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Aug-03-2013 21:42
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Marijuana CAN Cure Alcohol Addiction
Dr. Phil Leveque Professor of Pharmacology Salem-News.comAlcoholics, pay attention!
 Based in Washington, D.C., Marijuana Policy Project is the nation's largest pro-marijuana legalization advocacy group. |
(PORTLAND, Ore.) - To write about it, a little history is required.
I can hear all of you boozers saying, “Just because I enjoy Scotch, it’s no sign that I am addicted.” Well, let’s face it Dude or Dudette, you are a drunk. You have a lot of company. Booze kills about as many as deep fried hamburgers (heart attacks) and is only slightly less lethal than tobacco. Are you listening?
The latest data that I could find on my computer from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) in 2010 that alcohol killed about 40,000 people per year. While tobacco killed about 440,000. In this article, I am addressing alcohol, in a few days I will address tobacco more thoroughly.
According to Dr. Tod Mikuriya the world’s most outstanding expert and writer about marijuana, wrote about the first article comparing marijuana to alcohol.
His source was a British psychiatrist Dr. G Morris Carstairs who, in 1915, lived in a small village in Northern India. The inhabitants were Rajputs, who were warriors and governors, the others were Brahmins who were religious leaders, the warriors were alcohol drinkers.
The Brahmins drank bhang which is liquid marijuana. The Brahmins believed the use of bhang to be a flight to profound contact with reality. The reader knows what alcohol does.
While Dr. Mikuriya was in medical school about 1950, he discovered marijuana in pharmacology textbooks. He had mostly heard about it in college, and started studying the subject. He became the director of non-classified marijuana research at the National Institute of Mental Health Center for Narcotics and drug abuse studies in 1967, based in Washington DC.
 "Even a monkey knows Marijuana is Safer than |
Meanwhile, he was looking up marijuana information at the national Library of Medicine. He ended up self-publishing Marijuana Medical Papers 1839-1972 in 1972, which is the best book ever on the subject. He moved to Berkeley in 1970 and became acquainted with leaders in the legalization for marijuana movement.
He eventually interviewed about 2,000 medical marijuana users and found a significant number of patients (94) who had found that marijuana was much better and safer than alcohol.
In the process, he wrote outstanding articles about the marijuana-alcohol interface including Cannabis as Treatment for Alcoholism (1970), Cannabis Substitution for Harm Reduction (2001), and Cannabis as a Substitute for Alcohol (2004). And actually, dozens more articles in the marijuana newspaper, O’Shaunessey’s.
He is one of the most quoted authors on the subject of marijuana as medicine.
Other than Dr. Mikuriya, Dr. Edward Brecher wrote in the consumer’s Union Report on Illicit Drugs, Can Marijuana Replace Alcohol?
Dr. Mikuriya, about 1970, wrote about the 94 alcoholics in the Berkley-SanFrancisco area who had self converted to marijuana.
It is a travesty to try to abbreviate or condense Dr. Mikuriya’s work, but I will try:
Of the 94 patients after conversion to marijuana, 41 patients found it very effective and 38 found it to be effective.
For any drug to be effective 79 times out of 94, is truly outstanding.
Many current articles lump alcohol with drugs, both licit and illicit. Marijuana is better and safer than all of them.
YOU BOOZERS, NOW YOU’VE BEEN TOLD! |
NASCAR fans attending the 2013 Brickyard 400 races were supposed to be greeted by this ad on a jumbotron at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was pulled at the last minute, because it refers to marijuana and the organizers "don't condone that". The spoof beer ad produced by the Marijuana Policy Project highlights the relative safety of marijuana compared to alcohol by characterizing marijuana as a "new 'beer'" with "no calories," "no hangovers," and "no violence" associated with its use.
Got a question or comment for Dr. Leveque?
Email him: Newsroom@Salem-News.com
More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole".
Order the book by mail by following this link: Dogface Soldier
If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it.
Watch for more streaming video question and answer segments about medical marijuana with Bonnie King and Dr. Phil Leveque.
Click on this link for other articles and video segments about PTSD and medical marijuana on Salem-News.com: Dr. Leveque INTERVIEWS & ARTICLES
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prettyfunny August 4, 2013 3:19 pm (Pacific time)
Cure is a huge claim. An aide to help curb the cravings of Alcohol maybe, but certainly not a proven cure at this point. Thank you Dr. Leveque.
Watch Marijuana Maintenance: Cannabis for Alcoholism: http://youtu.be/bXM5YpR0Gf4 Make sure to read the description as well.
Also Read:
A 2009 study performed by the Laboratory for Physiopathology of Diseases of the Central Nervous System found that injections of THC, the primary active chemical in cannabis, helped eliminate dependence on opiates such as morphine and heroin in test animals.
A survey compiling self-reported addiction treatment and relapse rates among substance users, “Cannabis as a Substitute for Alcohol and Other Drugs” that was published in the Harm Reduction Journal, found that respondents used cannabis to curb their alcohol cravings, as an alternative to previous use of prescription drugs, and even as a substitute for more potent drugs such as cocaine. Tellingly, 57.4% of respondents chose to use cannabis because it provided better symptom management as well.
Another study published in the Harm Reduction Journal, “Long term cannabis users seeking medical cannabis in California,” found that medical cannabis users were much less likely to use more potent drugs, and even reported less tobacco use than non-cannabis users.
Source: http://www.unitedpatientsgroup.com/blog/2012/07/26/medical-marijuana-as-treatment-for-alcoholism-addiction/
pinkfloyd August 4, 2013 2:37 pm (Pacific time)
Yet again...marijuana does NOT cure alcoholism nor ever will. I know people you would call "alcoholics" and they started smoking marijuana, now they are alcoholics who smoke marijuana. 1. If you are an alcoholic, you cannot just stop, its very dangerous, and can kill you. 2. You have to be determined you want to quit, or nothing will work. 3. Even the "ibogaine" I mentioned earlier, which IS a cure, will not take you into their 7 day program unless you go to a alcohol rehab to quit for at least 5 days beforehand. 4. The doctor should be careful because if someone takes his advice and dies, he might be sued. 5. If you really want to quit, there are several things you must do, but, altho I disagree that marijuana is a cure, if you really want to quit, marijuana is a great help in quitting. But it is NOT a cure. 6. I value the doctors efforts explaining that marijuana is one of the best natural plants out there with amazing health benefits. I just have to call him out on this one because he doesnt understand the entire picture, and he could cause some serious damage without the full picture. I do think marijuana is a good aid if you are serious about quitting, and I do agree that alcohol is MUCH worse than marijuana.
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