Yet another voice from the establishment proclaiming the effectiveness of medical marijuana:

Nausea and pain are constant companions. One struggles to eat enough to stave off the dramatic weight loss that is part of this disease. Eating, one of the great pleasures of life, has now become a daily battle, with each forkful a small victory. Every drug prescribed to treat one problem leads to one or two more drugs to offset its side effects. Pain medication leads to loss of appetite and constipation. Anti-nausea medication raises glucose levels, a serious problem for me with my pancreas so compromised. Sleep, which might bring respite from the miseries of the day, becomes increasingly elusive.

Inhaled marijuana is the only medicine that gives me some relief from nausea, stimulates my appetite, and makes it easier to fall asleep. The oral synthetic substitute, Marinol, prescribed by my doctors, was useless. Rather than watch the agony of my suffering, friends have chosen, at some personal risk, to provide the substance. I find a few puffs of marijuana before dinner gives me ammunition in the battle to eat. A few more puffs at bedtime permits desperately needed sleep.

So says Gustin L. Reichbach, a justice of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. His coming out in The New York Times as a beneficiary of medical marijuana is well worth a read.

A prior Video Of The Moment from our front page…

Waiting to Inhale – Marijuana, Medicine and the Law

Xeni Jardin over at Boing Boing has a terrific post up today, My Dinner with Marijuana: chemo, cannabis, and haute cuisine.

The menu was adventurous. Chinese herbs, with the other herb, were put to imaginative use. Mostly, cannabis appeared in the form of a raw garnish, or infused into accompaniments like a sweet, melt-in-your-mouth coconut oil based “soil” snuggled up next to a creamy panna cotta for dessert. A cannabis-epazote pesto was memorable with monkfish. Pot has a strong flavor and aroma. But it didn’t overpower here, either because of the modest quantities used, or because of how the chefs worked with it.

The menu looks terrific and the whole experience sounds quite enjoyable. And while the particulars of the meal are of obvious interest to anyone visiting Compassionate-Cooking.com, this article is also worth a read for how Ms. Jardin weaves her own cancer and chemo experience throughout. As always, Xeni’s writing on her recent battle with cancer is amazing, simultaneously heartbreaking and breathtaking.

A recent posting at The Daily Beast discusses wine that has been fermented with marijuana.

…pot wine delivers a quicker high than pot brownies, and the combination of alcohol and marijuana produces “an interesting little buzz.”

One has to wonder if this might become a new avenue for medical edibles, er, medical drinkables. Drinkicals? Whatever you want to call it, you can read more here.

A prior Video Of The Moment from our front page…

Transplant Denied: How Medical Marijuana Policy Kills Patients

Many thanks to reason.tv for the video.

From the February 13, 2012 Versus Debate broadcast via a Google+ Hangout…

One great point among the many that get made is that there are numerous options available to countries and states when discussing legalization. Our options aren’t simply unregulated free markets or outright ban. Rather, there are numerous tools out there to be tried between those two extremes if only our laws and infrastructure allowed for such experimentation. It was hard not to think of the current state of medical marijuana in the U.S. as this was being discussed.

Let’s hope that this sort of sane, rational and informed discussion continues. Maybe one day we’ll get past the current “one hammer fits all” logjam.

Another recipe from Doc Red…

Black Forest Fudge
Doc Red

Doc Red

Compassionate Cooking

2012-03-12

 

Fudge

Doc Red's Black Forest Fudge

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk
• 18 large marshmallows
• 1/4 tspn salt
• 1/3 cup cannabutter
• 1 cup Maraschino Cherries
• 1 package (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped almonds, pecans, or walnuts (optional)
• 1 tspn vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Combine sugar, evaporated milk, marshmallows and salt in a saucepan.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.
3. Boil and stir for 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and stir in cannabutter, chocolate chips, nuts and vanilla.
5. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and blended.
6. Fold in cherries.
7. Pour into buttered or wax paper-lined 9″ square pan.
8. Refrigerate and allow to cool thoroughly before cutting.
9. Cut into nine even pieces and enjoy!

 

A prior Video Of The Moment from our front page…

President Obama: An Unexpected Enemy of Medical Marijuana

Many thanks to MPP.org for the video.

Spoiler Alert! It doesn’t go well — except that it does. Here’s the most telling line:

It took two days for the side-effects of my maiden trip to wear off. But here’s the thing…. I had no pain whatsoever, for two whole days. Nothing.

As certain chefs around the Compassionate Cooking kitchens like to say, “Start with half of what you think you need!” You can read the whole account of this woman’s maiden voyage into the world of medical marijuana here.

A new Michigan-based medical marijuana coalition –The National Patients Rights Association (NPRA) — has been formed by some of the nation’s leading medical marijuana advocates to protect patient rights. The group will encourage legislators, prosecutors, and local governments to fully honor the decision of voters that enacted laws to legalize medical marijuana in 16 states and the nation’s capital.

Read the full announcement here.