Sanjay Gupta: 'I am doubling down' on medical marijuana

[n2doc]

(CNN) -- It's been eight months since I last wrote about medical marijuana, apologizing for having not dug deeply into the beneficial effects of this plant and for writing articles dismissing its potential. I apologized for my own role in previously misleading people, and I feel very badly that people have suffered for too long, unable to obtain the legitimate medicine that may have helped them.

I have been reminded that a true and productive scientific journey involves a willingness to let go of established notions and get at the truth, even if it is uncomfortable and even it means having to say "sorry."

It is not easy to apologize and take your lumps, but this was never about me.

This scientific journey is about a growing number of patients who want the cannabis plant as a genuine medicine, not to get high.

It is about emerging science that not only shows and proves what marijuana can do for the body but provides better insights into the mechanisms of marijuana in the brain, helping us better understand a plant whose benefits have been documented for thousands of years. This journey is also about a Draconian system where politics override science and patients are caught in the middle.

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http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/health/gupta-medical-marijuana/

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. Let sanity prevail.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Good for him.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Dude! Does someone need some Doritos?

No, that Dorito is not undulating, Sanjay. WTF does undulating mean, anyway?

[loudsue]

8. ROFL! Manny, I think you're my favorite DUer.

Yep. I'm pretty sure.

[MannyGoldstein]

19. Ya, but using my picture as your avatar is a little creepy

Kinda like stalking.

[loudsue]

20. See? I knew I liked you!

Nah. Not stalking...hero worship.

[rhett o rick]

28. Undulating is the opposite of dulating, duh! I prefer cheetos. nm

[mainer]

4. He's our Walter Cronkie of marijuana

Cronkite turned the nation against the Vietnam war.

Gupta is turning the nation against the war on pot.

[tridim]

5. Well, to be fair the nation was against the war on pot

several years ago, back when Gupta was still a drug warrior.

[rhett o rick]

29. Good point. THe nation turned Gupta, not the other way round. nm

[Downwinder]

6. But look at all the well paying jobs in law enforcement

that will become redundant. Acceptance of cannabis is liable to cause widespread unemployment,

[L0oniX]

11. Good shit doesn't grow without people.

[bullwinkle428]

7. Nice to see people changing their mind for the good - Gupta...Ed Schultz...

Who will be next?

[WinkyDink]

9. I've always felt it was a generational war, with The Greatest Generation hating The Dirty Hippies.

[L0oniX]

12. ...and now we have "dirty" corporations. I'd rather have the dirty hippies.

[JNelson6563]

10. Always glad to see views evolve.

Bravo Dr. Gupta.

Julie

[Cha]

24. Really, huh? President Obama wanted him for Surgeon

General at one point in history.

[PotatoChip]

13. Gupta is a good guy.

Some time ago, someone posted a documentary he had done on medical marijuana. It made a believer of the medical good it does out of me. Personally, I don't really like pot, but if it helps people with pain and other medical problems, I'm all for it. Actually, I see no harm in legalizing it for recreational use too, for people who enjoy it.

As an aside, I recently learned that Mr PotatoChip's 92 year old aunt has a medical marijuana 'prescription'. She prefers to cook and eat it in brownies and such rather than smoke it, but once in awhile she'll smoke what she calls her "peace pipe". Ohh Emm Gee, it cracked me up when I heard her say that!

[Cha]

25. Wow! that's really cool of grandma, PotatoChip~

[PotatoChip]

27. Yes, she is quite a character!

And amazingly self sufficient for her age. Her eyesight is not very good, and her arthritis bothers her quite a bit, but for 92 she's doing incredibly well. In fact, up until 2 years ago, she'd travel alone to Florida to see her daughter every year! She's totally capable of doing it mentally, but it's gotten to be a little too much for her physically.

She still travels to Bangor w/her elderly friends to play the slot machines, though. A gambling, pot smoking 92 year old great grandmother, lol!

[jsr]

14. He was not helpful then, and he is irrelevant now.

[KittyWampus]

15. He has some degree of influence now so calling him irrelevant just seems petulant.

[Cha]

26. No, he's not irrelevant.

[madokie]

16. I quit watching chicken coop news

because of Gupta's smear on MM's Sicko

Can't say that I feel I've missed anything by turning cnn off either. I like that Gupta's is for medical Marijuana now. It sure can't hurt anything.

[Bluenorthwest]

17. I admire a person who can step up and admit to having been wrong and then strongly

advocate for that which is right. This is a rare trait. Good for Gupta, who truly deserves to be called Doctor.

[Tsiyu]

18. Well, Thank You Mr. Gupta

for acknowledging 5000 years of wisdom.

It still amazes me the fear and political ramblings over a botanical medicine.

Over a frikkin PLANT.

But there is hope in Gupta's words.....

[dreamnightwind]

31. Well, of course it was not fear of the plant

It was fear of people using the plant, who would think out of the box, who viewed their earthly purpose as more than being a human resource unit for some corporation, they fear the third eye, consciousness. Our robot replacements are not ready yet, so TPTB are still dependent on a subservient and desperate workforce to do their bidding. After that, all bets are off, we'd better make some major changes before that comes to pass.

[Tsiyu]

35. It's funny

ABJECT Greed made TPTB drop most of us like bags of smelly cheese. We cost too much, took too much out of their CEOs' pockets, so bam!

So then a lot of people had a lot of time on their hands and they started to like it, started spending more time with family, working on hobbies, realizing poor but happy beats being a tool of people who treat you like crap and refuse to share the profits you help them create.

Not everyone mind you, because a lot of us have suffered, too, but enough people have just abandoned the whole concept of depriving yourself of a family life and a personal life just to make a couple of rich assholes even richer. I think being happy and poor beats being miserable and middle class in some ways. Not all, but some.

So now I think people are getting to the point of speaking out about unions and the workplace, whereas when this whole decline started, you couldn't get people to diss the system as long as it was working out for them..

What can you fear after they take it all away?

[dreamnightwind]

36. Exactly

I personally went through the whole process you mentioned, except my sheeple wife left me in the process, with an underwater mortgage, broke and unemployed after 20 plus years of the soul sacrifice. So I'm poor, alone, and miserable. But there is at least hope for some better, more genuine life ahead, maybe it will work out well.

I don't see how unions have much opportunity when corporations can just move their workforce somewhere else. Unions need to go global, or we need tariffs on goods made with sub-standard labor conditions that are hefty enough to more than offset any financial gains that came from the offshored labor. Of course the TPP is a move in the opposite direction, so it doesn't look good without some major change in direction and leadership, or perhaps way down the road post-collapse.

Cheers, enjoyed your post.

[Tsiyu]

38. Enjoyed yours as well.

Hang in there.

You're a good addition to the D that are U

[pokerfan]

21. k&r nt

[Warren DeMontague]

22. Good, because I've noticed that the drug war apologists have begun to try to push back.

Apparently they've started to panic, this legalization thing might actually take off.

[magical thyme]

23. It's good to see someone influential admit he was wrong and do what he can do undo the

harm. I spoke to him a few years ago in my job at the financial call center, when he was moving some of his money from one mutual fund company to another. He was gracious and pleasant, unlike some.

I'm appalled to read a few here trashing him. That behavior is what makes it so hard for some people to admit a mistake and try to rectify. Anybody can make a mistake and be wrong. It takes an ethical, good person to admit it and do what they can to rectify it. It is a hater who refuses to forgive them, instead revelling in their hatred.

[dreamnightwind]

37. Indeed

"That behavior is what makes it so hard for some people to admit a mistake and try to rectify."

I get it, though, some wonder if it's genuine or if he just has a good nose for shifting with the political winds, which in his case is a valid thing to wonder about.

Generally, though, I agree with you, people are often too hard on people who sincerely admit to wrong-doing and have changed their ways, preferring to make points about their own superiority to have never made the mistake in the first place. Not very clear, hopefully that makes sense.

[magical thyme]

41. I expect he is a doctor first, not a politician

"if he just has a good nose for shifting with the political winds"

I think sometimes people on DU spend too much time on here, and not enough out in the real world. Not everybody pays attention to political winds. In fact, most people do not. Some are too busy surviving. And many have their main focus elsewhere. Health care and medicine are pretty all-consuming. They don't leave much time or energy for much else.

[Anansi1171]

30. Now, Now -hes just biased because Gawd of Pot!

Doncha know pot makes everyone LAZY and STUPID?

Who needs to dig deeper when the truth is plain to see. Who needs an evidence-based approach when 50-plus year old DUers can recall their experiences from a few stoners along the way?

The good doctors just sold out to the religion of "Pot"!

[dreamnightwind]

33. My Governor Jerry Brown still believes that

Incredibly. He says the world is a dangerous place and we need to work harder to stay safe and win the future, or some such, even using the insult "potheads". I like Brown for the most part but he really lost me there, jumped the shark completely.

[dreamnightwind]

32. K & R

Publicly acknowledging your mistaken view is a difficult and beautiful thing. He should have known better, and maybe he did, either way, kudos to him, and to Ed Schultz for his complete about-face on Keystone XL. We can all learn from this, it's how we grow as people.

[SomethingFishy]

34. Well then let me double down on Dr Gupta..

Go Fuck Yourself.. Again.

We don't need your fucking help. After years of flat out lying about it now you want to look like you aren't a fucking dumbass? Piss off.

Established notions? Are you fucking kidding me? The Cannibis plant has been useful for THOUSANDS OF YEARS. This isn't fucking new and Gupta didn't just figure it out. He just got caught lying.

[Major Nikon]

40. ... and the horse he rode in on

Gupta obviously still believes pot should still be illegal for recreational use, citing the effects on the developing brain which even if true ignores the greater harm with the legal alternative and the social costs of illegalization. So perhaps he doesn't want his kids doing pot, but I suspect he also wouldn't want his kids' lives destroyed by being in jail or prison for pot like many parents have to deal with. So yeah, fuck Grupa. He's still on the wrong side of the debate and will eventually be on the wrong side of history.

[liberal_at_heart]

39. Good for him. Glad to have him on board now.

I'd like to see him testify in front of congress and push for rescheduling.