Recreational vs. medical marijuana labeling

Arguments for euphoria as an additional benefit in the healing process

The Reddit link to the debate is here.

If you feel sick, unwell, unhealthy, bad… a doctor will prescribe medication and ask you to rest. In most cases, the medicines will reduce symptoms and possibly make you drowsy (as well as some other side effects), and if all goes well you will feel better.

Regardless of the drug they give you (with the exception of opioids), these drugs don’t really offer anything other than reducing the prevalence of symptoms. Which is why, when it comes to medicinal cannabis, many people claim it’s not because consuming it ALSO makes you feel good.

In other words, one of the side effects of marijuana is euphoria.

The reason I’m chewing on this concept today is because of a post I saw on Reddit that said:

The fact that the two types of acceptable marijuana use (from the US) are distinguished by the names “recreation” and “medicine” implies that recreation does not heal, while at the same time implying that medicine is not intended to be fun or liberating . – Some Reddit users

This prompted me to investigate this question a little more. Of course there are some drugs that will get you high like pseudoephedrine, dextromethorphan, some cold medicines, etc. That’s where the term “robo-tripping” comes from – from teenagers abusing cold medicine to get a “high”.

However, all these drugs do not really make you euphoric. You would feel “drugged,” you would feel “stoned,” but euphoric is hardly the word you would use to describe those feelings. In addition, in order to achieve these effects, you must abuse the drug.

This is where cannabis differs greatly.

With cannabis, a single hit of a joint could be more than enough to awaken the mind to new sensations, deep relaxation, and of course, a lighter tint of reality.

Getting healthier isn’t supposed to feel good

The main logic behind separating euphoria and medicine is that some people argue that if medicine made you “euphoric,” people would abuse it to get high. However, that premise falls in one’s face when we see children abusing diabetes medications to feel “bloated.” There is no inherent “euphoric feeling” when it comes to diabetes medications – yet some people try to get high on them.

This means that “euphoria” is not the driving factor for abuse. Perhaps the people who take the drugs are looking for euphoria and are willing to take drugs in bulk to achieve the euphoria.

The question is, “Does this make things safer for people, or riskier?” In the case of cannabis, one of the main side effects is euphoria, meaning it doesn’t take much to feel “high,” meaning the potential for excessive abuse is also greatly reduced.

That’s not to say there won’t be a depressed teenager who snatches their troubles away – it simply means that in terms of lethality, cannabis is a far less harmful substance than, say, drinking 6-“5-hour” Energy”. Drinks in under an hour to feel like you’re on coke.

Even the bong-banging teenager is at less risk of catching a lethal dose than someone who abuses energy drinks on a daily basis. I am also certain that the cannabis user would be healthier in terms of health. And that only accounts for a heavy cannabis user who tears up budder every morning to open his or her eyelids.

If the drugs they sell us don’t have the intended result of euphoria, some people still abuse them to get high, making it infinitely more risky for the user – perhaps euphoria itself isn’t the problem. Perhaps the type of person who engages in this type of risky behavior will try to get high regardless of the substance.

Statistically, the vast majority of people who use these drugs do NOT use them to get high. They use it to treat their ailments and as recommended by their doctor. Only with opioids does the “problem of abuse” become a problem.

With other drugs like Nyquil, cough syrup and the like, abuse is minimal, and while in an ideal world we’d have people who wouldn’t engage in risky behavior – we don’t live in an ideal world… we’re here now with all the crazy teenagers out there who are Snapping pills… and that’s a reality we have to accept.

The good news is – it’s a fairly small fraction of teens who do this. More teenagers abuse alcohol than other drugs because alcohol is socially acceptable. Getting “high” is socially frowned upon…unless your version of “high” is “drunk” – then definitely!

But there is another element of euphoria that we must also consider. Perhaps these people seek euphoria because they are trying to heal wounds that the eye cannot see.

The case for euphoria in (certain) medicine

If you feel “uncomfortable”, you also feel “like shit”. Most people suffer emotionally from their condition in addition to the physical discomfort they experience as a result of the actual illness. Anyone who has had a “nasty cold” or other physical ailment can attest that the “pain” takes hold of consciousness.

When you are in pain, you constantly focus on the sensations in the body – which in turn brings the pain back to your awareness and in turn amplifies the sensations in the body. This dance of the mind and body keeps the person in the moment of suffering.

If you take medications that only treat the physical ailments, you may experience “some” relief, but most people don’t “feel” hopeful about life. They have no aspirations or excitement beyond “feeling no more pain.”

This is not the case with cannabis. With cannabis you get both the reduction in the physical symptom and an increase in the mental appreciation of your situation. Euphoria lifts the soul out of a hole of depression (often associated with chronic illness), which in turn helps the body heal faster.

There are many studies that indicate that a positive attitude can have a significant positive impact on the healing process. If you’re stuck at a pity party because of your illness, maybe a little euphoria is all you need to get your mind back into a more imaginative state.

I don’t understand why “feel good” should be excluded from medicine if it has a medicinal benefit in its own right. However, I understand the fear of abuse – as we have already established, whether or not a drug is inherently euphoric, those who abuse will do so.

In addition, drug abuse is a topic of drug education – if we educate people to use drugs responsibly, we would not eliminate drug abuse, but we would greatly reduce it.

Final Thoughts

Feeling good while getting better shouldn’t necessarily be separate when it comes to healing. In certain circumstances, cancer, chronic pain, etc., a positive attitude towards life can make all the difference.

Also, since we understand that most people do not abuse drugs, we should not restrict a substance because “some” can abuse it. By that logic, we should ban all cars because “some people” will get drunk and drive.

But we don’t ban alcohol or driving…

I would like to see studies on the “positive effects of euphoria in healing” that have not been studied at all. Ye! At least nothing concrete that I discovered in my research.

Perhaps we should understand these things first before we simply declare them wrong.

DIFFERENCES IN REC VS. MEDICAL WEED? CONTINUE READING…

REC OR MEDICAL WEED, IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE?