View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Thursday 18 December 2008

Relocated entry

I originally posted this on Call for Support, but concluded it was not appropriate.
So, here it is again, on my own blog.

Some may remember Cathy (chatzeekay), who had to stop blogging on-line after AOL journals shut down last October. She has severe health problems, stemming from domestic abuse. Painkillers no longer help, and Cathy is supporting a bill in US Congress to legalise the use of cannabis for the relief of chronic pain.

Personally, I have grave misgivings against the use of cannabis, which is based on the serious side-effects of the drug. These include precipitation of psychosis in susceptible individuals and impairment of cognitive functioning. Cannabis, in its purified form of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, could be beneficial for the relief of pain. However, there is currently no firm scientific basis to underpin this.

I will be the last person to deny any pain sufferer relief, however tenuous the scientific base of the use of the compound in question - cannabis. I cannot support the bill, as I'm not a US resident. Even if I was, I would still not do so for the reasons quoted above.

Any US residents reading this: visit the link, visit your conscience, and support the bill. Or not.

Thursday 18 December

Late posting for today, and probably the only one. Not feeling too great today, with a stinging headache. Not a good idea to spend too much time at the PC, so I hope tomorrow will be better. It won't be in terms of weather, as stormforce winds (force 10 on the Beaufort scale) are forecast for my neck of the woods late on Friday. Pity it will peak after nightfall (3.30pm and later).