well.....I eat marijuana......

BP

Isn't marijuana just another chemical?

well first....no..."A chemical substance is a form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. It cannot be separated into components by physical separation methods, i.e., without breaking chemical bonds. Chemical substances can be chemical elements, chemical compounds, ions or alloys." you can separate marijuana into components called molecules which can be comprised of chemicals........WATER H20 is a chemical....whaat kknd of chemicals do you prefer...those made from petrochemicals/petroleum by-products by companies like Du Pont......like say Dilautid.....or.....apples which have a compound known as pectin (goog for gall bladder attack).....which do you think your body prefers....something found in nature with virtually if not entirely lacking in toxic properties or Du Ponts crap with side effects as long as your arm along with cancer warnings and high toxicity rates etc? pineapples or the new and improved Du-pineapple that does not exist in nature without minipping hydrocarbons?


peace

BP

Hydromorphone, also known as dihydromorphinone, and sold under the brand names Dilaudid among others, is a centrally acting pain medication of the opioid class. It is a derivative of morphine; to be specific, it is a hydrogenated ketone thereof. Comparatively, hydromorphone is to morphine as hydrocodone is to codeine—that is, a semi-synthetic drug.

HYDRO-carbon

The chemical modification of the morphine molecule to hydromorphone results in higher lipid solubility and greater ability to cross the blood–brain barrier to produce more rapid and complete central nervous system penetration.

Hydromorphone is made from morphine either by direct re-arrangement (made by reflux heating of alcoholic or acidic aqueous solution of morphine in the presence of platinum or palladium catalyst) or reduction to dihydromorphine (usually via catalytic hydrogenation), followed by oxidation with benzophenone in presence of potassium tert butoxide or aluminium tert butoxide (Oppenauer oxidation). The 6 ketone group can be replaced with a methylene group via the Wittig reaction to produce 6-Methylenedihydrodesoxymorphine, which is 80× stronger than morphine. mmmmmmmmmmmmm sounds way better than the plants in my garden...GO BIG OIL!!!!

ill take the 4,5-α-epoxy-3-hydroxy-17-methyl morphinan-6-one instead of that plant over there the guy with the briefcase is eating in his salad......

peace
BP

or this little gem....With L-DOPA identified as the active form, Alfred Pletscher and his colleagues at Hoffman-LaRoche synthesized benserazide, an inhibitor of DOPA decarboxylase, which further reduced the required dose. A drug combining L-DOPA with benserazide was marketed under the brand name of Madopar. Independent work was carried out by Victor Lotti at Merck in West Point, Pennsylvania. Merck had already synthesized and patented carbidopa, another dopa decarboxylase inhibitor in 1962, and in 1971 Lotti showed that the use of the L-form of carbidopa, further reduced the therapeutic dose of L-DOPA. The combination of L-carbidopa and L-DOPA was marketed under the brand name of Sinemet.[10]

In 1991, Merck licensed the rights to the manufacture and sale of Sinemet to a newly created joint venture, DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company.

"synthesized? Du pineapple?" Du Pont? chemical company/drug manufacturer" who said that! shhhhhhhhhhh......

BP

oh yes annnd drum roll........shhhh...marijuana is free......don't tell anyone...


peace
BP

backpacker

I was being facetious but I guess you missed that - paranoia kicking in maybe?

I get that you're all for using substances as found in nature, as opposed to mass produced and marketed pharmaceutical medications. On many levels I agree with you - but you seem to espouse that natural products are always good, benign and beneficial and man-made products only ever harmful and not to be trusted - there is a middle ground.

With this in mind - How do you take your oleander then . . .

Have you considered that the problem you seem so upset about is not actually the big pharma products themselves but more the way they are marketed and prescribed without adequate diagnosis, testing and monitoring? Something we should all be concerned about - however the same could be said of alternative medications.

As someone who has to sit on the fence re medications I have learned to evaluate the pro's and cons of both. Without man-made medications I would be dead - no ifs, ands or buts - however I also use complimentary medications where they have been established to be effective and I have found them to be beneficial for my situation.

Thanks for a robust debate - re your original topic of depression - cortisol levels have an influence on the presence of some types of depression - something not well researched yet but may be in the future.