Cannabis Studies from Around the
World
THC in Hemp Foods
and Cosmetics: The Appropriate Risk
Assessment
by James Geiwitz, Ph.D., and the Ad Hoc
Committee on Hemp Risks.
Health Risks of Marijuana
Use
by James Geiwitz, Ph.D., September 19,
2001.
Additional studies published
below:
Cannabinoids may have an anti-cancer
effect
West Australian, Australia
21 Jan 2008
NEW STUDY SHOWS MARIJUANA MAY FIGHT
CANCER
HAMBURG - The active ingredient in marijuana may suppress
tumour invasion in highly invasive cancers, according to new
research in Germany.
Cannabinoids, the active components in marijuana, are already
used medically to reduce the side effects of cancer treatment,
such as pain, weight loss and vomiting.
But the new study, published in the latest issue of the
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, finds that the
compounds may also have an anti-cancer effect.
However, more research is needed to determine whether the
laboratory results would hold true in humans, the authors
wrote.
Dr Robert Ramer and Dr Burkhard Hinz of the University of
Rostock in Germany investigated whether and by what mechanism
cannabinoids inhibit tumour cell invasion.
Cannabinoids did suppress tumour cell invasion and stimulated
the expression of TIMP-1, an inhibitor of a group of enzymes that
are involved in tumour cell invasion.
“To our knowledge, this is the first report of
TIMP-1-dependent anti-invasive effects of cannabinoids,”
the two researchers said in a joint statement.
“This signalling pathway may play an important role in
the anti- metastatic action of cannabinoids, whose potential
therapeutic benefit in the treatment of highly invasive cancers
should be addressed in clinical trials,” the authors
said.
Cannabis Compound Slows Cancer
Spread In Mice, Researchers Say
Article from CBS News
Apr 17, 2007
Charlene Laino
(WebMD) Cannabis may be bad for the lungs, but the
active ingredient in marijuana may help combat lung cancer, new
research suggests.
In lab and mouse studies, the compound, known as THC, cut lung
tumor growth in half and helped prevent the cancer from
spreading, says Anju Preet, PhD, a Harvard University researcher
in Boston who tested the chemical.
While a lot more work needs to be done, the results suggest
THC has therapeutic potential, she tells WebMD.
THC seeks out, attaches to, and activates two specific
endocannabinoids that are present in high amounts on lung cancer
cells, Preet says.
Moreover, other early research suggests the cannabis compound
could help fight brain, prostate, and skin cancers as well, Preet
says.
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the
American Association for Cancer Research.
The finding builds on the recent discovery of the body’s
own cannabinoid system, Preet says. Known as endocannabinoids,
the natural cannabinoids stimulate appetite and control pain and
inflammation.
THC seeks out, attaches to, and activates two specific
endocannabinoids that are present in high amounts on lung cancer
cells, Preet says. This revs up their natural anti-inflammatory
properties. Inflammation can promote the growth and spread of
cancer.
In the new study, the researchers first demonstrated that THC
inhibited the growth and spread of cells from two different lung
cancer cell lines and from patient lung tumors. Then, they
injected THC into mice that had been implanted with human lung
cancer cells. After three weeks, tumors shrank by about 50
percent, compared with tumors in untreated mice.
Preet notes that animals injected with THC seem to get high,
showing signs of clumsiness and getting the munchies. You would
expect to see the same thing in humans, so if this work does pan
out, getting the dose right is going to be all important, she
says.
Paul B. Fisher, PhD, a professor of clinical pathology at
Columbia University, says that though the work is interesting,
it’s still very early.
The issue with using a drug of this type becomes the window of
concentration that will be effective. Can you physiologically
achieve what you want without causing unwanted effects, he tells
WebMD.
Cannabinoids have been shown to reduce the invasiveness of
cancer cells
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
December 25, 2007
Oxford University Press
Inhibition of Cancer Cell Invasion by Cannabinoids via
Increased Expression of Tissue Inhibitor of Matrix
Metalloproteinases-1
Background
Cannabinoids, in addition to having palliative benefits in
cancer therapy, have been associated with anticarcinogenic
effects. Although the antiproliferative activities of
cannabinoids have been intensively investigated, little is known
about their effects on tumor invasion.
Methods
Matrigel-coated and uncoated Boyden chambers were used to
quantify invasiveness and migration, respectively, of human
cervical cancer (HeLa) cells that had been treated with
cannabinoids (the stable anandamide analog R( )-methanandamide
[MA] and the phytocannabinoid 9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC]) in
the presence or absence of antagonists of the CB1 or CB2
cannabinoid receptors or of transient receptor potential
vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) or inhibitors of p38 or p42/44
mitogen?activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. Reverse
transcriptase?polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and
immunoblotting were used to assess the influence of cannabinoids
on the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and
endogenous tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs). The role of TIMP-1
in the anti-invasive action of cannabinoids was analyzed by
transfecting HeLa, human cervical carcinoma (C33A), or human lung
carcinoma cells (A549) cells with siRNA targeting TIMP-1. All
statistical tests were two-sided.
Results
Without modifying migration, MA and THC caused a time- and
concentration-dependent suppression of HeLa cell invasion through
Matrigel that was accompanied by increased expression of TIMP-1.
At the lowest concentrations tested, MA (0.1 µM) and THC
(0.01 µM) led to a decrease in invasion (normalized to that
observed with vehicle-treated cells) of 61.5% (95% CI = 38.7% to
84.3%, P < .001) and 68.1% (95% CI = 31.5% to 104.8%, P =
.0039), respectively. The stimulation of TIMP-1 expression and
suppression of cell invasion were reversed by pretreatment of
cells with antagonists to CB1 or CB2 receptors, with inhibitors
of MAPKs, or, in the case of MA, with an antagonist to TRPV1.
Knockdown of cannabinoid-induced TIMP-1 expression by siRNA led
to a reversal of the cannabinoid-elicited decrease in tumor cell
invasiveness in HeLa, A549, and C33A cells.
Conclusion
Increased expression of TIMP-1 mediates an anti-invasive
effect of cannabinoids. Cannabinoids may therefore offer a
therapeutic option in the treatment of highly invasive
cancers.
CONTEXT AND CAVEATS
Prior knowledge
Treatment with cannabinoids had been shown to reduce the
invasiveness of cancer cells, but the cellular mechanisms
underlying this effect were unclear.
Study design
Cancer cells treated with combinations of cannabinoids,
antagonists of cannabinoid receptors, and siRNA to tissue
inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) were assessed
for invasiveness, protein expression, and activation of signal
transduction pathways.
Contribution
The expression of TIMP-1 was shown to be stimulated by
cannabinoid receptor activation and to mediate the anti-invasive
effect of cannabinoids.
Implications
Clarification of the mechanism of cannabinoid action may help
investigators to explore their therapeutic benefit.
Limitations
The relevance of the findings to the behavior of tumor cells in
vivo remains to be determined.
- Authors: Robert Ramer, Burkhard Hinz
- Affiliation of authors: Institute of Toxicology and
Pharmacology, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany
- Correspondence to: Burkhard Hinz, PhD, Institute of
Toxicology and Pharmacology, University of Rostock,
Schillingallee 70, Rostock D-18057, Germany (e-mail:
burkhard.hinz@med.uni-rostock.de).
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/djm268v1
Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 26, 2006; Page A03
The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly
concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily,
does not lead to lung cancer.
The new findings "were against our expectations,"
said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los
Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30
years.
"We hypothesized that there would be a positive
association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the
association would be more positive with heavier use," he
said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and
even a suggestion of some protective effect."
Federal health and drug enforcement officials have widely used
Tashkin's previous work on marijuana to make the case that
the drug is dangerous. Tashkin said that while he still believes
marijuana is potentially harmful, its cancer-causing effects
appear to be of less concern than previously thought.
Earlier work established that marijuana does contain
cancer-causing chemicals as potentially harmful as those in
tobacco, he said. However, marijuana also contains the chemical
THC, which he said may kill aging cells and keep them from
becoming cancerous.
Tashkin's study, funded by the National Institutes of
Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse, involved 1,200
people in Los Angeles who had lung, neck or head cancer and an
additional 1,040 people without cancer matched by age, sex and
neighborhood.
They were all asked about their lifetime use of marijuana,
tobacco and alcohol. The heaviest marijuana smokers had lighted
up more than 22,000 times, while moderately heavy usage was
defined as smoking 11,000 to 22,000 marijuana cigarettes. Tashkin
found that even the very heavy marijuana smokers showed no
increased incidence of the three cancers studied.
"This is the largest case-control study ever done, and
everyone had to fill out a very extensive questionnaire about
marijuana use," he said. "Bias can creep into any
research, but we controlled for as many confounding factors as we
could, and so I believe these results have real
meaning."
Tashkin's group at the David Geffen School of Medicine at
UCLA had hypothesized that marijuana would raise the risk of
cancer on the basis of earlier small human studies, lab studies
of animals, and the fact that marijuana users inhale more deeply
and generally hold smoke in their lungs longer than tobacco
smokers -- exposing them to the dangerous chemicals for a longer
time. In addition, Tashkin said, previous studies found that
marijuana tar has 50 percent higher concentrations of chemicals
linked to cancer than tobacco cigarette tar.
While no association between marijuana smoking and cancer was
found, the study findings, presented to the American Thoracic
Society International Conference this week, did find a 20-fold
increase in lung cancer among people who smoked two or more packs
of cigarettes a day.
The study was limited to people younger than 60 because those
older than that were generally not exposed to marijuana in their
youth, when it is most often tried.
Cannabinoids destroy cancer
by Dana Larsen (27 Feb, 2004)
Article is from Cannabis
Culture
Research continues to show the amazing anti-cancer
effects of cannabis.
An article in the October 2003 issue of the medical journal
Nature Reviews, explains in detail current research on how
cannabinoids can be used to treat cancer and tumors.
The article, titled Cannabinoids: potential anti-cancer
agents, outlines the human body's system of cannabinoid
receptors, and explains how cannabinoids work to decrease nausea,
increase appetite and inhibit pain.
However, most interesting is the section titled Antitumour
effects of cannabinoids, where author Manuel Guzmán shows
that cannabinoids destroy many forms of tumors and cancer
cells.
Further, Guzmán claims that "cannabinoids are
selective antitumor compounds, as they can kill tumor cells
without affecting their non-transformed counterparts." In
fact, instead of harming normal cells, cannabinoids "might
even protect them from cell death."
Citing over 100 references of research from scientific and
medicinal journals, this article compiles all major studies into
how cannabinoids affect cancerous tumors and cancer patients.
In 2000, Manuel Guzmán led a study which showed that
application of THC destroyed otherwise incurable brain cancer
tumors in rats (CC#25, THC destroys brain cancers). Sadly their
research could not continue due to a lack of funding (CC#29, No
funding for THC tumor research).
Some notable studies into the anti-cancer effects of
cannabinoids include:
• A study published in the July 2002 edition of the
medical journal Blood, which found that THC and some other
cannabinoids produced "programmed cell death" in
different varieties of human leukemia and lymphoma cell lines,
thereby destroying the cancerous cells but leaving other cells
unharmed.
• A study published in a 1975 edition of the Journal of
the National Cancer Institute, which showed that THC slowed the
growth of lung cancer, breast cancer and virus-induced leukemia
in rats.
Titled Antineoplastic activity of cannabinoids, this study was
funded by the US National Institute of Health, and performed by
researchers at the Medical College of Virginia. Despite the
promising results, no further research was made, and the study
has essentially disappeared from the scientific literature.
• A 1994 study, which documented that THC may protect
against malignant cancers, and which was buried by the US
government. The $2 million study, funded by the US Department of
Health and Human Services, sought to show that large doses of THC
produced cancer in rats. Instead, researchers found that massive
doses of THC had a positive effect, actually slowing the growth
of stomach cancers. The rats given THC lived longer than their
non-exposed counterparts.
.
The study was unpublished and the results hidden for almost three
years, until it was finally leaked to the media in 1997. (CC#17,
THC for tumors).
• A study published in the July 1998 Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, found that anandamide inhibited the
growth of breast cancer cells. Anandamide is the naturally
occurring body chemical which is mimicked by cannabinoids.
Other studies cited by Guzmán show that cannabinoids
can also help prevent the death of brain cells during a stroke,
head trauma and nerve gas exposure (CC#16, Marijuana protects
your brain).
• For more information, and a link to the Nature Reviews
article:
www.cannabisculture.com/news/cancer
• Manuel Guzmán: School of Biology, Complutense
University, 28040 Madrid, Spain; mgp@bbm1.ucm.es
Cannabinoid treats tumours
by Dana Larsen (21 Jan, 2002)
Article is from Cannabis
Culture
Derivitive of THC shown to reduce tumours
A study published in the September 2001 Biochemical
Pharmacology showed that a synthetic cannabinoid produced
anti-tumour effects in mice. Ajulemic acid is a patented compound
owned by Atlantic Technology Ventures, with the trade name of
CT-3. CT-3 is a synthetic derivative of a non-psychoactive THC
metabolite called "THC-11-oic acid."
In May 2001, Atlantic announced that it was working with the
US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense to
investigate the uses of CT-3, "a novel synthetic marijuana
derivative designed to maximize the medical properties of
marijuana without producing undesirable psychoactive side
effects."
Preliminary studies have shown that CT-3 has significant
analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, and with less risk
and side-effects than ibuprofen or aspirin. The newest study
showed that CT-3 inhibited the growth of human glioma cancer
cells implanted into the brains of mice. Although CT-3 was only
half as effective as THC in inhibiting tumour growth, its effects
lasted longer.
This study confirms results obtained at Madrid's
Complutense University, published in the March 2000 issue of
Nature Medicine. The Madrid study found that rats injected with
glioma cells and then treated with THC or a synthetic cannabinoid
had a significant reduction in tumours (CC#25, THC destroys brain
cancers).
• An excellent resource for med-pot research and news is
the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine: email info@cannabis-med.org;
web
www.cannabis-med.org.
No funding for THC tumour research
by Dana Larsen (27 Feb, 2001)
Article is from Cannabis
Culture
Spanish scientists blocked from further
study
Scientists at the Complutense University of Madrid will not be
able to research the use of THC against brain tumours in humans
due to a lack of funding.
In early 2000, the Spanish team led by Dr Manuel Guzman had
demonstrated that THC and a synthetic cannabinoid both induced
regression of malignant gliomas when tested on laboratory rats
(see CC#25, THC destroys brain cancers).
There is currently no effective treatment for malignant
gliomas.
The two cannabinoids completely destroyed the tumours in half
the rats tested, and prolonged the lives of the rest.
Despite seven months of effort, Guzman has been unable to
secure funding for further research in humans.
Pot shrinks tumours
by Raymond Cushing (08 Jun, 2000)
Article is from AlterNet May 31, 2000
US government knew in '74 and covered up the
news
The term medical marijuana took on dramatic new meaning in
February when researchers in Madrid announced they had destroyed
incurable brain cancer tumors in rats by injecting them with THC,
the active ingredient in cannabis. The Madrid study marks only
the second time that THC has been administered to tumor-bearing
animals; the first was a Virginia investigation 26 years ago. In
both studies, the THC shrank or destroyed tumors in a majority of
the test subjects.
Most Americans don't know anything about the Madrid
discovery. Virtually no U.S. newspapers carried the story, which
ran only once on the AP and UPI news wires, on Feb. 29.
The ominous part is that this isn't the first time
scientists have discovered that THC shrinks tumors. In 1974
researchers at the Medical College of Virginia, who had been
funded by the National Institute of Health to find evidence that
marijuana damages the immune system, found instead that THC
slowed the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice -- lung and
breast cancer, and a virus-induced leukemia.
The DEA quickly shut down the Virginia study and all further
cannabis/tumor research, according to Jack Herer, who reports on
the events in his book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes."
In 1976 President Gerald Ford put an end to all public cannabis
research and granted exclusive research rights to major
pharmaceutical companies, who set out -- unsuccessfully -- to
develop synthetic forms of THC that would deliver all the medical
benefits without the "high." The Madrid researchers
reported in the March issue of "Nature Medicine" that
they injected the brains of 45 rats with cancer cells, producing
tumors whose presence they confirmed through magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI). On the 12th day they injected 15 of the rats with
THC and 15 with Win-55,212-2 a synthetic compound similar to
THC.
"All the rats left untreated uniformly died 12-18 days
after glioma (brain cancer) cell inoculation ... Cannabinoid
(THC)-treated rats survived significantly longer than control
rats. THC administration was ineffective in three rats, which
died by days 16-18. Nine of the THC-treated rats surpassed the
time of death of untreated rats, and survived up to 19-35 days.
Moreover, the tumor was completely eradicated in three of the
treated rats." The rats treated with Win-55,212-2 showed
similar results.
The Spanish researchers, led by Dr. Manuel Guzman of
Complutense University, also irrigated healthy rats' brains
with large doses of THC for seven days, to test for harmful
biochemical or neurological effects. They found none.
"Careful MRI analysis of all those tumor-free rats showed no
sign of damage related to necrosis, edema, infection or trauma
... We also examined other potential side effects of cannabinoid
administration. In both tumor-free and tumor-bearing rats,
cannabinoid administration induced no substantial change in
behavioral parameters such as motor coordination or physical
activity. Food and water intake as well as body weight gain were
unaffected during and after cannabinoid delivery. Likewise, the
general hematological profiles of cannabinoid-treated rats were
normal. Thus, neither biochemical parameters nor markers of
tissue damage changed substantially during the 7-day delivery
period or for at least 2 months after cannabinoid treatment
ended."
Guzman's investigation is the only time since the 1974
Virginia study that THC has been administered to live
tumor-bearing animals. (The Spanish researchers cite a 1998 study
in which cannabinoids inhibited breast cancer cell proliferation,
but that was a "petri dish" experiment that didn't
involve live subjects.)
In an email interview for this story, the Madrid researcher
said he had heard of the Virginia study, but had never been able
to locate literature on it. Hence, the Nature Medicine article
characterizes the new study as the first on tumor-laden animals
and doesn't cite the 1974 Virginia investigation. "I am
aware of the existence of that research. In fact I have attempted
many times to obtain the journal article on the original
investigation by these people, but it has proven
impossible." Guzman said.
In 1983 the Reagan/Bush Administration tried to persuade
American universities and researchers to destroy all 1966-76
cannabis research work, including compendiums in libraries,
reports Jack Herer, who states, "We know that large amounts
of information have since disappeared."
Guzman provided the title of the work -- "Antineoplastic
activity of cannabinoids," an article in a 1975 Journal of
the National Cancer Institute -- and this writer obtained a copy
at the UC medical school library in Davis and faxed it to
Madrid.
The summary of the Virginia study begins, "Lewis lung
adenocarcinoma growth was retarded by the oral administration of
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabinol (CBN)" -- two
types of cannabinoids, a family of active components in
marijuana. "Mice treated for 20 consecutive days with THC
and CBN had reduced primary tumor size."
The 1975 journal article doesn't mention breast cancer
tumors, which featured in the only newspaper story ever to appear
about the 1974 study -- in the Local section of the Washington
Post on August 18, 1974. Under the headline, "Cancer Curb Is
Studied," it read in part:
"The active chemical agent in marijuana curbs the growth
of three kinds of cancer in mice and may also suppress the
immunity reaction that causes rejection of organ transplants, a
Medical College of Virginia team has discovered." The
researchers "found that THC slowed the growth of lung
cancers, breast cancers and a virus-induced leukemia in
laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives by as much as 36
percent."
Guzman, writing from Madrid, was eloquent in his response
after this writer faxed him the clipping from the Washington Post
of a quarter century ago. In translation, he wrote:
"It is extremely interesting to me, the hope that the
project seemed to awaken at that moment, and the sad evolution
(lastimosa evolucion) of events during the years following the
discovery, until now we once again 'draw back the veil'
over theanti-tumoral power of THC, twenty-five years later.
Unfortunately, the world bumps along between such moments of hope
and long periods of intellectual castration."
News coverage of the Madrid discovery has been virtually
nonexistent in this country. The news broke quietly on Feb. 29
with a story that ran once on the UPI wire about the Nature
Medicine article. This writer stumbled on it through a link that
appeared briefly on the Drudge Report web page. The New York
Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times all ignored the
story, even though its newsworthiness is indisputable: a benign
substance occurring in nature destroys deadly brain tumors.
For the full story, pick up "The Emperor Wears No
Clothes" by Jack Herer, or log on for excerpts from the book
at www.jackherer.com.
Raymond Cushing is a regular contributor to the Sacramento
News & Review and the Anderson Valley (CA) Advertiser.
This article is also online at:
www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=9257
Research around the world
by Dana Larsen (01 Jul, 1999)
Article is from Cannabis
Culture
Scientists confirm cannabinoids' medicinal
benefits
Research into the healing effects of cannabis extracts is
growing around the globe. Over the past year, a variety of
medicinal effects of cannabinoids have been confirmed:
• A pharmacologist at the University of Texas has shown
that injecting small amounts of cannabinoids directly into the
site of an injury will relieve pain and swelling.
• Scientists at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego
have shown that cannabinoids block the formation of memories in
animal brain tissue. This might keep the brain from getting
overwhelmed with unimportant memories.
• Research by the US Institute of Mental Health has shown
that cannabinoids protect brain cells from stroke or trauma
damage.
• University of Buffalo researchers have reported that
cannabinoids help regulate the timing of human reproduction, by
slowing sperm that approach an egg before it's ready for
fertilization.
• The British Heart Foundation is funding research into
how cannabinoids reduce blood pressure and the risk of stroke
through "vaso-relaxation".
• The University of Madrid completed studies this year,
showing that high concentrations of THC kills brain tumour cells
while leaving normal brain cells unharmed.
• An Italian study published in the July 1998 Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences found that cannabinoids can
inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells.
US fed report backs medical pot
by Pete Brady (01 May, 1999)
Institute of Medicine report supports medical uses of
marijuana.
When US Drug War General Barry McCaffrey asked the National
Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine (IoM) to conduct a
million dollar study into medicinal marijuana in 1997, he likely
expected that scientists and researchers would provide him with
justification for the many lies that he and other government
officials have long told about marijuana.
McCaffrey and his allies have long insisted that marijuana is
a deadly, medically useless, addicting, gateway drug that offers
no benefits to users.
In March, the Institute of Medicine delivered a tentative
antidote to this official misinformation, releasing its 290-page
Medical Marijuana report after 18 months of study. The report was
described by Harvard University medical doctor and author Dr
Lester Grinspoon as a "tepid, political document that
ignores much of the available scientific and patient data that
proves marijuana's efficacy."
Tepid or not, the report derails the primary arguments that
medical marijuana opponents have been propagating for decades.
For example, researchers found that marijuana is not addictive.
They assert that users can become dependent on it, but the
potential for dependence is far less than for other drugs, such
as heroin, cocaine, and even nicotine.
Further, the report says, this dependence is so slight that it
only sometimes produces withdrawal symptoms. Some people who quit
marijuana experience insomnia, irritability, restlessness, nausea
and other problems that are far more benign than withdrawal
effects experienced by heroin addicts, alcoholics, coffee
drinkers and tobacco smokers.
Researchers rejected the archaic allegation that marijuana
leads users to try harder drugs such as heroin, saying there was
no evidence to support the gateway theory. They found that
legalizing medical marijuana, or decriminalizing marijuana, had
no cause and effect impact on how many people use marijuana. This
finding must have been particularly distressing to McCaffrey and
his ilk, who insist that legalizing medical pot would lead to
abuse by sending a message to children that marijuana is good for
you.
The IoM report also dispels the myth that marijuana suppresses
immune system functions and is therefore especially bad for
people with HIV and cancer. Marijuana contains anti-oxidants and
other properties that make it a tumour-killer, and the report
reveals that there is no clear evidence that it compromises the
immune system.
On other subjects, such as marijuana's medical
effectiveness and legal status, the report suffered from the
subconscious political bias of its authors, as well as from
curious lapses in comprehensiveness.
For example, the report alleges that marijuana smoke contains
harmful compounds that could lead to cancer and respiratory
diseases, but failed to mention that all but the most chronic
marijuana users inhale small quantities of smoke that are likely
to pose little health risk. And even though medical marijuana
advocates told researchers about vaporizers and marijuana food
recipes that minimize the amount of hazardous particulates
inhaled by marijuana smokers, the report nowhere mentions these
less harmful methods for using marijuana.
Smoked medicine?
Researchers seemed to talk out of both sides of their mouths
when it came to the question of whether smoked medicine is useful
and allowable. After overhyping the risks of marijuana smoke, the
report notes that for terminally-ill patients, long-term lung
damage might not be something they'd worry about anyway! The
report suggests that such patients could be allowed to smoke
marijuana for less than six months, closely supervised by medical
personnel.
The report also recommends research to isolate and synthesize
the full range of cannabinoids present in raw marijuana. The
authors hope that pharmaceutical companies will devise inhalers,
patches, pills or other devices that deliver marijuana's
medical benefits without asking patients to inhale harmful
smoke.
Hopes for a miraculous smokeless version of marijuana are
offset by the report's acknowledgement that for patients with
AIDS or undergoing chemotherapy who suffer from severe pain,
nausea, and appetite loss, cannabinoid drugs might offer broad
spectrum relief not found in any other single medication.
Researchers also admit that until a non-smoke delivery system is
developed, there is no clear alternative for people suffering
from chronic conditions such as pain or AIDS wasting, that might
be relieved by smoking marijuana.
Significant failings
Although pundits on all sides of the debate put their own
predictable spins on the IoM report, medical marijuana activists
generally agreed that it was overall a useful document. However,
the report's most significant failings can be delineated as
follows:
• It doesn't mention the success of eight pot-smoking
patients in the US government's Compassionate Investigational
New Drug program.
• It refuses to acknowledge people's right to grow
and use medicine, and instead attempts to make marijuana a
prisoner of the pharmaceutical industry.
• It proposes years of costly studies to prove what
marijuana users already know: that cannabis makes them feel
better.
• It places regulations, hierarchies and mediators in the
therapeutic process, proposing that medical pot users and their
physicians jump through burning hoops of fire in order to utilize
cannabis.
• It holds cannabis to a far higher safe use standard
than most of the other drugs already approved for prescriptive
use, many of which have far worse side-effects than marijuana
has.
• It mindlessly assumes that we are incapable of
governing our own bodies, using nature to heal ourselves, or
ingesting whatever substance we damn well please.
The Lords of Medicine are firmly in charge of the IOM report:
the paradigm underlying their discourse is that nature makes
mistakes, that people are unable to use therapeutic plants and
herbs intelligently, and that we must ask government,
pharmaceutical companies, physicians and pharmacists for
permission to heal ourselves. Further, we must pay them for the
privilege of asking them to allow us to use a plant that we could
all grow for free were it not for prohibition.
The report specifically states that medical marijuana should
remain illegal and not be licensed as a drug. Still, General
Barry McCaffrey, speaking at a Los Angeles news conference
shortly after the report was released, seemed displeased by the
IoM's findings.
Neither he nor any other administration official indicated
that the report would result in a rescheduling of marijuana to
allow its prescription, or a change in hard-line federal
prohibitionist policy toward the six Western states where medical
marijuana has been legalized.
"I think that what the IoM report said is that smoked
marijuana is harmful, particularly for those with chronic
conditions," McCaffrey said, leaving reporters to wonder if
he had read the same report that they had read, or if perhaps he
was hallucinating.
One gift the IoM gave us: they admitted that the euphoric
marijuana high was not a barrier to its medical use. In fact,
researchers admitted, the high could be therapeutic, especially
for patients suffering from anxiety and chronic pain.
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