U.S. senate to consider changing Marijuana status from Class 1 to Class 2

[Sbane]

If Sativex needs to be approved, I would think a rescheduling of Marijuana would be necessary. And that drug is approved in almost 30 countries with a wide variety of uses so.....

[Sbane]

High potential for abuse? Based on what?

The argument is that people are willing to break the law to get marijuana, so that constitutes a high potential for abuse.

You phrased it in a manner that suggests that's not your argument, so please don't take this personally, but that is some serious Naso style logic.

You are correct, it's not my argument, but I've heard phrases like it many times, including from anti-marijuana lobbyists, but I have no one to attribute it to. I just thought the thread should have an example of what is said.

What does  high potential for abuse mean? That folks will buy it illegally? If so, that is rather circular, and as it is legalized by more and more states, it won't be illegal to buy it, except in the eyes of the Feds.

I don't claim it's a good argument, but I think it comes from the meaning of the word abuse. Medically abuse means intentionally taking something outside of its prescribed dose or indicated use. If the indicated dose is zero because it's schedule I then any use of it is abuse, so in that case it seems to be self-fulfilling that if lots of people are using it then there is a high potential of abuse.

So if someone uses alcohol for a non-medical use, it is abuse?

[Sbane]

High potential for abuse? Based on what?

The argument is that people are willing to break the law to get marijuana, so that constitutes a high potential for abuse.

You phrased it in a manner that suggests that's not your argument, so please don't take this personally, but that is some serious Naso style logic.

You are correct, it's not my argument, but I've heard phrases like it many times, including from anti-marijuana lobbyists, but I have no one to attribute it to. I just thought the thread should have an example of what is said.

What does  high potential for abuse mean? That folks will buy it illegally? If so, that is rather circular, and as it is legalized by more and more states, it won't be illegal to buy it, except in the eyes of the Feds.

I don't claim it's a good argument, but I think it comes from the meaning of the word abuse. Medically abuse means intentionally taking something outside of its prescribed dose or indicated use. If the indicated dose is zero because it's schedule I then any use of it is abuse, so in that case it seems to be self-fulfilling that if lots of people are using it then there is a high potential of abuse.

So if someone uses alcohol for a non-medical use, it is abuse?

Alcohol is not scheduled substance and not generally the subject of a prescription. Alcohol can be abused, and the CDC and major medical organizations define alcohol abuse based on the amount and the circumstances of the user. Here's the CDC definition.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

So basically someone (aka politicians who base decisions on fear and propoganda vs evidence based medicine) needs to make it a scheduled drug before it can be considered to be a drug of abuse. That seems like a good way of going about things.

Or we can realize the politics behind the scheduling of drugs and understand it is completely worthless when discussing the actual abuse potential of a drug, especially Marijuana.

[Sbane]

I'm sure there are better drugs to be used for medical purposes other than marijuana.  I'm reluctant to support its use for medical purposes since we have better ways of treating people.

     I'm sure it is not always or even often perfect, but it does have medicinal uses. That alone should make us reconsider placing it in Schedule I.

The main psychoactive compound in Marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol(THC), is considered a Schedule 3 drug by the DEA. So why should the plant be Schedule 1? Especially since the plant contains other non-psychoactive compounds such as cannabidiol(CBD), which potentially has even more medicinal benefits than THC.

Also, the FDA is likely to approve another drug, Sativex, which is made from the plant itself. The other two cannabinoids that are prescription drugs are synthetically made. It will be interesting to see how the DEA manages to explain why the plant should be Schedule 1 but a medicine made from it be available with a prescription.