Here is a fraught issue

[Bill in Oregon]

Marijuana in the early 1970s when I was in college was an entirely different matter than it is today, with such widespread legalization and so much anecdotal evidence that it really does help a lot of people with pain relief, PTSD and other disorders. I won't touch any of the products as I have a C&R FFL among other things and refuse to fib on the 4473 when buying a firearms. Still ...
https://gunsamerica.com/digest/saf-figh ... t-smokers/

[Bronco]

Never touched the stuff and never will! That's my story and I'm stickin to it

[JimT]

I did NOT inhale!

[Drawdown]

First time i ever tried it was few drags off a buddies, while underground mining in my early days. All it did was make me hungry.
Not long after that, was at a lake with my brother in law and another buddy, camped & fishing. Already too many beers, BIL, rolled me one said try this. I smoked it, and not long afterwards all I could think of was eating! All we had was sandwich stuff left, only cheese, the meat done gone. I ate close to 6-8 cheese sandwiches as fast as I could, it's l8ke I was starving. Wasn't long I was as sick as u ever been in my life, throwed up untelling how many times! Last I ever wanted any weed, i foundered on it, and better off!

[jnyork]

Not even once in my life. Never will.

[Bill in Oregon]

I'm not talking about smoking dope in the back yard in Luckenbach with Willy Nelson here.
If an M.D. in your state can lawfully prescribe it or one of its derivatives because he or she honestly believes the best evidence suggests it will successfully treat your condition, it becomes a more interesting problem.

[AJMD429]

.
The stuff around now is a LOT stronger than what most of the students (in Pharmacy School... ) were smoking in the 70's. (I still managed to graduate top in my class so must have not inhaled much of it, right...?).

The stuff now is either WAY more potent or I'm WAY more wimpy (or both). About 12 years ago a patient shared an 'edible' she was using for cancer pain, and told me to take just a tiny part. I tried it on a Friday, and felt no effect at all so after an hour had another tiny part. Still nothing, so being a moron I consumed two more chunks (about half the total 'gummy') and went back to reading. About 15 minutes later the 'rushes' started, I couldn't read, so put on some music. It got so intense and constant it was NOT at all pleasant, and the bad thing is it kept on going until I fell asleep Friday, then continued ALL DAY Saturday, and when I woke up Sunday it was still happening, though easing up.

Ain't gonna do that again...!

I do think it is funny that in Indiana we have to tell patients NOT to use it, even if it means instead using more oxycodone for their cancer pain or whatever, but in Ohio or Illinois or Michigan, the same patient would be told to add some form of THC so they could 'lower their opioid dose'.

Now I'm not all that sure that there is moral or medical virtue in 'lowering the opioid dose', given the linear dose/response of opioids, and their very 'clean' pharmacology (all they do is make pain less bothersome and slow down the GI tract), and their easy reversal (with naloxone). But at least there is the option of adding THC for the pain, and the associated anxiety and so on, in some states.

The other factor is that prohibition has never resulted in less actual usage or possession of the prohibited item, but has merely increased the cost and altered the supply network from legitimate channels that are kept relatively safe due to the legal and competitive environment, to impure and dangerous stuff that is supplied by criminal networks using illegal and violent 'competition' that endangers innocents who don't even use the prohibited stuff.

Most people who don't "use drugs" don't use them because they don't think it is smart, or they think it is immoral - NOT because they are 'prohibited'. And most people who DO use drugs will do so whether they are 'prohibited' or not, so prohibition doesn't change much. Some folks argue that non-users or kids will be 'more likely' to try drugs if they are legal, but human behavior is often such that it is the stuff we are told we CAN'T have that we want the most...
(How many time have you gone out to buy a particular gun because rumors are they might be banned...? happened to me a BUNCH... )

[marlinman93]

Just the smell of it makes me nauseous, so no way I could ever smoke it. It's legal here, but I can't handle the smell.

[Bill in Oregon]

I don't care for that skanky smell either, Vall -- or patchouli for that matter -- but it need not be consumed by combustion.

[JOG]

I believe it's dumbing down America!
We have enough dumb people already!

[gcs]

Everyone that wants MJ can get it, legal or not, making it legal doesn't seem to much of a difference , except these new varieties are much stronger, especially the Indica varieties....
It does help a lot of people in constant pain, and for cancer treatments..
My wife was permitted in NY for medical weed, for complications with MS, unfortunately it hasn't helped as much as we hoped,

Unfortunately, there's no test, yet, for determining if you are under the influence driving, that may curtail some of the anything goes usage...
Pretty hard to keep it illegal when you can grow it in your tomato patch. Yes it can cause problems, so does alcohol, but the horses are out of the barn so it needs to be dealt with.

As for never trying it, you will, if you're ever in the kind of pain it's supposed to help...never say never....and for full disclosure, I have NOT used it, ever..but My horse isn't high, so who knows...

[2ndovc]

I've never tried it but lately I've been having similar thoughts. It's like there's a giant roulette wheel up there some where that says what's going to hurt today?

An old and dear friend of mine swears by it for shoulder pain from an accident a few years ago. She breaks off a small piece of some type of edible and says it works better than anything else she's tried.
I used to just pour a big glass of bourbon, but that had it's consequences too. For one, too many of those and the demons would come out. This November it will be ten years since I've had a drink.
I'm still intimidated by the thought, but some days are harder than others. I can't take OTC pain killers either due to my stomach ulcers.

jb

[Bill in Oregon]

Jason, it is an avenue worth exploring. We don't have all the science we need because the federal government is still so schizophrenic about this. I don't think any doctor would recommend taking it by inhalation. Smoking anything is never healthful, despite all the doctor liars in the 1940s and 50s who said smoking Camels would soothe the "T-zone" of your throat.

[gcs]

If you want to ease into it try CBD oil, it's legal everywhere and has many of the same benefits of the high octane stuff...won't make you high...

[AJMD429]

If you want to ease into it try CBD oil, it's legal everywhere and has many of the same benefits of the high octane stuff...won't make you high...

True.

Essentially think of it like the 'Tea' plant - it has stuff we feel/enjoy (caffeine) and yet all sorts of other polyphenols and terpenes and stuff that we benefit from that don't really affect our mood or energy.

So if a person wants the 'health benefits' say of Green Tea, they may opt for 'decaffeinated' tea, which is what you get if you take out the caffeine - people may do that if they are sensitive to the palpitations or insomnia from caffeine, or just don't believe (for religious or other reasons) in the use of caffeine.

The marijuana equivalent of that would either be CBD oil - which contains most of the other ingredients of the plant, minus the 'THC' which is the element that gives the 'high'. OR you can use 'Hemp Oil' since that plant has effectively zero THC but does have the other more beneficial things.

CBD isn't necessarily as 'good' as Hemp Oil, in that it only has a few of the 'good things' - however by having a more limited bunch of things in it, it was less-likely to falsely show 'THC' when using the urine drug screens from the 1990's and early 2000's.

Take your pick. Or none.

It is interesting with the odor - I don't find the smell of most herbal teas to be that interesting but I like the taste of some. WIth coffee, I really love the smell, but hate the taste unless it is masked by tons of cream and cinnamon or vanilla. A distant smell of 'weed' (like when our neighbor 200 yards away would sit outside in the evening and smoke it with his wife) is fine, but the close-up strong smell irritates my nose almost as much as tobacco does. And even with tobacco - PLAIN tobacco is kind of nice if not too strong, or pipe tobacco - but the kind in cigarettes, with all the additives, is very irritating.

[Paladin]

Marijuana, when I started the State Police in 1977 had a THC content of 3.5 % in the pot sold then. "Now, vapes and joints routinely push 30% THC, while dispensary shelves are stocked with concentrates—some boasting 90% to 95%" It is not the same DOPE.