The Canadian Medical Association's gift to us (among others):

This post is entitled "Why theantichrist should get MSN"

...so you can use this emoticon!

My new best friend is this nifty lil site called MDConsult. Search any topic and it brings up relevent books, journals, news items, patient handouts, student references...and links to the full text for all of the above!

So like any good university student I ran a search on "medical marijuana"...some notable results:

1. News Item: The US Supreme Court rules against medical marijuana (The Lancet Oncology Volume 6 • Number 7 • July 2005)

On June 6, 2005, the US Supreme Court ruled that medicinal use of marijuana is illegal under federal law, despite the fact that ten states have previously passed legislation allowing the use of medicinal marijuana in certain diseases. Some patients with cancer use the drug to improve appetite, reduce nausea and vomiting, and alleviate moderate neuropathic pain.

 
(Actual Figure) Medicinal marijuana use could soon be a thing of the past in the USA

The case was brought by two seriously ill Californian women, one of whom had several diseases including a brain tumour. After a raid of one of the women's crop of six marijuana plants, both women sued the then US Attorney General John Ashcroft. They asked for a permanent injuncton allowing them to possess, obtain, or manufacture marijuana for personal medical use without fear of arrest or home raids. The Supreme Court's ruling could damage other state's efforts to pass laws allowing the use of medical marijuana.

“From the perspective of cancer patients who may use marijuana, it adds the threat of personal prosecution to the existing obstacles to medical marijuana use in the USA, namely inability to secure a legal supply of the drug and reluctance of many doctors to prescribe it”, says Wayne Hall (Office of Public Policy and Ethics, University of Queensland, Australia). However, Hall also comments that as an antinausea agent marijuana has probably been “superseded by more effective antiemitic drugs” and “the analgesic effects are modest compared to opioids”.

Manuel Guzman (Complutense University, Madrid, Spain) agrees that there are “more efficient medicines than marijuana for the treatment of every isolated cancer-related problem for which the drug is used”. Yet he adds: “with marijuana it is possible to treat certain patients who do not respond to conventional antiemetics, painkillers, or appetite stimulants. Ideally, combined treatments should be pursued. Who decides for the patients, the doctors or politicians?”

2. Patient Handout: Marijuana and Teens (Excerpt)

Is marijuana for you?

Just like any decision you make, you need to look at the risks and benefits of that choice, and how it may affect you. There are serious short-term and long-term medical and psychological affects that are outlined in this handout. Additional information that can influence your decision is what your parents think about your using marijuana. Are there consequences at home, or in school? Certainly it is illegal to use marijuana, and if caught at school, or in the community by police, you are breaking the law and may have criminal charges filed against you. Often, students are suspended and made to take drug classes in a school setting. Ultimately you make the choice. If you do choose to use, carefully think about why you are making that choice and try to get help for the underlying reasons addressed by a health professional.

3. Journal Article:  Is the party over? Cannabis and juvenile psychiatric disorder: the past 10 years. Rey JM - J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry - 01-OCT-2004; 43(10): 1194-205

Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: To critically review cannabis research during the past 10 years in relation to rates of use, behavioral problems, and mental disorders in young people. METHOD: Studies published in English between 1994 and 2004 were identified through systematic searches of literature databases. The material was selectively reviewed focusing on child and adolescent data. RESULTS: In the 27 years between 1976 and 2002, approximately half of all 12th graders had been exposed to cannabis in the United States. There is growing evidence that early and regular marijuana use is associated with later increases in depression, suicidal behavior, and psychotic illness and may bring forward the onset of schizophrenia. Most of the recent data reject the view that marijuana is used to self-medicate psychotic or depressive symptoms. Research on treatment is very limited. CONCLUSIONS: Research on the mental health effects of cannabis has increased dramatically. Although doubts still remain about the role of cannabis in the causation of juvenile psychiatric disorder, the weight of the evidence points in the direction of early and regular cannabis use having substantial negative effects on psychosocial functioning and psychopathology.

Ok back to doing my homework...

Summer break is officially over in t minus 18hrs.

I still have to finish my assignment (current section: how to use boolean operators oh yay!); at least the due date was extended. Not quite ready to head back to class yet, but I'll have to get used to it.

Gosh, what am I going to wear tomorrow?

More from my archives - remember way way back (2004) when some people were trying to elect a president or something? I laughed out loud when I first read this...or maybe that's just further proof that I'm a total geek :P

Had to fix some typos myself :P

You are an assassin.
That means you are a professional and do your job without mixing any emotions in it. In your life you have probably been hurt many times and have some mental scars. This results in you being distant from people. Though many think that you are evil, you are not. What you really are is a person, trying to forget your pain and past. You are the person who never seems to care and that is why being an assassin fits you well. At least, that's what people think. Even if you don't care that much for your victims, you still have the ability to care and to generally feel. It is not lost, just a little forgotten. In crowds you tend to not get too noticed, and dress in black or other discrete colours. You don't like being in the spotlight and wish people would just leave you alone. But once you do get close to someone you have a hard time letting go and get real down if you lose him/her.

Main weapon: Sniper
Quote: "The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy" -Jim Rohn
Facial expression: Narrowed eyes

theantichrist's post reminded me of this, so thought I'd share:

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.