Get an Herbal Position

[Guest guest]

I do not advocate the recreational use of any mind

altering substances, and probably many of the pro

recreational marijuana crowd will use the medical

marijuana issue to make pot smoking acceptable in the

USA,... but I do believe that we should take a real

look at medical marajuana scientifically without all

of the silly side issues and propaganda that have

swirled around it for 60 years. It is surely not the

killer weed that the US government's propaganda

machine has portrayed it to be to the american public,

for way too long now.

 

Although this is not a particularly good article to

show the many various possibilities it is the only one

that I have ran across, so I posted this to show that

there probably are some very good possible reasons for

the study of medical marijuana. F.

 

 

http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/19476/

 

Get an Herbal Position

By Ellen Komp, AlterNet

Posted on August 6, 2004, Printed on August 25, 2004

http://www.alternet.org/story/19476/

 

John Kerry's acceptance speech for the Democratic

presidential nomination ended with a series of " what

if's " : " What if we find a breakthrough to cure

Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's and AIDS? " he

wondered aloud, to the cheers of the crowd.

 

Innovative treatments for these diseases, and many

others, may be closer than Kerry thinks, and it won't

take fetal tissue to find them. If Kerry makes good on

his promise to review research on medical marijuana

when he takes office, he'll be amazed at what has been

learned in the last several years.

 

After the voters of California and Arizona legalized

medical marijuana in 1996, then-drug " czar " Barry

McCaffrey commissioned a $1 million scientific review

of existing studies on marijuana by the National

Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. Since the

1999 IOM report was published, hundreds of studies on

cannabinoids, the active compounds in marijuana, and

their newly developed cognates, have uncovered

astonishing results.

 

" Every one of our body's organized systems makes and

responds to marijuana-like compounds: cardiovascular,

digestive, endocrine, excretory, immunological,

nervous, reproductive and respiratory, " says Dr.

Robert Melamede, head of the biology department at the

University of Colorado. Endogenous (natural in the

body) cannabinoids and their receptors are popping up

everywhere, and showing beneficial effects in animal

and clinical studies.

 

Beyond the traditional symptomatic relief for nausea

in cancer and AIDS patients, or pain and spasticity in

multiple sclerosis sufferers, cannabinoids may

actually retard the progression of diseases like MS,

Alzheimer's, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

In addition, compounds in marijuana are showing

anti-tumor effects and protective properties in the

brain and heart tissue of stroke and heart attack

victims, and those exposed to nerve gas.

 

" When they say marijuana destroys your brain, they

have it exactly wrong, " says Melamede. " Marijuana

protects your brain, from the lack of oxygen and

neurotoxins. " The U.S. army is investigating the

matter, and one research team in Spain is shrinking

human brain tumors by injecting them with

cannabinoids.

 

Just a quick literature search on the list of diseases

Kerry mentioned brings up scores of studies. Take

Parkinson's, a progressive neurological disease

impacting brain cells that normally produce dopamine,

a neurotransmitter that coordinates movement. The IOM

report stated, " Theoretically, cannabinoids could be

useful for treating Parkinson's disease patients

because cannabinoids have been shown to be closely

associated with dopaminergic pathways in the body. "

The following year, a Czech research team wrote, " It

seems that cannabinoids could delay or even stop

progressive degeneration of brain dopaminergic

systems, a process for which there is presently no

prevention. "

 

As well as their neurological activities, cannabinoids

have various immunosuppressive effects, and studies on

autoimmune diseases like diabetes have been promising.

In one animal study using an experimental disease

model, cannabinoids reduced the severity of diabetes

symptoms and extended the time before their onset. In

addition, cannabinoids have been shown to promote

peripheral circulation, the lack of which can lead to

loss of limbs in diabetes patients. And THC

(tetrohydrocannabinol) receptors are replete in the

retina, where they may protect cells against the loss

of sight.

 

Scientists at the American Society of Consultant

Pharmacists' 34th annual meeting held November 2003 in

San Antonio, Texas presented Phase II studies showing

that THC reduces agitation in patients with

Alzheimer's disease. A side effect was reducing the

stress experienced by caregivers. Cannabinoids have

also been shown to ameliorate food refusal, a common

problem in patients who suffer from Alzheimer's-type

dementia. As in AIDS wasting syndrome, marijuana's

appetite-enhancing properties can mean the difference

between life and death.

 

If elected, Kerry will take the helm of a federal

government that denies the medical value of marijuana,

in defiance of DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis

Young's 1988 ruling that, " Marijuana ... is one of the

safest therapeutically active substances known. ... It

would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for

DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and

the benefits of this substance. "

 

With the new research, 34 states endorsing medical

marijuana, and a federal bill working its way up, the

genie will be hard to put back into the bottle. The

Supreme Court has just agreed to hear a case

challenging federal authority over medical marijuana,

and unless the Court wants to overrule its own

conservative majority's series of states' rights

rulings, it will have to acknowledge the federal

government's limitations. " Direct control of medical

practice in the states is beyond the power of the

Federal Government, " the Court ruled in 1925.

 

Both Kerry and John Edwards have admitted to smoking

marijuana in the past, but that is no indication of

liberal action on this issue. President Clinton waited

until his last week in office to tell Rolling Stone

magazine he thought marijuana should be legalized. Al

Gore supported medical marijuana while running against

fellow former pot smoker Bill Bradley for the

Democratic nomination in 1999; he recanted when

running against Bush. Talk show host and former Naval

intelligence officer Montel Williams, who uses

marijuana for MS, thinks George W. Bush might be

receptive to the message.

 

Pharmaceutical giant BAYER AG announced in May it will

market a cannabis-based multiple sclerosis and pain

drug in the United Kingdom and Canada; a plant extract

sprayed under the tongue from British company GW

Pharmaceuticals. Bayer will pay $41 million in

regulatory fees in the deal and holds an option to

market the drug, called Sativex, to the EU. A 2002

survey of MS patients living in England found that 45

percent use cannabis. If the US doesn't act, we may

get foreign-grown marijuana (and industrial hemp) as

yet another outsourced industry.

 

Melamede stresses that what cannabinoids seem to do is

put the body into balance, and though some may not

benefit from additional doses, most of us probably

would. Cannabinoids seem to have anti-aging

properties, in part because they modulate free radical

production, and since we're all aging, we might be

able to steal a little more youth from a plant rather

than an embryo.

 

" What if we have a president who believes in science? "

Kerry asked. What if?

© 2004 Independent Media Institute. All rights

reserved.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/19476/