Medical Marijuana Proposition Passes in Michigan

How can people believe that marijuana can help AIDS? The smell of it makes me exceedingly nauseated and eventually has me throwing up with diarrhea. The pot smokers I know all have some form of depression that this makes worse. How can people be so against tobacco and for this horrific drug? Also, the effects the smoke has on my brain chemistry is horrific. I will go into severe panic attacks and it disrupts my SSRI. If anything needs to be illegal it’s this destroyer of mental and physical health. And too, all smokers seem to think they function better under the influence. I would forget to take my meds, which is one of the most important aspects of staying well with HIV.

a lot of people in the terminal stages of cancer use it as a pain reliever, but i also know several people who credit it with helping them SURVIVE cancer – it helped them keep food down, deal with the physical pain, i’m not sure about depression, though. from what i know, they didnt have any long-term severe mental effects. i’m not sure if it should be completely legal, but i know it has had a lot of positive effects with other patients.

as a PLWHA HIV-AIDs education & awareness speaker i often get asked about this Q.I know MANY HIV+ & Cancer inflicted folks that have told me that the use of POT has helped them eat,reduced the nasea & vomiting,pain control& a vaiety of other symptoms that ingesting pot helped to aleviate.i am 7 yrs HIV+ & am still too healthy to iniate haart treatment-i am on methadone,take selenium & multi vit & mineral supplements,& i smoke weed to help me eat & stop the nasea i feel each & every morning.Recently i was raided & busted with 1/2 oz of pot & fined 750.00-GOV.& police forces should be ashamed of themselves for arresting peoples that smoke weed because of their illness’s.We R only trying to find a little relief from pain,nasea,& many other symtoms that pot helps to aleviate!It’s time to LEGALIZE & TAX this medicine!For those that disagree with this view-Maybe when U get diagnosed with a deadly illness it will make U rethink your stance on medical pot for those that R trying to live a normal life-or as close to one as possable!james jc gough,sudbury ont canada

MORE INFO ON http://www.plwha.org

Eating Out
There are a few simple things you can do to avoid travellers’ upset stomach. Be careful with street vendors’ food and use common sense — try and make sure:

food is cooked in front of you (fried or boiled food is safest)
ingredients are refrigerated
avoid fruit you can’t peel yourself (eg. fruit salad)
avoid shellfish
Where local tap water is not safe:

drink bottled water (and use it to brush your teeth as well) and check the seal on the bottle, because soft-drink bottles are sometimes reused as glassware rather than opened fresh;
ask if ice used in drinks was made using boiled water.
Foo in mid-range hotels which cater for tourists is usually safe. Be adventurous – trying different foods is all part of a good travel experience but also be careful!

Personal SafetyStreet Smarts
Don’t draw unwanted attention to yourself. Expensive outfits, accessories, and consumer electronics can make you a target for thieves.

Don’t carry all your cash around – this will minimize the damage if you do get robbed. Ask your hotel to store your valuables in their safe.

Some cultures are more conservative about dress and manners, so tone it down and cover up to show your respect and avoid unwanted attention.

Tourist information centres and hotel staff can provide invaluable information about good places to visit (and good places to avoid).

Scams
If you find yourself caught up in a scam, keep your cool and remain polite. For instance, some scammers demand an inordinate amount of money for a meal, product or tour you’ve already consumed.

Remember, your physical safety is the first priority. Cash and valuables can be replaced – use them to bargain. Even when travelling alone, remember you “have close friends who are waiting at the hotel for my return”.

If you are separated from your bank card, call your card issuer immediately to cancel the card. Unauthorised transactions can usually be reversed if you provide a police report.

Bribes
Bribes are a taken-for-granted part of life in some countries. However it may be unwise to offer a bribe unless you are certain it is expected, as you may end up facing criminal charges, either real or contrived to jack up the bribe amount.

Police
If you are arrested overseas, you are generally entitled to receive a visit from local consular staff. However, consular assistance is very limited.

This may include visiting the person regularly in detention, providing general information about the country’s legal system and local prison system, offering a list of local English-speaking lawyers, helping them to contact their family, and attending their trial as an observer (if approved by the local authorities).

Consular officers can approach local authorities to request that the detainee’s basic needs are met and that humanitarian standards of treatment are respected. However, they cannot organise better treatment than that provided to the host country’s own citizens.

If you use recreational drugs, remember the laws related to illicit drugs vary enormously from country to country. In Singapore airport, posters announce ‘the penalty for drugs is death’. Elsewhere, dealers may ‘value add’ their sales by informing on overseas purchasers to local police in exchange for a cut of the bribe.

Play Safe
If you drink or take party drugs, remember your normal judgments of risk might rely on having friends around, or at least security guards who speak your own language! If you’re alone or in new company, drink or dose in smaller amounts, spaced apart, and keep aware of your surroundings.

In some countries, including Thailand, police raid nightclubs on a semi-regular basis. Hotel staff and tour guides may know which clubs are safest to visit.

If you experience sexual assault, remember there may not be the same support structures you’d expect to find. First ensure you’re physically safe, then contact the embassy or consulate. They can advise you what to expect and how best to proceed if you want to make a police report.

In some countries there is a thriving trade in commercial sex work, targeting overseas visitors. If someone young and attractive comes on strong, it’s not impolite to ask ‘are you working?’ to avoid misunderstandings later.

Remember the age of consent may vary overseas and sex between men is outright illegal in some countries. Do your research before you travel.

Condoms can be difficult to purchase in some countries so bring your own personal supply. Don’t take too many – in some countries, possession of a very large number of condoms can be taken to mean you are a sex worker.

Getting Help OverseasConsular Assistance
Embassies and consulates can help you locate medical assistance, normally by helping you make contact with an English-speaking healthcare provider. They can facilitate communication between the traveller and local doctors/hospitals, monitor the welfare of the traveller in hospital, and communicate with their next-of-kin back home.

In a worst-case scenario they can assist in coordinating a medical evacuation (medivac). However, quite strict limits apply to the kind of assistance a consulate/embassy can provide.

Overseas PLWHA Organisations
The Internet is your friend! Before you travel, use it to find PLWHA organisations in the countries you’re planning to visit. The laws in each country are different, and it may not be possible to find them out in advance. Local PLWHA organisations can provide advice and support in the event of a legal crisis or health emergency.
See: http://www.thebody.com/hotlines/internat.html.

Next of Kin
There are steps you can take before you leave to ensure a swift response is possible if you need emergency assistance while travelling overseas.

Arrange an Enduring Power of (Medical) Attorney for your partner, next of kin or a trusted friend, endorsed with their contact details on it, and give them a copy of this.
Also give them copies of your vaccination certificates, relevant health documentation, insurance policy, identification documents– anything they might need to fax overseas in an emergency.
For your safety and their peace of mind, agree on a schedule for phone calls, e-mail &/ blog updates while you’re away.
Leave any medication you don’t take overseas with your next of kin or a trusted friend, so they can post it to you if you lose your baggage or medication overseas. They will need to include a letter from your doctor and a customs declaration. Advise them to send no more than a month’s supply at a time, as it may be confiscated by customs if they send more.

MORE INFO ON http://www.plwha.org

I have a severe spinal condition where a good part of my spine is fused together and fused at my skull! I didn’t have pain with it until mid twenties. Now all i have is pain and can’t walk very far at all anymore and other anomalies with this syndrom(klipple-fiel). I am so glad that marijuan was passed as this will help me deal with the pain because i hate pills!

In reply to Terry:
This may seem rude, but why must you be selfish?
Simply because you have had a bad reaction to smoking (or smelling as you stated) weed does not mean that everyone has the same problem.
For many (if not most) people, even those not terminally ill, it does have beneficial effects.
I have a problem with an unusually low appetite where even if I am extremely hungry with my favorite meal in front of me I can only eat about half before I become nauseous and cannot eat.
Upon my recreation of the drug I found it is much easier to eat and keep food down. Recently I was sick to the point that I was nauseous almost 24/7 which also kept me up at night. After smoking I felt like I was not even sick. I could eat and keep all my food down and get a good night’s rest which helped me get better.
And, if you would do your research, you will find that a regular use of marijuana of those 18 or younger is known to lead to an increase in the risk of psychosis and schizophrenia much later in life(due to the effect of THC on an undeveloped brain).
Compare this to the very widely known risk of cancer from regularly smoking cigarettes. While there are just as many carcinogens in marijuana smoke, studies have shown that, even though marijuana users deeply inhale their smoke and keep it in for much longer than cigarette smoke, there is no link to cancer. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,196678,00.html)
And, as many people know, vaporizing marijuana is a way to eliminate smoke and the harmful chemicals received due to the smoke itself.
Now I ask, why should cigarettes an alcohol be legal (both known to cause addictions and permanent harm to vital organs) while marijuana is illegal? Smoking cigarettes can result in problems with obesity, a development of asthma, and results in harm to those around you. On the same note, alcohol is known to destroy your liver and is actually a poison which directly affects your brain. Along with that binge drinking can lead to alcohol poisoning which can be fatal.
Neither tobacco or alcohol have any kind of positive medical effects.
So, again why should these substances be legal while marijuana remains illegal?
Last, I would like to point towards the specific classification that marijuana is under.
It is classified as a schedule 1 controlled substance, meaning
“(A) The drug or other substance has high potential for abuse.
(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.”
While many may see marijuana as having the potential to be abused, aren’t many otc drugs the same way? By the same result, robitussin, adderall, and generally all pain killers should be classified under the same law since they could also be abused.
Also, since medical marijuana is prevalent in California, (B) no longer applies.

Now to close I’d like to ask you, Terry (if you ever read this), since peanuts make certain people sick should they be illegal? Aspirin is known to greatly increase the risk for a terrible and sometimes deadly neurological disease known as Reye’s Syndrome. (I know this off the top of my head because a cousin of mine is now mentally disabled due to this disease. However I would not like to get into that.) Aspirin, as we all know, is readily available wherever painkillers are sold even though we know of this terrible syndrome.

I ask you (or anyone who disagrees) to respond. I would like to see another point of view.

Thanks for your time