parafarmer
12-28-2004, 02:19 PM
Barbara McKee: Healing herb
Marijuana is safer than most painkillers on the market today
By Barbara McKee
December 28, 2004
Before 1899, pain relief was treated with herbs. Then "the wonder drug of the century" - a synthesis of the compound acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin - was introduced by Bayer in Germany. Originally a trade name, aspirin passed into the popular vocabulary.
The use of salicylic acid and its derivatives dates back to 400 B.C. when Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) prescribed the bark and leaves of the willow tree (rich in salicin) to reduce pain and fever. In A.D. 100, Dioscorides mentioned willow leaves. The pain-relieving effects of Salix (willow) and Spiraea (meadow sweet) species were forgotten by doctors in the Middle Ages but lived on in folk medicine. In 1763 the Rev. Edward Stone, who tested it on 50 feverish patients, presented the first scientific study of willow bark extract to the Royal Society in London.
Rest of Article:
http://www1.abqtrib.com/albq/op_columnists/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19865_3429412,00.html
Marijuana is safer than most painkillers on the market today
By Barbara McKee
December 28, 2004
Before 1899, pain relief was treated with herbs. Then "the wonder drug of the century" - a synthesis of the compound acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin - was introduced by Bayer in Germany. Originally a trade name, aspirin passed into the popular vocabulary.
The use of salicylic acid and its derivatives dates back to 400 B.C. when Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) prescribed the bark and leaves of the willow tree (rich in salicin) to reduce pain and fever. In A.D. 100, Dioscorides mentioned willow leaves. The pain-relieving effects of Salix (willow) and Spiraea (meadow sweet) species were forgotten by doctors in the Middle Ages but lived on in folk medicine. In 1763 the Rev. Edward Stone, who tested it on 50 feverish patients, presented the first scientific study of willow bark extract to the Royal Society in London.
Rest of Article:
http://www1.abqtrib.com/albq/op_columnists/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19865_3429412,00.html