Medical marijuana is legal where we live; is it effective at combating insomnia?

i know someone on fluther who would most definitely say “yes”.

Yes, most definitely.

@Joe_Freeman Welcome to Fluther!

Regarding the question- lets get government grant money and volunteers to study it!

It works for some people but it kind of wires me up. But then again, I’m kind of backwards in a lot of ways…

Barbituates will do the trick…guaranteed…..wtf

@ loser wait, is that you?? Hi!! Yeah, my brief experience with pot, was the same. It wired me, didn’t relax me. I did have the munchies from hell, one time. If I would have kept going with that…I’d be as big as a house!

If it is something you are interested in, talk to your doctor. Insomnia is truly a bitch to deal with, I had it really bad during my last round of cancer. There were nights I just begged for the ability to fall asleep…if even for 15 minutes.

i just drink a lot.

lol i was about to say, just drink yourself to sleep.

@eponymoushipster who me? :P

All of the heavy dope users who I have ever know (and that is quite a few) are not good sleepers. Some of the more recent (since my oncology experiences) users who use it legally also require sleeping aids.

I wouldn’t count on it helping. I am an insomniac (Narcolepsy) but I don’t smoke anything – so I have not tried it.

It makes me really hyper. I guess it could have a different effect on you.

Send me an ounce and I’ll let you know.

They could just give it a try. It wouldn’t hurt anything… especially after all the other Rx drugs you said they tried.

” Medical marijuana is legal where we live”
Where do you live? Not legal in the US.
But to answer your question, it cant hurt! :-)

Off topic a little: Has your friend tried Amitryptiline? I take a very low dose nightly (10 mg.)

“Amitriptyline hydrochloride (sold as Elavil, Tryptanol, Endep, Elatrol, Tryptizol, Trepiline, Laroxyl, Saroten, Triptyl, Redomex) is a tricyclic antidepressant drug… ...amitriptyline inhibits serotonin[1] and noradrenaline reuptake almost equally.

Amitriptyline is now used in the United States and UK to prevent migraines only in very small doses. It is also used as sleeping aids in small doses of usually 25 mg.”

@ChazMaz uhhh its actually legal in 13 states right now…..

Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. New Jersey is also making great progress0 in becoming the 14th state.

@ChazMaz : Medical marijuana is legal in many US states.

Not at a Federal level. That is what I go with.
Medical marijuana has strong support from voters and health organizations. The federal government, however, has resisted any change to marijuana’s illegal status at the federal level. The Supreme Court ruled in 2005 in Raich v. Gonzales that the federal government can prosecute medical marijuana patients, even in states with compassionate use laws, and several medical marijuana dispensaries in California have since been subject to Drug Enforcement Administration raids.

Fuck the federal government.

This is true. There are even cities which have declared completely legal marijuana use, which had then been overruled by the state. Remember a few years ago when Denver tried to pull that?

At least the Supreme Court is working on recognizing individual state decisions. This is the latest

I think that time is going to see the federal legalization. Hopefully in the next decade.
If they would just see it as a tax income it would pass overnight in a secret session.

The problem with “taxed income” is now you would transfer drug dealer to legal status.
Getting Uncle Sam involved at that level is best to be avoided.
Legal to grow and for personal use only would save plenty of headaches.

@ChazMaz “you would transfer drug dealer to legal status.” you mean like they did with alcohol….

Getting back to business…

Ask your doctor about marinol, it is the “weed” pill. I use it some nights when I can’t sleep and it is great.

Yes, and see where that has gotten us.

@drClaw i thought marinol was mostly for nausea?

@ChazMaz I dont see where your going with that. Care to elaborate?

@uberbatman I guess I just have a really nice doctor. She gave me an open prescription for the stuff.

@drClaw have you ever smoked marijuana? If so, how would you compare the pills effects to the real thing?

Sure, we went from Prohibition to full blown business. It was better to see the positive then the negative and that positive was money. Uncle Sam getting the first and biggest slice.
When we dropped Prohibition we should have made alcohol for personal manufacturing and use only, preventing it from making a direct profit to anyone.
People would be at each others homes trying out there home brews or just drinking at home. No bars, no clubs to get a drink. DWI’s would be much less then they are. (Will have to think of the BYOB issue.)
When it comes to making money and a profit. Especially with the example of alcohol or for that matter any “mood altering” source. Greed tends to be a greater priority then safety. Lots of money in addiction.. The goal is to try to keep it ( Since some feel we got to have it) as close to a vise then addiction as possible.
Replace the word alcohol with gambling if you like..

@ChazMaz im sorry but i couldnt disagree more. Marijuana is not comparable to alcohol at all in the ways your saying. I mean look at all those people causing havoc in Amsterdam due to marijuana. Oh wait a minute….

It is not an issue of good and bad. I will say it… I can control my alcohol and pot use.
For me I just want to catch a buzz now and then. But peoples eyes light up with dollar signs. We know the profit that can be made from the two examples.
Greed promotes regulation, regulation promotes bureaucracy, bureaucracy lead to me having to by a pack of weed at the local store for $50 when I could just (have some fun) growing it at home.
Ya know, you can buy Cigarettes, and booze but try to grow it or make it. That is illegal and the little you can make. In the case of alcohol, is usually sub par. I want to grow some good shit. :-)

@uberbatman Have I smoked? That’s funny…. Anywho, it isn’t the same as smoking, it lasts longer and kind of hits you in waves. It also can be a bit more of a body high than smoking.

@ChazMaz I have to agree with uberbatman. Alcohol really isn’t comparable to pot. Alcohol on one hand is addictive bith physically and mentally, causes serious health/social problems and is the only drug that has withdrawals that can kill you. Pot on the other hand is only addictive mentally, it’s biggest impact on society has come from the shady people selling it illegally and it has little to no withdrawal symptoms.

The difference in health and social issues alone make the two incomparable.

@drClaw Hey, i had to ask :P So like eating some brownies then?

I agree but I don’t. That is why I used the term “mood altering”. Pot being only addictive mentally is just legalization propaganda. Don’t get me wrong. I love pot. Been smoking it on and off for almost 30 years.
We just do not smoke it as much as cigarettes to see the comparison. They are comparable because it is not about addiction, or the harm one might or might not do. We know the risks in both cases.
I will tell you this, if you drink or smoke pot while driving my company car. Your ass is on the curb. Lets focus on “mood altering.” That is why we like the stuff so much.

“its biggest impact on society has come from the shady people selling it illegally”

When it comes to making money from this type of product. There are always shady deals, right to the top. We want to avoid that. (read what I first posted again)

“and it has little to no withdrawal symptoms.”

Dude, when I run out of weed. I do not go looking for more. I prefer to smoke it when someone either offers or tosses me some or I would be high all the time. I can’t stop smoking it till it is gone. I do love it, hate the munches. When I do run out. I am in a haze for a few days.

It comes down to this. You want it legal? Are your motives personal or do you just want to make money off the “pot heads”? Get involved in the money part, make it an industry and. I bet you, it will not be legal in your lifetime. If it is? There will be so many regulations, restrictions, and piss tests. We want to remove all the hassle that we can.

@uberbatman That is a pretty good comparison, it’s not quite as intense, but similar.

@ChazMaz ” Medical marijuana is legal where we live” Where do you live? Not legal in the US.

I live in Australia. Some states here have “decriminalised” personal quantities, you can still be charged if you have enough to be considered a dealer. In Canberra (where I spend a lot of time) many people grow one or two plants in their greenhouses. More than that and you are in trouble.

There you go! If we want it legal here in the states we need to follow the Australian blue print!

@ChazMaz

What I find amusing is that many of the “growers” are women in their sixties and even early seventies – the gardening core. They are all old sixties hippies living it up again.

Sweet! Kind of brings a different light to the tea party.

@ChazMaz Sweet! Kind of brings a different light to the tea party.

If they invite you for tea or coffee, watch those biscuits! (cookies)

I’m confused about whether this is a debate or not. It seems that the participants in the thread don’t know either. I guess that’s what happens when a bunch of potheads “argue.” Speaking of which, has petethepothead visited this discussion?

Did not know it was a debate to begin with. Ok we did go off topic a little. All good stuff…........ Did not know it was a debate to begin with. Ok we did go off topic a little. All good stuff…... What was the topic?

@gailcalled Has your friend tried Amitryptiline? I take a very low dose nightly (10 mg.)

That’s funny. For four months (a few years ago) I also had terrible insomnia and tried everything, and only amitriptylene worked. To this day, I still take 12.5mg every night and it’s still very effective.

Only when used in it’s suppository form.

I do not personally use it as a sleep aid. Know that if you go to bed stoned you will be unlikely to remember your dreams. I do sometimes use it for that purpose, because I have disturbing dreams. I guess if this aspect is contributing to your friends’ insomnia, weed might be useful. But I would tend to think that this is not a factor or them, since AmBien takes away dreams too.

To weigh in on the Marinol thing, it works pretty well but only if you eat something a bit greasy around the same time you take it. THC is fat-soluble, which is why smoking causes munchies – eating becomes an unconscious psychological trick to stay higher, longer. This is also why when you cook with weed, to get the most out of it you have to saute it in butter and then mix the butter into your brownies rather than just grind it up and mix it in as some people I know like to do – although that will work to some degree as well. I think that people tend not to know this about Marinol, and that it why it is usually written off by the pothead community. Try it with a slice of pizza and you’ll be good to go :o)

I have insomnia, have had it since I was a little kid. I will say from experience that marijuana helps me sleep. It helps me fall asleep and stay asleep better than not smoking it.

if you have insomnia, marijuana will just mess with your head. It messes with all the synapses and especially the neurotransmitter that helps with sleeping. Yes, it does help with falling asleep in the short term, but you will have worse problems down the road in trying to sleep. The only way you could rely on it is if you use it on a consistent basis every night. Once you have that one day where you cannot use it however, you’ll find it very difficult to try and sleep

Source?

for me personally, i fall asleep a lot faster. i usually stay up until this sun comes up (during breaks from school – though i usually get no more than 4 hours of sleep during the school year either…), and after smoking i find that i can be out like a light much more quickly.

It effects people differantly, but its definantly a better choice instead of any artificial shit. Most chemicals just build up toxins in your body, which just causes more problems.