In my situation, I have dealt with rather severe depression for 35 years. It caused me to start drinking when I was 16, take speed when I was in my early 20's, and into therapy three different times, as well as AA and group. The only thing I ever found that gave me a chance to DO anything was a couple of hits of cannabis every once in a while. After quitting alcohol and speed, both by myself and with horrific withdrawals, I stayed with a couple of hits of cannabis, and that allowed me to continue on with my life. It didn't incapacitate me, though the depression did. I've now been free of alcohol for 23 years, speed for 25 years, and every other drug out there for as long. I do not consider cannabis a drug. It is an herb.

Now, thanks to a new, paranoid neighbor, I am soon to be a convicted felon, have my rights of citizenship removed, and not be able to get a job much of anywhere because I had a couple of plants in my back yard, rather than deal with the black market. My "pretrial supervisor", when I mentioned that I have been doing cannabis for depression, chimed right up with "They have drugs for that, now". I'm being told to DO drugs by the people who are making me a felon for "doing drugs"! She didn't even listen to her own words as they came out of her mouth. And the fact that a few hits of cannabis have kept me from being a practicing alcoholic for 23 years mean NOTHING to anyone here, and they want me to take substances that lead to suicide, health issues like organ failure and death instead of something that has never killed a human in over 4500 years of medicinal use and 8000 of recreational use. Needless to saay, my depression has deepened and my cravings to go climb back into a bottle of gin has returned with a vengance.

Medicine now adays has nothing to do with health, it's all about money. Doctors used to get paid in chickens, now it's in hundreds of millions of dollars. It used to cost $300 to have a baby (I've seen the bill from my own birth). What is it now? Medicine should never have been made a for profit industry. That has led to things like what we have now, where they advertise drugs that they don't even tell you what they are for, but you should bother your doctor about whether you "need" it or not. EVERYTHING is a disease, and needs to be treated. But god forbid that you should find out that something like cannabis helps you, because we will make you a felon over it, and ruin your life because of a PLANT.

BTW, when cannabis was made illegal nationally in 1937, the AMA was one of the few groups to oppose it in congressional testimony (Congress didn't tell anyone about the hearings beforehand). From that year until 1040, DOCTORS were the main group of people that were jailed for it (approx 10,000 over three years), until the AMA finally said they would no longer prescribe it and would remove it from the US Pharmacopeia, the listing of drugs and plants used in this country for disease relief. Now they are back to calling for it's use. Time for Congress to stop declaring war on it's own citizens and being allowed to practice medicine on all of us. And it's also time to stop medicine being a for profit industry that kills over 200,000 Americans every year. Cannabis kills no one, and never has. According to Kaiser-Permanente, the only health issue that cannabis users have that other people don't is LAW ENFORCEMENT. And we screwed with 823,000 of us last year ALONE. Do you really think we can keep paying for THAT?

WJM: I hope you beat the charges. The best people I know have, had and do smoke grass on occasion. I know from experience that 3 puffs and YOGA lines up in a way that facilitates a balance between left and right brain whereupon GOOD writing flows. My men friend do designs, woodwork, plant water gardens, take people on nature outings and see their creativity explode exponentially.

It would be a far better world if we locked up all leaders intent upon war, or invested in weapons and ONLY gave them grass until they worked out peace accords. Shades of "King of Hearts," perhaps, but given the INSANITY that passes for banal everyday life and current political decision making, I'd opt for the pro-green grass agenda any day over what IS and is taken for real.

Ms. Rosenberg needs a copy editor.

WJM, I feel your pain and I myself could be in that same position any year now. I have always had mild health problems which became quite severe as I got older. I never much got into pot because I figured it was just one more toxin and expense I could do without. I didn't start using marijuana till I about 49 only because of the onset of glaucoma Health problems that plagued me for years cleared up. I wish I had started earlier. It actually works with your body. I believe most illness is caused by stress anyway. Also M. has anti-inflamatory properties so it helps with that vast array of disorders. I urge anyone to get online and start researching. They actually found out much of this years ago and made sure we didn't find out. I know that sounds paranoid!

Oh, and that comment "they have drugs for that now" literally made me almost throw up!

thundermoon,

You made a lot of very good points. I have had generalized anxiety disorder, depression and IBS that all started quite abruptly upon returning from the first Bush Inaguration Protest on January 21, 2001. Some of you may have recall the incredible disregard and comtempt shown by Bush and the media on that gray gloomy day as the motorcade deliberately sped up and raced through the massive gauntlet of protest on Pennsylvania Ave, completely without comment or image in any of the media - we were redered completely invisible.

The condition worsened a bit on September 11, the same year.

I am quite serious; none of this is no joke.

Yet I have yet to find a therapist that attributes any significance at all to the coorelation - in fact it is brushed off and I am told that I must stop talking about politics. The whole approach is to personalize, personalize, personalize i.e. me, me, me. The idea that one might get depressed, anxious and feeling ill by the enormous suffering one's country is inflicting on millions of other humans by the is symply beyond consideration to these psychologists.

As far as antidepressants; I was briefly on Effexor and Lexapro, but found the side effects intolerable (groggy by day, sleepless by night) and even with gradual tapering, the withdrawl from Lexapro was scary with strange "mind-jerk" sensations and sudden dangerous bursts of rage.

mikec December 6th, 2007 11:23 am

Ms. Rosenberg needs a copy editor.
_________________________________________________

I had the exact same thought. Only a cartoonist could write a sentence like: "And the MECC which wrote up the Merck-designed and paid for Vioxx trials less the death data which ran in Annals of Internal Medicine first author of the Advantage study Jeffrey Lisse recounts to the New York Times."

Otherwise, I'm like many of the other commenters in that I've also looked at psychogenic drugs from both sides now.

I also suffer from anxiety and depression, and have self-medicated with The Thinking Man's Cigarette! (as the late Dave VanRonk once called it) every chance I get for two score years.

Since I also oppose Big Pharma-- including a rare point of agreement with Daniel David, i.e. being appalled by direct marketing to consumers-- I resisted all suggestion from my "talk-therapists" over the years to try pharmaceutical remedies. I briefly attended a group in which almost all of the participants took a mix of two or three medications-- and although they were decent people, listening to their tales of visiting two or three psychiatrists to fine-tune their med regimen creeped my out. When I finally caved, I had such a horrible experience with Wellbutrin that I was even more put off.

However, after putting my job in jeopardy by persistent dysfunctional episodes, this year I finally agreed to try Effexor. And it seems to be helping without nasty side-effects or mental impairment. This doesn't change my fear & loathing of Big Pharma, but I admit that I am not as ready to deny that there may be a baby somewhere in that foul bathwater.

PJD!--- Seriously, try weed for the IBS. I was incapacitated with IBS most of my life. Did you know most of the receptors for Serotonin are in your intestines? Did you know just as the brain has receptors for the opiates in the brain because they are similar to our natural chemicals the gut has receptors for THC (active ingred. in Cannabis) for the same reason. That's where the appetite comes from, stuff starts coming alive.

I fully agree that pot has lots of beneficial medicinial effects - and I am aware of the role of Serotonin and its' receptors in gut motility - IBS being often caused by excessive gut motility. But, under our fascist pee-in-a-jar-for-a-job regime It also results in chronic unemployment.

But in my case, I had never even heard of IBS before the start of the Bush regime in January-february 2001 - I thought I had colon cancer, or (due to a flushed sensation from the anxiety) carcinoid syndrome. It was only after a colonoscopy and a lot of odd urine and blood tests - to preculude carcinoid or an even rarer cancer called called a VIPoma that my gastroenterologist concluded it was IBS.

I am quite confident that a Kucinich Presidency would clear my ails right up. I'm not kidding.

Okay, I probably overreacted to andersondl's posting, but I still object to linking antidepressants to political apathy, as though there is some conspiracy (among whom, I ask?) to keep the population politically passive. People I know and that are dear to me say they help them function AND stay politically active. My own experience of antidepressants was anything but sedating. They gave me repeated panic attacks, so I stopped using them and started working throught what was, and still is, troubling me. Several posters make the important point that sometimes you need to get off the drugs and work through your pain. Treating depression as an illness caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters completely trivializes psychic pain that is caused by things we SHOULD be pained by--such as, oh, let's see, creeping fascism in the USA? So where's the balance? How much pain is too much pain? Which pain is truly pathological and ought to be treated and which ought to be worked through? Let's leave that to the individual to decide, and not make sweeping absolutist judgments in either direction. And while were at it, let's give the individual the right to decide on their drug of choice: a joint or Zoloft? You choose. Personally I'd rather see plots of homegrown that corporate profits, but the criminal "justice" system has rigged the system in favor of Big Pharma, and folks like WJM are swept up in a bogus "war on drugs."

Sounds like some of the posters talking hate, forgot to take their meds today? Don't you just hate when people hate.

Personally, I do not take any meds, basically because I believe the human body already possesses a warehouse full of pharmaceuticals that will spring into action and help us to heal almost any physiological ailment, if given proper rest.

If we get a cut on our hand, without any medication the wound will miracuoully heal and the skin will automatically seal itself shut.

And secondly and most importantly in my estimation is that the pharmaceutical industry uses a variety of beautiful sentient animals to test their potent drugs on.

Vivisection is a barbaric practice and all the drug companies must have animal data to prove to the FDA that their magic potions are safe.

It makes no sense to experiment on animals of a different species to look for a cure for human diseases, which are usually the result of personal abuse, poor diet and lack of exercise, which no drug can ameliorate.

A search for the Cause must be our goal not the palliation of a disease without understanding how we developed and acquired the problem.

"We need a boundless ethic, one which will include the animals, too. Until he extends the circle of his compassions to all living things, man will not himself find peace."
Dr. Albert Schweitzer

I have nothing against medicine when it is used to cure rather than simply treat the symptoms. I find that yoga and, for me, jogging or any form of vigorous exercise, helps me both mentally and physically. I also agree that prescription/non-prescription drugs should not be allowed on television.

In the USA, we have become a nation of far too many people being prescribed unnecessary drugs. Too many doctors today aren't interested in curing you; they need to keep their clients coming back to keep the money coming in. Health care should never have been allowed to become a for-profit industry. The oath that doctors make to "do no harm" is meaningless these days.

Pot should be legal;it's probably the safest drug there is. Personal responsibility enters the picture if you're smoking too much, but again, marijuana has never killed anyone that I'm aware of, nor has it started any fights or caused other violent acts (again, that I'm aware of). I know some people get paranoid from pot, so they simply don't smoke it because it's a bad experience for them. The one thing I do miss is the old days when you could actually pass around a joint with a group of people. Before it became so potent, it was truly social drug use, bringing people together. Just "don't Bogart (sp?) that joint, my friend". It was a great way to spend some time together and share. Today's pot is so powerful that you only need one or two (maybe three or four) hits and that's enough.

And pot helps so many people who have many diseases. It creates an appetite, it calms a person down, and it relieves tension. Marijuana helps you sleep. It makes you laugh, and laughter is another powerful medicine. Why it isn't legal is probably because anyone can grow it in their own home, therefore, no corporation can make any money off of it. So it remains illegal – heaven forbid that anyone do anything for themselves where there's money to be made.

The one thing that sort of surprised me was that none of the posts mentioned Chinese medicine. While a lot of bad things can be said about it – especially when some of the ingredients require killing rare and endangered species of animals, it is certainly an alternative worth looking into. Acupuncture also helps many people.

So many of us feel sick because so much is wrong with our world today; and so many of us are sick because of the poisoned air, land and water. So many of us are sick because the food we buy has chemicals which cause harm. I'm definitely not a doctor, but I feel fairly certain that a little over a hundred years ago, there weren't nearly so many illnesses in such a high percentage of the population as there are today.

Modern medicine has achieved amazing advances and has discovered scores of ways to eliminate diseases that were untreatable one hundred years ago. Modern medicine is a great thing. What isn't great is the way modern medicine is practiced, where it has become an industry devoted to profit, rather than a doctor having a professional relationship with, and an understanding of, their patient.

I totally agree with the both of you, Seq. and Hybrid. Although Sequouia, if you are waiting for a Kucinich presidency I am afraid you are going to be sick for a long time. I also believe given a sufficent diet, excercise (especially yoga) and rest your body can cure practically anything. That is why it took me 25 yrs. to warm up to marijuana. I just want to make people more aware of its benefits. Not just medicinal. The seeds are high in Omega 3, which is deficient in out diet, it grows fast and easily and with little or no fertilizer or pesticide and the fiber can be used to make fabric. I'll bet it can even be used for alternative fuel. And Hybridoma, there were different diseases years ago, our diseases today are ones of excess.

Great posts as always by all. MS. ROSE: glad you enjoyed my neophyte offering. The gallows humor helps me cope. And as always, Sioux, I enjoyed your powerful insights as well.

I didn't realize so many people were hurting on this board. My apologies for making light of the problem.
I find CD very therapeutic and I love reading everyone's viewpoints. It is easy to get overwhelmed by all the bad news we are facing in what used to be a great country and world, and easy to let it affect your health. Stress can cause inflammation and the thinking mans cigarette is actually an anti-inflammatory and I believe very beneficial. The world is in a lot of trouble and it does not appear to me that our form of predatory Capitalism is equipped to do anything constructive to manage it. What is so much more amazing is that it appears to me that most of our leaders are trying to accelerate this destruction; in other words: that most of our congress and without doubt the executive branch are in fact borderline suicidal. They have resigned themselves to a world of oppression and evil. I think a lot of us are still in a state of shock of how fast our quality of life fell apart and in shock as well with the hard to believe fact that the world is melting within our lifetimes.

I'd like to explore the possibility of dual citizenship with a Virtual Country, where your locale is unimportant. Any ideas? If the "population" of such an cyber country grew large enough maybe it could merge many little islands together, collect taxes and become a positive force in changing unhealthy habits we all suffer from (Such as this absolutely poisonous habit of eating food that is drooped with hot plastic that leaches chemicals into the food as it cools: crazy if you ask me.)

Call it the New American Colony. Let it be a virtual refuge for those who suffer persecution from big gov and big business. For example those whose practice of their "weed religion" is trampled, or those who believe that the bill of rights should apply for all world citizens. Again it would be immaterial where one physically lives. He or she could consider himself an electronic pilgrim looking for a better quality of life. Our citizens would unplug from the corporate rat race, rejecting it outright. We would focus on herbs and meditation like they did in the 60's.

Sounds kind of nice doesn't it?

Cheers, pac

The wide spread use of medication is also leading so some serious pollution. Medication is not completely metabolized in the human body and is literally flushed into the environment. Birth control metabolites, anti-depressants have been found in water supplies, not to mention a common way to discard unless medication is to flush it down the toilet. In some areas you are getting these things without your knowledge or consent. This is beginning to have long term consequence in the environment.

One other thing is the issue of low rates of behavior. As someone said that you don't have to be concerned about polio, well that is not exactly true. There are still cases of polio but they are a result of the vaccine designed to erradicate it. (at least in the U.S.)

Finally, there is no happy pill and feeling sad is not a disease.

A pill for every ill - and an ill for every pill.

I find it very odd how Martha Rosenberg wraps up the article by placing the blame squarely on the victims of fraud(not to mention coercion).
There are to many lies, forced drugging, discrimination, fraudulent incarcerations, and chemical assaults perpetrated by psychiatrists, doctors and nurses to ignore the fact that the medical establishment is a viscous brutal violent place to be in.

I also think that she should have included more specific facts, names, like the pro football player who helped promote the fraud of "social anxiety disorder" for pushing Paxil on our dumb down society, who at a later time lost his mega huge money deal with the big pharma cartel because he said publicly that smoking weed was 100x better than Paxil.