Bongs for Bones?

• By rmchavin
• Posted June 10, 2009 at 1:57 am
• Report post

Dear PikaB:

Thanks for bringing us this good news of a potential new osteoporosis miracle drug from Israel. Since this article says that it has already been tested in preclinical trials, it looks very promising for effectiveness, although the long term safety profile (especially cancer risk) will probably remain in doubt for many years. I'm hoping that this drug will one day be offered in very low dosages for people who just want to slightly prevent osteoporosis without risking the substantial side effects of the most potent osteoporosis drugs. By the way, whenever a person needs to find out the meaning of a certain word (or whenever a person needs to find out how to spell a certain word), the quickest way to find out is to just type that word in the http://www.google.com/ search bar. That's exactly what I had to do for "bongs" and "toking" because I didn't know what they meant. Here are my results: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=bong&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g%3Ae10 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=bongs&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=toke&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g 6g%3As1g3 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=toking&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g3g%3As7 Finally, I'd like to remind everybody that, in addition to all the diseases that the Surgeon General warned us about, smoking cigarettes and cigars has been shown to greatly increase our risk of death from heart attacks, many different cancers, strokes, COPD, and hip fractures (so toking is not really a serious option).

• Reply

• By debbie59
• Posted June 10, 2009 at 8:28 am
• Report post

Chemically speaking pot and tobacco are as closely related as tofurkey and turkey.

• Reply

• By osteochick
• Posted June 10, 2009 at 3:41 pm
• Report post

You could take it in a pill form...

• Reply

• By April995
• Posted June 10, 2009 at 8:02 pm
• Report post

You can also bake it in Brownies.

That said, A very good friend of ours has lung cancer from smoking cigaretes.
UCLA Hospital told him to smoke Pot.

April

• Reply

• By rmchavin
• Posted June 11, 2009 at 12:38 am
• Report post

The vast majority of websites and scientific studies on marijuana smoking say that marijuana smoking is completely harmless to our health. Of course, you would be a fool to believe that. One reason for these results is that organized crime, which derives a large portion of its illegal narcotics revenue from marijuana, wants to defraud everybody into thinking that marijuana smoking is relatively harmless so that they can sell more. The other reason for these results is that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to conduct a scientific research study in which the people being studied are so highly motivated to lie about their smoking (toking) habits. If I had to administer a scientific research study on marijuana smoking, I would simply do a chemical analysis of the smoke that results from a burning reefer: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=reefer I would show that the same carcinogens and toxic chemicals that are present in the smoke that results from a burning house, a burning forest, burning garbage, industrial smokestacks, automobile exhaust, volcanoes, an outdoor grill, and a burning cigarette are also present in the smoke that results from toking. It's politically popular to demonize the smoke from second-hand cigarette smoking but unpopular to demonize the smoke from toking. Anyhow, here's one scientific study that was done way out there - in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria - that miraculously was able to get the correct result: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19057263 Keep in mind what I said earlier, namely, that the vast majority of scientific studies and websites say that toking is completely harmless.

• Reply

• By rmchavin
• Posted June 11, 2009 at 1:44 am
• Report post

Here are 2 PubMed studies that chemically analyzed and compared tobacco smoke versus cannabis smoke: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18062674 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16490479

• Reply

• By debbie59
• Posted June 11, 2009 at 7:55 am
• Report post

Tobacco has over 4000 chemicals, 43 known to be carcinogens. Marijuana has around 400 in total. Of course smoke of any kind can be a carcinogen, but the latest studies, especially those not affiliated with the U.S. government(NIH) Are showing it can actually be helpful to people with lung cancer. Also you don't, not that I would know, smoke 2 packs of joints a day. That would be outrageous!! Like the others noted, it doesn't even need to be smoked at all. I suggest you no longer grill, use a fireplace, woodburner,bonfires and those insidious candles!!!

• Reply

• By debbie59
• Posted June 11, 2009 at 8:46 am
• Report post

Also the idea that organized crime could or would back a study on anything , let alone marijuana, is ludicrous. Why would they want to prove one of their illegal products to be harmless or even beneficial?? Wouldn't they do the opposite? If marijuana was legalized The mob would lose all that revenue. The government could actually tax it Like the Governator of California would like to do. ( instead of soda pop)

• Reply

• By debbie59
• Posted June 11, 2009 at 9:59 am
• Report post

To rmchavin,
Just viewed your profile. Did you know that marijuana is the number one cash crop in the state of Hawaii? If you could tax those revenues maybe it wouldn't be so expensive to live there.

• Reply

• By April995
• Posted June 11, 2009 at 7:36 pm
• Report post

Years ago when Nixon was President. We have a good friend who is a Lawyer in Beverly Hills, Ca.
The reason I mention where he is at, is because, Pres. Nixon asked him to get together a scientific study, and court records on Marijuana.

This investigation took over a year.
Our friend could NOT find one negitive study on Marijuana. Nothinig that its going to kill you.
When it was handed over to Nixon. He read it and threw it out!
He wanted to find something negitive about it.
There where many positives to Marijuana and to growing Hemp.

We have talked to Drs. about it, and sinse there our personal friends, they admit, there is nothing wrong with it, Even Cartiologists say the same thing.

If anyone has been paid off to write that Marijuana is bad for you, is the Alcohol & Cigarette industry.

If Marijuna was more legal, I believe more people would be smoking/eating it, then drinking Alcohol, which is an insidious addictive drug, that has killed more people, except for Cigarettes.
There is NOT any Postives to Cigarettes, and Alcohol.

Well there is one postive to Cigarettes, and that is in mental hospitals, and jails. It keeps them busy smoking!!

Rm, You might want to check out some positive websites.
Anyone can write anything they want in any website that suits them. But that does not mean its true.

Take Care,
April

• Reply

• By rmchavin
• Posted June 11, 2009 at 8:17 pm
• Report post

Dear debbie59:

Thanks for your insightful responses. If it's true that marijuana is the number one agricultural crop in Hawaii and that it's even more profitable than sugar cane, pineapple, and papaya, then I can tell you that 100% of that money is going to the organized criminals, the people who like to pretend that they love the number 6 and the color red, the people who train their boys to become skillful at defrauding young girls out of their purity. If anybody who is not a member of the organized criminals ever tried to share in the marijuana profit, he would be shot continuously by the mob's tracking radars everywhere he went! As for marijuana smoke having only 400 chemicals and tobacco smoke having 4,000 chemicals, I would need to see the scientific research study that determined that fact before I could believe your claim. On your third point, you are completely correct that if marijuana was legalized, the criminals would lose a major part of their illegal narcotics revenue. However, the criminal bosses are completely correct in being virtually certain that legalization will never occur. Whether marijuana is determined to be harmful to our health or not will have very little relevance to the debate on whether marijuana is legalized or not because the important issue is whether or not legalizing marijuana would impair people's ability to function responsibly as citizens and convert a large percentage of our population into dysfunctional potheads and dangerous drivers. Thus, the criminal bosses are much more concerned about paying off their current bills than they are about the nonexistent threat from the complete legalization of marijuana. If they succeeded in defrauding more customers into believing that toking is harmless, they could potentially double their income from illegal narcotics. Their other sources of income include extortion, bookmaking, and prostitution. Getting back now to the subject of the toxicity of smoke: Firefighters tend to eat a healthy diet and live a healthy lifestyle because they know that their occupation puts them at an increased risk for cancer. Also, firefighters are required to wear filtered gas masks to protect their lungs. Therefore, would you expect firefighters to have a lower cancer rate than everybody else because of their healthy diet, healthy lifestyle, and filtered gas masks or would you expect firefighters to have a higher cancer rate than everybody else because of their frequent occupational exposure to smoke from forest fires and house fires? Let's find out: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16847937 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8328477 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18306327 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2378369 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12594776 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17427202 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17891891 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17099456

• Reply

• By rmchavin
• Posted June 11, 2009 at 9:37 pm
• Report post

Dear April995:

Several years ago, I enjoyed using hemp seed oil, hemp nut butter (delicious!), and dry roasted hemp seeds (delicious!) which I purchased from Manitoba Harvest of Manitoba, Canada by mail order. The hemp seed oil and hemp nut butter are green in color, and of course, you know how extremely healthful green plants can be for us. I'm so grateful to them because I learned so much from Manitoba Harvest about cis fat, trans fat, and the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio: http://www.manitobaharvest.com/nutrition/index.asp?itemID=183 http://www.manitobaharvest.com/nutrition/index.asp?itemID=74 http://www.manitobaharvest.com/nutrition/index.asp?itemID=72 http://www.manitobaharvest.com/company/ Of course, I haven't purchased anything from Manitoba Harvest for many years now. I decided that high-lignan flax oil and organic ground flaxseed meal were even healthier for me than green-colored, chlorophyll-containing hemp foods from Manitoba Harvest. Whoops. I almost forgot to mention that there is virtually no THC in these delicious treats!

• Reply

• By debbie59
• Posted June 12, 2009 at 6:57 am
• Report post

April,
You are 100% correct. Rm, I'm sorry, but You can find the chemical information about the difference between pot and tobacco in any chemistry, biochemistry journal. Or you could ask a plant cellular&molecular biologist. My son is one of those,which entailed 10 years of university, 6 years of graduate school & 3 degrees. ( excuse me of tooting my mom horn, but am very proud) Actually the biggest drug problem we have in this country are prescription (opiate) drugs. Sorry Rm you REALLY sound like a tool for the governments failed and very expensive war on drugs!

• Reply

• By nobonesaboutit
• Posted June 14, 2009 at 11:23 pm
• Report post

Interesting discussion. I had also read yrs ago that cigarettes gives off 4000 different chemicals when lit up. Anyone who says pot doesn't have any effects-please. We've probably all seen the person high on pot-far away eyes, distorted perception, definitey acting different than when they are not under the influence. As a former OB RN, I can tell you I saw babies of pot smoking moms with extra digits. I don't much care what people do at home, if they would just leave it at home and not be out driving on the same roads as my sons. Pot is supposed to have 10X greater effects on lungs than cigarettes and as the pot has been grown to be more powerful, goodness knows what the effects on our health care system is going to be. Coming from a home that my dad constantly smoked tobacco, I have terrible autoimmune diseses, asthma, allergies. Him smoking in the home when I always told him it made me feel sick, was the ultimate child abuse. He died of a heart attack, I've had 2 myself when I was 49. What happens to the children in these homes where pot smoking is a daily thing? Will we have a society in which so many people are impaired and don't realize it. Have you ever noticed those that defend pot the most are users that don't even realize they aren't remembering things well, have altered perceptions? I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for this reply but sorry. By the way, I do believe in medical pot for chemo patients and terminal patients. It helps them be able to get over nausea and be able to eat to keep up their nutrition. Also it's hard being a terminal person KNOWING you're dying and if it helps them get thru it, so be it.

• Reply

• By debbie59
• Posted June 15, 2009 at 8:05 am
• Report post

nobonesaboutit,
Sorry to hear about your autoimmune disease. Your long term steroid use is probably what caused your osteoporosis. I have been using Forteo for almost 2 years with very few side effects. Wondering what they're going to try and put me on when I'm done with the forteo. I'm kind of afraid of the bisphosphonates. I've heard of a new drug ( another biologic like forteo) called denosamab. That's probably not the correct spelling. I guess I'll find out soon. I'm 59 and both my parents smoked, as did I until 3-4 years ago. My father is 87 and quit the same time I did. He has nothing wrong with his lungs but my mother died of lung cancer at age 60. Not everyone gets a lung condition from smoking cigs. I believe it's only like 20 some percent. I ended up with copd, Some of us are just lucky.
You're right marijuana definitely will give you a buzz (college days ) but the same as most people don't drink alcohol before work or driving, I would think the same good sense would apply to marijuana. Unless you're an alcoholic as alcohol is physically addictive and marijuana isn't. ( since you're an RN read the data) I've been subjected to living with an alcoholic and I'll take the pot head anyday.

• Reply

• By debbie59
• Posted June 15, 2009 at 9:35 am
• Report post

Also, nobonesaboutit, There is absolutely no evidence and believe me they've tried to find it, that marijuana has mutagenic effects. There is for alcohol though. My husband's degrees are in Behavioral psychology and special education and has worked with many unfortunate souls with fetal alcohol syndrome.

• Reply

• By PikaB
• Posted August 16, 2009 at 6:39 pm
• Report post

Here's another news item on another study. This one says that (in mice anyway) marijuana use when young increased bone loss, but marijuana use when old decreased bone loss.
http://www.emaxhealth.com/1024/8/32888/age-when-marijuana-used-affects-bone -health.html
And the abstract of the scientific study is here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19656492

• Reply

• By PikaB
• Posted August 16, 2009 at 7:11 pm
• Report post

That last item leads to an idle thought. Another recent news item reported "The number of Americans hospitalized for osteoporosis-related fractures and other injuries has climbed 55 percent since 1995, a U.S. government report finds."
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE57D3M820090814
Though some of the increase could be due to factors noted in the article (medications like PPIs), perhaps part of the increase is due to the aging generation which began using marijuana during the 1960s (the first decade of widespread use). Since it was primarily young people who used it, that would be the first generation to have bones weakened by it, and as that generation grows older, they would therefore have a higher fracture rate that the previous generation. (Assuming the mice study is applicable to humans.)

• Reply

• By debbie59
• Posted August 17, 2009 at 8:40 am
• Report post

What do you consider old? If you started smoking pot in 1965 at age 18 you'd be 62 today. As far as the generation before that, remember pot was not illegal in this country until 1937, my grandmother who is no longer with us, was born in 1907 and smoked pot when she was young and again when she was old. My father was born in 1922 and also smoked it as a young man but not as an old or even older man. My grandmother did not have osteoporosis but my father has shrunk 6". I don't think pot probably has much to do with it, although I do believe it should be legal.

• Reply

• By raindancer
• Posted August 17, 2009 at 11:58 am
• Report post

Hi Pika,

One reason so many more people are ending up with bone fractures since the late 90"s is because of the widespread use of sun screens for over 20 years which prevents people from absorbing VitD and the fact that until a couple of years ago, the medical profession was unaware that so many people are seriously deficient in Vit D.

Obviously, no big drug company is going to do any research on anything if can't produce a chemical that they can patent and sell for huge profits when over the counter Vit D and the sun can provide the best help for nothing or next to nothing.

On the pot question..I grew up in a house of smokers..and my dad an off and on again alcoholic. I have never smoked, got drunk once at 18, never used pot or any illegal drugs and if I ever get as ill as my mom was before she died..believe you me..I will find someone to sell me marijuana!!!!

• Reply

Add to the discussion