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Migz420

Pros and cons of medical marijuana

06-06-07|IBN

Estimates are that about 300,000 people in the United States use medical marijuana. In April 2007, New Mexico became the 12th state to allow it -- joining Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, Maine, Nevada, Vermont, Colorado, Montana, Hawaii and Rhode Island. By federal law, however, the substance is illegal.

Advocates of the drug argue it is an effective pain reliever that can work when other drugs don't. It's used by patients with a variety of ailments, including cancer, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS, multiple sclerosis and hepatitis C.

"Marijuana has been a drug or used as a medicine for 5,000 years. It's only a short period of time that it hasn't been viewed as a medicine. Yes, we have many more potent drugs, many more modern drugs that work for more people. But in somebody for whom those drugs don't work, if inhaling cannabis works to allow them to tolerate their chemotherapy, then that's important. No other drug that works against nausea also decreases pain," Dr. Donald Abrams of San Francisco General Hospital said.

"When we talk about the side effects of marijuana compared to many prescription drugs that doctors prescribe on a daily basis, it's really quite safe. The number of patients I admit to this hospital who have complications of alcohol, tobacco, heroin, cocaine, speed, even sugar, far surpasses the number of patients that I've ever admitted or ever seen where I attribute the damage to marijuana," Abrams said.

Twelve states allow it, but the DEA says marijuana is not medicine and not safe.

In response to the allegation that marijuana can cause lung cancer, Abrams says a recent study shows it may actually prevent it.

Brian Klein is in his late 40s and was diagnosed with both HIV and hepatitis C in 1996. His treatment for hepatitis C caused fatigue, nausea and brain fog. He tried medications to curb the nausea but was allergic to them. Others made him so sleepy he couldn't function. He then tried the FDA-approved pill version form of marijuana called Marinol but got the head buzz from it without the nausea relief. Finally, he opted to try smoking medical cannabis. Relief came within 60 seconds. He is now free of the hepatitis C virus.

"Within a few minutes I could go eat, whereas before using it, I couldn't even keep down water. So this made a dramatic difference in my life, in my ability to be able to stay on the treatments so that I could get through it and have a successful result," Klein said.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's position on medical marijuana, as stated on its Web site, is: "Smoked marijuana has not withstood the rigors of science -- it is not medicine and it is not safe." The DEA goes on: "The FDA noted that 'there is currently sound evidence that smoked marijuana is harmful,' and 'that no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use.'" Other DEA points include:

• Marijuana use has been linked with depression, suicidal thoughts and schizophrenia
• Marijuana takes the risks of tobacco and raises them: marijuana smoke contains more than 400 chemicals and increases the risk of serious health consequences, including lung damage
• Marijuana use narrows arteries in the brain, similar to patients with high blood pressure and dementia, and may explain why memory tests are difficult for marijuana users
• Chronic consumers of cannabis can have blood flow problems in the brain, which can cause memory loss, attention deficits, and impaired learning ability
• The British Medical Association maintains marijuana "has been linked to greater risk of heart disease, lung cancer, bronchitis and emphysema"

 

Buzzby

The DEA and it's sister agencies, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse), have systematically refused to grant permission or supply research materials to any study looking at the positive effects of marijuana. As for being safe, the DEA's own administrative judge, Francis L. Young ruled:The DEA, of course, paid no attention to it's own personnel when it came to saying anything good about marijuana.

I'd say that the testimony of 300,000 medical marijuana users points to its efficacy. Smoking anything is not the best way to treat your lungs, but if the DEA is worried about that they should ask for legislation to make tobacco illegal. Any minor negative effects of smoking marijuana pale before the proven toxicity, cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and COPD that tobacco produces.

There has not been any causal connection identified. It's merely a correlation. It's much more likely that depressed and schizophrenic people are seeking some relief from their symptoms. The DEA plays fast and loose with cause and effect.

This has never been demonstrated in any scientific study. No one smokes as much marijuana as the typical cigarette smoker smokes tobacco, so the problems that come from inhaling smoke are not nearly as likely. Marijuana doesn't promote lung cancer and may, in fact, reduce its incidence.

Marijuana relaxes blood vessels, resulting in a drop in blood pressure.

Being stoned does not promote the best learning experience. Neither does being drunk, being on cough medicine, or not getting enough sleep. None of these are illegal. These effects of marijuana are acute effects, not long-term effects.

Smoking too much of anything can promote bronchitis and emphysema. Most marijuana users don't smoke enough to cause any problems. The bits about heart disease and lung cancer are complete fabrications, like that old British chestnut about "cannabis psychosis".

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