The HullaBoard - View Single Post - Good manners pay off

> wow... robin.. you're ARE really bored eh?

It's not that, so much. It's just a sensitive subject for me and I think the misinformation spread about MDMA has done the cause significant damage.

I have some real concerns about the indiscriminate use of E, both because of the repercussions on other people but also the worry about the possible psychological effects. Hell, I've even had a letter published in the Village Voice discussing the subject.

At the same time, I have enormous respect for MDMA. In the hands of a trained therapist it can work miracles. I'm appalled by the fact that it isn't available for medical use when things like morphine are perfectly legal. When I think of the numbers of people who could be helped by MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, and then realize that they are not going to get helped due to political reasons, it frustrates me enormously. There is such potential in that drug and we're never going to see it used in the U.S.

The fact that the FDA is approving studies doesn't give me any hope. They approved studies on marijuana too and found it to be medically beneficial, yet do you see medical marijuana available in the U.S.? No. The government simply ignores any studies that go against the War on (some) Drugs propaganda.

I come from California and we approved medicinal marijuana there a number of years ago. The people of California voted and said, "Yes, we want medicinal marijuana." Then the federal government stepped in and said, "We don't give a crap what you want, there is to be no medical marijuana." And periodically now there are blitzes where the DEA boys come in and close down clinics and prosecute people.

It makes me ill with rage, honestly. There are such parallels between this issue and what I do in the birth industry. I see women walking into hospitals to have babies and I know that they are going to be manipulated, violated, and they'll leave that hospital with a 1 in 4 chance they'll have birthed their baby through an abdominal wound. A woman's chances of dying are at least 16 times higher when she gives birth in the hospital, and neonatal mortality rises significantly as well. But when a baby dies or mother dies in a hospital, nobody bats an eye. Midwives all over the United States and Canada are prosecuted when a baby dies during a homebirth, even though midwife-assisted-childbirth deaths are extremely rare when compared to OB-assisted hospital statistics.

Medical care in North America isn't about medicine, it's about politics.

December 30th, 2002, 05:08 AM	#36
Mrs Frolic Administrator Join Date: Jul 1999 Location: Toronto	> wow... robin.. you're ARE really bored eh? It's not that, so much. It's just a sensitive subject for me and I think the misinformation spread about MDMA has done the cause significant damage. I have some real concerns about the indiscriminate use of E, both because of the repercussions on other people but also the worry about the possible psychological effects. Hell, I've even had a letter published in the Village Voice discussing the subject. At the same time, I have enormous respect for MDMA. In the hands of a trained therapist it can work miracles. I'm appalled by the fact that it isn't available for medical use when things like morphine are perfectly legal. When I think of the numbers of people who could be helped by MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, and then realize that they are not going to get helped due to political reasons, it frustrates me enormously. There is such potential in that drug and we're never going to see it used in the U.S. The fact that the FDA is approving studies doesn't give me any hope. They approved studies on marijuana too and found it to be medically beneficial, yet do you see medical marijuana available in the U.S.? No. The government simply ignores any studies that go against the War on (some) Drugs propaganda. I come from California and we approved medicinal marijuana there a number of years ago. The people of California voted and said, "Yes, we want medicinal marijuana." Then the federal government stepped in and said, "We don't give a crap what you want, there is to be no medical marijuana." And periodically now there are blitzes where the DEA boys come in and close down clinics and prosecute people. It makes me ill with rage, honestly. There are such parallels between this issue and what I do in the birth industry. I see women walking into hospitals to have babies and I know that they are going to be manipulated, violated, and they'll leave that hospital with a 1 in 4 chance they'll have birthed their baby through an abdominal wound. A woman's chances of dying are at least 16 times higher when she gives birth in the hospital, and neonatal mortality rises significantly as well. But when a baby dies or mother dies in a hospital, nobody bats an eye. Midwives all over the United States and Canada are prosecuted when a baby dies during a homebirth, even though midwife-assisted-childbirth deaths are extremely rare when compared to OB-assisted hospital statistics. Medical care in North America isn't about medicine, it's about politics.