Here is an abstract for some important research confirming something about the medicine, marijuana, many of us in behavioral health research have strongly suspected for a long time. Because marijuana policy, research, and the overall war on drugs has recently had a burst of informed truth telling, which has broken through corporate media to pop culture, some Americans might be able to have a broader discussion of important truths, as well as consider the need for a paradigm shift in the priorities of behavioral health care research.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23795873
As you see, the implication of this research is that a therapeutic benefit of marijuana use is noted in opiate addicted methadone maintenance patients during their initial stabilization period on the opiate substitution medication. Unfortunately, this also indicates a serious flaw in current treatment policies for compliance in methadone treatment. Many people, including me, have always known that policies prohibiting marijuana presence in drug toxicology screening, which then interferes with or denies treatment to individuals with serious chemical addictions or PTSD, etc., were terribly harming individuals and society. Now, we have preliminary indications that the plant based intervention, marijuana, might improve treatment outcomes during stabilization of opiate addicted individuals. I strongly believe this is correct.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23795873
As you see, the implication of this research is that a therapeutic benefit of marijuana use is noted in opiate addicted methadone maintenance patients during their initial stabilization period on the opiate substitution medication. Unfortunately, this also indicates a serious flaw in current treatment policies for compliance in methadone treatment. Many people, including me, have always known that policies prohibiting marijuana presence in drug toxicology screening, which then interferes with or denies treatment to individuals with serious chemical addictions or PTSD, etc., were terribly harming individuals and society. Now, we have preliminary indications that the plant based intervention, marijuana, might improve treatment outcomes during stabilization of opiate addicted individuals. I strongly believe this is correct.
Here is the kicker. Because of my years of experience collecting histories and data from a range of patients and disenfranchised populations, I know that research should be conducted to see if marijuana provides benefit, as an ancillary treatment, to patients with many other chemical addictions such as cigarettes, alcohol, and cocaine!
Neighbors, academia is very screwed up these days, as I've commented before. I've talked about the immense power of corporations at directing priorities of almost all research, but I've never talked about the strict militaristic hierarchy at research institututions, or the inequality of power and resources from those at the top of the academic/industrial caste to the bottom of the system. For brevity, front line workers often gain much deeper understanding of populations of people than the powerful few, who have learned to claim that data, is some type of divine force that only they can understand. That's how we get absurd myths about what can and cannot work to help disenfranchised people find balance in their lives. Like public school teachers, front line workers in many fields of research never get a "platform" to tell the truth nor to advance future research!
With most chemical addictions, a period of stabilization during withdrawl from the substance, is a precarious time for relapse with patients experiencing severe cravings. Ancillary treatments are often provided in order to reduce severity of withdrawl. Of course, these are generally highly profitable chemical interventions in our for profit health system. Acupuncture has been shown by many to improve substance abuse treatment outcomes by allowing the patient to get much better results in primary treatment because of the reductions in cravings and an increased ability to focus on cognitive strategies or treatments. Of course, the medical industry spends lavishly to build a case to discredit the efficacy of acupuncture, like they did for 50 years of "scientific research" on marijuana!
I strongly believe that marijuana has a similar potential, as an important ancillary treatment, due to my years of collecting data and histories from an assortment of patients. Marijuana is generally known, as a self treatment or folk remedy, for all sorts of cravings and distress.
So, from my experiences, marijuana could be used as an ancillary treatment to calm the mind and reduce cravings, coupled with the best cognitive treatments to benefit stabilization during withdrawl and improve treatment compliance and treatment.
Our broken system of behavioral health care fails tremendously in matching appropriate comprehensive treatment to allow those with problems to live happy high functioning lives. There is an over-dependence on cognitive behavioral strategies (which work well in the short term, if delivered responsibly and compassionately), but due to neoliberal ideology, working class people must be quickly "fixed" and thrown back into a broken society, before he or she can develop supports or recover the inner strength necessary for total recovery, as those who study and live by the dharma (the ultimate path to recover from all American addictions).
If I could design a pilot intervention to be studied, I would use the plant based medicine coupled with a small period of relaxation techniques, preferably Buddhist meditation and discussion. Only afterwards, would I have patients attend the appropriate individual/ group "counseling" or work club groups. I strongly believe, we give too much reduntant counseling without transitioning individuals to recovery activities like reading clubs, job clubs, etc.
Anyway, I would like people to consider the need for a paradigm shift on how we treat all mental health challenges endemic in our insane materialistic society. The typical clinical prohibition policy against marijuana use in patients must be immediately ended everywhere. It is unbelievably harmful to deny treatment because of marijuana presence. But also as this new research indicates, policy makers should immediately fund research into the use of the plant as an ancillary treatment during stabilization and coupled with real comprehensive treatment for all chemical addictions!
I believe the current delays in full legalization of this powerful natural herbal remedy are designed for big Pharma to patent individual components of hemp to make highly profitable pills which won't work, like their Marinol for wasting diseases.
Just like a single payer health system, full legalization of hemp, would prove to be an enormous benefit to society in so many ways. Please take halftime to think about something new!
A truth teller .
