People have to realize one thing and once they do that, maybe they could go on leading their lives a bit differently. The government cannot take care of each and every one of us. In the heads of most people, that’s exactly what the government should be doing but in reality – there are just too many people out there that need to be satisfied and it’s impossible to satisfy all of them. You can’t have the government reaching out to everyone individually. That’s why most of the decisions that are made within the political realm only begin with the public support but they sure as hell don’t continue with it. Take legalization of medical marijuana for instance. Even though there are too many people that need the help of medical marijuana, most of them are not allowed to obtain it. Imagine you suffer from a neuropathic debilitating pain, which is similar to the feeling of being stabbed, stung by bees and then set on fire. Most of us don’t experience this sort of pain but we’re sure politicians couldn’t care less.
Neuropathic Pain
Medications available for treatment of neuropathic debilitating pain are not exactly scarce but they are quite expensive and if you’re suffering from the condition, they could cost you up to $400 a month. Oxycontin is among the drugs prescribed for treatment of the above-mentioned condition. Oxy and similar drugs are known for their terrible side effects. They can cause psychological issues, liver damage, blood disorders and a plethora of serious side effects. Needless to say, there are many alternatives for treatment of such a condition but almost none of them have been proven to work. Well, except one. You guessed it, its medical marijuana. At first, medical marijuana was a concept that didn’t inspire confidence. However, as time passed by, testimonials started popping up all over the place stating that marijuana does work and could be used both for pain relief, cancer treatment and many other illnesses. It was quite popular among chemotherapy patients who lost the will to eat. If anything, marijuana induced munchies are a known fact and we couldn’t think of a better way to improve the patients eating habits.
Prescription Drugs
Unlike prescription drugs, marijuana doesn’t have severe side effects. Sure, you may feel dizzy, lightheaded and like you’re about to devour an entire supermarket, but that’s pretty much it. Plus, there have been no recorded marijuana related deaths ever. For comparison sake, Vicodin and Oxycontin are responsible for 16,000 deaths in 2010. This brings up several questions. Why are politicians still endorsing pharmaceutical drugs instead of medical marijuana? Because the Big Pharma lobby is throwing money at them like there’s no tomorrow and cashing in on medical marijuana legalization is simply not that lucrative at the moment.
Ten years from now, when marijuana is legalized across the U.S., things will be different and money will be pouring in on a daily basis. But, medical marijuana is not as lucrative a business as recreational marijuana. There is simply not that much to gain by endorsing a medical marijuana bill. The people of Colorado might change that collective opinion they’re looking at $184 million in taxes from marijuana sales alone. Even though that’s quite an impressive sum, “only” 40 million will go into education, while the rest of the money will be invested into marijuana research. Now, THAT is money well spent.
Constituents Don’t Matter
In the meantime, people are suffering from unimaginable pain, dealing with cancer, paralysis and various debilitating conditions. Most of them die in excruciating pain or from organ failure while the lawmakers; legislators, senators, governors and representative are doing everything but helping their constituents. Their disconnectedness from reality is frightening. Recently, the House Rules Committee in Carolina disapproved of a bill that should have legalized medical marijuana. Nothing odd there, right? Well, they only discussed the matter for about 20 minutes. Surely, more conclusions could’ve been made if the talks went on for at least an hour, not to mention an entire session. However, they simply received too many phone calls from constituents contacting them to support the bill. That scared the living daylights out of them so the legislators had to speed things along and didn’t really have time for petty nonsense like legalization of medical marijuana.
Consequences
Democracy is an illusion and politicians are covering it up under the veil that marijuana is a gateway drug, which means it would inevitably lead to cocaine or heroin. The law is in their favor since marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I drug, making it more dangerous than crystal meth, and placing it in the same class as heroin. On paper, everything looks legit and that’s why politicians are holding off medical marijuana legalization in the rest of the U.S. Meanwhile, patients who are in dire need of medication other than Vicodin or Oxycontin, are scratching their heads because of lack of compassion. Even though 20 states, along with the District of Columbia, have legalized medical marijuana, we still have a long way to go to medical marijuana legalization on a national level. We know it’s tough to fight Big Pharma, they have lobbyists all over the country and their main weapon has always been money. They have tried to patent cannabis in order to produce it in pill form and keep the patent to themselves but luckily you cannot patent a product of nature.
Politics & Medical Marijuana I
Politics & Medical Marijuana II
after watching Weed, and Weed 2 on CNN. I found out that the US government has patents on several pot studies, and the chemical compounds. and yet, they just sit on this info, and no one else can do the research on the patents! Quite frankly they don’t care about the person that’s suffering! Much less help ease their suffering if they’re not going to become rich.