Marijuana and diabetes

[HOBIE]

I dont like hypos. Drugs ???? I would feel as if my head wasnt mine ???? Keep clear

 

[Catwoman76]

Don't want to say much about this, but illegal drugs, including Cannabis/weed/hash left a child fatherless, chronic illnesses, with lungs so bad and believe me, I know what I'm talking about here. Its the youngsters that are so vunerable.

Sheena

 

[Redkite]

Hi everyone,

My boyfriend, 30, has been type 1 since he was 13. We've been together for a year and a half and living together for three months. Prior to that, we were friends for about a year.

He uses Novomix twice a day and has a pretty sweet tooth which means he's not always the best at regulating his sugars. He also smokes weed regularly and I just wondered whether anyone has experience of how this might effect him with regards to managing his diabetes.

Thanks in advance

Hi, sorry to be blunt but what he's doing is cutting short his life. Whether it affects his day-to-day diabetes control I can't say, but I can't see how one can make intelligent decisions about insulin when high on drugs.

People with diabetes have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease(heart attacks and strokes), but sadly this risk cannot be eliminated unless a cure for diabetes is found. However additional risk factors for cardiovascular disease include among others smoking and high blood pressure. These risks CAN be removed by stopping smoking (or never starting!) and maintaining a normal BP (with the help of meds if necessary). Cannabis raises the heart rate and affects the BP. Please encourage your boyfriend to give up smoking weed!

 

[DeusXM]

Sorry for the tone of this message but it pees me off when people make light of drug addiction.

Don't apologise for the tone of your message because you're right. I know what it's like to see how drugs can destroy the lives of people you love because I've seen both alcohol and tobacco do just that to several people.

No-one is making light of drug addiction in the slightest. No-one is saying these kinds of things are harmless.

But as I said, I know a few people who've had their lives ruined by alcohol. I know one person in particular who's had their life ruined by tobacco. I also know someone who died from taking too much ecstasy.

Yet despite this, I do not believe that what happened to these people will happen to everyone who indulges in these substances. It is absolutely vital, of course, to acknowledge the risks involved in using them. But it is also vital to remember that serious negative experiences are necessarily inevitable. For every substance where I know someone has suffered very badly, I also know several people who genuinely don't have any issues.

Would I recommend people smoke weed? No.

Would I say weed is addictive? I honestly couldn't say, but the evidence points to a possibility of psychological addiction (which is separate from physical addiction) from the weed itself and physical addiction from other things that tend to be mixed in with weed (which is tobacco, not rat poison. I can't even imagine how rat poison could be used to bulk out weed as it looks nothing like it).

Is smoking weed always harmful? Not necessarily.

Can smoking weed be harmful? Absolutely.

There is a world of difference between 'making light of an addiction' and having a rational discussion about a substance. Please don't confuse my stance for making light of addiction or the damage it does to people.

 

[Caroline]

if nicotine from legal fags is harmfull, how much more harmful are the not legal ones? I can't add any more but what has been said needs to be said.

It is hard to watch those we love slef harming (which is what happens with not legal drugs). However for the people doing to be helped they have to want to be helped and have to ask for it for themselves. hard as it is to watch this self harm we can do nothing except help pick up the pieces until help is required wanted and asked for

 

[DeusXM]

if nicotine from legal fags is harmfull, how much more harmful are the not legal ones?

Not all methods of using cannabis involve tobacco. Cannabis in itself does not contain nicotine. It is believed that THC actually reduces the cancer promoting effects of smoke while nicotine increases it. In any case though, cannabis smoke and tobacco smoke are both carcinogenic but to differing amounts.

Don't make the mistake of assuming because a substance is legal, it is therefore less harmful than an illegal one. Almost every drug law in the world is based on tradition and corporate lobbying, rather than a scientific evaluation of level of harm.

 

[AlisonM]

The jury's out on cannabis for me. I have smoked the stuff in the past (teenager, 70s, nuff said) and all it did was make me silly. However, I have two friends who use it regularly, one has MS and the other terminal cancer. Both say it helps them.

Having said that, it is a mind altering substance, just like alcohol and other drugs, that's bound to affect the way a person behaves and their decision making abilities which could be very dangerous indeed for someone with Diabetes. On the whole, I'd say bad idea.

 

[Lauren]

Hi Deus, thanks for your message. It's interesting to see what you think, but I hope you're not offended as I didn't mean to aim that comment at you specifically.

However playing down weed to the level of alcohol or tobacco still doesn't sit right with me. And I agree with you about alcohol ruining the lives of many, which I why I also don't advocate drinking. I'm sure you can understand why I feel this way given my past experiences.

As to rat poison being used as a bulking agent, my pharmacist told me that. She said it is used, alongside such delightful ingredients as turps and coal tar, to provide a sticky residue which apparently makes the stuff look more authentic and higher quality. The people that provide it obviously cut costs where they can, and use whatever's lying around to bulk it up a bit - at least the people that provide the cheap and nasty stuff sold on street corners. Well, myself, I have no idea whether this is true but she is a pharmacist and also, ironically, the cousin of a "former" dealer so I'm going to assume she knows a tad more on the subject than I do.

Then there's this: people who buy weed are putting money into drug dealer's pockets. Drug dealers who use such methods to gain more custom as targeting kids on the school gates and turning up at Pokemon card conventions and 'making friends' with lonely kids (my brother). These people are, in my eyes, the scum of the earth. And a lot of them do it. They tell you want you want to hear. The idea of giving these people custom disgusts me.

I'm not trying to tell you how to live your life and I don't want to cause a blow-out argument or anything but I'm sure you can understand that I feel strongly about this and as good as your intentions are it makes me feel sad hearing people trying to justify illegal drug-taking.

 

[LeeLee]

I wonder if the OP came back to read the responses.

 

[Steff]

Dont see how you can say is smoking weed harmful, no not always, how come? Is they one type of cannabis a little less harmful then another?

 

[Steff]

I wonder if the OP came back to read the responses.

Even if they did not still an interesting thread

 

[DeusXM]

Dont see how you can say is smoking weed harmful, no not always, how come? Is they one type of cannabis a little less harmful then another?

Because there are plenty of people out there who smoke cannabis who don't fall off the rails or get lung cancer or mental health issues. It's like booze - plenty of people who drink alcohol don't become alcoholics or end up torpedoing their liver.

These people are, in my eyes, the scum of the earth. And a lot of them do it. They tell you want you want to hear. The idea of giving these people custom disgusts me.

Absolutely. But that's not an argument against using cannabis full stop; that's an argument for making the sale of cannabis legal and regulated by the Government, much like cigarettes. If you took cannabis out of the hands of unscrupulous dealers and gave it to corporations with the power to control the supply, then put it behind the counter in packer emblazoned with warnings and a legal minimum purchase age of 18, you'd eradicate that element immediately.

it makes me feel sad hearing people trying to justify illegal drug-taking.

No-one is justifying illegal drug taking. The question asked was what damage will smoking cannabis do to someone with diabetes. That question has been maturely answered. No-one has said 'smoke cannabis'. At best, the response has been 'it won't necessarily ruin everything'. That is not a justification for using an illegal substance. Once again, it is important not to conflate an assertion that a substance can be used safely with an assertion that using the substance is perfectly fine or sensible.

We can all talk about how cannabis have devastated this person or ruined that family. Meanwhile, 10% of people who die in their 40s die of liver disease related to alcohol. Every three hours, one person in Scotland dies as a result of alcohol consumption. Numbers don't lie - proportionally, alcohol causes far more problems than cannabis.But anyone who would call for alcohol to be banned on that basis would be deemed irrational and over-reacting.