cannabisnews.com: The Grass Is Greener ... Or Not The Grass Is Greener ... Or Not Posted by FoM on March 09, 2000 at 11:17:07 PT By Kristen Philipkoski Source: Wired Magazine Two studies have given ammunition to both sides in the ongoing medicinal marijuana controversy. One study, presented last week at an American Heart Association conference, showed that the risk of heart attack increased nearly fivefold for one hour after using marijuana. The other study, published in Nature, claims that marijuana can help patients with muscle spasticity diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. Pot is legalized for medicinal use in seven states, where it is used to ease the pain of cancer therapy and to mitigate the effects of AIDS wasting syndrome. Cannabinoids -- chemicals found in marijuana -- have also recently been shown to kill brain tumors in rats. For the American Heart Association study, researchers at the Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center in Boston studied 3,882 between between the ages of 20 and 92 over an eight-year period. They found the first evidence that smoking marijuana can trigger heart attack. "We need to look at that more closely and to look at it better," said Kevin Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy. "The researchers didn't really understand why and how the heart attacks happened. This is one sample and a useful beginning, but we need more research into this." The study found that although the short-term risk is considerable, the danger of heart attack quickly subsides after a few hours. Valerie Corral, founder and director of the Women's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, said the results aren't all that surprising. "It has been common knowledge that marijuana does increase one's heart rate and with that consideration we at WAMM have always discouraged its use for people with heart problems," she said. "We ask that they seek medical advice before using marijuana medically." Regular marijuana users made up 3.2 percent of the total study population, and 37 subjects said they had used marijuana within 24 hours of having a heart attack. Nine patients said they smoked within one hour prior to developing their heart attack symptoms. "As far as a heart attack risk, that should trouble the baby boomers" since they are likely to have other risk factors, said Robert Maginnis, the Family Research Council's senior director for national security and foreign affairs. It's unclear, the researchers said, whether marijuana specifically triggers the heart attack or whether the carbon monoxide or other chemicals in the smoke increases the risk. Maginnis agreed that the results are not unexpected. "This just adds to a phalanx of other problems with marijuana documented in the science," Maginnis said. Besides cannabis, pot smokers inhale "more than 400 other compounds in crude marijuana and many are documented by the NIH as being carcinogenic," he said. Maginnis was unenthusiastic regarding the other study, published in Nature, which suggested marijuana could treat diseases like multiple sclerosis. "This might show that THC cannabis has some sort of effect specifically in tremors, but we obviously have to wait until we have a double-blind study done," he said. For the Nature study, researchers of the MS Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland looked at an autoimmune model of multiple sclerosis in mice. They found that high doses of two types of cannabinoids lessened tremor and spasticity, two early symptoms of multiple sclerosis. The researchers said that human trials should follow soon. The Grass Is Greener ... Or Not Page 2 Continued: "That's not new," Zeese said. "It's been known for a long time that marijuana can be used for therapies for all kind of muscle spasms. It goes back a century." Maginnis said he is against the legalization of medical marijuana because it sets a bad example for children; if it's known as medicinal, kids might be more likely to try it, he said. He is not opposed, however, to developing drugs that contain cannabinoids (the THC cannabinoid has been available by prescription since 1985). "There is good science out there and we ought to rely on science, not on ideology as I firmly believe is in California and other states [where medicinal marijuana is legalized]," Maginnis said. "We need to be compassionate to sick people, but when you take into account that we have a phalanx of very good medications that our doctors can prescribe that are pure and properly dosed," he said. "There's no way to titrate [smoked marijuana] enough to get the right sort of dose." But others argue that's exactly what's superior about smoking marijuana as opposed to taking it as a pill. "In the early '80s, there was research that compared smoked marijuana to the THC pill in about six states," Zeese said. "The conclusions showed that crude marijuana had less psychoactive effects. It was also more effective because the pill has to go through the stomach, which slows down the action." He said that smoking can also be more appropriate because patients can self-regulate how much they're taking. "With smoking, you smoke it and you get an immediate effect and within minutes the nausea goes away," he said. "You can just take one or two puffs." Both Zeese and Corral believe more research on the potential benefits of marijuana need to be done. Instead, Zeese said, studies often focus on the possible dangers. Corral, who has worked with hundreds of terminally ill patients for the past seven years, agreed. "The most confounding problem is that there is insufficient research to establish safety [unless one considers marijuana's rather innocuous use for thousands of years]. However, there exists volumes of anecdotal evidence to support marijuana's efficacy," Corral said. "Comparatively, marijuana may be among the least harmful homeopathic medicines, especially when one considers the contraindications of the myriad of allopathic drugs prescribed by doctors and used by patients throughout the world," she said. "That marijuana serves to mitigate the symptoms of such a diverse number of illnesses is remarkable." The best alternatives to smoking pot are yet to come, Maginnis said. Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly, a researcher at the University of Mississippi, has developed a cannabinoid suppository to treat nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy, as well as AIDS-related wasting syndrome and other maladies. Maginnis said the suppository has been shown to deliver effects faster than smoking, and should be available within two year. A medicinal marijuana patch is in development at the Albany College of Pharmacy in New York, and a cannabinoid medicine that can be delivered via a vaporizer is on the horizon as well. Iain Murray, an analyst at the Statistical Assessment Service in Washington, D.C., agreed that these would be better options. "Modern medicine is all about refining medicines to the point where the beneficial effects are maximized and side-effects minimized," he said. "Simply put, it does not ask sick patients to inhale potentially toxic burning leaf smoke." 10:35 a.m. 6.Mar.2000 PST Copyright © 2000 Wired Digital Inc.Related Articles & Web Sites:Common Sense For Drug Policy - Kevin Zeesehttp://www.csdp.org/WAMM - Valerie Corralhttp://www.wamm.org/Family Research Councilhttp://www.frc.org/CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #12 posted by observer on March 09, 2000 at 20:00:20 PT Modern medicine: Side-Effects Minimized? > "Modern medicine is all about refining medicines to the point where the beneficial effects are maximized and side-effects minimized," he said.Painkillers Put Millions At Risk Of Ulcers; Hospitalize 76,000 & Kill 7,600 Annually; One That Doesn’t Kill Is Illegal http://marijuananews.com/painkillers_put_millions_at_risk.htmAdverse Pharmaceutical Reactions Major Cause of Deathhttp://marijuananews.com/adverse_pharmaceutical_reactions.htmWhich Drugs Kill the Most People? http://marijuananews.com/forbes_data_what_you_don.htmDeadly Drug Sold by Founder of Partnership for A Drug-Free America, Says Forbes http://www.marijuananews.com/deadly_drug_sold_by_founder_of_p.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by J Christen-Mitchell on March 09, 2000 at 16:48:31 PT: Severe Threat To Health, Hah! Of course none of the details are available or will be. Were the heart attack victims tobacco smokers? Were they morbidly obese? Did they have any other factors like a history of heart problems?Thirty-five years I've smoked. Just last year I found out from the prohibitionists that it was dangerous to the heart. Of course how would I know, what with the irreversible brain damage and insanity that it causes as well. My children get a kick out of being marijuana babies. I only wish my wife hadn't smoked while pregnant. One of my daughters is 1st in her class scholastically. If she hadn't been damaged perhaps she could do better. All my children are honor students. But that's right, I should have had trouble having kids, what with all the reproductive damage done by the weed. And so it goes. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Freedom on March 09, 2000 at 16:15:34 PT I need some truth after that post! > Maginnis said he is against the legalization of medical marijuana because it sets a bad example for children; if it's known as medicinal, kids might be more likely to try it, he said. 1) Cocaine is a Schedule II drug, available for use medically. Why all this huff-n-puff over messages and marijuana, while the medical utility of cocaine is accepted? Answer- Because medical use of marijuana will expose the endless lies told to support prohibition of marijuana. 2) What message is sent to children when they hear you lying, and see you jailing those in medical need? Answer- Prohibitionists are untrustworthy, and are puritanical frauds. This can and does lead to dangerous experimentation with narcotics. 3) What did IOM say about this line of reasoning? Answer- That this is not a valid concern when evaluating if a drug has medical utility, or not. 4) What has been done to enact the IOM Teams recomendations to date? Answer- Nothing. Conclusion- Prohibitionists are immoral, shallow frauds willing to jail the sick to maintain the public policy fraud of marijuana prohibition, to cover their decades of lying. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Freedom on March 09, 2000 at 16:10:29 PT Tim... Did you not know Mr. Maginnis and the FRC put out a press release about six months ago declaring him an expert on the pro-drug views overtaking the nation, inviting the media to ask for his professional input?Can I find that... let me look...Here we go (where's my Mylanta!):FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 8, 1999 CONTACT: Kristin Hansen, (202) 393-2100 FOR RADIO: Sharon Sampson http://www.frc.org/press/100899.html FRC'S MAGINNIS APPOINTED TO PARENTS ADVISORY COUNCIL ON YOUTH DRUG ABUSE WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott appointed Family Research Council's Robert L. Maginnis to the recently created national 16-member Parents Advisory Council on Youth Drug Abuse. The Advisory Council will advise the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, retired Army General Barry McCaffrey, on drug prevention, education, and treatment. The term of the appointment is two years. The Parents Advisory Council was part of the National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998. The law that was signed by President Clinton in October 1998 extends the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to September 30, 2003. "Adolescent drug abuse is a serious problem," said Maginnis, FRC's senior director for national security and foreign affairs. "Our popular culture is ripe with music, movies and print materials that glamorize drug use. Teens, who are major media consumers, are learning lies about drugs. "I'm especially concerned about the mixed drug messages coming from people of authority. A couple state governors have been on the airways promoting drug legalization. Initiatives promoting marijuana as 'medicine' and needle giveaway programs are hurting our efforts to teach children the truth about the drug scourge." The father of two teenagers, Maginnis is an expert concerning the current pro-drug direction our culture has taken. Maginnis said he is looking to this appointment to provide a platform to advise the president and other government leaders about the need for vigorous enforcement, strong prevention, and tough love treatment. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR INTERVIEWS, CONTACT THE FRC MEDIA OFFICE AT (202) 393-2100. --------------------------------------------------------------- Family Research Council is located at 801 G Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. Phone: 202-393-2100. Fax: 202-393-2134. frcpub frc.org. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Dave in Florida on March 09, 2000 at 15:11:05 PT Yea, Right >For the American Heart Association study, researchers at the Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center in Boston studied 3,882 between between the ages of 20 and 92 over an eight-year period. They found the first evidence that smoking marijuana can trigger heart attack. I bet it was an afterthought even to consider marijauna as a cause.>The study found that although the short-term risk is considerable, the danger of heart attack quickly subsides after a few hours. What short term risk do you mean?>Regular marijuana users made up 3.2 percent of the total study population, and 37 subjects said they had used marijuana within 24 hours of having a heart attack. Nine patients said they smoked within one hour prior to developing their heart attack symptoms. So, 124 people had heart attcks that had smoked pot. what about the 3758 others. What caused their heart attacks? 9 people out of 3882 smoked an hour before. Big deal. >"As far as a heart attack risk, that should trouble the baby boomers" since they are likely to have other risk factors, said Robert Maginnis, the Family Research Council's senior director for national security and foreign affairs. yes, tell us more where is the hard data?>It's unclear, the researchers said, whether marijuana specifically triggers the heart attack or whether the carbon monoxide or other chemicals in the smoke increases the risk. If this study was iniated to find out about pot smoking and heart attacks, it would seem to me that they would need more that 3.2% of a group that smoked. The whole study is absurd [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on March 09, 2000 at 14:12:29 PT I Agree That was good Dankhank! I couldn't have said it better myself! [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Dankhank on March 09, 2000 at 14:07:50 PT: What? "The best alternatives to smoking pot are yet to come, Maginnis said. Dr. Mahmoud ElSohly, a researcher at the University of Mississippi, has developed a cannabinoid suppository to treat nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy, as well as AIDS-related wasting syndrome and other maladies. Maginnis said the suppository has been shown to deliver effects faster than smoking, and should be available within two year."OK ... I get it now ...We are gonna get our medicine but we gotta shove it up our ass ...sometimes the antis seem to have a sense of humor ...Peace and Love to all ... Hemp n Stuff [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on March 09, 2000 at 13:54:28 PT: Scratching and scraping for a line It seems the antis are really stretching, now.Since the dawning of MMJ and its' acceptance in 7 States, the antis are really worried. It used to be their Reefer Madness went unchallenged, particularly from the medical corner. Since they had in effect stonewalled all objective medical research into cannabis, they felt secure in maintaining their little satrapy. Then Prop200 and 215 came along. The antis tried to threaten doctors who recommended cannabis; The doctors fought back with a lawsuit to protect their First Ammendment rights. The antis got their patty paws burned for their efforts, and then tried to intimidate doctors, patients and caregivers. But the Compassionate Use Clubs are still around, and more patients are apparently being referred to them. Then the IoM Report came out, and it's put up or shut up. The antis know that the only way they can stop any further MMJ efforts is to attempt to use a medical reason to avoid cannabis use. scare people, thus giving them a *medical* reason for maintaining cannabis prohibiton... hence this statistical nonsense regarding cannabis initiating heart attacks. Not enough information has been provided concerning the patients' health (history of arteriosclerosis, hypertension, etc.) prior to cannabis use. For a study to make such a conclusion about an extremely small portion of test subjects without divulging the above health information smaks of *dis* information. The kind the antis have vomited up for the last 63 years. And it deserves as much respect; namely, none. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Tim Stone on March 09, 2000 at 13:43:32 PT What a strange article. As always, it's interesting to pay close attention to the use of language. Note the second paragraph of the article. The heart attack study "showed" results, while the multiple sclerosis study "claims" results.This language use carries the subtle connotation that any study purporting to show something bad about cannabis is probably legit, while any study purporting to show something good or useful about cannabis is probably dubious.The other interesting about the article, as Freedom suggested, is the sudden appearance of Mr. McGinnis from the Family research Council. That's Gary Bauer's (former repub Prez candidate) outfit, derived from the Rev. Dobson's virulent rantings. This is the "sex, drugs and rock-and-roll are bad for the crops and God hates it"-crowd Of all the people the writer could have picked to interview, why did she pick McGinnis? Sounds like the fix was in and this is prohibitionist cant masquerading as informative journalism. Oh, so typical. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by observer on March 09, 2000 at 13:00:28 PT Prison: Toxic Editorial Omissions, Again > "Modern medicine is all about refining medicines to the point where the beneficial effects are maximized and side-effects minimized," he said. "Simply put, it does not ask sick patients to inhale potentially toxic burning leaf smoke." But ... uh, good doctor: you forgot to mention that your strictures and dogmas concerning "potentially toxic burning leaf smoke" are being used, *politically*, to place and keep people in *prison*. (To those not in denial, such persons are called "political prisoners", by the way.) How did the "prison" detail just happen to slip all of their minds, again, do you suppose, anyway? Accident again? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on March 09, 2000 at 11:34:29 PT Another Test Page http://www.cannabinoid.com/wwwboard/politics/messages/22889.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Freedom on March 09, 2000 at 11:31:38 PT Maginnis is a fraud. > Maginnis said the suppository has been shown to deliver effects faster than smokingThere is no lie these people will not tell.I wish Wired knew some of Maginnis' background and past statements... [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: