Two recent letters to the editor on the topic of marijuana (cannabis) show how deeply divided our society still is about this totally natural plant.
I should point out that I have never smoked a cigarette, let alone a joint. Like many Canadians, I viewed with something approaching horror the prospect of a “stoned” generation that relied on a psycho-active substance to help them get through the day.
But in recent months, I have done a complete about-face when it comes to liquid medical cannabis, because I have seen with my own eyes how effectively it can deal with one form of cancer.
I can quite understand why the medical establishment wants nothing to do with cannabis as a healing agent. Just think back to the time (if you can) when surgery for peptic and gastric ulcers was routine – that is until Australian Dr. Barry Marshall discovered that peptic ulcers were caused by the bacterium helicobacter pylori.
The medical establishment of the day pooh-poohed his ulcer research, so he drank a petri dish full of cultured H. pylori, expecting to develop, perhaps years later, an ulcer. To his surprise, it took only three days for symptoms to become apparent. He then took a course of antibiotics to heal himself.
His self-medication worked, he published his results, and in recognition of his discovery he was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize for medicine.
When was the last time you heard of people undergoing surgery for peptic ulcers? Vernon Jubilee’s peptic ulcer surgery rate has fallen 40 per cent during the last 10 years. Today, the first line of treatment is a few pills.
I believe the Dr. Marshall process will happen with cannabis. When the medical establishment finally accepts that the chemical compounds in a natural plant can kill cancer cells and add years to the lives of cancer sufferers, there will be a dramatic decrease in the need for surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, CT scans, MRIs, antibiotics, painkillers, even hospice care – and all those other “services” generated by the cancer establishment. Alzheimer’s disease might become a thing of the past. So might Parkinson’s, MLS, lupus, diabetes and on and on.
Fatal conditions could become chronic instead of acute, manageable instead of fatal. I am not writing a fairy-tale here.
But it won’t happen until more ordinary people like me become active in the campaign to make liquid medical cannabis –i.e. cannabis oil, juice and tincture – readily obtainable; until medical school students are taught that the human body is teeming with receptors for THC, the active ingredient in the plant; until governments stop acting like big brother over its supply, and more importantly, loosen their ties with big pharma and big medicine.
Our social media is way ahead of government, hard at work spreading information about the healing qualities of cannabis. But as I write, the plant does not have “street cred.” That’s what is needed, and that’s what will develop at an ever-increasing tempo. It’s too late to stop it now!
Jo Jones
Vernon
