cannabisnews.com: Epilepsy, MS Patients Swear By Marijuana - Study Epilepsy, MS Patients Swear By Marijuana - Study Posted by CN Staff on June 07, 2004 at 13:05:07 PT By Reuters Source: Reuters Washington -- Close to half of all epilepsy and multiple sclerosis patients in Canada have tried using marijuana although few of them believe it helped their symptoms, researchers reported on Monday.About one in four epilepsy patients and one in six multiple sclerosis patients surveyed said marijuana was an effective treatment for their disease symptoms, according to the surveys published in the journal Neurology. Marijuana can be legally prescribed by a doctor in Canada and is provided to patients by Canada's health service.Dr. Donald Gross of the University of Alberta in Edmonton and colleagues surveyed 135 epilepsy patients and found nearly half had used marijuana in their lifetime and that one in five had used marijuana in the past year.And Dr. Mark Ware of McGill University in Montreal and colleagues surveyed 205 multiple sclerosis patients and found 34 of them, or 16.5 percent, were using medical marijuana but just half of them thought it worked effectively."We have learned several things from these patients," Ware said in a statement."Firstly, that pain and spasms are not the only reasons for use, and the effects of marijuana on mood, sleep and stress are important areas of therapeutic need and should be addressed in clinical trials. Secondly, there is a wide variance in doses used, ranging from single puffs to more than a gram at a time."Gross said marijuana could be considered an alternative or complementary therapy."Studies suggest one-third of the general population use alternative health care on a yearly basis," Gross said in a statement."Not surprisingly, patients tend to look to alternative therapies in situations where conventional medicine has been unsuccessful, in particular, for chronic medical conditions." Source: Reuters Published: June 7, 2004Copyright: 2004 Reuters Related Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Informationhttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmStudy To Pin Down Marijuana Doses for Painhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18022.shtmlMcGill Seeks Pot Exclusivity Deal http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15839.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by Virgil on June 07, 2004 at 21:00:57 PT Get real Let me first disregard all things said. We need to deal in facts. Half of all epileptics do not know they have a problem. There needs to be an expansion of what epilepsy is and the danger it presents.I do not even want to talk about epileptcy because I do nlot even really even know how to spell it much less define its relationship to death.But with MS, I am ready to speak. First, I call for full legalization under unalienable rights such as a right to life. But on an intellictual level their neends to a study under what people might consider a mega dose. Give the body plenty of nutritrion and see how the immmune system can deal with with the attack on the nerve liningsCannabis needs to be applied generously and not in any wussies dose. There is a problem with MS that is all hell. Give it a megadose trial and apply some science and reality instead of some plutocratic alternate reality. Get real and kill somebody with cannabis if you can.Do people realize that deteriotion of nerves in the feet come with age. What does cannabinoid nutrition do for preserving the loss of nerve feeling that will come with age usually first missed in the feet?Give me a billion dollars of science instead of a billion dolllars of lies.Give Walters some real justice and hang him upside down with a hemp rope. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by RasAric on June 07, 2004 at 20:25:01 PT NEWS FLASH!!! Ladies and Gentlemen...This Just In:World renowned expert and authority on the facts about So-Called Medical Marijuana(and greatgrandson of harry anslinger), T.J. Smith(age 19) has just stated, for the record, that he thinks that the M.S. and Epilepsy patients surveyed in the journal Neurology are actually just hippies impersonating people with M.S. and Epilepsy. Furthermore Mr. Smith is greatly concerned, as are we in the mass media, that this is a Global Conspiracy organized by the hippy movement to do nothing short of the LEGALIZATION of MARIJUANA! At any moment it can be expected that Amerikkka will be declaring a state of emergency and citizens will be required to stand by with televisions on once curfew has been instated. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by DeVoHawk on June 07, 2004 at 15:11:12 PT Playing with the numbers "one in six multiple sclerosis patients surveyed said marijuana was an effective treatment for their disease""205 multiple sclerosis patients and found 34 of them, or 16.5 percent, were using medical marijuana but just half of them thought it worked effectively" 50% of MS patients using Medical Marijuana find relief -- The walls of prohibition are taking big hits from the truth. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by E_Johnson on June 07, 2004 at 14:57:57 PT But they didn't ask the new world expert on MMJ 19 year old Auburn resident T.J. Smith should have been consulted on this story, eh? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on June 07, 2004 at 14:51:28 PT Hooray for this guy "Firstly, that pain and spasms are not the only reasons for use, and the effects of marijuana on mood, sleep and stress are important areas of therapeutic need and should be addressed in clinical trials.Yes sleep mood and stress.It's traumatic to be forced by illness to acknowledge how little control the conscious mind has over the material world.It can keep you awake at night waiting for the next blow from Fate.Pot reduces the existential stress of the fact of illness. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on June 07, 2004 at 13:17:41 PT the rest of the story So, what about side effects? Deaths caused by this medication? 50% effective? How do these stack up to the expensive prescription meds? Pretty damn well! If they bother to research it, that's what they'll find. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment