OMG More Olbermann! (marijuana)

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

As far as I'm concerned you can probably apply this same argument to taking Ritalin every day for 5 years. Why is it 'safe' for us to feed a kid Ritalin and not a cannabis brownie to medicate their ADD (assuming cannabis actually helps)?

Because it's legal.

edit: I'm being sarcastic and agreeing with you. I think it's also ridiculous Ritalin is used daily.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Spare me the stigma and conspiracy talk. Weed is definitely one of the safest drugs you could possibly take. All I'm saying is that chronic marijuana use has real side effects.

I can't tell you how many weekend marijana smokers I've talked to that swear its all "stigma" and they'll tell you about all these studies that show this and that about how harmless cannabis really is. I found out first hand what the effects are. I was a daily marijuana user for about 5 years. The side effects of that kind of usage can be subtle, but they're not a joke. There are plenty, but the most concerning to me are the memory persistence issues I experienced. It would absolutely damage a child's learning capacity. It likely wouldn't be immediate or permanent, but I would have some serious doubts about how well a child could retain information after 3+ years of use.

I'm sure the dosage being proposed here is less than what I used, but we're also talking about administering this to school kids who are still developing. I don't know about you but I'll let someone else test out validity of the "stigma" on their kids.

The key here is the dosage. A chronic marijuana smoker is consuming considerably more than a ADD patient would be. A chronic smoker is getting stoned more than once a day. Where as a ADD patient would not be getting stoned at all. But since the dosages would be controlled for an ADD patient I would assume that the memory loss would not a be factor when compared to someone who is chronic smoker and moderation is not a consideration.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

I can't imagine someone taking one of those a day to 'normalize'.

It is what is known as the paradoxical effect. As someone with ADD (diagnosed in adulthood) I can tell you that the medication does work but the side effects can be a real b*tch with the moodiness and insomnia. Unfortunately, it's the only thing that works for me and allows me to hold down a regular job. If I had an alternative with fewer side effects I'd be all over it.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Reaper

It is what is known as the paradoxical effect. As someone with ADD (diagnosed in adulthood) I can tell you that the medication does work but the side effects can be a real b*tch with the moodiness and insomnia. Unfortunately, it's the only thing that works for me and allows me to hold down a regular job. If I had an alternative with fewer side effects I'd be all over it.

Too bad you can't smoke a j at your computer terminal.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Burninator

The key here is the dosage. A chronic marijuana smoker is consuming considerably more than a ADD patient would be. A chronic smoker is getting stoned more than once a day. Where as a ADD patient would not be getting stoned at all. But since the dosages would be controlled for an ADD patient I would assume that the memory loss would not a be factor when compared to someone who is chronic smoker and moderation is not a consideration.

I think the key is dosage and the consumer. You need to ask:
How old is the child when medication begins?
How long will the child be on the medication?

Of course the kids won't be stoned, but what effect will it have on them if they take it every day from 5 years old to 15, while they are still growing?

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

As far as I'm concerned you can probably apply this same argument to taking Ritalin every day for 5 years. Why is it 'safe' for us to feed a kid Ritalin and not a cannabis brownie to medicate their ADD (assuming cannabis actually helps)?

As I said in my last reply to you, I'm not defending Ritalin. I know nearly nothing about it. I was simply sharing my experience with the proposed alternative.

Cannabis could very well be the lesser of two evils here but that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. Consider the possibility that neither Ritalin or marijuana are appropriate for school kids.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Cannabis could very well be the lesser of two evils here but that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. Consider the possibility that neither Ritalin or marijuana are appropriate for school kids.

I'm no expert on ADD or ADHD, but there are some kids that need something to chill them out or they'd never get anything done.They probably wouldn't even learn how to read.

It's easy to say "we shouldn't be drugging our children", but if you are dealing with a 10 year old who can't sit still long enough to write her own name, it becomes obvious pretty quickly that something needs to be done for her benefit, and soon, or she will become an illiterate adult.

That being said, there may be other ways to deal with it besides drugs. Some people believe it's the food they eat. But until someone figures out what causes it and how to treat it without drugs then it might be the only option. I've seen first hand more than once the consequences of untreated ADHD and they are not pretty.

[Abandoned]

nvm