cannabisnews.com: Iowan Praises UI Conference on Medicinal Pot 





Iowan Praises UI Conference on Medicinal Pot 
Posted by FoM on April 09, 2000 at 18:29:23 PT
By Jim Jacobson, Gazette Staff Writer
Source: Gazette Online
George McMahon takes great pride that the University of Iowa had the courage to host the first national conference on the medical uses of marijuana. A resident of Bode in north-central Iowa, the 49-year-old McMahon is one of eight people in the United States who not only has federal government permission to smoke marijuana for medical reasons, but gets the drug from the government.
"You can't imagine how proud I am," he said Friday at the Iowa Memorial Union, where the conference is being held. "This is a lot of work by a lot of people. The school is taking a major stand."But politics and passions surrounding marijuana often make it difficult to discuss the drug objectively, said Al Byrne, co-founder of Patients Out of Time, which favors decriminalizing marijuana for medical uses.The two-day conference, which drew about 100 participants to the UI and which continues today, is more about medical science than political science, Byrne said in welcoming remarks Friday.The proceedings were beamed live to sites in Oregon, Canada, Arkansas and Colorado.The conference, sponsored by Patients Out of Time and the UI's colleges of nursing and medicine, comes in the wake of a controversial 1999 study for the federal government by the Institute of Medicine.The study shows that marijuana's active components are potentially effective in medical situations.The study's authors, including Janet Joy, who was the first speaker at the conference, encourage scientists to conduct further research into how the drug can be used and to find alternatives to smoking it that send the drug into a patient's system just as quickly.The bottom line is that marijuana shows the most promise for use as an anti-nausea drug, as a drug to alleviate pain and for appetite stimulation, Joy told the researchers, medical experts and other proponents of using the drug who attended the conference.McMahon said he smokes 300 cigarettes a month, about half a pound, to relieve pain related to systemic tuberculosis and onico osteo perosis, a rare disorder causing severe degeneration of his bones and joints.But he says he is lucky.He believes there are many people out there with diseases ranging from glaucoma to multiple sclerosis who suffer needlessly because marijuana remains illegal, even for medical purposes. Those people, he said, could benefit from being able to get a doctor to prescribe cannabis to help alleviate a host of symptoms.The Institute of Medicine study noted that most medicinal users of marijuana experience euphoria, which they say can often serve a therapeutic purpose. The study called for more research into that area.Melanie Dreher, dean of the UI College of Nursing, told the conference she denounced what she called shortsightedness in the medical community. Nurses, doctors and others "refuse to look at real evidence ... (and) prefer to ignore the experience of people all over the world."At the same time voters in California, Maine, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington all have passed ballot measures legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.People such as McMahon and Scott Imler, president of the Los Angeles Cannibis Resource Center, are hopeful the UI conference contributes to public discussion and allows people to talk about using marijuana for medical purposes more openly.But the debate needs to include the scientific down side of the the drug, said Robert Block, a UI associate professor of anesthesia who studies the effects of marijuana on brain functions. He has found evidence that marijuana impairs some mental abilities.Doctors and patient advocates need to be aware of research like his, said Block, who will make a presentation at the conference today The fact that there are negative effects, however, "doesn't mean that marijuana cannot be used therapeutically," he said.Iowa City:Published: April 8, 2000Copyright © 2000 by Gazette Communications, Cedar Rapids, IowaRelated Articles & Web Sites:George McMahon's Web Site http://www.trvnet.net/~mmcmahon/NORMLhttp://www.natlnorml.org/ Patients Out of Timehttp://www.medicalcannabis.com/ Iowa Holds Medical Marijuana Meetinghttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5290.shtmlNational Conference on Cannabis Therapeuticshttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5268.shtmlSeminar Examines Medical Marijuanahttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4912.shtmlCannabisNews Articles On The IOM Report:http://google.com/search?num=10&q=cannabisnews+IOM+Report+site:www.cannabisnews.com
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #2 posted by dddd on April 10, 2000 at 02:58:26 PT
A Real Whopper
Ya wanna see a real piece of professionally written propaganda?http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n471/a01.html?397
[ Post Comment ]

Comment #1 posted by dddd on April 10, 2000 at 02:36:46 PT
Evidence
"McMahon said he smokes 300 cigarettes a month, about half a pound, to relieve pain related tosystemic tuberculosis and onico osteo perosis, a rare disorder causing severe degeneration of hisbones and joints." O.K.....George has been smoking about a half pound a month,,for how long?...At least ten years I believe. The weed he's been smoking for all these years, has been supplied by the grand-daddy of all dealers,the US government. I dont recall him mentioning any ill effects from this organic medication,yet if you turn on the TV,you will see ads for all manner of prescription drugs.These ads are required to include the numerous side effects,which range from headaches,insomnia,bloody noses,,,,,to,,unexpected oily bowel movements and heart failure.A certain hair loss prevention/grower item,warned that women who are pregnant should not even touch these pills. All these elementary ramblings should make it obvious to even the simplest among us,,that the argument used by the anti-marijuana set,saying that medical marijuana needs to go through the same trials and tests that any other drug needs before it can be approved,,is obviously either a brainwashed idiot,or is having their paycheck signed by someone with a questionable agenda,or less than honorable intentions.................dddd
[ Post Comment ]

Post Comment


Name: Optional Password: 
E-Mail: 
Subject: 
Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]
Link URL: 
Link Title: