cannabisnews.com: Medical Pot Hazy Issue for Doctors 





Medical Pot Hazy Issue for Doctors 
Posted by FoM on June 28, 2000 at 07:44:42 PT
By Thomas Schultz, News-Press Staff Writer
Source: Newspress.com
Cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine headaches.The list goes on.When it comes to these and other ailments, some sufferers say marijuana provides welcome relief from pain, nausea, loss of appetite and other associated symptoms.
Whether such claims might ultimately lead to increased or widespread acceptance of the drug for medicinal purposes remains to be seen, however.Public policy-makers and law enforcement officials continue to wade through the much-discussed and muddy legal waters generated by a recent spate of community and state initiatives to decriminalize marijuana for medical use in California and other states.Health authorities face a similar challenge: Confirming the drug's actual medical benefits or drawbacks. It's a topic sure to garner more attention in Santa Barbara during coming weeks.Last week, the City Council took a small step toward sanctioning the legal sale of marijuana for medical purposes, with a majority of councilmembers saying it was time to try to help patients buy the drug without fear of prosecution.In the wake of that decision, a three-member council committee is considering whether to permit local marijuana clubs to operate without disruption in conjunction with the voter approved Proposition 215, the 1996 California ballot initiative to legalize medicinal use of the substance.Despite popular support for medicinal marijuana, discussion persists about the drug's reliability. Are its purported medical advantages understated or exaggerated?Perspectives among health experts vary.Some doctors hail the drug, while others support it mildly. Still other physicians disapprove of legalization.Furthermore, a lack of extensive, recent and numerous studies on medical marijuana has frustrated both supporters and opponents.Ask for a source of information on the science behind medicinal cannabis, and more often than not the most recent study recommended is an investigation conducted by researchers at the Institute of Medicine. The report was commissioned by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and released last year.The project's authors found potential for marijuana in treating some patients who do not respond well to standard medications, but also warned that the drug's future as a long-term treatment should not involve inhalation of pot smoke, which is known to contain harmful carcinogens."We found that cannabinoids psychoactive marijuana particles appear to hold potential for treating pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and the poor appetite and wasting caused by AIDS or advanced cancer," announced report co-author John Benson last year at a news conference about the study."For other conditions, the data are not encouraging," Benson said. "We did not find compelling evidence that marijuana should be used to treat glaucoma. And with the exception of painful muscle spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, there is little evidence of the drug's potential for treating migraines or movement disorders like Parkinson's disease or Huntington's disease. Most often, the appropriate studies have not been done."Dr. Fred Kass, a Santa Barbara cancer expert, supports use of marijuana for those patients who find benefit. At the same time, he's never prescribed pot and only rarely writes prescriptions for the FDA-approved drug Marinol, a manufactured version of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.Marijuana doesn't come up all that often among his cancer patients who suffer from nausea or other symptoms that can result from cancer or its treatments, said Kass, who more often relies on standard pharmaceuticals."I think, for most doctors, it's not an integral part of their practice," Kass said. "No patient has come in to me and said, 'I need marijuana. you need to help me get it.'"The oncologist said AIDS patients, however, stand to benefit more. "That's the group in which it's been a potentially much more important drug," he said.City Council member Dr. Dan Secord voted against further consideration of the medical marijuana question, along with Councilmen Gregg Hart and Rusty Fairly.As a doctor, Secord acknowledged that some patients may find cannabis helpful.Appetite stimulation among severely ill patients may be appropriate in some cases, he said. For other uses, and overall, Secord is not convinced, however."I am concerned about the use of these drugs for marginal illnesses," such as migraines, Secord said.He also expressed concern that support for medicinal marijuana will lead to increased drug abuse.In addition, "there may be some science, but nobody seems to be sure what it is," Secord said. Dr. David Bearman, a Santa Barbara general practitioner, noted that humans have relied on marijuana for centuries to treat illness."It provides mostly symptomatic relief," Bearman said. "There's no doubt that when you talk to people who use cannabis, they benefit substantially."Bearman advises local resident David Pryor, who recently organized the nonprofit Compassionate Cannabis Center to distribute marijuana along the South Coast. On Tuesday, Pryor lamented a lack of extensive and recent U.S.-based research supporting medical marijuana applications, and said the nonprofit organization he leads will further supply area doctors with reliable information on medicinal benefits.The doctors, "they're in the blind," said Pryor, who inhales vaporized, smokeless marijuana to ease the pain of high blood pressure, arthritis and other ailments.Physicians, "they really have nothing to go on but their patients."The cannabis center, which has lobbied the City Council, currently distributes marijuana to those who qualify, Pryor said.To hand a bundle of the drug to a suffering AIDS patient, "you've saved their life, and made their life better," Pryor said. "I have never felt so good about something."E-mail: tschultz newspress.comPublished: June 28, 2000© Copyright 1996 Santa Barbara News-Press  CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #1 posted by Ethan R on June 28, 2000 at 16:56:31 PT:
Migraine a marginal illness?
Dr. Secord needs to learn a few things. Migraine is not a "marginal illness." Millions suffer and miss work or school. Lipton et al. estimated the cost to the USA economy as between $1.2-17.2 billion annually in 1993. Is that marginal? Standard medicines do not always work for migraine, whereas cannabis does in some 80% of patients who try it, often allowing a return to full activity. If that is wrong, then I am a poor judge of what medicine is supposed to accomplish.
[ Post Comment ]

Post Comment


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