We Will Win by Love and Science

There is a war on. It has been going on for a long time. The casualties are many. The wounded too numerous to mention. (..... pause for effect) the drug war of course. I'm pretty much on the anti-prohibition side so what do I mean by winning? With love. And the science bit. What's wid dat?

Winning the war against drug prohibition means putting and end to jailing people for their choice of drug and putting distribution in the hands of reputable people and corporations.

So we have to start the love bit some where. How about starting with loving drug users. The way we used to love Jews after WW2. Now it is my contention that we must also love those on the other side who are merely mis-guided because of so much mis-information.

The first bit I think we need to establish is that with all the draconian penalties for use and/or possession most of the casual users have been driven from the market. What does that leave? Self medicators. I first made that point in Addiction or Self Medication?. There are also reports from the field by a doctor and a drug counselor confirming my observation. So we need to love the drug users because in my opinion most of them have a medical problem that they are using drugs to treat. PTSD according to one doctor but also as this research report done by an another doctor says anxiety, ADD/ADHD and its accomanying use of alcohol and tobacco. BTW anxiety drugs are a $42 bn a year industry. So we have love. By way of science. Science done, for the most part, independent of government.

Which brings me to the latest report:

Marijuana effective against morning sickness which was suggested by this MAP posting.

The controversial use of medicinal marijuana as a weapon against pregnancy-induced morning sickness has been given a boost in a B.C. study to be published by a British journal.

While women are traditionally told to avoid drugs and alcohol during pregnancy, one researcher from each of the Vancouver Island and B.C. Compassion Societies and the University of B.C. and the University of Victoria looked to see if pregnant therapeutic users of medical marijuana reported relief from their nausea and vomiting.

The researchers found that 92 per cent of the women surveyed rated pot's effect on morning-sickness symptoms as either "very effective" or "effective."

The study will be published by the Journal of Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, likely in 2006, said Philippe Lucas, co-author of the report.

"This is the first time that compassion-club-based research will be published in a peer-reviewed, Elsevier-listed medical journal," said Lucas, who founded the Vancouver Island Compassion Society.

I think the key point here is that further research on the efficasy of cannabis must be a priority and ought to be a strong part of our movement. Every cannabis club needs a research budget. Either for its own research or to support the research of others. So far prescribing doctors and distributors are in the lead. What is needed is more projects and a broader base of support.

The way to win is through love and science. Love for the suffering. Love for the misguided. Science to the rescue.