Disclaimer: Please read the intro before you flame me, Pro-Legalization Folk!
I was working my way through the lengthy if somewhat repetitive Dr. Zombie marijuana diary entitled I am a fraud and I am coming clean about it., trying as usual to ameliorate the Over the Top comments on both sides -- Dr. Z jumping on Miss Blue because she (who "grew up in the nightclub industry" which I imagine would turn anyone anti-any-drug) is rather prim-sounding about pot-smokers, and suchlike.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
A thought suddenly struck me, while reading. Although The Lurker does not do any drug other than an occasional glass of wine but supports marijuana legalization for all the rational reasons...
Marijuana IS a Gateway Drug.
In the eyes of the pharmaceutical industry.
Now this is not one of those diaries filled with links to studies and facts.
But I believe that once people use medical marijuana to deal with nausea, with glaucoma, with any of the myriad of symptoms and conditions for which medical marijuana provides relief -- that they are then MORE LIKELY to try other alternative, non-mainstream-pharmaceutical medicines or therapeutic practices. And with alternative medicine becoming more and more popular among "the mainstream" of patients in our country and worldwide, this must be frightening indeed to the pharmaceutical industry.
I wonder if any kossacks have experience with this (people trying medical marijuana, and it making them more open to non-traditional drugs or therapeutic regimens)?
I also wonder if anyone has experience with drug company "marijuana-based" drugs like Marinol which I have read is NOT as effective as "whole marijuana" smoked or eaten...
Am I nuts? Or does the pharmaceutical industry fear that marijuana could be the "gateway drug" that opens the gates to an increased use of herbal and alternative medical traditions for use to help with common and currently intractable health problems?
Potential Gateway #2
And thought of in a different way, the legalization of marijuana could be a "gateway drug" that opens the door to a more pragmatic and enlightened approach to a variety of other currently illegal drugs, most of them far more intrinsically dangerous than cannabis. And I am not speaking of alcohol and tobacco, here...
Note: This diary can also act as a test for your title-snark-tolerance (please note said tag) and your ability to read a diary before flaming it.