Transcript III. The Reality Of Marijuana What About “Medical

Rom. 13:12-14
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
I. What God Says About Drugs
A. Be filled with the Spirit, not drugs/intoxicants!
Eph 5:18 And be not drunken with wine,
wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit;
B. Make no opportunity for drugs to affect you!
Rom. 13:12 The night is far spent, and the day is at
hand: let us therefore cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
13 Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in
revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness, not in strife and jealousy.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make
not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
I. What God Says About Drugs
C. Cease from drugs, even “a sipping”!
1 Peter 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the
flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he
that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
2 that ye no longer should live the rest of your time in
flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
3 For the time past may suffice to have wrought the
desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in
lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings,
carousings, and abominable idolatries:
4 wherein they think strange that ye run not with them
into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of of:
5 who shall give account to him that is ready to judge
the living and the dead.
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
I. What God Says About Drugs
D. Avoiding drugs & its behaviors!
1 Tim. 3:3 Not given to wine…
Strong 3943 <paroinos> staying near wine
Marg. "Not ready to quarrel and offer wrong, as one
in wine." The Greek work (paroinos) occurs in the
New Testament only here and in Titus 1:7. It means,
properly, “by wine”; i.e., spoken of what takes
place by or over wine, as revelry, drinking songs,
quarrels, etc.
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
I. What God Says About Drugs
E. Be right minded & free from intoxicants!
1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be
ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
“To think soberly" (Vine)
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour:
“Signifies ‘to be free from the influence of intoxicants’…" (Vine)
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
I. What God Says About Drugs
F. Medicinal Use Is Appropriate In Measure.
1 Tim. 5:23 Drink no longer water, but use a little
wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often
infirmities.
His habit was only water, but he often got sick.
Thus, Paul authorized a little to address illness.
For fun? Social reasons? Would he even get tipsy
from this? No!
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
I. What God Says About Drugs
G. Even considering lawful things (such as
medicinal use), we should beware being
brought under the power of anything!
1 Cor. 6:12 All things are lawful for me; but not all
things are expedient. All things are lawful for me;
but I will not be brought under the power of any.
These points alone are enough
to warn us against marijuana!
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
A.
B.
C.
D.
It is safe!
It is effective!
Studies show has medicinal benefit!
It is legal!
18 states + DC allow medical use
2 states allow recreational use
E. Villainization of marijuana is criminal!
F. It isn’t harming society!
G. It works for seizures!
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
A. CLAIM: It is safe! (False Statement!)
Joycelyn Elders, MD, former US Surgeon General, wrote the
following in a Mar. 26, 2004 article titled "Myths About Medical
Marijuana," published in the Providence Journal:
"The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve
certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms
caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and
AIDS -- or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them.
And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is
less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe
every day.”
Basically, “It works! Its safe!”
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
A. CLAIM: It is safe! (False Statement!)
Jay Cavanaugh, PhD, National Director of the American Alliance for
Medical Cannabis (AAMC), wrote the following in a 2002 article titled "The
Plight of the Chronically Ill," posted on the AAMC website:
"Many of the chronically ill have successfully sought relief with the
use of medical cannabis, an age-old remedy that now shows real scientific
efficacy. Hundreds of thousands of the sick have replaced disabling
narcotics and other psychotropic medications with nontoxic and benign
cannabis. The anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. Folks with spinal
injuries able to give up their walkers, AIDS patients able to gain weight and
keep their medications down, cancer patients finding relief from the terrible
nausea of chemotherapy, chronic pain patients once again functional with
their consciousness restored from narcotic lethargy, and folks once
disabled from crippling psychiatric disorders and addictions, returned to
sanity and society with the assistance of a nontoxic herb with remarkable
healing powers."
Basically, “It’s a wonder drug!”
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
A. REBUTAL: It is safe! (False Statement!)
Some say it is safe and effective! No side effects!
The National Institute on Drug Abuse, meanwhile, says that
marijuana causes an increase in heart rate, which could put
users at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Marijuana smoke also
contains carcinogens similar to those in tobacco smoke.
Associated effects include: Addiction, leads to harder drug
use (“gateway drug”), interferes with fertility, impairs driving
ability, and injures the lungs, immune system, and brain.
They say that medical marijuana is a front for drug legalization
and recreational use & various legal drugs make marijuana use
unnecessary.
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
A. REBUTAL: It is safe! (False Statement!)
Mahmoud A. ElSohly, PhD, Research Professor at the Research Institute of
Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Mississippi, stated the following in a
Dec. 19, 2005 interview with the Journal of the International Hemp Association:
"Cannabis as a smoked product, in my judgment, would not be a useful product
simply because of the lack of standardization, the fact that it's a smoked material:
you can't determine the dose, people smoke in different ways, plus the interaction
of the many different components and degradation products, and the tars
associated with smoked materials. So smoking is not a good delivery system.
However, cannabis as a plant that is rich in chemical components, would have
potential for producing useful drugs, for example THC. Now THC in the oral
preparation, it doesn't seem to be doing the good job it should or was expected to.
My personal view on the reason for this is the 'first-pass effect.' The material taken
orally goes through the liver and is converted to the 11-hydroxy metabolite, which is
4-5 times more potent in terms of psychoactivity, before getting into the
bloodstream, and the profile of these two drugs is quite different."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
A. REBUTAL: It is safe! (False Statement!)
Janet Lapey, MD, Executive Director of Concerned Citizens for
Drug Prevention, Inc., stated the following in her Oct. 1, 1997
statement to the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the
Judiciary in the House of Representatives:
"Marijuana is not the safe drug portrayed by the
marijuana lobby. It is addictive; it adversely affects the
immune system; leads to the use of other drugs such as
cocaine; is linked to cases of cancer; causes respiratory
diseases, mental disorders, including psychosis,
depression, panic attacks, hallucinations, paranoia,
decreased cognitive performance, disconnected thought,
delusions, and impaired memory."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
A. REBUTAL: It is safe! (False Statement!)
Peter Provet, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer at the
Odyssey House, wrote the following in an Apr. 26, 2006 Letter to the Editor,
published in the New York Times:
"As a treatment provider, I support the Food and Drug
Administration's dismissal of medical benefit from marijuana.
Regardless of the heated political debate that swirls around this
issue, the fact remains that despite the Institute of Medicine's claim
to the contrary, for people vulnerable to addictive disease, marijuana
is a gateway drug that leads to the use of more dangerous drugs like
cocaine and heroin... Not everyone who smokes marijuana will
necessarily become an addict. But why open the gate to increased
use for the sake of unproven medical benefits when we already know
the harm that marijuana inflicts on millions of Americans?"
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
B. CLAIM: It is effective! (Misleading)
Sanjay Gupta, MD, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, wrote the following in an
Aug. 8, 2013 article titled "Why I Changed My Mind on Weed," published on
CNN.com:
"...I had steadily reviewed the scientific literature on medical marijuana from the
United States and thought it was fairly unimpressive. Reading these papers five
years ago, it was hard to make a case for medicinal marijuana. I even wrote about
this in a TIME magazine article, back in 2009, titled 'Why I would Vote No on Pot.'
Well, I am here to apologize.
I apologize because I didn't look hard enough, until now. I didn't look far enough. I
didn't review papers from smaller labs in other countries doing some remarkable
research, and I was too dismissive of the loud chorus of legitimate patients whose
symptoms improved on cannabis...
I mistakenly believed the Drug Enforcement Agency listed marijuana as a schedule
1 substance because of sound scientific proof. Surely, they must have quality
reasoning as to why marijuana is in the category of the most dangerous drugs that
have 'no accepted medicinal use and a high potential for abuse.'
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
B. CLAIM: It is effective! (Misleading)
Sanjay Gupta, MD…
They didn't have the science to support that claim, and I now know that when it
comes to marijuana neither of those things are true. It doesn't have a high potential
for abuse, and there are very legitimate medical applications. In fact, sometimes
marijuana is the only thing that works...
We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United
States, and I apologize for my own role in that."
Basically: (1) patients say it works
(2) drug enforcement is arbitrary &
wrong (i.e. it’s not
dangerous)
(3) it has effective medical uses
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
B. REBUTAL: It is effective! (Misleading)
Used in treatment for the symptoms of cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, pain,
glaucoma, epilepsy, and other conditions… example: Jason David, whose
son Jayden suffers from seizures, turned to the drug and calls it "miracle
marijuana."
Jayden has Dravet syndrome, a rare and catastrophic form of childhood
epilepsy. The boy started taking a liquid, nonpsychoactive form of marijuana,
which his father says controls his violent seizures. This form ensures that
Jayden does not get high from the drug, his father says, but has allowed him
to enjoy the things other boys do.
The claim that “marijuana” works & is safe is
misleading, because “marijuana” is a variety of
plants with a varying mix of chemicals! The
example here shows a regulated chemical…
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
C. CLAIM: Studies Show Marijuana Has
Medicinal Benefit! (Misleading Statement)
REBUTTAL:
Consider the source of the study! If you select
PRO-marijuana groups what answer do you
suspect they will give?
Are we looking for facts or for a popularity =
approval contest?
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
D. Some say “it is legal in many states now”!
18 states + DC allow medical use
2 states allow recreational use
Even though alcohol is “legal” by man’s laws,
God’s law should govern us (Eph. 5:18)!
Gambling is legal…
Abortion is legal…
No fault divorce is legal…
Etc!
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
E. CLAIM: Villainization of Marijuana is Criminal!
Some assert that the criminalization of marijuana use is itself a health hazard,
since it can expose the consumer to violence and criminal activity.
Christopher Largen, author, and George McMahon, author and medical marijuana
patient of the US Federal Drug Administration's Investigational New Drug (IND)
Program, wrote the following in their 2003 book Prescription Pot: A Leading
Advocate's Heroic Battle to Legalize Medical Marijuana:
"Ultimately, the issue is not about laws, science or politics, but sick patients.
Making no distinction between individuals circumstances of use, the war on drugs
has also become a war on suffering people. Legislators are not health care
professionals and patients are not criminals, yet health and law become entwined
in a needlessly cruel and sometimes deadly dance... I sincerely hope our work will
illuminate the irrational injustice of medical marijuana prohibition...."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
E. REBUTTAL: Villainization… is Criminal!
- Emotional pleas (Gambling & abortion &
homosexuality decriminalized, what is next?)
- The University of Michigan’s reported
substantial increases among eighth, 10th and
12th graders from 1992 through 1997. Increases
in marijuana smoking are part of a disturbing
national trend in which cigarette smoking,
alcohol abuse and the use of cocaine and other
drugs are also on the rise.
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
E. REBUTTAL: Villainization… is Criminal!
- According to the 1998 National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), marijuana was
the most frequently used illicit drug.
-Sixty percent of all drug users report using only
marijuana. An additional 20 percent report using
marijuana and another illicit drug.
-This adds up to 18 million Americans, including
children, who reported using marijuana in the
past year. More than 137,564,000 Americans were
treated for marijuana abuse in 1994.
http://psychcentral.com/lib/facts-about-marijuana-use/000762
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
E. REBUTTAL: Villainization… is Criminal!
- According to the government's National Survey
on Drug Use and Health, majorities of every age
group below 60 (with one anomalous exception)
tell surveyors they have smoked pot sometime in
their lives. Given that the surveys ask people to
admit to illegal behavior, it's almost certain that
the actual numbers are higher, though just how
much higher we can't tell.
- The age group that reported highest use in the
last year (30% said yes) were ages 18-25…
http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2012/08/marijuana-use-graphed-by-age-cohort.html
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
E. REBUTTAL: Villainization… is Criminal!
The Drug Free America Foundation stated the following in a section on its
website titled "Q&A: Marijuana" (accessed Aug. 16, 2007):
"Many who claim to need marijuana medicinally simply want to use it
recreationally. In states with marijuana dispensaries, the vast majority of
'patients' are young men between the ages of 18 and 25, not the cancer
or AIDS victims used in voter ads to exploit our compassionate nature...
'Medicalizing' this harmful substance has caused truly ill people to
refuse proper medical care, thinking that because marijuana makes them
feel better they are getting better. Medical practitioners and others who
are truly concerned for the sick have higher standards and greater
compassion – we want the ill to receive the medicine they need.
The medical excuse marijuana movement has become a device used by
special interest groups to exploit the sick and dying and well-meaning
voters for their own purposes."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
F. CLAIM: “It Isn’t Harming Society”!
Laurence O. McKinney, Managing Partner of McKinney & Company, wrote the
following in a Sep. 18, 2007 email to ProCon.org:
"Yes, it should be an option. Cannabis has been used for millenia to potentiate
other drugs, relax spasms, assist in meditative practices, and amplify sensation. A
modern Ayurvedic [native Indian] text devotes fourteen pages to cannabis as a
major medical plant with directions for use. Sri Lankans use cannabis based
churnas [bodily humors] every day.
Marijuana should be available to adults for medical purposes if for no other reason
than it is harmless, often helpful, and this would initiate control, rather than
eradication, of a useful medical plant. That being said, incinerating or heating a
vegetable to obtain THC along with whatever comes along and inhaling all sorts of
junk to get it is hardly scientific. But still, what's the beef? Nobody's being harmed
and many are helped."
Justification based on pagan cultural uses &
“I don’t see the harm in it.”
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
F. REBUTTAL: “It Isn’t Harming Society”!
Jerry Dyer, MS, Fresno Chief of Police and President of the
California Police Chief's Association, wrote the following in an Apr.
16, 2008 letter to the Deputy Director of the Illinois Association of
Chiefs of Police:
"Based on the almost 12 years of medical marijuana
experience in the state of California it is our observation
that it has been destructive to lives and communities.
Passage of any form of medical marijuana anywhere in
our nation is bad public policy and will cause crime and
public safety problems."
Legalizing it & “I don’t see the harm”
would NOT make society better!
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
G. CLAIM: “It Works For Seizures!”
Robert DeLorenzo, MD, PhD, MPH, Professor of Neurology in the
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, stated the following
in a Sep. 30, 2003 university press release, titled "Marijuana and Its Receptor
Protein in Brain Control Epilepsy":
"Individuals both here and abroad report that marijuana has been therapeutic
for them in the treatment of a variety of ailments, including epilepsy. But the
psychoactive side effects of marijuana make its use impractical in the
treatment of epilepsy. If we can understand how marijuana works to end
seizures, we may be able to develop novel drugs that might do a better job of
treating epileptic seizures."
REBUTTAL: Too many harmful side effects!
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
II. What People Say About Marijuana
G. REBUTTAL: “It Works For Seizures!”
The Eagle Forum, a conservative interest group, stated the following in an
article titled "Facts You Need To Know About ... Marijuana," posted on its
website (accessed Mar. 1, 2006):
"There is no legitimate need for marijuana as
medicine. Pills containing THC are already
available with a physician's prescription. The
legalization of raw marijuana for medicine is
merely an indirect means of legalizing pot for
recreational use."
Is there really a “need” for raw marijuana use or
recreational use when refined medicines exist?
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
A. Too many chemicals…
Marijuana Contains exactly 420 chemicals! 80 are unique to
cannabis.
THC is the most active, but NOT the only active chemical!
Alcohol is the only behaviorally active agent in alcoholic
beverages, but marijuana has many!
Would you swallow 420 chemicals in random amounts, hoping
that you’ll find something that will help you? What about just
80 kinds of alcohol, or 80 narcotics, or barbiturates, or 80
opiates…?
No wonder people say it is effective against pain…
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
A. Too many chemicals…
Karen P. Tandy, JD, former Administrator of the US Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA), stated the following during her Senate Confirmation
hearing, in an Apr. 30, 2003 document titled "Responses of Karen Tandy to
Questions Submitted by Senator Durbin":
"The active ingredient in marijuana, THC, has been
accepted as having medicinal value when processed into
Marinol. Marijuana itself, however, has not been shown to
have medical benefits; accordingly, I have no basis for
believing that marijuana, and smoking marijuana, has any
such benefits."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
B. Harms… the lungs.
One study showed that daily or near-daily marijuana
users who were not tobacco cigarette smokers had a
19% higher risk of outpatient visits for respiratory
disorders than non users of both substances.
Polen MR, Sidney S, Tekawa IS, Sadler M, Friedman G. Health care use by
frequent marijuana users who do not smoke tobacco. West J Med. 1993; 158:596601.
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
B. Harms… the lungs.
Henry Miller, MD, former Director of the Office of Biotechnology at the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), wrote the following in an Apr. 28, 2006 editorial published in the New York
Times:
"In their 1999 report, the Institute of Medicine's panel of experts flatly
rejected the idea that herbal (usually smoked) cannabis would ever be
considered a safe and effective medicine for widespread use... Smoked
marijuana cannot be subjected to careful, well-controlled trials, because it
does not come in a standard, reproducible formula or dose, and cannot meet
the accepted standards for drug purity, potency and quality. Different strains
of cannabis vary radically in their cannabinoid composition and in the
contaminants -- fungi, bacteria, pesticides, heavy metals and other
substances -- they contain. And smoking is not a precise way of delivering
any substance to the bloodstream. Other plant-derived drugs -- morphine,
codeine and Taxol, to name a few -- have made it through the F.D.A.'s review
process, and there is no reason drugs made from cannabis should not be
required to meet the same standards."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
B. Harms… the lungs.
Joseph A. Califano, Jr., LLB, former US Secretary of Health,
Education and Welfare, stated the following in a Sep. 30, 1997 article
published in the Washington Post:
"Before following the Pied Pipers of medical
marijuana, voters should take into account recent
research which reveals some sharp edges of
smoking pot that undermines its popular status
as a 'soft' drug and underscore the need for a
major biomedical research program."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
C. The FDA restricts it for three reasons.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated in an Apr. 20, 2006 "InterAgency Advisory," posted on its website, www.fda.gov:
"Marijuana is listed in schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the
most restrictive schedule. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),
which administers the CSA, continues to support that placement and FDA
concurred because marijuana met the three criteria for placement in
Schedule I under 21 U.S.C. 812(b)(1) (e.g., marijuana has a high potential for
abuse, has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United
States, and has a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision).
Furthermore, there is currently sound evidence that smoked marijuana is
harmful. A past evaluation by several Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and
National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA), concluded that no sound scientific
studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United
States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of
marijuana for general medical use."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
D. Health Risks & Mental Changes.
Michael D. Roth, MD, Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of
California, Los Angeles, and Donald P. Tashkin, MD, Director of the Pulmonary Function Laboratories at the
University of California, Los Angeles, wrote the following in an Apr. 17, 1997 Letter to the Editor published in the
New England Journal of Medicine:
"To the Editor: You point to largely experiential evidence of the medicinal
benefits of marijuana and the apparent absence of serious short-term
toxicity. However, a note of caution is warranted. Although it is true that
smoking marijuana carries no immediate risk of death, there may be serious
adverse effects in the very patients for whom medicinal marijuana is most
commonly considered (i.e., those whose immune defenses are already
compromised by AIDS or cancer plus chemotherapy). For example, in
patients with AIDS, marijuana use has been associated with the development
of both fungal and bacterial pneumonias. Moreover, among HIV-positive
persons, marijuana use has been shown to be a risk factor for rapid
progression from HIV infection to AIDS and the acquisition of opportunistic
infections or Kaposi's sarcoma [cancer], or both.
Cellular studies and studies in animals lend support to these potential health
consequences of marijuana."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
D. Health Risks & Mental Changes.
Richard H. Schwartz, MD, physician in Advanced Pediatrics at INOVA Fairax Hospital for
Children in Vienna, Virginia, wrote the following in a July 14, 1994 Letter to the Editor, published in
the New England Journal of Medicine:
"...support of the use of marijuana for medical purposes is
scientifically unfounded. There is no evidence that marijuana is
superior to ondansetron (Zofran), dexamethasone, or synthetic
tetrahydrocannabinol (Marinol) as an antiemetic in patients
undergoing chemotherapy. Nor is there scientific evidence to support
the use of marijuana for AIDS-associated anorexia, depression,
epilepsy, narrow-angle glaucoma, or spasticity associated with
multiple sclerosis. As a crude drug, moreover, marijuana has been
shown to produce undesirable mental changes, disturbances in
coordination, giddiness, and hypotension in at least 25 percent of
novice users, especially elderly persons."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
D. Health Risks & Mental Changes!
Nicholas A. Pace, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at
New York University Medical Center, wrote the following in an Apr. 26, 2006
"Letter to the Editor," published in the New York Times:
"Recent research shows that marijuana has detrimental
effects on the brain, lungs, heart and fertility. The THC
(the main ingredient in marijuana) content in marijuana
used today is twice as strong as 30 years ago.
The false impression that there is a medical need for
marijuana confuses and misleads a poorly informed
compassionate public in believing that the medical
profession is withholding helpful medication from the
sick."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
E. There Are Better Alternatives!
Bill Frist, MD, former US Senator (R-TN), wrote the following in an Oct.
20, 2003 email to ProCon.org:
"As a physician I have sympathy for patients suffering
from pain and other medical conditions. Although I
understand many believe marijuana is the most effective
drug in combating their medical ailments, I would caution
against this assumption due to the lack of consistent,
repeatable scientific data available to prove marijuana's
benefits. Based on current evidence, I believe that
marijuana is a dangerous drug and that there are less
dangerous medicines offering the same relief from pain
and other medical symptoms."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
E. There Are Better Alternatives!
Comparison: My son had childhood seizures. The doctor
prescribed Phenobarbital in alcohol suspension. While it
stopped the seizures, it resulted in intoxication, loss of
control, major behavioral problems.
It took a year of searching to finally find a Pharmacist who
told us that Phenobarbital commonly comes in a pill form,
with no alcohol.
The difference in my son’s ability to control himself was
immediately visible… and this was only TWO drugs, not
80 behaviorally active drugs!
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
III. The Reality Of Marijuana
F. Marijuana is not really medicine!
Andrea Barthwell, MD, former Deputy Director at the US
Office of National Drug Control Policy, stated the following in a
speech given in Belleville, Illinois on Feb. 8, 2005:
"It is not a medicine. You don't know what's in it.
If there were compelling scientific and medical
data supporting marijuana's medical benefits that
would be one thing. But the data is not there."
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
SUMMARY: God is very clear!
A. Be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18)
B. Make not provisions for… (Rom. 13:12-14)
C. Cease from drugs, even “a sipping”
(1 Peter 4:1-5)
D. Avoiding drugs & its behaviors (1 Tim. 3:3)
E. Be right minded (1 Pet. 4:7) & free from
intoxicants (5:8)
F. Medicinal use is appropriate in measure
(1 Tim. 5:23)
G. Do not be brought under the power of even
lawful things (1 Cor. 6:12)
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
Proverbs 23 Drug abuse deceives & harms!
29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath
contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds
without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that
tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed
wine.
31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it
sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly: 32 At
the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder.
33 Thine eyes shall behold strange things, And thy heart
shall utter perverse things. 34 Yea, thou shalt be as he
that lieth down in the midst of the sea, Or as he that lieth
upon the top of a mast. 35 They have stricken me, shalt
thou say, and I was not hurt; They have beaten me, and I
felt it not: When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
What About “Medical Marijuana”?
CONLUSION:
A. God warns us against being under the
influence of drugs!
B. Marijuana harms your health & mental state.
Many better options exist!
C. In spite of many false claims, its increasing
popularity & even its legal status:
---DO NOT BE FOOLED!--1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set
your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as children of obedience, not fashioning
yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance: 15
but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner
of living;