Fortune Favors the Bowl

Er, the bold. Not the bowl, fortune favors the bold, that's what I meant to say.

This'll be my last post in the Fortune Favors the Bold series focusing on Governor Cuomo's recent State of the State address.  I could keep going; I mean, he put a lot of stuff out there. But I've hit on the ones that struck a chord with me, or hit a CNY nerve.  Some of the rest of it -- taxes, for example -- I'm sure I'll get to a few dozen times in the coming weeks and months. Here's what the series covered:

• Part 1 gave a general overview of the speech;
• Part 2 talked about collaboration between jurisdictions, and how his most favorite example just hit a rough spot;
• Part 3 touched on Cuomo's move to 'Raise the Age' for juveniles in the adult justice system
• Part 4 was all about my favorite subject, money in politics. 

Today, I want to talk about medical marijuana and drugs.  Not the kind of drugs you typically buy on the street corner, but the kind you get from a licensed medical professional at a licensed hospital.  Because there's a difference, in my opinion between pot you smoke to get a buzz and pot you smoke to treat a medical condition.

In the SOTS, after talking about his administration's accomplishments, Cuomo went on to say

But my friends, even with all of that we still have more to do.  We have to make New York healthier.  Research suggests that medical marijuana can help manage the pain and and treatment of cancer and other serious illnesses.  Twenty states have already started to use it. We'll establish a program allowing up to 20 hospitals to prescribe medical marijuana, and we will monitor the program to evaluate the effectiveness and the feasibility of a medical marijuana system.

And with that, "stupid stoners" sucking our tax dollars on disability all across this great state sort of sat up, said "Wow, man" and tried to lift their bongs into the air, before collapsing into convulsions of laughter, quickly forgetting what they were laughing at.  Or so one doctor at SUNY Upstate would have you believe.

He's Dr. Brian Johnson; he's the director of addition psychiatry, and believes marijuana is a destructive drug. I'm suspect the article didn't have the full story, or at least I hope the doctor would have taken time to talk a little more about this, rather than providing a couple of soundbites. Here's what made it into print:

Hyping it as a medical treatment is ridiculous. You will end up with a bunch of stupid stoners in New York with lung disease who thing that maybe they should go out on disability because they don't want to get off the couch. 

The article notes that Doc sees correlations to the "right to pain treatment" movement back in the day that, in his view, opened the floodgates for the explosion of prescriptions for hydrocodone and other opioid pain killers - which (unlike marijuana) are highly addictive. He notes

People testified back then about the poor mother dying of cancer who could not get oxycodone. Since then opioid prescribing has tripled and accidental overdose deaths are more common than motor vehicle deaths. 

I agree with what he says about prescription painkillers - too many doctors are too willing to prescribe them to too many patients who are addicted to them, a fair number of whom manage to get multiple prescriptions from multiple physicians. Heck, even doctors get addicted to painkillers. We've had a few in our own back yard, including this guy.

Where I don't agree with him is on the overdose part, the addiction part, or the stupid stoner part. Because I don't think that AIDS patients, cancer patients, glaucoma patients, seizure patients, and others who typically might qualify as medical marijuana patients are 'stupid' and they don't become 'stoners' and frankly, even if they did, if it makes them comfortable while they're trying to deal with their illness, who the hell cares?

Some medical professionals (not necessarily this Dr. Johnson) seem to look down their noses at anything that is nontraditional, or not manufactured, or doesn't come with trinkets and junkets courtesy of drug companies; they deny years of theory, study, and practice, including those of native/indigenous peoples. There are thousands of years of records of 'medicine men' in Asian cultures, and hundreds of years of the same in newer countries like ours. Why ignore this, when it might bring relief to your patients?

And I have to wonder why someone would look down their nose at marijuana, whether smoked, vaporized, in pill form (although the pill form is somewhat less effective, I've read), when they are otherwise more than willing to direct a patient to take something that can cause this:

Belching; bruising; difficult or labored breathing; feeling of indigestion; headache; itching skin; large, flat blue or purplish patches in the skin; pain in the chest below the breastbone; shortness of breath; skin eruptions; swelling; tightness in the chest; wheezing, bloating; bloody or black, tarry stools; blurred or loss of vision; burning upper abdominal or stomach pain; cloudy urine' constipation; decrease in urine out put or decrease in urine-concentrating ability; disturbed color perception; double vision; fast, irregular pounding or racing heartbeat or pulse; halos around lights; indigestion; loss of appetite; nausea or vomiting; night blindness; over-bright appearance of lights; pale skin; pinpoint red or purple spots on the skin; severe and continuing nausea; severe stomach burning, cramping or pain; skin rash; swelling or inflammation of the mouth; troubled breathing with exertion; tunnel vision; unusual bleeding or bruising; unusual tiredness or weakness; vomiting of material that looks like coffee grounds; weight loss; anxiety; back or leg pains; bleeding gums; blindness; blistering, peeling or loosening of the skin' blood in the urine or stools' blue lips and fingernails; canker sores; change in the ability to see colors, especially blue or yellow; chest pain or discomfort; clay-colored stools; cold sweats; coma; confusion; cool, pale skin; cough or hoarseness; coughing that sometimes produces a pink frothy sputum; cracks in the skin; darkened urine; decreased vision; depression; diarrhea; difficult, burning or painful urination; difficult, fast, or noisy breathing; difficulty with swallowing; dilated neck veins; dizziness; dry cough; dry mouth; early appearance of redness, or swelling of the skin; excess air or gas in the stomach; extreme fatigue; eye pain; fainting; fever with or without chills; fluid-filled skin blisters; flushed, dry skin; frequent urination; fruit-like breath odor; greatly decreased frequency of urination or amount of urine; hair loss; high fever; hives; increased hunger; increased sensitivity of the skin to sunlight; increased sweating; increased thirst; increased urination; increased volume of pale, dilute urine; irregular breathing; joint or muscle pain; large, hive-like swelling on the face, eyelids, lips, tongue, throat, hands, legs,feet, or sex organs; late appearance of rash without or without weeping blisters that become crusted especially in sun-exposed areas of skin, may extend to unexposed areas; light-colored stools; lightheadedness; loss of heat from the body; lower back or side pain; nervousness; nightmares; no blood pressure; no breathing; no pulse, nosebleeds, numbness or tingling in the hands, feed, or lips; pain in the ankles or knees, pain or burning in the throat; pain or discomfort in the arms, jaw, back or neck; painful red lumps under the skin, mostly on the legs; pains in the stomach, side or abdomen, possibly radiating to the back; pale or blue lips, fingernails or skin; pounding in the ears; puffiness or swelling of the eyelids or around the eyes, face, lips or tongue; rapid shallow breathing; red, irritated eyes; red skin lesions, often with a purple center; red-green color-blindness; redness or other discoloration of the skin; redness, swelling or soreness of the tongue; scaly skin; seizures; severe sunburn; shakiness; skin thinness; slurred speech; sneezing; sore throat; sores, ulcers or white spots on the lips or tongue or inside the mouth; sores, welting or blisters; spots on your skin resembling a blister or pimple; stiff neck or back; stomach cramps or tenderness; stomach upset; swelling in the legs and ankles; swelling of the face, fingers, feet or lower legs; swollen, painful, or tender lymph glands in the neck, armpit or groin; tiny bumps on the inner lining of the eyelid; unexplained weight loss; unpleasant breath odor; watery or bloody diarrhea; weakness or heaviness of the legs; weight gain; yellow eyes or skin; bleeding under the sin; confusion about identity, place, and time; muscle tremors; restlessness, sleepiness; continuing ringing or buzzing or other unexplained noise in the ears; hearing loss; acid or sour stomach; change in hearing; feeling of constant movement of self or surroundings; passing gas; sensation of spinning; stomach soreness or discomfort; appetite changes; burning, crawling, itching, numbness pricking, "pins and needles' or tingling feelings; burning, dry or itching eyes; difficulty with moving; discharge, excessive tearing; general feeling of weakness; not able to concentrate; redness, pain or swelling of the eye, eyelid, or inner lining of the eyelid; seeing, hearing or feeling things that are not there; shakiness in the legs, arms, hands, or feet; sleeplessness; swollen joints; trembling or shaking of the hands or feet; trouble getting pregnant; trouble performing routine tasks; trouble sleeping; unable to sleep; unusual drowsiness, dullness, or feeling of sluggishness.

Folks, those are the side-effects, overdose symptoms, or general crap associated with naproxen, the main ingredient in Aleve, the over-the-counter pain medication I take on occasion.  See, you don't even have to look at prescription pain meds to have the crap scared out of you, and to wonder if we know what we're doing when it comes to medications, and to wonder if we should be looking at other options.

We are a nation of medicators - patients who demand doctors give them a pill or a shot for everything that ails them, and doctors who comply, whether out of sympathy, expediency or as a defensive medicine practice.

We're a society that has managed to convince ourselves that having an erection is a medical necessity that can be handled, pardon the pun, with a little blue pill and a cheap copay.

When we're that far in the weeds with priorities, how can we refuse a sick person a little weed of their own?