None of the above

Don’t get between people and their weed. Just sayin’

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I spent the better part of a half hour tonight getting beat up over on Google plus because I’m not a big fan of medical marijuana. As a pharmacist I see the arguments for its use as rather weak, at best. But as long as it’s legal feel free to use it to your heart’s content. However, please don’t make a federal case out of it when you can’t get your buzz on anymore.

The post I’m referring to is here, which references an article about the “World’s Biggest Marijuana Dispensary Targeted By The Feds”. I made the mistake of saying that there are alternatives and that the need for medical marijuana was baloney.

People got pissed and started attacking me. All kinds of things were said to me like “nature is better”, Big Pharma owns me, I’m corrupt, an ass, out to make money, not open to alternatives, don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m using bogus pharmacology arguments, need job security, I’m ignorant, been brain washed, etc. My favorite is the dude that kept screaming about natural remedies. He cracked me up. Actually, most of them cracked me up. It was like talking with a six year old. No, that’s not true. It’s probably more like talking to a 13 year old, know it all.

I tried to have a conversation, but I eventually had to take my leave because the conversation was going nowhere. And I was taking a beating. The ignorance inside the post was not only startling, but a little scary. Meh, what are you going to do? This is what the general public thinks.

If you really want to know why healthcare is in trouble look no further than the underpinnings of the comments below, i.e. people have no idea what they’re talking about, but think they are absolute experts about healthcare.

Something else comes to mind. I actually think some of those commenting admitted to toking up, which is interesting because these sites are open to the public. What would their employers think about that. I know one has something to do with the OMG!Droid website. I’ll never drop by that site again. Won’t recommend it to anyone else for that matter.

Anyway, below are some of the comments for your entertainment.

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What the heck is MolPrime for Android? I’ll tell you….

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How’s this for convoluted? Following a link to Chemspy about the Open Drug Discovery Teams (ODDT) app in the iTunes store led me to Cheminformatics where I got all giddy about finding a website dedicated to “chemical information software for next generation computing environments”, and eventually found the post below:

“The Android port of MolPrime is getting closer to being a functional app. As you can see in the two-part snapshot to the right, the both the main screen and the diagram sketcher have enough capabilities to present the initial facade. The sketcher currently only displays the structure and some buttons, but that’s still solid progress.”

I’m a fan of all things chemistry, especially when it involves awesome apps that let you look at and draw chemical structures. I mean seriously, is there anything cooler than that? Doubtful. It was like stumbling onto the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

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Stabilization of vaccines and antibiotics in silk and eliminating the cold chain [article]

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This would be huge for pharmacy if/when it all gets worked out and commercialized. Eliminating cold chain? Wow. chemistry world: Kaplan’s process to formulate drugs with silk is incredibly simple. After preparing a solution of silk protein in water, the medicines are added and the mixture is freeze-dried to create a stable preservative matrix. Kaplan … Read more

Happy 4th of July 2012

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Ah, the 4th of July. Independence Day. The day in 1776 when the Continental Congress gave Great Britain the finger and declared that the thirteen American colonies were no longer a part of the British Empire. America was born. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are … Read more

Foiled again!

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A couple of months ago I received an email from the ASHP Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology (SOPIT). It basically said, “hey dude, you’re a pharmacy informatics guy. You should throw your hat in the ring for a position on the SOPIT Executive Committee.” My initial reaction was to ignore it as these things … Read more

Technology still can’t beat pen and paper

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I am a tablet PC guy, no question. My tablet of choice is the Levnovo x201t, but I’ve tried several and enjoy the constant hunt for a new one. I don’t travel with it much these days as I’ve grown tired of carrying multiple machines, dealing with security, etc. But when I’m at home my tablet PC is a workhorse. Between Microsoft OneNote and Evernote I’ve basically eliminated my need for a notebook. Or so I thought.

For whatever reason I decided to take a long hard look at my note taking needs this week. I’ve been rather irritable lately and found myself nitpicking many of the cons associated with using a tablet PC for taking notes that I previously overlooked. The shortcoming of using a tablet PC are obvious: battery life, “boot time”, size and the mother of all….you can’t take notes on a tablet of any kind when it’s turned off, which has been a real issue for me while traveling.

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Happy 4th of July

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Ah, the 4th of July. Independence Day. The day in 1776 when the Continental Congress gave Great Britain the finger and declared that the thirteen American colonies were no longer a part of the British Empire. America was born. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are … Read more