Marijuana.com

Lothar121

Nurses Back Medical Marijuana
Gina Dennik | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | 12/09/2005

Wisconsin -- It is difficult for nurses to remain silent when patients are denied access to an effective medical treatment. That is why the Wisconsin Nurses Association supports the medical marijuana bill authored by Rep. Gregg Underheim (R-Oshkosh), known as AB 740.

In taking this position, we are squarely in the mainstream of the public health community. The American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Public Health Association and the American Academy of HIV Medicine are just a few of the health care organizations that have acknowledged that marijuana can be a valuable treatment when used under medical supervision.

A large body of evidence indicates that marijuana can relieve a number of debilitating symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, certain types of pain and the pressure inside the eye that robs glaucoma patients of their sight. Moreover, it can do so with remarkable safety.

Unfortunately, the issue has become shrouded in fear and myth. Exaggerated claims and scientific misunderstandings have tended to overshadow facts and common sense.

For example, we are sometimes warned that marijuana is "addictive." In fact, only a very small percentage of marijuana users ever become dependent - a much smaller percentage than is seen with alcohol or tobacco.

Under proper medical supervision, drugs that are far more addictive and dangerous than marijuana are used beneficially by hundreds of thousands of patients every day. And unlike a great many drugs used for either medical or recreational purposes, marijuana has never caused a fatal overdose.

Contrary to claims sometimes made by opponents, marijuana can provide relief in a number of instances where conventional drugs fail or have unacceptable side effects. A great deal of research has shown that marijuana relieves pain through different mechanisms than conventional pain drugs, including opioids, and can provide relief when these drugs fail.

Particularly encouraging results have come from recent studies involving pain associated with multiple sclerosis well as peripheral neuropathy, an extremely painful condition that afflicts HIV/AIDS patients and others.

It is true that a pill is available containing THC, the component most responsible for marijuana's "high." But research has shown that other components of the plant - called cannabinoids - play an important role in marijuana's therapeutic benefit and may even help to reduce the unwanted side effects of THC.

Just as important, the pill takes one to two hours to work and is absorbed slowly and unevenly. That is why the journal The Lancet Neurology has called oral dosing "the least satisfactory" way to administer cannabinoids. Patients report that the pill makes them too "stoned" to function, while with natural marijuana they can adjust the dose to provide relief without excessive intoxication. The Institute of Medicine, in a 1999 report commissioned by the White House, made the same point.

Some fear that allowing medical use of marijuana sends the wrong message, encouraging teens to experiment with it. But government-sponsored surveys have consistently shown that teen marijuana use has declined, not increased, in states with medical marijuana laws.

In reality, lying to children and teens about a drug's value and risks sends the wrong message. Young people should be taught that all drugs and medicines present risks and that medicine should only be taken under a provider's supervision when the patient is sick.

There is no reason to be frightened of medical marijuana. This is a drug with nearly 5,000 years of recorded medical use and that has been widely used therapeutically throughout the world. It is safer than many medicines Americans take every day.

There is simply no reason to arrest and jail patients battling cancer, MS, AIDS or other terrible illnesses for using marijuana with the recommendation of their health care providers.

Our Legislature should move swiftly to pass AB 740, and Gov. Jim Doyle should sign it into law.

Gina Dennik-Champion is a registered nurse and executive director of the Wisconsin Nurses Association.

__________________

Donate. Write. Make a difference.. Posting Guidelines | Marijuana Policy Project | NORML | DPA | Drug WarRant | Media Awareness Project

 

rick

Hey now, this is great news!~

I found this part to be particularly powerful...
Now, if you throw that out in a debate about medial marijuana I'd say you will impress any prohibitionist. It's this kind of information all people should be aware of.

Reminds me of that Geico insurance commercial where the Gecko is talking to the other lizards and tries to get them to help him spread the word...I love that lizard!

__________________

Jibber420

Great article! This is the type of message we need all anti-marijuana people to get.

__________________
God gave us this wonderful plant to enjoy, so dammit...thats what i'm gonna do!


Let the plant grow! Throw seeds where ever you go!

killer12382

It's good to get recognition from these mainstream groups. If the vast majority of medical professional organizations come out in favor of medical marijuana then one would think the FDA would reconsider its position, or at the very least force the politicians in charge of the FDA to reconsider marijuana as a useful medicinal herb.

Buzzby

Before the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937 there were congressional hearings.

Jack Herer writes:

Dr. William G. Woodward, for instance, who was both a physician and an attorney for the American Medical Association, testified on behalf of the AMA.

He said, in effect, the entire fabric of federal testimony was tabloid sensationalism! No real testimony had been heard! This law, passed in ignorance, could possibly deny the world a potential medicine, especially now that the medical world was just beginning to find which ingredients in cannabis were active.

Woodward told the committee that the only reason the AMA hadn't come out against the marijuana tax law sooner was that marijuana had been described in the press for 20 years as "killer weed from Mexico."

The AMA doctors had just realized "two days before" these spring 1937 hearings, that the plant Congress intended to outlaw was known medically as cannabis, the benign substance used in America with perfect safety in scores of illnesses for over one hundred years.

"We cannot understand yet, Mr. Chairman," Woodward protested, "why this bill should have been prepared in secret for two years without any intimation, even to the profession, that it was being prepared." He and the AMA* were quickly denounced by Anslinger and the entire congressional committee, and curtly excused.3

*The AMA and the Roosevelt Administration were strong antagonists in 1937.

When the Marijuana Tax Act bill came up for oral report, discussion, and vote on the floor of Congress, only one pertinent question was asked from the floor: "Did anyone consult with the AMA and get their opinion?"

Representative Vinson, answering for the Ways and Means Committee replied, "Yes, we have. A Dr. Wharton [mistaken pronunciation of Woodward?] and {the AMA} are in complete agreement!"

With this memorable lie, the bill passed, and became law in December 1937.

It seems that the endorsement of medical organizations didn't mean very much when financial interests were determined to have marijuana banned. It'll be interesting to see if anything has changed if the legalization issue ever gets far enough that congressional hearings are held again.

__________________

 

killer12382

At least (hopefully) the racial fear that created reefer madness won't be present if there are ever any hearings.