Pain Clinics Test Patients for Marijuana Use
July 7th, 2009 By: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive DirectorShare this Article
By Dale Gieringer, Director, CA NORML
Like many medical marijuana users, Kristin Redeen needed additional prescription medications for her severe chronic pain. For seven years she had been treated at a private pain clinic in the Central Valley, where a doctor maintained her on Percocet, a semi-synthetic opioid. One day Kristin was unexpectedly asked to submit a urine sample. 
“They already knew about my medical marijuana use,” says Kristin, who contacted California NORML. “I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.”
When the test came back, Kristin was informed that the clinic would no longer renew her prescription because she had tested positive for an illegal controlled substance. Her doctor at the clinic cited legal concerns, claiming –falsely– that DEA regulations forbid giving prescription narcotics to users of marijuana or other illegal drugs.
Kristin was cut off from her Percocet and began suffering seizures. She finally found a physician who was willing to prescribe her another opioid, Vicodin, but only at low doses insufficient to relieve her constant pain.
Kristin is one of a growing number of medical marijuana patients discriminated against by pain clinics. “I must have heard of 25 cases this year,” says Doug Hiatt, an attorney in Washington state. “It’s Jim Crow medicine.”
NORML has received a surge of complaints within the last six months. Many medical marijuana users report that they can’t find a clinic willing to take them on. Others, like Kristin, have been abandoned by clinics that suddenly adopted aggressive drug-screening policies.
Clinics say they are legally compelled to drug-test chronic pain patients so as to avoid liability for overdoses and diversion of prescription drugs, particularly opioids such as oxycontin –which have nothing to do with cannabis.
Chronic pain patients have good reason to object to being denied medical access to cannabis. Chronic pain is the leading indication for medical cannabis use, accounting for 90% of the patients in Oregon’s medical marijuana program. More than 60 studies have shown cannabinoids to be effective in pain relief, according to a compilation by the International Association of Cannabis Medicine which includes four controlled studies of smoked marijuana by California’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research.
Studies indicate that cannabis interacts synergistically with opioids in such a way as to improve pain relief [1, 2]. California medical cannabis specialists consistently report that patients are able to reduce use of opioids –typically by 50%– when they add cannabis to their regimen. Cannabis can therefore be seen as a gateway drug leading away from opioid addiction. Nevertheless, patients are being pressured to stop using cannabis if they want to get prescription opioids.
To their dismay, patients have to pay for the drug tests at their own (or their insurers’) expense. Carol, a chronic pain patient who had been treated for seven years by the same clinic without any testing, reports that she was billed $325 for a urine screen. The balance of the bill, which totaled $1,601, was paid by her insurer.
Carol says her doctor told her that “the DEA requires him to drug test all his clients, that he has no choice, it is the law.”
In fact, there is no law requiring clinics to drug screen patients for marijuana. “It’s BS,” says Hiatt. Not a single case is known in which pain doctors have been sued or prosecuted for allowing medical marijuana use along with opiates.
Prosecutors have argued that marijuana might be obtained on the illicit market in trade for prescription drugs, though such a scenario seems implausible in medical cannabis states. “It’s unwarranted paranoia,” says Gregory Carter, MD, one of the few practicing pain experts who recommend marijuana in Washington.
Given that cannabis is notably less toxic and addictive than other prescription narcotics, it seems highly ironic that pain clinics are discouraging its use. The prejudice against marijuana has nothing to do with medical science, but rather with political and legal pressures to crack down on prescription drug use. Non-medical use of prescription drugs has recently emerged as the nation’s number-one drug problem du jour.
A new government report, ominously entitled the “National Prescription Drug Threat Assessment,” reported 8,500 deaths in 2005 from prescription pain relievers (mainly opioids), more than double the 2001 total. “Diversion and abuse of prescription drugs are a threat to our public health and safety – similar to the threat posed by illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine,” warned Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske.
The Pain Specialists’ Meeting
The 2009 American Pain Society Convention in San Diego included a panel on “Cannabinoids in Pain Management,” chaired by Dr. Mark Ware of McGill University. Dr. Andrea Hohmann, an expert on stress-level analgesia from the University of Georgia, presented evidence from rodent studies which showed that cannabinoids suppress nociceptive processing through both the CB1 and CB2 receptors, and that endocannabinoids, including 2-AG and anandamide, help suppress pain.
Donald Abrams, MD, of the University of California at San Francisco, discussed his studies showing that inhaled marijuana significantly reduced neuropathic pain experienced by HIV patients. Cannabinoids and opioids interact synergistically on separate but parallel pain receptors, Abrams said. He is conducting another study on combined use of cannabinoids and opioids, preliminary results of which appear promising.
Dr. Ware discussed studies involving the variety of cannabinoid medicines available in Canada, which include dronabinol, Sativex, Nabilone, and herbal THC. All of them have demonstrated efficacy in pain relief. Cannabis is now recognized as a “third line” agent for neuropathic pain in Canada. Noting that that its adverse effects are mild to moderate, Ware concluded that “cannabinoid analgesia is the real thing.”
During the question session, your correspondent asked why it was that, in light of evidence that cannabis was so useful in pain therapy, there appeared to be an upsurge in drug testing to prevent its use. The panelists could offer no explanation.
We moved on to the exhibition hall, where drug testing companies were conspicuously displaying their wares. Their exhibits showed how well their products could monitor usage of opiates. The exhibitors seemed surprised when we told them that their products were being used against medical marijuana.
One of the more sophisticated exhibitors was Ameritox, which boasted panels for distinguishing a dozen different opioids plus numerous sedatives, tricyclic anti-depressants, barbiturates, and stimulants as well as “drugs of abuse,” among them marijuana. Their saleswoman seemed surprised to hear that the Ameritox test was being used to screen out medical marijuana patients. She said that clinics could easily order the screens without the marijuana if they wanted.
Another company boasted how their test could be administered at the doctor’s office, thereby allowing the doctor rather than the lab to collect the bill.
Finally, we spoke to a legal expert on pain medication, Ms. Jennifer Bolen, a former prosecutor turned defense attorney, who has a useful website devoted to the subject:
www.legalsideofpain.com.
Ms Bolen pointed to three recent developments that have increased the pressure to conduct drug screening of pain patients. First, pain doctors have suffered a string of stinging legal judgments for over-prescribing opioids to patients who subsequently overdosed. One notable example involved Dr. Thomas Merrill of Florida, whose life sentence was sustained by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals last year.
This February, a prestigious panel of the American Pain Society issued “New Guidelines for Prescribing Opioid Pain Drugs” which counsels that “diligent monitoring of patients is essential. “ The report specifically recommends periodic drug screens for chronic opioid patients at risk for aberrant drug behavior, though it doesn’t mention cannabis.
Lastly, under legislation that took effect this year, the FDA has new authority to require pharmaceutical companies to implement “risk management” programs to prevent consumer drug misuse.
Medical cannabis patients have no easy remedy to the current drug testing onslaught. In the absence of dire bodily harm, malpractice suits are of no avail. In general, pain clinics have no legal obligation to treat anyone. They commonly require patients to sign contracts allowing them to conduct drug screening at will. Nonetheless, patients may have good grounds to complain to their state medical boards. This is particularly the case where they have been abandoned by their doctors after being made dependent on prescription narcotics.
The ultimate recourse is to educate doctors, many of whom remain woefully ignorant of the literature on medical marijuana and chronic pain. At the APS convention we encountered a distinguished pain specialist from San Diego, who joked about having enjoyed the marijuana muchies with his son, but averred that he wouldn’t let his patients use it, on the grounds that it wouldn’t be useful, and anyway smoked medicine is bad for the lungs. Like most convention attendees, he had missed the panel on medical cannabis, where Dr. Abrams had discussed the use of smokeless vaporizers.
Still, good physicians should be open to persuasion from patients. Cynthia, a severe chronic pain patient. had frequented the same clinic for 10 years when she was confronted with a surprise urine test. In addition to prescription opiates, she had been using medical marijuana, though her recommendation was four years out of date. The test cost her $100 and her insurer $500 more.
On finding her positive for marijuana, her doctor informed her that she would have to reduce her cannabinoid level to zero. After a heart-to-heart talk, in which she explained to him how she had been able to reduce her opiate use to minimal levels thanks to medical cannabis, her doctor relented. “I feel really lucky,’ says Cynthia, “You have to feel out the doctor. We have a special relationship. I don’t think he plans to do this with all his patients.”
REFERENCES
[1] Lynch and Clark, “Cannabis reduces opioid dose in the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain,” Journal Pain Symptom Management, (2003) 25(6) 496-8.
[2[ Narang et al., 2008 Efficacy of dronabinol as an adjuvant treatment for chronic pain patients on opioid therapy, J Pain. Mar;9(3):254-64.
From O’Shaughnessy’s, Summer 2009
To order this 52-page, all-content, no-jive publication, send $5 to p.o. box 490, Alameda, CA 94501. O’S is available in bulk to physicians, collectives, cooperatives and reform groups for $1/copy for free distribution to patients and interested citizens.
Tags: drug testing, opiods, pain, pain clinics, vaporizer
July 7th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Un-fucking-believable. So this is what those crooks, the DEA, are sinking down to now? How fucking low can they go? Taking away the rights and medicine of doctors’ patients??
WHERE’S THE JUSTICE IN ALL THIS???
THE DEA ARE CRIMINALS!!
July 7th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I would like to add my 2 cents worth here also. I have been treated by a general practitioner for 5 years now to manage pain caused from an injury to my thoracic spine in which a disc has bulged into my spinal cord causing it to flatten which causes severe pain when using my arms. I have been with the same doctor for about 4 years now after losing my original doctor due to a failed ’surprise’ urine test. When I secured my second doctor, I told him up front that I used cannibis and his response was he had found it helpful for many things, as he was a user during his own cancer treatment. I asked about problems with the govt. and he responded that he didn’t care about the govt.I had to sign a ‘contract’ that allowed for testing. He stated that he would not test me unless he had a reason. He had been prescribing MS Contin-30mg twice a day and up to 60mg of Vicodin per day along with 10mg of Valium per day to control muscle spasms. Since MMJ isn’t legal here in Wisconsin, even the best local smoke didn’t help as much as MMJ, but it did help with the spasms. The last time I saw him, about a month ago, he demanded a drug test. I told him that I would probably fail because of MJ. He said that he would ignore that part.
Today, I received a phone call from his office stating that he was uncomfortable treating me anymore and has washed his hands of me and my problem. I have not received the results of my test as of this writing and I wonder if I have any recourse.
Thanks for your thoughts,
Jacki
July 7th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I have M.S. and the pain clinic threw my out with no medicane for testing postive and I cant get pack in one at all so I know the feeling. Pot helps me better than anything else I have tried my doctor knows this yet I cant get it, just not fair!!!
July 7th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Scary stuff. The seizures could have led to a fatality by choking or falling.
July 7th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
This is just criminal!! They cant show that cannabis has EVER killed anyone. They cant show that cannabis is worse than any other drug onthe market(or blackmarket for that matter). Yet they work so very hard to make life difficult on cannabis users. I think the day will come when they will try and remove all rights from cannabis users. HOW THE HELL ARE CANNABIS USERS SUCH A DANGER THAT YOU(DEA AND GOVERNMENT LEADERS) THINK YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO RUIN THE LIVES OF GOOD PEOPLE?!?!?!? AMERICA? I think not! The day will come when America will change for better or worse. It just depends on who wins…the people or the government. This is socialism !! Communism comes after that.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Amazing how much the DEA and pharmaceutical companies really hate Cannabis.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Just a side note: Its reasons like this that I havent used cannabis for a very long time. I wont be til we get it legal. It was my fathers death that really got me in this fight. Cancer. He could have dont much better without the the drugs they pumped into him. It was terrible what these man made drugs did to him.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
It goes beyond the simple pain management aspect. People on disability have been told testing positive means instant disqualification and the potential to be sued for damages to repay monies spent on their care. I was aghast when I saw that paperwork to be signed.
What I think is another major flaw is that we are paying out tons in additional tax dollars to test for “illicit” drug use at a rate much higher than what is often quoted to the public. How many times have you been told that drug screens only cost about $50-100? Somehow the costs of administering these tests have escalated higher than the cost of buying a Tylenol in a hospital. It is not uncommon of late to see the actual bill show anywhere from $600-1000 for a simple urine drug screen.
People wonder why we cannot afford to provide medical care? Simple corruption for a dipstick test is just one of many examples.
The other problem is of course doctors basically getting out of the “pain management” business. I was no longer able to get a normal prescription for a non-narcotic migraine medication because it came under their “pain management” rules at my previous care provider. Needless to say I had my insurance company reverse the bill for that last visit. They also referred me to a “pain specialist” who had a contract that had to be signed stating I needed to submit to random drug testing and that results could be made available to law enforcement.
Who knows. Maybe in a few more years we wont be able to even get a simple Tylenol for a headache over the counter without having to see a pain management specialist first.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
1 David says:
“How fucking low can they go”
David…A man must know his limitations. Evidently… they don’t have any limitations… let alone a conscience to guide them from those unconscionable acts, especially when they are sworn to do no harm.
Let me ask you David…Would you go to a Doctor if you knew he was on the mortician’s payroll? If you knew the inner workings of medicine it would shock you. So let’s leave it at that. I don’t want to blow your mind. How can I say that…you ask. 35 years a healthcare consultant and mediator should be enough
credentials.
How low can they go? To new depths I’m sure!
July 7th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I hope NORML can use this and Bob’s case to make the general public aware of what our government is doing to the sick people of this country in the name of prohibition. How can anyone with a heart do this to a person in severe pain. What a bunch of truly evil people. I hope someday the have the misfortune of being in pain with no relief insight so they can experience what they have done to these poor people. This is the most shameful thing I have seen in the name of medicine. What happened to first do no harm!!!
July 7th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Do we really want the government involved in health care? This scares the shit out of me and I’m nearly fearless. I guess this sort of thing is the Obama administrations way of reducing the demand for cannabis. These people really need to be voted out of office and soon.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Hey heres another thought people,If you think this is bad now…Whta do you think it will be like if the government is providing health care? What kinds of “restrictions” will they place on people? This is getting scary people!!
July 7th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Anyone getting the Idea theres something blowing in the wind that we are not aware of?
July 7th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
So much for change in the USA the only change iv seen in the last year is less change in my pockets.
i take oxycodone 10.325 5 times a day i don’t use weed thou i would like to see it legal for all people over 18 old enough to die in combat old enough to use weed but that’s a nether rant any how the morons in the FDA and DEA not only want to keeps you hippies down buy want to keep old squares like me in pain also by taking away the oxycodone and hydrocodon all so we as a country need to think more before we vote and in the upcoming elections vote wisely as soon even the freedom to do that will end FREE THE CANABIS FREE THE US PEOPLE
July 7th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
It seems to me that the DEA, while having responded to Barack Obama’s order to not raid medical pot centers, is also responding to the new direction of turning some of the control against medical pot in the public health direction. However, it’s resulting again in severe discrimination against med pot users.
It still sucks. Why not just use all the damn jails built in the ’80s, make a real statement against pot and just use law enforcement (another Obama hallmark).
It’s going to take many years and lots more casualties in the U.S.A. to result in any real change. There’s just too much policy antimarijuana types (Obama!) want in place. It’s typical of the policy against the people. Unbeliveable.
July 7th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
This happened in California where the voters have already spoken? Someone put that woman on Montel.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
[...] more: Pain Clinics Test Patients for Marijuana Use Share and [...]
July 7th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Maybe,as with the pharmaceutical companies,kickbacks from the local dispensaries to the clinics would stop this. Money always grease the wheels.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
This makes zero sense, if not negative sense. It’s OK for these doctors to prescribe addictive, synthetic and expensive chemicals similar to heroin, but not a natural plant that is not physically addictive that anyone can grow anywhere.
Follow the money trail right up to MegaPharma, Inc.’s nose on the way to the gummint’s ass.
July 7th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
damn i agree with everyone that has posted on this page…THIS IS JUST TWISTED SCARY…the same old stuff I here everyday. I wonder if their is ever gonna be a revolution in this country because that is what we need!
July 7th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
The misfortune increases.
July 8th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Theyre just mad because the money being spent on pain relief through MJ is not going to them or big pharma.
How is this not obvious?
July 8th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Well, I guess I won’t ever tell my doctor that I smoke weed then. Sucks, but I guess you have to play their game to win.
July 8th, 2009 at 8:48 am
I get this constantly, this is why i use cheap community doctor clinics, but only see a cannabis friendly specialist. They dont line their lab coat pockets with blood money from thr pharmy companies. I have 5 qualifing illnesses in colorado and use absolutely no pharmies just four different types of cannabis treatments. PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES FUND THE NEW WORLD ORDER, STOP THEM DEAD IN THEIR TRACKS AND JUST USE POT!
July 8th, 2009 at 8:54 am
I feel her pain, 3 years ago I too was denied help for a depilating pain ailment from a doctor in Nashville TN. I had been seeing this Dr. for 4 years during which he had prescribed many different drugs that provided no or little relief from my pain. During this time a friend suggested I try Marijuana, which I did and had good results easing my pain. A random drug screen showed I had been using Marijuana and the Dr. released me from his care. He dumped me on the street with no recourse, no referrals to different Dr. nothing. This man (I hesitate to call him a doctor) knew the meds. He was prescribing did little to help me but one positive test made me unworthy of his care. It’s like I don’t deserve care because I used Marijuana. This seems like a violation of his oath to help people in pain, oh but I’m not a person, I’m a marijuana user.
July 8th, 2009 at 10:14 am
It’s not hard to understand that the “pharmaceutical companies are the biggest drug cartels in the world…and…pharmacies are their dealers.” Don’t think for a moment that the FDA and MD’s arent a vital clog in the mechanics of it all. “ONE HAND WASHES THE OTHER.” What really pisses me off…more than anything
…is their advertising of drugs prior to doctor’s prescribing them. What really, really, really pisses me off is their disclaimers…some even telling us that we may die if we take the drug. Well…we damn well know that that’s the truth. But, I guess that’s alright as long as they tell you you’re going to die, or at the very least have serious side effects from it’s use.
Well!…that takes care of the legal drugs. What I want to know is…WHO’S CONTROLLING THE ILLEGAL DRUGS?
Don’t even start to tell me it’s some foreign drug cartels…because…they’re getting the “go ahead” from
a higher source as well.
July 8th, 2009 at 11:45 am
A guy I know had the same thing done to him?? Is this crazy or not..
July 8th, 2009 at 11:47 am
If you’re using marijuana for medicine, why would you need opioids? (Unless you were being treated for something as serious as cancer, hiv aids or wasting disease.) Doesn’t that undermine the idea of the usefulness of marijuana as medicine for pain relief?
Isn’t that one of the arguments for medical legalization, that it reduces the need for the other addictive\harmful medications?
Either way, please don’t blame the doctors. It’s not a personal slam on the marijuana community. -They have to cover their own asses from the ever watchful DEA/GOVERNMENT.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I am so glad to have a pain Mngment Doc that tells me if I was in a Medical state he would be writing me a script for Med Mj , that’s the Med of his choice.
He has done 1 urine Test at the begining , I told them about my mj use they laughed and said as long as we don’t find any illegal drugs in you you are fine.
Awesome Doc and few and far between….Troll
July 8th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
This story touched home with me during one of the worse times in my life. The doctor treated my inofrmation about medical cannabis as a joke and treated me like a criminal and forced me to take urine tests only to look for my personal choice for treatment with chronic pain. What has become of the oaths these Doctors took to do no harm!
July 8th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
They are pissed that MJ is slowly chipping away at Big Farm’s huge profits. They are scared that the word on MJ is getting out, and soon no one will need they’re poison.
July 8th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
#19 420Viper Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
“This makes zero sense, if not negative sense.
It’s OK for these doctors to prescribe addictive,
synthetic and expensive chemicals similar to heroin,
but not a natural plant that is not physically addictive
that anyone can grow anywhere…”
RE:
Oh 420,
you MUST remember this “fact”…
[begin SARCASM]
,,,That the PLANT is a CRUDE-form of pain-management,
and that PILLS are FAR MORE ADVANCED,
therefore, MORE medically-ACCEPTABLE….
[end SARCASM ]
July 8th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
#1 David Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Un-fucking-believable. So this is what those crooks, the DEA, are sinking down to now? How fucking low can they go? Taking away the rights and medicine of doctors’ patients??
WHERE’S THE JUSTICE IN ALL THIS???
THE DEA ARE CRIMINALS!!
RE:
Math for TRUTH-SEEKERS:
DEA = Dead-End Atrocities
July 8th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
I’m on the east coast, I get drug tested in order to get medical treatment, our tests are two a year at a whopping $3,000 per patient, I refused to pay for mine so the gov pays for mine, I live on less than $7,000 a YEAR like most on disability, I also pay for my own medical insurance, which won’t pay for the tests, that would have been half of my yearly income. I was told two things by my pain management clinic, the federal government harasses the clinics so much that it is safer and easier for them to just test the patients, even though my clinic is privately owned and does not receive any government funding they are severally harassed by the feds, the other thing I was told is that Marijuana is safer than anything that they could prescribe to me.
July 9th, 2009 at 4:27 am
hey gals & guys!
make sure to register & vote for the LATEST IMPORTANT CANNABIS POLL
http://www.newsvine.com/_question/2009/07/08/3008931-should-california-legalize-and-tax-marijuana-to-help-solve-its-budget-crisis-
July 9th, 2009 at 4:29 am
Jo, someone to have to pay 3000 out of pocket for a drug test to rule out cannabis use is outrageous.
OBAMA, you need to OVERHAUL OUR DRUG POLICY in CONJUNCTION WITH OVERHAULING OUR HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY.
July 9th, 2009 at 7:56 am
This makes me so mad I’m almost in tears!!
I’m on vicodin and if I was in a MM state I would be on that too. But hearing this is scary shit! I can’t believe they are wasting time on this!? We have so many other problems in this country right now why waste the time and the funds to do this? I just don’t understand it?
Drug companies make shit on my vicodin, it’s generic and without insurance cost only $15. Cheaper then pot. Why would anyone care if I use pot? It’s not like they’re losing tons of money?
I just can’t believe they would do this to people. It’s so sad. It makes me want to leave this country. I’m almost to the point where it’s just not worth fighting for.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:33 am
#28 Ethan Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 11:47 am
If you’re using marijuana for medicine, why would you need opioids? (Unless you were being treated for something as serious as cancer, hiv aids or wasting disease.) …..
Isn’t that one of the arguments for medical legalization, that it reduces the need for the other addictive\harmful medications?
RE:
Ethan,
To look at it another way…
- If one is prescribed opiates,
(which often induce heavy-duty NAUSEA),
why should cannabis be disallowed for relieving it..?
…especially since cannabis is
safer / far LESS LETHAL than most
commonly-prescribed anti-emetics,
(anti-cholinergics).
July 9th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I read somewhere that the only thing that makes we humans different from other life forms on the planet is our need/desire to medicate.
And once upon a time a really cool officer (before the over-zealot came to town) and I were conversing. He was pro-MJ himself and uses it.
Within our talking I mentioned the fact that, “if it is supposed to be so toxic then why do the deer, rabbits, dogs, grasshoppers and everything eat it?”
I could see that it gave him a grin.
I’d just like to add that Jesus Christ was sent from heaven as were we. He was special in bringing God’s TRUE words to instill upon us to comfort our pain and suffering.
Basic human logic. Amen.
This so-called prohibition is quite clearly to me the anti-Christ on earth right now but the prophecy in the Bible confirms these changes (long, long overdue changes) to rapidly come about. Yes indeed THE CHANGES ARE COMING…maybe too slowly for some but not for others. Woops curses foiled again that old bad spirit who possesses alot of people but this IS God’s world! Amen.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Why go to a doctor at all..?
- They’re just another MERE human-being
with a questionable-education!
- DARE to think for yourself…
and avoid the middle-man!
July 9th, 2009 at 10:50 am
37 anon
We have more problems in this country than you can shake a stick at…serious problems…that threaten us as individuals…as well as a country…but…you need only remember this…”We’re fucking with their CASH CROP.” There’s a reason why cannabis is the #1 used substance in the world…because it’s wonderful…and
…”My Evil Brother”…is going to protect that CASH CROP at all costs.
July 9th, 2009 at 11:48 am
#35 Jeff Hi there! Thnax for newsvine.com – very easy indeed. I will pass it one for sure. Let’s cast our Votes to “Yes” we can.
July 9th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
So if Cannabis is the wonder pain medication, why in the world was she taking an opiod? Could it be cannabis realy isn’t a great pain medication and she was just taking it to get high?
There is a reason Drs. screen their patients for substances other than what they are being prescribed. They do not want to prescribe something that is going to cause an adverse reaction if you are self medicating with something else.
Common sense here.
July 9th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
this is injustice…first of all who gave the doctors their phD’s who willfully ignore the science behind cannabis…and why the hell r they taking needed opiates because of unrelated medical canabis usage…INJUSTICE
July 9th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
#43 is 100% right.
Now if you’ll bye that, I have some ocean front property for sale in Arizona.
July 9th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
[...] Test Patients for Marijuana Use July 7th, 2009 By: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director Pain Clinics Test Patients for Marijuana Use | NORML Blog By Dale Gieringer, Director, CA NORML Like many medical marijuana users, Kristin Redeen needed [...]
July 9th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
to “Ethan” and “Cannabis for Pain Says”
some reasons why a patient takes opiate with medical marijuana
Most pain patients don’t get stoned just like when they take opiates they get more normal or normal, if they want to get stoned than they can, just like opiates they take more.
there are other things in MMJ than just THC that help with sickness, pain, mood as well as curative. most patients health improves with MMJ, where pharma opiate patients health decline.
1. opiate do not have anti inflammatory, anti nausia, cancer cell killer, etc, MMJ does.
2. Opiate does not reduce seizures or spasms or nerve damage pain which MMJ does.
3 Opiate does help with new injuries, as well as deep bone and muscle pain, MMJ helps body to use the opiate and also allows smaller dosages of opiates which is good because opiates damage the body, the mind and the mood in a negative way where MMJ doesn’t.
4. MMJ helps take the patients mind off of the sickness and pain which reduces stress and suicidal tendencies which go hand in hand with long term chronic pain. Opiates cause depression and nervousness and sleeplessness and nausea and constipation so the less opiate that a patient has to take the better off they are.
did you not read the whole article? or do independent research?
July 9th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
43 Cannabis for Pain
You need to do a little more homework. Your statement would however sound reasonable to a prohib.
Cannabis works well with any other medication.
July 10th, 2009 at 9:37 am
I too suffer from sever chronic pain that is lifelong after a failed back operation. I went through a couple of these forementioned Pain Clinics. The last one that I was at prescribed me 10-12 of the strongest vicodin per day as well as many other pills. I felt like a zombie most of the time. I got sick of this feeling like this so I asked to take my dosage down and quit taking any other pills. A week later I was called in for a “random” pill count. I was told that it would only take a minute, as I was on my way out of town. After the count was fine they insisted that I wait around and have a urine screen. I told them that I couldn’t. I had a long drive ahead. They dismissed me as a patient because of this. I went w/o any meds for a couple of months with the help of marijuana. I couldn’t do it and went back to my family daoctor and got back on a few pain pills a day. I do so with the help of marijuana. The problem with this is that I can not be honest with my doctor because I live in a state where this makes me a criminal.? It is a fucked up system, at best! I long for the day when we may all have access to medical marijuana! The whole prohibition is such a bunch of shit! It is time for us to get off of our asses and do something about it! Viva La Revolution…of words!
July 10th, 2009 at 9:40 am
P.S. All that I can find is regs illegally, which doesn’t give me near the relief that better marijuana does. WE should all have safe, legal access to high grade smoke to help what ails us! IT IS A HARMLESS PLANT!!!!!!!!
July 10th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I had a very similar experience with my pain management doctor; I was given a surprise piss test and failed because I smoke marijuana for pain relief between doses of Percocet. My doctor released me and I now only have marijuana when I can get it for the extreme pain from several crushed discs. I have been unable to find another pain management clinic that will accept me because now my records contain the fact that I am a regular marijuana user. Medical marijuana isn’t legal in my state and not likely for many years (Georgia).
July 10th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Ethan Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 11:47 am
If you’re using marijuana for medicine, why would you need opioids? (Unless you were being treated for something as serious as cancer, hiv aids or wasting disease.) Doesn’t that undermine the idea of the usefulness of marijuana as medicine for pain relief?
Isn’t that one of the arguments for medical legalization, that it reduces the need for the other addictive\harmful medications?
Either way, please don’t blame the doctors. It’s not a personal slam on the marijuana community. -They have to cover their own asses from the ever watchful DEA/GOVERNMENT
Isn’t that one of the arguments for medical legalization, that it reduces the need for the other addictive\harmful medications?
REDUCE THE NEED FOR.. That is the point.. Just because ones need for a painkiller is reduced doesnt mean they DONT NEED IT AT ALL. Your ridiculus statement only proves that you are not in any type of pain, dont know anyone suffering in pain, and have no sympathy for those who do.
Goodday sir,
And i do hope you burn yourself with your coffee on the way to work tomorrow
July 10th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Number 43 you sir are a moron, Why are you wasteing your time posting retarded comments like that on the NORML.. go to http://www.change.gov and post that crap noone here is going to listen to that garbage. Anyone in serious pain knows that not even opiods take the pain AWAY unless taken in very high doses. I have a wonderful pain MGT. DR. but my pain isnt totaly treated even with heavy opiod use. If there is a plant.. a non toxic non addicting non lethal plant, that can compliment my legitimate opiod use then who the fuck are you to tell me i cant use it? If these DR’s can hand out perscriptions for heroin like substances why in the hell cant they compliment it with a , and i repeat , non-lethal , non-addicting – non-toxic plant?
Number 43 i hope you or someone you love has the chance to experience the hopelessness involved with chronic pain without much help in sight.
July 10th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
#43 Cannabis for Pain Says:
July 9th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
“So if Cannabis is the wonder pain medication,
why in the world was she taking an opiod? ”
RE:
Cannabis for Pain,
- Pain-relievers act on varied / different nervous-system
pathways to provide relief.
- Opioids provide relief by affecting opiate-receptors and
cannabinoids provide relief by affecting cannabinoid-receptors.
- Also, their specific pain-relieving properties
DIFFER from one another…
- Cannabis relieves certain types of
pain-conditions that opioids don’t,
(and vice-versa).
- Also mentioned before in #38,
cannabis relieves opioid-induced nausea
far more safely and effectively than commonly-prescribed
and OTC anti-emetics.
(Which primarily consist of
anti-muscarinic anti-cholinergics,
such as diphenhydramine and belladonna-alkaloids,
a class of compounds FAR MORE dangerous THAN cannabis!)
“Could it be cannabis realy isn’t a great pain
medication and she was just taking it to get high?
RE: A person taking cannabis for pain-relief isn’t
“getting-high”.
They’re becoming normal,
REPLENISHING their body’s endo-cannabinoids,
(internally-made cannabinoids),
depleted by pain-condition(s)…
“There is a reason Drs. screen their patients for substances other than what they are being prescribed…”
RE:
They’re scared shirtless of the DEA / Fed-RULL-Gubermint,
over the presence of technically-outlawed plant-compounds that shouldn’t be illegal in the first place, i.e. cannabinoids…
“They do not want to prescribe something that is going to cause an adverse reaction if you are self medicating with something else.”
RE: While this is a perfectly-valid concern,
the strongest cross-reacting medications / foods are
ALL on more lenient CSA-schedules,
(if even scheduled, i.e. ALCOHOL, grapefruit, caffeine),
than the one medication that produces the FEWEST
adverse-reactions, CANNABIS.
July 10th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
20,000,000 aressts? I’m not sure about the rest of you but o-o-o-h…dang it that sure hurts!
CRP YOU ARE BUSTED…WE ARE DOING AWAY WITH YOU IDOTS’
DARK AGED DILERIAM TOO! go …..!
“…NOT TO PLANTS CROPS??????????????” RIGHT NOW?????????? TODAY??????????????? JULY 10 2009.
I have never in my 54 year-old life heard of this ludicrious thinking until now. Where have these people come from?
Oh and by the way; if anyone wants to go terra-farm Mars with me jump on board! Please just bring the seeds oh no please DO NOT FORGET THE SEEDS.
Mary Jane is lost somewhere too within this sea of sanity? or is it insanity?
I just read about the 1998 ‘Barr Amendment’ passing legislature within administrative laws. Oh Thank God. Amen.
70% APPROVAL – WAY TO GO CONGRESSIONAL MEN AND WOMEN OF AMERICA…THANK YOU…ITS ABOUT TIME…we know the tune. Music to our ears ‘Michael Row The Boat Ashore Hallelluah…Michael Row The Boat Ashore … Amen.’
July 11th, 2009 at 9:01 am
I only saw one potential prohibitionist/lobbyist (43.) on here…that’s a good sign. It shows that common sense may prevail, hopefully soon. As more Americans learn the facts about medical cannabis, these paid liars will increasingly have to go incognito.
This pharmaceutical McCarthyism is literally killing people. Physicians are being coerced into violating their hippocratic oaths (first, do no harm!) in favor of hypocritical oaths (we can’t help those that help themselves) that are spewed by big business interests like the other toxic sludge they pour into our environment.
At least President Obama gave the states the go-ahead to “experiment”. That’s the key; one state at a time, prove the efficacy of a non-toxic herb versus big-pharma’s stranglehold on our health.
Shame on the governor of Hawaii (vetoing studies!). Censorship at its worst. I’m pretty sure she’ll be overturned on this one, but we all must clamor for this critical reversal of a disastrous decision regardless.
It’s time for Americans to put their feet down (march) and demand the DEA, FDA, NIDA ad nauseum and misguided, malfeasant governors stop trampling our constitutional rights.
July 11th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Pot apologetics
vs.
Pot apologies
apologetics:
2. Formal argumentation in
defense of something,
such as a position or system.
apology:
1. a written or spoken expression
of one’s regret, remorse, or sorrow
for having insulted, failed,
injured, or wronged another.
July 11th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Women in Utah refusing to become a polygamists’ wives’
wives’ wives’ were run into the desert to be their postitutes under a fictional guise of “Nevada”.
They love adultery; welcome to good ‘ole Utah and their cult of good ‘ole boys.
Dear Oprah would you like to hear my story of slavery?
Oppression? Silenced muffled voices of the meak?
Tune in everyone.
S.L.C. Lead in obesity, child abuse, internet child predators, mental illness, cross-breading cousins until no one ever knoes who’s who anymore.
My God this sickening sperm banks’ shit…somebodies’ are really geeting their DNA gene pools crossed so it’s not just the mormons neither. It’s no wonder they are so damn wierd!
In is an injustice to everyone. It needs to end and end quickly. Amen.
I am disgraced today, sorry folks, oh so sorry.
Wendy ReNae Warr Elorriaga
July 11th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
The concept of any prohibition comes from the definition of a sumptuary law. A sumptuary law attempts to control and divide people into classes by limiting the desires of those considered the lesser class. Generally monarch type governments use sumptuary laws to inflict class separation through prohibiting the lesser class from participating in something reserved strictly by the so called upper class royalty.
Any 4th grade student understands this country was founded on the principles of individual freedoms.” A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.” -Abraham Lincoln U.S. President. These same people pushing prohibition would be targeted for treason investigation had they been around during the founding of our country! Don’t Be fooled American people any prohibition enforcement against us is as UN-AMERICAN as Hitler!!
July 11th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Mary Jane is Free…
….She Just Got Out!
– I do hereby request medical marijuana industry to become legal world over and global wide for the safety and resurrection and sanctity of our homes and welfare. Amen. May It Please Be Free!
– I do hereby request hemp production and the food nutritional substances industry thereof legal world over. Amen. May It Please Be Free!
July 11th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
#43 Cannabis for Pain Says: – I definitely think Winder Says – is right on the money in this instance.
Would you like to claify yourself? We the people on this blog have a purpose so fuck off and stop stalling our process of redemption – others’ long long overdue redemption. Amen.
Are you in pain yourself? Are you just a wierdo voyeure? Is something like you designed to confuse the confused merciless sick and hungry fellow human beings on this earth.
If you have nothing positive to add but just your simple lack of common sense please in the Name of God Fuck Off – Leave Us Alone To Do What Is Righteous. Amen My Friends, Amen.
#43 whatever you are – You have never walked a mile in anyone elses’ shoes.
My Dear Sioux Indian Brother In Law Passed Away Last Summer….
….Cecil….would say this person …
‘has never walked two miles in my mocassions.’
I love and miss Cecil.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:53 am
i had my first lumbar surgery at age 22.my second at age 35.my last one in 2005. i am now 56.was referred to pain mngt.dr. from my neurosurgeon.ended up on fentnyl.went for a follow up and he wanted a drug test.told him i lit up because it helped alot with spasms and related pain.he deferred the test till next time, and said if it was legal he would have no problem prescribing it, but if the test would come back positive, it would be considered abuse.went to my internist who couldn’t believe the pain dr. had me on fentnyl.he weened me off the deadly patch and prescribed ms contin.along with MM i have not increased my doseage.my internist says that i am doing well with not having to increase the ms contin doseage that he oringinally prescribed.i have taken urine tests during my yearly physical, and no mention of MM abuse has been brought up.
July 13th, 2009 at 11:30 am
#59 – Pressure Kook – You have said it very well indeed. We thank you.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:32 am
#28 Ethan Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 11:47 am
If you’re using marijuana for medicine, why would you need opioids? (Unless you were being treated for something as serious as cancer, hiv aids or wasting disease.) …..
Isn’t that one of the arguments for medical legalization, that it reduces the need for the other addictive\harmful medications?
RE:
Ethan,
Cannabis potentiates opiates. This means that if you are using cannabis, it helps the opioid/opiate do it’s job.
So, yes, when using medical marijuana and opiates, one needs fewer opiates.
Funny how that works, huh?
Eric
July 14th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Point: My three tiny plants were not of the THC gnerated form.
They were purely hemp all along.
Amen.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
And yes I attribute that knowledge to Manny.
July 14th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
(**) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
July 16th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I’m a cronic pain sufferer in Texas and my Dr does drug testing. If you fail you can lose your medicade. I take Oxycodone but it alone just dosn’t do the job. With just a little cannabis I only need about half of the Oxycodone I normally would. I have only once came across any cannabis that worked well by itself, if it were legal that might be different. I know this. If I can’t get treatment for the pain I will seek euthinasia.
July 19th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
i will do whatever is neccassary to deal with my pain,including breaking the law!
July 28th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
I am a chronic pain sufferer in Ohio. During my disability hearing I was asked if I smoked marijuana. I answered them honestly. Yes, I occassionally use. I’d rather smoke a little than take the heavy narcotics which make me stupid, incoherent, lazy and fat.
I was awarded my disability in 2008. I am in a non MMJ state. I was recently refferred to a pain management clinic where I was subjected to a drug test, which I failed. My family physician had me on a morphine and klonopin cocktail.
I am recently back in school, studying law. The doctor told me it was illegal to SMOKE marijuana! I told him he was mistaken. It is illegal to cultivate, possess or sell. He kept asking where and how I got it. None of his business. The problem is that, when I originally asked my doctor to give me something less potent than the morphine, he sent me to this “so called” doctor. I told this guy I ABSOLUTELY did NOT want morphine. It is too strong for me. Before I failed the test he told me if I did not take what he felt was best for me, than he could’t help me. When the test came back positive, he told me it was illegal for him to prescribe me anything but mild muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatories(the latter of which I am deathly allergic too!), but he wouldn’t do that either. He did, however, threaten me with the police and children services. (I have an autistic child to care for)My last script was filled at the beginning of June. I still have a couple of days left, because I only take it when I need it, not every day the way they told me too. And now I’m scared shitless because I will be completely cut off, and going through withdrawals.
Doctors broke my back 10 years ago during a difficult delivery. It took them 7 more years to find it. I now suffer from degenerative disk disease, failed back surgery syndrome, oh yeah the metal is the WORST in winter folks, I have developed scoliosis from these conditions plus spurring throughout the thoracic region and a herniated disk at C-4. There are more injuries to the neck and spine but I think you all feel me.
I was so glad to find this website! To know I am not alone in suffering. The MJ has taken the edge off the pain without making me stupid, incoherent or lazy. I can still properly care for my child, something I cannot do when they are legally dealing/pushing morphine, especially when you ask for a less potent drug.
They want us all dummied up so they can do what they want and we wont care!
The only way to make a change is to force it upon our “Blubberment” I mean government.
PS. Do any of you know about the WTO and the new codecs going into effect at the end of 2009?
August 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 am
[...] More info…By Dale Gieringer , Director, CA NORML Like many medical marijuana users, Kristin Redeen needed additional prescription medications for her severe chronic pain. For seven years she had been treated at a private pain clinic in the Central Valley, where a doctor maintained her on Percocet, a semi-synthetic opioid. One day Kristin was unexpectedly asked to submit a urine sample. They already knew about my medical marijuana use, says Kristin, who contacted California NORML. I didnt thi [...]
August 18th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
howdy folks, to post nmber 28 ethan,I have ankylosing spondilitis and wrighters syndrom with nerve damage from a bad car wreck 27 years ago,you ask why take opioids along with pot for my pain,well for one the opioids dont releive all pain! the muscle pain twisting and pulling on my bad disc makes the pain much worse! with some folks if your messed up enough it takes different kinds of things to help one another to get releife,I’ve hurt for most of my life and without medications to keep me from hurting so bad I would be a tortured misserable soul and just could not live under that much stress,I cant have any operations to help me,so I’m forced to do the best that I can,I live in california where pot is legal if i choose but the moment they find it in my system they will take away my opioids, I can’t live without them because unlike some my nerve damage is not numbness but sharp pains that go right to the center of my brain and cause migrains for days on end,I throw up and wished I was dead just to get out of so much pain, the pot helps me sleep without pills,I have gurd and acid reflux,and a very slow digestive system,the nerves are damaged going to my intestines also which all causes my digestion to slow so bad that food will sour before I can get it through my system,every now and then I will smoke some pot speeding up my digestion so that it will not make me sick,you see I also am missing a key enzym which kills some of the bacteria that cooking want kill so over a month it builds up in me and the pot also helps speed the process up so that it pushes poisons out of my system that otherwise my body could not do on it’s on,also I am a hypoglysemic! when I smoke pot it will run my sugar a bit higher but it don’t drop me like a rock! one a docter tested me when I was 15 and said son do you feel alright to which i said why doc im just a bit light headed but it’s normal for me to feel this ways and he said well your test show your sugar leval at (19) and he said you should be passed out,I never sen anyone be so low and still be able to talk to me muchless make any sense! I was born this ways so I’m use to it, wehn I reached early 20s I started smokeing pot and my sugar levals have not bothered me for over 20 years unless ive had a few reactions to medications(sulfur drugs) that made it go yoyo until I got them out of my system,
I’ve smoked pot for about 25 years now and without it I would not even still be here,I would have ended it along tme ago with as much pain as i’ve lived with over the years,I have spinal damge from head to toe and thats not figurativly either,i’ve had spinal injections and trigger point injections that made me ick as a dog but never not one time has pot ever mae me sick! if anything it has helped me when othr drugs did make me sick,its calming nerve easing medication! a mirical drug if you will but it can only help so much and in certin ways! but in ways no other drugs can even get close to !!!when you flip a car 9 times, get ejected 176 feet, bounce off the ground,fly another 45 feet into a 4 strand bobbed wired fence takeing out 6 polls to the ground all woven up intwines in the strands and then the cars very lest flip is on top of you with the car upside down beeing mashed to death it will put pain in places you never thought could ever hurt, i thank god I’m alive each and every day,i am god fearing man and I think god put plants on this earth to feed and heal,god done one hell of a job in my book, and in that book it says not to trust (MAN) and thats where it all comes into play,the doctors get kickbacks by the drug companys! and they spend bilions of dollars for lobbyist to keep the government to do there evil bidding! WE THE PEOPLE HAVE NO SAY THESE DAYS! I only wished that I was born with enough money to fight these crooks! the fact that I can get much better releif with a combonation of drugs with pot they dont care about one way or another,I would not use nearly as much pain meds if I could smoke pot regular without worrying about them taken away what I need so I just sneak around when I can for a few days and try to purge the poisons out of me and go back to cleaning up without it so if they test me I want be out of a doctor or the nerve numbing opioids that I also cant live without,it should not be this ways for me or anyone else, the doctors oaths only go so far as to not get in th ways of there kick back moneys,if I was president I would tst all doctors and those that did not apply that oath to help people above all would be tossed out of there cans!! all Ive heard in the last few months is to take away money from doctors and hospitals when the real villan is the pharma companies thats chargeing more money than all others combined times x10…..notice how quick they ws to jump in there saying they would help with all this dealings in the white house?? what it is is they have donated 1% to make it look like there helping and keep them out of the issue when in reality there charging 90% way to dam much and dont want that part to be drug into the whole issue,there plea bargaining basicaly,and keepingthere name out of it and the president knows this,I’ll even bet that he has bought stock in there companies one way or another just like he did with the freddy mea and fany mack deals,it ruined our country but noones talking about him beeing the number two man for the amount of profit that he made from them two which was into the millions of dollars, it’s like letting the wolf guard the hen house! this is the first time to visit this site,I;m going to try my best to join and get involved in whatever ways that I can,I’m damn tired of running around hideing in acountry that I love because of some damn suit somewheres thats never worked a hard day in his life telling me how I feel and how i should feel being forced to take stuff that I know can’t work as good as pot,for with it regular I would not need the acid reflux medications,nor the sleepin pills,not any nerve pills,and I could even cut way down on my opiods although I will always need some of them! but they are costing our government a fortune just by themselves and I feal bad knowing just how much they cost when I know a small bag of pot that only costs 5% or less as much as the opioids do could help me even more and the savings on all the other medications also,over lifetime it’s enough to help many others not just one,I want to be apart of the solution not the cause,and it may put me in jail or loseing my doctor to do the right thing,thats really sad that our government just dont understnd whats right in plain sight!!! sorry for this being so long folks,I just thought I needed to get it out,not many places one an go to be themselves and speak there minds,we must organize stronger and strike while the irons hot,in california the doors been opened so lets all not let them slam it back in our faces this time,get involved in any ways that you can,I know I’m going to….smokenbull
September 4th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
[...] Cannabis Culture has a video interview with the man as well. This is the stigma even legal users of medical marijuana still face. Sure, places like Canada, California, Colorado, and others won’t arrest you and lock you up if you’re a legit medical marijuana patient, but medical marijuana laws don’t force employers, hospitals, care facilities, landlords, or the government to accommodate your use of medical marijuana. You’re perfectly free to use your medical marijuana, so long as you don’t mind homelessness, joblessness, removal from the organ transplant list, and revocation of your pain medications. [...]
October 20th, 2009 at 10:06 am
OK, so I am sooooo glad to find this site! I have been seeing a pain doc for 3 years, they have never popped a urine test on me until last night. I live in MD, and have smoked MJ for 25 years, and work for the federal gov’t. Soo yes, I have federal healthcare. I am scared shitless – I am just hoping that HIPPA protects me cus I know I am gonna pop positive. At this point I could really care less about whether the docs are gonna see me again, because I have had sooo many problems with them – there front office is horrible and I was thinking about switching docs anyways. They have me on all sorts of medication for my chronic pain in my back because I don’t want surgery. And all of the hardware in my back – well I am a walking weather detector. So it’s not like I am lying about any of my pain, as I have a well known surgeon that would like to cut me open and redo my surgery. I am just not ready for that yet. Smoking MJ is the ONE THING that relaxes my muscles, which relaxes my back, which then makes me not be in pain. These docs are so eager to PUSH meds – its almost like they are making a profit!!!! Maryland doesn’t have the MMJ card yet, but I am hopeful. I just got back from CA, and I am jealous. What is the harm with MJ. Nothing!!!! Think about how many people it helps, and yet you smoke it and it can stay with you for 3 – 4 weeks. Yet someone can abuse other drugs, get off of it for a few days, and come up clean. Its just not fair – they need to make a different test for MJ users or not one at all!
October 27th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
The cowards and sociopaths of the dea would rather thousands suffer pain unnecessarily than one addict deceive a doctor. As one ex agent put it the dea has become a repository for ‘right wing nuts.’ This rogue agency should be abolished.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Those of you who worry about being cut off opiate pain meds because of medical marijuana use should investigate the possibility of growing opium poppies which is legal in most states. You can dry them and save the heads which can be made into a very effective pain relieving tea. There are instructions and recipes all over the internet. The seeds can be bought online and at many health food shops. The dried pods store well and can be saved for future use. Poppy tea is every bit as effective and Oxycontin and the strength can be adjusted to suit individual needs. Poppy tea provides effective pain relief for a very low cost and while it may be illegal it can save many pain sufferers from the vagaries of sadistic drug testing doctors.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Hi there I have been searching online for a few days now trying to find any official legislation that directly prohibits pain management doctors from prescribing narcotic pain medication to patients that are smoking marijuana. I was recently informed by a doctor that she would be unable to prescribe me any narcotic medication due to the fact that on my questionnaire I wrote truthfully that I smoke marijuana. From what I can tell by the literature that I have found there is no official law prohibiting this. It seems as though this doctor is more concerned with law enforcement then with patient care. Gee go figure. It just seems so crazy that you can tell the doctor that you drink alcohol and they will not have any problem with setting up an appropriate treatment for you but if you smoke marijuana you are unacceptable. I tell you what if I were a doctor I would rather my patients be smoking marijuana and typically reducing the opiate consumption then taking these opiates and drinking alcohol along with them and potentially dying due to countless risks that associate with that scenario. So if anyone could be of assistance and not just say yes or no regarding any official legislation directly prohibiting narcotic treatment but please point me in the direction of a web site or phone number if possible. Thank you so much