5 ms·

Recently, a friend came to me with a list of all the health benefits that are attributed to cannabis. I sent him back a list of all the health benefits attribut

by geff82 7y ago

Recently, a friend came to me with a list of all the health benefits that are attributed to cannabis. I sent him back a list of all the health benefits attributed to good old ginger - and they matched almost one to one. Health claims concerning cannabis are usually just for those who want to consume a drug and feel better about themselves.

catalogia 7y ago
Maybe not the best example, ginger seems legitimately medicinal to me. I've not found anything better for settling an upset stomach than real ginger (not "ginger ale" soda pop.)
- actuator 7y ago
  Ginger is actually considered as a medicinal herb and is an active ingredient in many traditional medicines across Asia. I think in South Asia ginger tea is considered a very good beverage for relief if you have common cold.
- bromuro 7y ago
  OP found a perfect example to show how cannabis share same of the benefits as ginger. So he’s actually suggesting his friend to get weed if he cannot take get ginger :)
fjabre 7y ago
Can you blame them? Last time I checked ginger wasn't subjected to 70 years of war on drugs propaganda. Never heard of anyone thrown in jail for consuming ginger. Maybe people want to consume a drug without being labeled and stereotyped by people who say all drugs are bad and that getting high is a sin.
- actuator 7y ago
  Propogating false health claims doesn't help people either. I can claim that good old whisky is the cure for cold if you are mountaineering in extreme climates, but it certainly isn't going to help anyone.
  - fjabre 7y ago
    Of course but I don't think there's any debate about which side has been subjected to more propaganda over the years. Regardless this furthers my argument - that there is not enough research because of said propaganda for any claims to be made in the first place which is the real travesty.
    - klyrs 7y ago
      There's idiots on both sides, and peddling unsubstantiated rumors as medical fact doesn't somehow make up for anti-reefer madness. Rather, it legitimizes the fearmongering. I've seen dispensaries coming dangerously close to claiming it eradicates cancer. Heard activists encouraging driving under the influence because "it makes you chill out and take your time, man." There's no excuse for this shit.
      - fjabre 7y ago
        > Heard activists encouraging driving under the influence because "it makes you chill out and take your time, man." There's no excuse for this shit. Eh this doesn't bother me. You know how many people are on the roads dosed up on legal pain killers way worse and more sedating and addictive than weed? My point was that idiots on one side are putting the idiots on the other side in jail. Like I said I don't blame people for being defensive. I think it's clear which side is more in the wrong - the people fear mongering on the government's side.
  - catalogia 7y ago
    From what I understand, alcohol hastens the onset of hypothermia but at the same time in some circumstances it may delay the onset of frostbite. The mechanism should be the same in either case, the dilation of blood vessels near the surface of the skin, particularly in the extremities, which leads to more heat transfer between your body and the cold environment. This warms your skin but at the expense of cooling your core. Doctors would never dare recommend alcohol for somebody operating in the cold since it hastens hypothermia (which is deadly) to delay frostbite (which, while potentially deadly, is a less severe/immediate concern.) But, despite the aversion medical professionals have to liability, it's seems theoretically possible that there could be scenarios where consuming alcohol would be a minor net benefit (they would have to be scenarios where it's trivial to step back inside to warm up.)
- nyhc99 7y ago
  I have to agree with this. If exaggerating health claims about a plant is what it takes to convince the country that you shouldn't be thrown in prison for choosing to consume that plant, then have at it. The older generations will find it much harder to vote against legalization while they're rubbing CBD cream on their aching joints. If that's the trade-off, it's a good deal.
  - gjs278 7y ago
    the cream will do nothing
normalnorm 7y ago
Is your friend called "straw man", by any chance? And hey, people feeling better about themselves is not such a bad thing, especially when the world is so full of judgemental pricks who can't seem to be able to mind their own business or keep their religious superstitions to themselves.
- todd3834 7y ago
  Sounds like the two were having a conversation about medical benefits. I think his response was reasonable within the given context. Nothing wrong with feeling better about yourself so long as you are not doing so at the cost of potentially harming yourself or others. Spreading potentially false medical facts is risky because not everyone will do their own research.
  - normalnorm 7y ago
    We have no way to know if the response was reasonable or not, because we were not privy to the conversation and we were not given a list of the claimed health benefits, so we can't judge for ourselves of do our own research. This was an anecdote that looks reasonable to the casual reader, but amounts to emotional propaganda if you pay close attention. The reality is that there are many credible medical uses of cannabis, for example in helping people avoid much more dangerous drugs that are legal, frequently prescribed by doctors and frequently lethal, such as certain opiates. I would like to know if ginger also helps with that. As with all substances, there are counter-indications to using cannabis. However, massive empirical data shows that it is overall safer than abusing many other legal substances, for example refined sugar. It receives an undue amount of scrutiny, which is not scientific but of a political nature. And make no mistake, the prohibition started for very concrete political reasons that had nothing to do with public health preoccupations. If the US government was truly concerned with public health, it would provide nationalized healthcare in the same fashion Europe does. And again, there is a massive amount of empirical data supporting this assertion. Let's separate politics and religion from science.
- Shivetya 7y ago
  well confidence in one's decisions is something many do not have so they start rationalizing after the fact; sometimes just to themselves! Then it becomes a situation where rationalizations never seem to have an end, there is always one more, because they are not sure in themselves. we all have these acquaintances who must justify every little thing after they have done it because they lack confidence in themselves. Learning to be honest with yourself is the first step in a long line of personality traits that are beneficial for yourself and those around you. so if you want to try weed, just say you do. If you want to buy that car and you have the means to do so and you know you can afford it, then just admit that you wanted it.
damnyou 7y ago
Ginger actually does have a lot of health benefits though?
soulofmischief 7y ago
Wow, next you're going to tell me Aloe Vera is a scam, too.

by geff82 7y ago

catalogia 7y ago

Maybe not the best example, ginger seems legitimately medicinal to me. I've not found anything better for settling an upset stomach than real ginger (not "ginger ale" soda pop.)

actuator 7y ago
Ginger is actually considered as a medicinal herb and is an active ingredient in many traditional medicines across Asia. I think in South Asia ginger tea is considered a very good beverage for relief if you have common cold.
bromuro 7y ago
OP found a perfect example to show how cannabis share same of the benefits as ginger. So he’s actually suggesting his friend to get weed if he cannot take get ginger :)

fjabre 7y ago

Can you blame them? Last time I checked ginger wasn't subjected to 70 years of war on drugs propaganda. Never heard of anyone thrown in jail for consuming ginger. Maybe people want to consume a drug without being labeled and stereotyped by people who say all drugs are bad and that getting high is a sin.

actuator 7y ago
Propogating false health claims doesn't help people either. I can claim that good old whisky is the cure for cold if you are mountaineering in extreme climates, but it certainly isn't going to help anyone.
- fjabre 7y ago
  Of course but I don't think there's any debate about which side has been subjected to more propaganda over the years. Regardless this furthers my argument - that there is not enough research because of said propaganda for any claims to be made in the first place which is the real travesty.
  - klyrs 7y ago
    There's idiots on both sides, and peddling unsubstantiated rumors as medical fact doesn't somehow make up for anti-reefer madness. Rather, it legitimizes the fearmongering. I've seen dispensaries coming dangerously close to claiming it eradicates cancer. Heard activists encouraging driving under the influence because "it makes you chill out and take your time, man." There's no excuse for this shit.
    - fjabre 7y ago
      > Heard activists encouraging driving under the influence because "it makes you chill out and take your time, man." There's no excuse for this shit. Eh this doesn't bother me. You know how many people are on the roads dosed up on legal pain killers way worse and more sedating and addictive than weed? My point was that idiots on one side are putting the idiots on the other side in jail. Like I said I don't blame people for being defensive. I think it's clear which side is more in the wrong - the people fear mongering on the government's side.
- catalogia 7y ago
  From what I understand, alcohol hastens the onset of hypothermia but at the same time in some circumstances it may delay the onset of frostbite. The mechanism should be the same in either case, the dilation of blood vessels near the surface of the skin, particularly in the extremities, which leads to more heat transfer between your body and the cold environment. This warms your skin but at the expense of cooling your core. Doctors would never dare recommend alcohol for somebody operating in the cold since it hastens hypothermia (which is deadly) to delay frostbite (which, while potentially deadly, is a less severe/immediate concern.) But, despite the aversion medical professionals have to liability, it's seems theoretically possible that there could be scenarios where consuming alcohol would be a minor net benefit (they would have to be scenarios where it's trivial to step back inside to warm up.)
nyhc99 7y ago
I have to agree with this. If exaggerating health claims about a plant is what it takes to convince the country that you shouldn't be thrown in prison for choosing to consume that plant, then have at it. The older generations will find it much harder to vote against legalization while they're rubbing CBD cream on their aching joints. If that's the trade-off, it's a good deal.
- gjs278 7y ago
  the cream will do nothing

normalnorm 7y ago

Is your friend called "straw man", by any chance? And hey, people feeling better about themselves is not such a bad thing, especially when the world is so full of judgemental pricks who can't seem to be able to mind their own business or keep their religious superstitions to themselves.

todd3834 7y ago
Sounds like the two were having a conversation about medical benefits. I think his response was reasonable within the given context. Nothing wrong with feeling better about yourself so long as you are not doing so at the cost of potentially harming yourself or others. Spreading potentially false medical facts is risky because not everyone will do their own research.
- normalnorm 7y ago
  We have no way to know if the response was reasonable or not, because we were not privy to the conversation and we were not given a list of the claimed health benefits, so we can't judge for ourselves of do our own research. This was an anecdote that looks reasonable to the casual reader, but amounts to emotional propaganda if you pay close attention. The reality is that there are many credible medical uses of cannabis, for example in helping people avoid much more dangerous drugs that are legal, frequently prescribed by doctors and frequently lethal, such as certain opiates. I would like to know if ginger also helps with that. As with all substances, there are counter-indications to using cannabis. However, massive empirical data shows that it is overall safer than abusing many other legal substances, for example refined sugar. It receives an undue amount of scrutiny, which is not scientific but of a political nature. And make no mistake, the prohibition started for very concrete political reasons that had nothing to do with public health preoccupations. If the US government was truly concerned with public health, it would provide nationalized healthcare in the same fashion Europe does. And again, there is a massive amount of empirical data supporting this assertion. Let's separate politics and religion from science.
Shivetya 7y ago
well confidence in one's decisions is something many do not have so they start rationalizing after the fact; sometimes just to themselves! Then it becomes a situation where rationalizations never seem to have an end, there is always one more, because they are not sure in themselves. we all have these acquaintances who must justify every little thing after they have done it because they lack confidence in themselves. Learning to be honest with yourself is the first step in a long line of personality traits that are beneficial for yourself and those around you. so if you want to try weed, just say you do. If you want to buy that car and you have the means to do so and you know you can afford it, then just admit that you wanted it.

damnyou 7y ago

Ginger actually does have a lot of health benefits though?

soulofmischief 7y ago

Wow, next you're going to tell me Aloe Vera is a scam, too.