Huckabee on Medical Marijuana

January 17, 2008

I posted on John Edwards views on medical marijuana before, here’s Mike Huckabee fielding a similar question:

[h/t: Kendra Campbell of The Differential]

Posted by bikemonkey
Filed in BikeMonkey, Drug Abuse Science, Science Politics
6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Huckabee on Medical Marijuana”

  1. PhysioProf Says:

    January 17, 2008 at 1:12 pm

    Edwards’s answer was much better.

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  2. bikemonkey Says:

    January 17, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    Turns out there’s a few more on YouTube from various candidates so I won’t bother going on. The vids end with “related” links so anyone can browse other candidates easily.

    “Better” or “worse” is in the eye of the beholder…

    Me, I don’t expect any them to be willing (or able?) to grapple with the dependence or efficacy aspects of the science. Hope, but not expect.

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  3. PhysioProf Says:

    January 17, 2008 at 1:57 pm

    Regardless of how the science on harm versus efficacy turns out, I think Edwards had the political morality correct in saying that he would not send the DEA on raids in states that have legalized medical marijuana. And however bad the science says marijuana might be for you, I think it’s pretty clear that it is not that bad, and is certainly no worse for you than many other drugs we use to treat patients (or ourselves).

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  4. Michael Says:

    January 17, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    I’m not aware of any demonstrated harm to cannabis when vaporized or eaten in any quantity. It certainly cannot be fatally overdosed, though there are psychological effects which some have claimed may precipitate a crisis in those already predisposed. Even smoked, cannabis has not been associated with a higher rate of lung cancer or emphysema once concomitant usage of tobacco is excluded, and may have a protective effect in fact. Cannabis is not something that everyone likes, but it isn’t harmful.

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  5. juniorprof Says:

    January 18, 2008 at 6:44 am

    So happens that my dissertation research was on cannabinoids for pain control (preclinical models). There is an overwhelming case (based largely on NIH funded work) that cannabis and analogues are effective for pain control particularly in scenarios where opioids/NSAIDs don’t help too much (eg. cancer pain, neuropathy, AIDS). I suppose Huckabee doesn’t believe the data compiled by federally funded biomedical scientists? What a heap of steaming crap!

    North of the border we saw patients in pain clinics that routinely did better on cannabis than any other treatments. Helped their pain, helped them eat (fairly important when you need your chemo to fight your painful bone cancer) and gave them some hope. Truly too bad we can’t get beyond the political fight over this and look carefully at the evidence. On the other hand, BigPharma has cannabinoid ligands for pain control going in several human trials. Maybe something will be available soon… maybe for the rest of the world…

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  6. Piled Higher, Deeper Says:

    January 18, 2008 at 8:38 am

    I noticed that someone on the Giuliani side has some of the best smarts, politically speaking. A cop out to be sure but a good one and I have to admit that this is a decent political response. He basically put it all on the FDA. Tried to imply that whatever those scientists over at the FDA came up with, he’d go along with, ’cause durnnit, he just isn’t a scientist.

    Of course this obscures the degree to which “the FDA” may be politically manipulable by the Chief Executive…Not to mention that this stuff isn’t exactly rocket science and it would only take a few campaign bucks to drum up a post-doc or something to write up a decent analysis..

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