I wasn't comparing pot to opiates - at least I wasn't intending to. I was bringing up opiates (later on) because they are regulated in the same category as pot (not that I think they should be). Opiates are similar to natural pain suppressors and that's why they work so well for pain control - http://thebrain.mcgi..._par_heroine.html
I brought up "other controlled substances" earlier because, it seems to me, if MM Dispensaries are shown to have value in distributing MM, and their reason for being was for pain control and so forth, then a natural extension would be for distributing other less conventional pain control medications. Stuff that would need to be carefully titrated. I don't think I'd want a cross-eyed stoner mixing such things for me. YMMV. ;-)
I know that pot and opiates aren't similar even though they're both Schedule I. Your posts in this thread have elaborated on the differences, and I appreciate that. I'm sorry if I was giving the impression that I thought they were similar.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.