Cannabis

[Guest guest]

hi there,

 

i would love to hear any thoughts, comments, suggestions, facts, loose facts,

history, links and all that jazz concerning cannabis and herbal medicine.

 

i'll get back shortly with some of what i understand and perhaps some info i'm

gathering from other groups.

 

peacelight,

[Guest guest]

although cannabis gets great press as an auspicious herb in the

Indo-Tibetan tradition, anyone who takes the time to actually observe

the way its used in these regions will quickly see that the only people

that consume regularly are those that live on the fringes of society,

drug addicts and western tourists looking to get high - its use a

tantric drug is vastly overestimated

 

purified in milk, curd etc it is considered to be a sacrament, to

purify the temple idols, linga etc, but its consumption as a means to

an end is something that has been fully explored and rejected by

Ayurveda and all the major spiritual traditions of India - it some

regions of India it is still used for ceremonial purposes, and is

associated with the Lord Shiva

 

if people smoke it for recreational purposes they would do well to

dispel the illusion that it somehow leads to an enlightened state of

consciousness

in the tibetan bon tradition the cannabis deva is a spindly legged

creature with fangs, yellow-slitted eyes, grey skin, and sparse hair

pulsating with poisonous energy it creeps around in the dark, shunning

the light, hiding in the darkened places

it is a creature of vayu, and when consumed creates an illusion of

bliss that feeds on fear, paranoia and vitality (ojas)

 

otherwise its just another herb, and a mildly toxic one at that, but

not worth getting all that excited about, either from a medical or

legal perspective

taken internally, either smoked (e.g. ganja, charas), drunk (e.g.

bhang) or eaten (e.g. majoom) the female flowers are reasonably useful

for pain and spasm, and also in anorexia and nausea (e.g. with

chemotherapy), except that the patient pretty much needs to get stoned

silly before it is all that effective - for some patients this is

intolerable, for others its a happy side-effect, although these folks

are usually potheads before requiring it as a medicine - nothing like a

"legitimate" excuse to get high

 

from a scientific perspective there is some evidence to suggest it

might be effective in some types of depressive conditions and other

addictions (although i am very skeptical for a number of reasons - LSD

has more promise to my mind); i have also come across some evidence

that its capacity to bind with cannabinoid receptors in the brain can

modulate immune function (but Echinacea does this too), and there is a

little data to suggest that it might help in conditions like

parkinson's and MS, although its benefit here is not curative nor all

that impressive; lastly, it has been touted to be of benefit in brain

cancer, most notably by the academic/pop culture crossover guru

Terrence McKenna, but despite being a confirmed pot head he actually

succumbed to a rare form of brain cancer...

 

as a tea the leaves are useful in colic, and generally not too

intoxicating, but there are so many alternatives I have never

considered it

 

speaking with a nurse at a hep C clinic they did an informal study and

found that cannabis usage is an independent risk factor for hepatitis

C, suggesting that its regular consumption promotes liver damage, apart

from the obvious lung damage

 

the seeds are nutritious (i.e. rich in proteins and alpha linolenic

acid) and also being rich in mucilage are good for constipation, on par

with flax except it tastes better

and like flax, the fiber is strong and useful for cloth, ropes and paper

 

in his "Indian Materia Medica" Dr. Nadkarni has an extensive monograph

on it, and a recipe for majoom that is one of the better ways to use it

as an analgesic

Caldecott

todd

[Guest guest]

wow..

 

thank you Todd. Your responses are always so detailed and measured.

 

I look forward to any additional thoughts.

 

shinelove,

 

David

 

ayurveda, Todd Caldecott <todd@t...> wrote:

 

click on following link to read original message

http://health.ayurveda/message/3608