Jefblog

I grew up south of Indianapolis on the glacier-smoothed plains of central Indiana. My grandparents owned a small farm, whittled down over the years to about 40 acres of bottomland, in some of the most productive agricultural land in America. Like many of their neighbors they mostly grew field corn (and later soybeans), raised a few cows and bred a few horses.

[SNIP]

My grandfather's farm is now a shopping mall. The black soil, milled to such fine fertility by the Wisconsin glaciation, now buried under a black sea of asphalt. The old Boatenwright pig farm is now a quick lube, specializing in servicing SUVs.

America is being ground apart from the inside, by heartless bankers, insatiable conglomerates, a president who lies by remote control.

We are a hollow nation, a poisonous shell of our former selves.

From a column in Counterpunch by Fred Gardner, editor of O'Shaughnessy's,

The complete survey will appear in the Fall issue of O'Shaughnessy's, a journal I produce for the SCC. What follows are excerpts from the response of Jeffrey Hergenrather, MD, a former family practitioner who has been conducting cannabis consultations in Sebastopol since 1999.

Q. How many patients will have received your approval to use cannabis through October 2006?

A. 1,430

Q. What percentage had been self-medicating with cannabis prior to consulting you?

A. 99%

Q. With what medical conditions have they presented? List top five and approximate percentage (total can exceed 100%).

Chronic pain (62%), Depression and other mental disorders (30%), Intestinal disorders (12%), Harmful dependence (10%), Migraine (9%) are the most common conditions being treated.

Q. What results do patients report? How does cannabis appear to work in treating their symptoms?

A cannabis specialist soon becomes aware of two remarkable facts. The range of conditions that patients are treating successfully with cannabis is extremely wide; and patients get relief with the use of cannabis that they cannot achieve with any other pharmaceuticals.

The testimonies that I hear on a daily basis from people with serious medical conditions are moving and illuminating. From many people with cancer and AIDS come reports that cannabis has saved their lives by giving them an appetite, the ability to keep down their medications, and mental ease. No other drug works like cannabis to reduce or eliminate pain without significant adverse effects. It evidently works on parts of the brain involving short-term memory and pain centers, enabling the patient to stop dwelling on pain. Cannabis helps with muscle relaxation, and it has an anti-inflammatory action. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis stabilize with fewer and less destructive flare-ups with the regular use of cannabis.

Other rheumatic diseases similarly show remissions. Spasticity cannot be treated any more quickly or efficiently than with cannabis, and, again, without significant adverse effects.

Patients who suffer from migraines can reduce or omit conventional medications as their headaches become less frequent and less severe.

About half of the patients with mood disorders find that they are adequately treated with cannabis alone while others reduce their need for other pharmaceuticals. In my opinion, there is no better drug for the treatment of anxiety disorders, brain trauma and post concussion syndrome, ADD and ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are stabilized, usually with comfort and weight gain, while most are able to avoid use of steroids and other potent immunomodulator drugs.

People who were formerly dependent on alcohol, opiates, amphetamines and other addictive drugs have had their lives changed when substituting with cannabis. Patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis and those with transplanted kidneys show mental ease, comfort, and lack of significant graft-versus-host incompatibility reactions in my small series.

Diabetics report slightly lower and easier-to-control blood sugar levels, yet to be studied and explained.

Sleep patterns are typically improved, with longer and deeper sleep without any hangover or significant adverse effects.

Many patients with multiple sclerosis report that their condition has not worsened for many years while they have been using cannabis regularly. MS and other neurodegenerative diseases share the common benefits of reduced pain and muscle spasms, improved appetite, improved mood and fewer incontinence problems. Many patients with epilepsy are adequately treated with or without the use of other anticonvulsants.

Patients with skin conditions associated with systemic disease such as psoriasis, lupus, dermatitis herpetiformis, and eczema all report easement and less itching when using cannabis regularly.

Airway diseases such as asthma, sleep apnea, COPD, and chronic sinusitis deserve special mention because I encourage the use of cannabis vapor or ingested forms rather than smoking to reduce airway irritation. Finally, most obese and morbidly obese patients respond with weight loss and improved self esteem. I believe that cannabis and psychotherapy work well together in fostering behavioral changes.[more...]