I have 1000 words to explain medical cannabis....

The company I work for runs a bi-annual magazine and I'm normally really active in its production but my personal circumstances mean I've not been as involved this time around. The magazine is for service users, people who are, in many cases, on antidepressants or have addictions to various legal substances.
I asked my boss if I could write about medical cannabis and, considering we're not even really discussing legalisation in any form here in the UK yet, I think it's a massive sign of trust in me that he didn't think twice before saying yes BUT he has enough content already so I can only have 1000 words to squeeze it in.
I want to know what you lot think are the important points to cover, what most needs to be said? Obviously I have my own opinions and like to think I'm fairly well informed on the subject but I have no actual experience with legal so I'd like to hear from the people who do have legal access to medical, what works, what doesn't, where has it been done well or how are you being shafted? How can I convince people medical isn't a joke or just an excuse?
It's going to be a struggle to say everything I want to in a short piece so I need to stick to the things it's most important for people to hear. I will be explaining how THC, CBD and all cannabinoids and terpenes work together because I think too much emphasis has been put on "CBD is medicine, THC is for getting high" but I also want to touch on big business being allowed to monopolise the industry and how this affects the people who actually need medicine.
What do you think I can say in 1000 words to make people see how we're being had off being forced to take drugs that big pharma churns out when there's something so natural we could be using instead in so many cases? There is so much that needs to be covered and I just don't know where to start getting everything in. I guess I could just focus on cannabis' many benefits as a medicine and leave all the politics/business aspect for another article?

Please help me out guys, I only have the weekend to get it done!

brief accounts of people who have been helped by MMJ may be useful in changing attitude. hemp has been used as a medicine for over 3000 years and is very effective for many disorders. people seem to have forgotten this fact

Just some stuff I'm watching researching all this. I think I need to be more focused on one aspect, I don't have time to watch and read everything and I'm all over the place here...

if you want actual knowledge ie an informed post/paper read some of my comments, just throw my name in a google search with a subject or i could explain any requests here...

i know i fuck around alot in tnt..but seriously, ask anyone here...
ive got some pharma knowledge specifically relating to cannabis
cannabis


giod luck whoever you are, and whatever gender

If there's room definately mention as stated above how mmj is actually changing lives medically in positive ways .....I've got a sister with cerebral palsy and was having many seizures everyday ....now taking mmj they've quit completely ...there's tons of stories like that out there some how try to incorporate that maybe ....1000 words isn't much good luck

Definitely want to get that in, people with cerebral palsy, MS, arthritis, and many more now able to function normally rather than being zombified on opiates. Or children with seizure disorders whose parents have watched them gradually fade away thanks to the strong drugs they take to control seizures that leave them almost comatose, that are up and about playing like any other child within a few days of starting treatment! I know there need to be more studies done on its efficacy in lots of conditions but I don't think there's any denying that, for some, it's a fucking miracle drug!

qwizoking said:

if you want actual knowledge ie an informed post/paper read some of my comments, just throw my name in a google search with a subject or i could explain any requests here...

i know i fuck around alot in tnt..but seriously, ask anyone here...
ive got some pharma knowledge specifically relating to cannabis
cannabis


giod luck whoever you are, and whatever gender

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Thank you! Yeah I've seen you're knowledgeable on the sciencey stuff, I'll definitely check out some of your comments on the matter. I'm doing a shit load of speed reading right now so if I have any questions I'll get on you

I like the angle, large Parma loses profits on pain killers, makes up for it in newly tax funded research.

You could mention its topical pain relief properties when in extract form to help eliminate the "its just to get high" factor as well. This will show the importance of marijuana's relief properties and void the stigma of "getting high" in the process. This is something that big pharma is still trying to achieve....and usually can't.

I've been reading about dronabinol and nabilone, cannabis derived meds used to treat nausea and vomiting in cancer patients during chemo, and Sativex which apparently costs a fortune to make aside from other difficulties..... Just give us the bloody plant instead of trying to synthesize it into profits!

Lots more negative consequences in Colorado than I would have expected but cannabis is still less harmful than alcohol, and at least they're making the tax dollars off legal cannabis that can fund treatment, amongst other things.

Its when it goes from natural extract to synthesized that everything becomes askew.

HydroRed said:

Its when it goes from natural extract to synthesized that everything becomes askew.

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explain,,,?

qwizoking said:

explain,,,?

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I can't speak for HydroRed but my issue with it is that they put all that money into trying to find a way to do it synthetically instead of just giving people access to the plant. If we're putting all that money into figuring out cannabis as medication then I feel it should be looking into which strains are best for which conditions and helping people grow the strains most beneficial to them. That is an extremely uneducated opinion though because I know very little about the pharmaceutical side of it.

While I have you here, in my research I've seen people arguing that, because we have an endocannabinoid system that is increasingly shown to be involved in many processes in the human body this proves how natural it is for us to take cannabis as medication but this seems like a really simplified, ignorant argument to me. I mean, we have opiate receptors too, right? Can you explain it to me in layman's terms please? I mean I've been reading about the emerging role of the endocannabinoid system but science was always my weakest subject; is there any way that I can use this as a pro for med. cannabis?