Re: Can marijuana help paraplegics recover?

Bud Burner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 01:47:02 GMT, Mark Thorson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> wrote:
> 
> >bhanwara wrote:
> >
> >> I happened to meet a person who became a paraplegic 13 years
> >> ago in a diving accident.  But he had recovered enough to be
> >> able to walk by himself now, though he still needs crutches
> >> most of the time.
> >>
> >> He had used marijuana to keep himself happy despite his
> >> accident.  But I wondered if there was a causal
> >> connection.
> >
> >How do you know that he might not have needed any crutches
> >by now, had he not smoked anything at all?
> >
> >
> 
>       As much as I'd love to think the cannabis had a beneficial
> impact on his condition, it's just as likely that it didn't. Because
> of the totalitarian attitude of the US government in restricting
> cannabis to schedule 1 (high abuse potential and no redeeming medical
> value), very few meaningful studies have been done on just what
> conditions are beneficially effected by cannabis.
>       We in the medpot community are aware of many cases in which
> cannabis has helped produce a positive outcome for patients with
> certain neurological problems. However, the documentation is only
> slowly emerging and most of it is from countries other than the US who
> have softened their stance toward cannabis and allow research with
> this drug. 
>       Until research is allowed to progress and professional medical
> facillities conduct studies of the drug's anecdotal effects on
> different medical conditions we'll have no real progress at all. It
> needs to be done, done soon, and in carefully crafted clinical trials
> with public disclosure of the results.
>       BudBurner

For well-motivated situations, maybe a relocation to
Canada could be an option.