leaffan
Well-Known Member
The number one asshole just can't keep his mouth shut...
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/08/20/doctors-say-canadians-should-not-smoke-any-plant-material-including-marijuana/
Doctors say Canadians should not smoke ‘any plant material’ — including marijuana
Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News | August 20, 2014 6:03 PM ET
More from Postmedia News
Aaron Lynett / National PostApproximately 56 grams of marijuana.
They already opposed tobacco. Now the nation’s doctors say Canadians shouldn’t smoke “any plant material” whatsoever, including marijuana.
Delegates at the Canadian Medical Association’s general council meeting voted Wednesday to formally oppose the smoking of any plant substance.
Opponents to the motion said it was a back-door way to ban medical marijuana. Some claimed it smacks of Prohibition all over again.
Taken literally, the blanket statement could cover dozens of plants that people smoke in different cultures.
But outgoing CMA president Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti said smoking harms the lungs’ “natural cleaning and repair system and traps cancer-causing chemicals” in the airways.
He cited a 2008 study by the American Chemical Society that found marijuana smoke contains many of the same chemicals as tobacco smoke but in substantially higher levels.
Related
The motion strengthens the CMA’s opposition to pot for medical purposes, especially in its smoked form, he added.
Dr. Deborah Hellyer, a Windsor, Ont., respirologist said that smoking one joint “is equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes.”
But some doctors urged delegates to vote against the motion.
Dr. Ashley Miller of St. John’s said the “prohibitionist” tone contradicts existing evidence and she worried about the cultural sensitivity.
Others worried the message defeating the motion would send to the public.
“If we don’t support it, it says, “We’re OK, smoke whatever you want’ and I think that’s a really bad message to send to the public,” said Calgary physician Dr. Robin Cox.
Delegates at the policy convention also adopted a motion urging Corrections Canada to investigate the psychiatric consequences of solitary confinement.
Ontario psychiatrist Dr. Gary Chaimowitz said the death of Edward Snowshoe, who hanged himself at the Edmonton Institution after 162 days in segregation, and the segregation-cell death in 2007 of teenager Ashley Smith, who died by self-inflicted strangulation, highlight the dangers of prolonged segregation.
Up to one-third of the country’s maximum-security population are in segregation at any time and that the average time spent in segregation is about 95 days, he said.
“When I go into these facilities and I see the places people are housed and kept for weeks and weeks, and sometimes years, it is truly unbelievable,” he said.
The United Nations has said prolonged segregation is equivalent to torture.
Delegates voted down a motion that would have called for a system of “presumed” consent for organ donation. Proponents said countries with presumed consent have donor rates 25 to 30 per cent higher than Canada. But others warned that society isn’t yet ready for the notion of automatic organ consent.
Earlier, NDP leader Tom Mulcair became the first leader of the official Opposition to be invited to speak at the annual doctor’s gathering.
Mulcair accused the Harper government for attempting to recruit doctors “in their ideological crusade against marijuana” and forcing them to decide “who should and shouldn’t get home mail delivery.”
“That’s not governing. That’s bullying,” he told delegates.
The Canadian Medical Association, the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada declined the government’s invitation to endorse a proposed Health Canada advertising campaign on the dangers of marijuana use by young people.
Health Canada had asked the physicians’ groups to review the ads for accuracy and lend their logos and endorsements, which could have drawn MDs into the politically charged debate over the legalization of marijuana.
Mulcair accused the Conservatives of returning the country to an “era of crippling cuts” and said the NDP would use any federal budget surplus to reverse the Conservative’s plans to cut $36 billion from health-care spending starting in 2016.
Mulcair called the sate of health care on some First Nations’ reserves “a shame” and criticized the Conservative government for shuttering nine veterans’ service centres as a “wave of new veterans” returns from a decade of war in Afghanistan.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/08/20/doctors-say-canadians-should-not-smoke-any-plant-material-including-marijuana/
Doctors say Canadians should not smoke ‘any plant material’ — including marijuana
Sharon Kirkey, Postmedia News | August 20, 2014 6:03 PM ET
More from Postmedia News
Aaron Lynett / National PostApproximately 56 grams of marijuana.
They already opposed tobacco. Now the nation’s doctors say Canadians shouldn’t smoke “any plant material” whatsoever, including marijuana.
Delegates at the Canadian Medical Association’s general council meeting voted Wednesday to formally oppose the smoking of any plant substance.
Opponents to the motion said it was a back-door way to ban medical marijuana. Some claimed it smacks of Prohibition all over again.
Taken literally, the blanket statement could cover dozens of plants that people smoke in different cultures.
But outgoing CMA president Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti said smoking harms the lungs’ “natural cleaning and repair system and traps cancer-causing chemicals” in the airways.
He cited a 2008 study by the American Chemical Society that found marijuana smoke contains many of the same chemicals as tobacco smoke but in substantially higher levels.
Related
- Doctors should not feel obligated to prescribe marijuana, health minister says
- Justin Trudeau defends marijuana stance, says he won’t let Tory attack ads knock him off course
- Canadian doctors’ groups refuse to take part in federal government’s ‘political’ anti-drug campaign
The motion strengthens the CMA’s opposition to pot for medical purposes, especially in its smoked form, he added.
Dr. Deborah Hellyer, a Windsor, Ont., respirologist said that smoking one joint “is equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes.”
But some doctors urged delegates to vote against the motion.
Dr. Ashley Miller of St. John’s said the “prohibitionist” tone contradicts existing evidence and she worried about the cultural sensitivity.
Others worried the message defeating the motion would send to the public.
“If we don’t support it, it says, “We’re OK, smoke whatever you want’ and I think that’s a really bad message to send to the public,” said Calgary physician Dr. Robin Cox.
Delegates at the policy convention also adopted a motion urging Corrections Canada to investigate the psychiatric consequences of solitary confinement.
Ontario psychiatrist Dr. Gary Chaimowitz said the death of Edward Snowshoe, who hanged himself at the Edmonton Institution after 162 days in segregation, and the segregation-cell death in 2007 of teenager Ashley Smith, who died by self-inflicted strangulation, highlight the dangers of prolonged segregation.
Up to one-third of the country’s maximum-security population are in segregation at any time and that the average time spent in segregation is about 95 days, he said.
“When I go into these facilities and I see the places people are housed and kept for weeks and weeks, and sometimes years, it is truly unbelievable,” he said.
The United Nations has said prolonged segregation is equivalent to torture.
Delegates voted down a motion that would have called for a system of “presumed” consent for organ donation. Proponents said countries with presumed consent have donor rates 25 to 30 per cent higher than Canada. But others warned that society isn’t yet ready for the notion of automatic organ consent.
Earlier, NDP leader Tom Mulcair became the first leader of the official Opposition to be invited to speak at the annual doctor’s gathering.
Mulcair accused the Harper government for attempting to recruit doctors “in their ideological crusade against marijuana” and forcing them to decide “who should and shouldn’t get home mail delivery.”
“That’s not governing. That’s bullying,” he told delegates.
The Canadian Medical Association, the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada declined the government’s invitation to endorse a proposed Health Canada advertising campaign on the dangers of marijuana use by young people.
Health Canada had asked the physicians’ groups to review the ads for accuracy and lend their logos and endorsements, which could have drawn MDs into the politically charged debate over the legalization of marijuana.
Mulcair accused the Conservatives of returning the country to an “era of crippling cuts” and said the NDP would use any federal budget surplus to reverse the Conservative’s plans to cut $36 billion from health-care spending starting in 2016.
Mulcair called the sate of health care on some First Nations’ reserves “a shame” and criticized the Conservative government for shuttering nine veterans’ service centres as a “wave of new veterans” returns from a decade of war in Afghanistan.
