cigarettes a day.

The study was limited to people younger than 60 because those older than that were generally not exposed to marijuana in their youth, when it is most often tried

[ashcash]

Okay and here is the article about actually cutting down tumor growth.

Marijuana Cuts Lung Cancer Tumor Growth In Half, Study ShowsScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2007) — The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies.

They say this is the first set of experiments to show that the compound, Delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), inhibits EGF-induced growth and migration in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expressing non-small cell lung cancer cell lines.

Lung cancers that over-express EGFR are usually highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy. THC that targets cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 is similar in function to endocannabinoids, which are cannabinoids that are naturally produced in the body and activate these receptors. The researchers suggest that THC or other designer agents that activate these receptors might be used in a targeted fashion to treat lung cancer. "The beauty of this study is that we are showing that a substance of abuse, if used prudently, may offer a new road to therapy against lung cancer," said Anju Preet, Ph.D., a researcher in the Division of Experimental Medicine.

Acting through cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2, endocannabinoids (as well as THC) are thought to play a role in variety of biological functions, including pain and anxiety control, and inflammation. Although a medical derivative of THC, known as Marinol, has been approved for use as an appetite stimulant for cancer patients, and a small number of U.S. states allow use of medical marijuana to treat the same side effect, few studies have shown that THC might have anti-tumor activity, Preet says. The only clinical trial testing THC as a treatment against cancer growth was a recently completed British pilot study in human glioblastoma.In the present study, the researchers first demonstrated that two different lung cancer cell lines as well as patient lung tumor samples express CB1 and CB2, and that non-toxic doses of THC inhibited growth and spread in the cell lines. "When the cells are pretreated with THC, they have less EGFR stimulated invasion as measured by various in-vitro assays," Preet said.Then, for three weeks, researchers injected standard doses of THC into mice that had been implanted with human lung cancer cells, and found that tumors were reduced in size and weight by about 50 percent in treated animals compared to a control group. There was also about a 60 percent reduction in cancer lesions on the lungs in these mice as well as a significant reduction in protein markers associated with cancer progression, Preet says.Although the researchers do not know why THC inhibits tumor growth, they say the substance could be activating molecules that arrest the cell cycle. They speculate that THC may also interfere with angiogenesis and vascularization, which promotes cancer growth.Preet says much work is needed to clarify the pathway by which THC functions, and cautions that some animal studies have shown that THC can stimulate some cancers. "THC offers some promise, but we have a long way to go before we know what its potential is," she said.

[maybell]

This is really tragic.
Poor woman.

I don't really understand why pot is illegal anyway, never have. Even if it did cause lung cancer (as some speculate- though I have also read numerous studies that seem to contradict this), is that really basis for illegality? Lots of things that are legal cause health problems (cigarettes, alcohol, junk food, poorly made shoes, etc, etc).  It's about personal choice. Weed is less dangerous (overall) than alcohol and cigarettes anyway, isn't it? 

Maybe it's because I live in Canada... more people smoke pot here than in any other industrialized nation in the world, and it's never been a big deal for anyone. Just about everyone I have met here has smoked it at least once, most much more. It only becomes a problem if you smoke it all day every day at the expense of doing more productive things (work/school). But the same can be said for video games, etc. etc...

Anyway RIP Prosser. I would have gladly donated my stash to you if you'd been close by.

[bowieluva]

[quote author=maybell link=topic=10923.msg614122#msg614122 date=1195234373]
This is really tragic.
Poor woman.

I don't really understand why pot is illegal anyway, never have. Even if it did cause lung cancer (as some speculate- though I have also read numerous studies that seem to contradict this), is that really basis for illegality? Lots of things that are legal cause health problems (cigarettes, alcohol, junk food, poorly made shoes, etc, etc).  It's about personal choice. Weed is less dangerous (overall) than alcohol and cigarettes anyway, isn't it? 

Maybe it's because I live in Canada... more people smoke pot here than in any other industrialized nation in the world, and it's never been a big deal for anyone. Just about everyone I have met here has smoked it at least once, most much more. It only becomes a problem if you smoke it all day every day at the expense of doing more productive things (work/school). But the same can be said for video games, etc. etc...

Anyway RIP Prosser. I would have gladly donated my stash to you if you'd been close by.



[/quote]

Mostly, it has to do with the war on drugs, and the massive revenue the government makes off of it.  Marijuana is the #1 drug targeted in this war.  Very limited research has been conducted on the effects of pot because every time scientists look into it, another myth is disproved.  Personally, I think it's bullshit to make cigarettes legal, which have no redeeming qualities, and something that can ease suffering and pain illegal.

I did a huge research report on this for college a few years ago (and won an award!  Go team.) and one of the concepts discussed at length was the 'taboo image' of marijuana.  Basically, the articles suggested that marijuana is so frowned upon because it's associated with 'wasters, hippies and burn-outs' whereas cocaine somehow has a 'rich' conontation.

[ashcash]

Bowie I hear you on the 'rich' connotation of cocaine. Mostly everyone I know who does coke are upper class whites with money to blow. Also doesn't the history of criminalized weed go back to the early days of Mexican immigration? I remember seeing a documentary about hoq criminalizing some drugs made it easier to deport? Please correct me if I'm wrong though...

[bowieluva]

[quote author=ashcash link=topic=10923.msg614268#msg614268 date=1195238259]
Bowie I hear you on the 'rich' connotation of cocaine. Mostly everyone I know who does coke are upper class whites with money to blow. Also doesn't the history of criminalized weed go back to the early days of Mexican immigration? I remember seeing a documentary about hoq criminalizing some drugs made it easier to deport? Please correct me if I'm wrong though...
[/quote]

no, you're right, and it also has to do with the import/export value of the drug.  A really, really good documentary that everyone, especially people who think Reagan was anything less than a fumbling 'tard, should see is The Iran Contra Scandal.  Basically, it has a lot of really compelling evidence regarding the US government's involvement with the cocaine trade.

[PCP777]

[quote author=ashcash link=topic=10923.msg614268#msg614268 date=1195238259]
Bowie I hear you on the 'rich' connotation of cocaine. Mostly everyone I know who does coke are upper class whites with money to blow. Also doesn't the history of criminalized weed go back to the early days of Mexican immigration? I remember seeing a documentary about hoq criminalizing some drugs made it easier to deport? Please correct me if I'm wrong though...
[/quote]

Don't forget, crack is cocaine...and I see allot of poor people here in DFW wasting their lives on the powdered variety too. I think the "rich" stereotype dates back to the late 70's , Studio 51 etc.