marinelli's miscellany

The only FDA approved drug for ALS, riluzole, extends life on average by about two months,” says Abood. “Evidence from our study suggests that a marijuana-based therapy could create a much greater effect, perhaps extending life by three years or more.

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Marijuana-Like Compounds May Aid Array Of Debilitating Conditions Ranging From Parkinson’s Disease To Pain

Two things: 

1. I just learned that my cousin has ALS, a progressive, fatal, and extraordinarily cruel neurodegenerative disease. Despite its rarity, I actually know someone else who recently died from it (Greg, a beloved, albeit not blood-related, uncle to me, mentioned in this story). So, entirely aside from my own neurological illness (fibromyalgia), which is also genuinely alleviated by cannabis (with far more efficacy relative to my legally prescribed medications), I have a huge stake here.
2. No matter how rare ALS is, the fact that the only FDA-approved medication for it may extend sufferers’ lives by “about two months,” when there is an alternative, but, in most states (and federally) illegal therapy that could add eighteen times as many days to patients’ lives (while also doing much to alleviate ALS’s tremendous physical suffering) should be cause for national outrage, and the nonpartisan recognition that our present drug policies are grossly inhumane.