Maybe I have been weaving my way through the web for too many years that shades my perspective cynical and jaded but there are few internet destinations I trust outright. Certainly not when it comes to purchasing drugs. Questions of purity, reliability of ingredients and quality immediately come to mind. Equally at issue is the folly of self diagnosis and self prescribing medications for self described illness or malady.

UK doctors have reported that a woman, who diagnosed herself with chronic fatigue syndrome and, on the advice of a neighbor, bought oral steroids from an online pharmacy in Thailand, is going blind as a result of the drugs she took.

For chronic pain sufferers, this might be the earliest beginning of the ultimate end for unrelenting pain. Columbia University researchers have been studying how pain works at the molecular and cellular level and discovered a key enzyme that cause nerve cells to send pain messages through the central nervous system even when there is no physical pain being experienced. So although you might not actually be in physical pain any longer, if your brain is being told there is still pain, you will experience the reality of pain.

Because of this find, researchers are hoping a drug can be developed that will shut down the messengers and the message.

Researcher Richard Ambron is quoted as saying that pain is not necessary. I could not agree more and have been an advocate for quality of life issues for long-term cancer survivors who must endure chronic pain without effective relief.

Just like Ambron, I do not think it is necessary that people put up with or suffer silently in pain either, and because the current methods of treatment can lead to additional health problems, this type of research is most welcome -- and long past due.

It's about time. More than 50 percent of all cancer patients and survivors and more than 75 percent of those cancer patients in an advanced stage of cancer suffer unrelenting, sometimes debilitating, and always quality of life-limiting chronic pain. For various reasons, cancer patients and survivors are left on their own to find a solution to the pain that never leaves them. I have been fairly vocal about my position regarding chronic pain and the sheer and absolute lack of very many physicians in the medical community willing to do what they have the ability to do, but won't, when it comes to providing pain relief.

There are more issues to being alive than being alive if you cannot enjoy the life you are living because you are in some way profoundly diminished by pain. The American Cancer Society, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation have come together to form a coalition to provide funding of a three-year grant that allows the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center Pain & Policy Studies Group to evaluate federal and state laws, regulations and agency guidelines that can impact patient access for effective pain relief. With a keen interest in how well this evolves, I will keep you updated on the progress the group makes in changing the current and sad state of patient care in this country when it comes to pain management. 

When Montel Williams testified before the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee in favor of medical marijuana for chronically ill patients, he referred to himself as a poster child for pot. Williams, who hosts a television talk show, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis almost a decade ago.

MS can cause debilitating pain. For those who might be unaware, let me share with you that Williams does not exaggerate. My sister-in-law suffered from MS all of her adult life, before losing her life to MS at the age of 40, and I will tell you first-hand, there is suffering. When I think of all the life that MS stole from her, and all that she endured, I feel frustration towards anyone who would have denied her the best quality of life available. I am fed up with the lack of compassion of those who would deny anyone suffering from chronic or life-threatening disease the best quality of life available to them. For Williams, it is medical marijuana that offers him the best quality of life possible.

Chronic pain is physically debilitating and emotionally draining. Cancer patients and long-term cancer survivors often have issues with chronic pain. Many doctors seem uncomfortable dealing effectively with alleviating pain, as the most effective methods of lessening pain include narcotics. So, cancer patients and long-term cancer survivors are left to find ways to help themselves live a more pain-free life.

In a recent research study conducted at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, demonstrated that people suffering from chronic pain who listened to relaxing music had up to a 21 percent reduction in the level of pain they were experiencing, and a 25 percent reduction in depression. Dr. Sandra Siedlecki was quoted as saying that pain remains a major health problem and sufferers continue to report high levels of unrelieved pain despite using medication and anything that can provide relief is welcomed. As for music therapy, many researchers hold that the perception of pain is a complex phenomenon and is influenced by factors such as emotion, experience and mood, and that the benefit music therapy provides is short term in managing chronic pain. But, as Dr. Siedlecki said, any relief is welcome. And as I said, chronic pain sufferers in this country are unfortunately left to their own devices when it comes to finding pain relief. No one can argue that music has a profound effect on emotion and can alter mood depending on the music being played. I think many of us use music as therapy for a number of reasons, including pain relief, without realizing we are doing it.

There are as many carcinogens in marijuana as there are in tobacco, but researchers were surprised to find that people who smoke marijuana are not at an increased risk for developing lung cancer. In fact, marijuana smokers might be receiving a weak level of cancer prevention. People who smoke cigarettes are definitely at a greater risk for developing cancer as a result of smoking, and the more they smoke tobacco, the greater the risk for cancer. But pot smokers do not seem to share the same risk.

According to researchers, and the research, even very heavy, long-term marijuana users who had smoked more than 22,000 joints over a lifetime seemed to have no greater risk than infrequent marijuana users or those who never smoked.

Wondering why? Researchers believe it is the THC in marijuana that acts as protection against the damage experienced by any carcinogens a marijuana smoker is exposed to while smoking. Past research has shown that THC has anti-tumor properties. So much for that argument against medical marijuana use.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Cesamet, a synthetic cannabinoid, THC, for treatment of nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy in patients when conventional antiemetic treatments have failed. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 70 to 80 percent of patients undergoing chemotherapy experience nausea and vomiting.

Current medications to relieve the side-effects of nausea and vomiting only work for less than half of cancer patients during chemotherapy. Cesamet as a prescription drug should be available in less than a month. Synthetic THC acts on the brain like the THC in smoked marijuana -- but eliminates having to inhale the otherwise harmful smoke contained in the illegal drug. Recently, the FDA made a public statement that it did not support the use of medical marijuana.

Wake me when the sun comes back. If you live in the northern states, October through March can be a day-after-day dismal parade of gray sky. By about February, there are some of us who have pulled the covers over our collective heads and seem to have trouble mustering any energy to get up and get going. It's depressing. Whereas, when the sun shines, the mood lifts and the energy level increases. One remedy for combating the natural gloom of the winter months is to visit a tanning salon. Tanning salons are big business and perhaps being bronzy-brown isn't the only reason people are really using them. Obviously, natural or artificial, the sun has a real effect on our sense of well-being. But why is that?

Researchers, in attempting to discover the lure of tanning beds -- and why -- despite repeated warnings of the skin cancer dangers associated with tanning bed use, there are people who still visit tanning salons on a frequent basis, believe they have found the answer in addiction. Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researcher explained that the results of a study on tanning bed use showed that some tanners actually experience withdrawal symptoms when the feel-good chemicals stimulated by exposure to UV rays are blocked. Researchers administered a drug that blocks the effects of pleasure-inducing endorphins and other opioids that are naturally released by the brain and which have been associated with the UV light of a tanning bed. The results? At higher doses of the blocking medication, frequent tanners were less inclined to tan, and half of them reported nausea or jitteriness. In a previous study, these same researchers found that people using UV tanning beds were more relaxed afterward than people who used beds that did not have UV light.

If you understand addiction as merely a way to self-medicate in a misguided attempt to feel better when you aren't feeling good, then the tanning bed addiction theory makes sense. Until they can address and solve the problem behind the problem of tanning bed use, then all the skin cancer awareness campaigns will be in vain.

In the United States, there is the war on drugs. There is a war on cancer. There appears to be a war on cancer patients who need to use medical marijuana. In Canada, the Global National is reporting that medical marijuana patients are being forced into the black market for the marijuana they need. In the United States, the same goes on. Borders blur, and the wars seem to be the same.

At the bottom of an old Winnepeg, Manitoba mine marijuana is legally grown and dried for cancer patients to use. But it is of such poor quality, it is estimated that a third of the pot is returned. Then there are the cancer patients who can not afford the cost Health Canada charges.

Because of these factors, cancer patients are turning to compassion clubs for help. According to Phillipe Lucas, who has set up a compassion club for cancer patients, "Compassion clubs are serving more people than Health Canada, we're creating a better supply than Health Canada. And we're doing more legitimate research than Health Canada and we're doing all of this at no cost to the taxpayer." Marijuana is classified as an illegal drug. Putting aside your opinion on whether marijuana should be legalized -- right now it is not legal -- and essentially this is making criminals out of cancer patients. Unless you are a cancer patient who has experienced the grueling cruel side-effects of chemotherapy, or the persistent pain of cancer, you might not appreciate that there are a limited number of drugs that work to alleviate side-effects and physical pain. Sometimes none of the prescription drugs work. For some cancer patients, marijuana seems to work.

A Mayo Clinic College of Medicine study finds more than 20 percent of cancer patients in chronic pain do not ask for pain medicine or help with pain management. The researchers, who refer to these patients as "silent sufferers," admit they do not report pain to their physician. Researchers of this study say that the reasons for not seeking pain relief are unclear, but speculate some of the reasons may be poor previous experiences with pain care, perceived lack of effective treatments, and barriers to health care from a lack of medical insurance. 

As a cancer survivor with long-term chronic pain issues, I can share a perspective and experience not clearly stated in this study, that other cancer patients with chronic pain know all too well, when seeking pain relief from physicians. There are no easy answers when it comes to pain management. The most effective pain management relief comes from the prescription of narcotic medication. Regular use of narcotic medication to relieve pain may lead to drug dependence. Narcotic pain medication is heavily monitored by the DEA, and many physicians are reluctant to draw attention to their practice by prescribing narcotic pain medication. My guess is that the 20 percent of cancer patients with chronic pain gave up, somewhere in the process, after being put in a position of being made to feel like a drug addict, or having to fight for effective medical care for a real medical condition. The pain becomes easier to deal with, than the ordeal of trying to get help for pain relief.