cannabisnews.com: Cannabis Debate Cannabis Debate Posted by FoM on December 05, 2000 at 05:11:47 PT By Cheryl Powell and Katherine Spitz Source: Akron Beacon-Journal For one 37-year-old Akron man who is HIV-positive, a daily regimen of 22 pills can be tough to swallow. The pills sap his appetite and often make him feel like vomiting, he says. But he has found an effective -- and illegal -- antidote that works wonders.The man, who asked not to be identified, smokes a marijuana joint about once a day -- roughly $50 worth per week -- to ease his nausea and keep his appetite strong. ``If I am nauseated, I can smoke a little bit and I want to eat,'' he says. ``It does the trick.''Cases such as this Akron man's are at the heart of an ongoing debate about the appropriateness of using marijuana for medical purposes.In Ohio and all but eight states, it's against the law to use or possess marijuana, even if it's supposedly for medicinal use.The issue came to the national forefront last week, when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the drug can be used by patients with medical necessity, even though federal law makes its distribution a crime.The justices will hear the Clinton administration's effort to bar the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative in California from providing the drug to seriously ill patients for pain and nausea relief.Physicians in California and the seven other states that allow medical use of marijuana can't prescribe the drug. Instead, doctors can write a letter recommending their patients use the drug, and the patients go to a state agency for approval to buy it.Even in Ohio and other states where it's illegal, an underground medicinal marijuana circuit exists -- often with the knowledge but not participation of physicians.``My doctors know about it,'' says the Akron HIV patient who smokes marijuana daily. ``They have never discouraged me from doing it. I never had any negative reactions from any doctors.''Two local physicians who are involved in end-of-life medical care say patients have talked about using street marijuana to relieve symptoms. However, neither physician helps patients obtain the drug.``The question comes up,'' says Dr. Skip Radwany, an Akron internist who directs Hospice of SummaCare. ``There are patients who swear by it.`And the patients don't fit the stereotype of pot smokers.``I have 80-year-old women who are using this to control the nausea related to their chemotherapy,'' says Dr. John Petrus, an Akron General Medical Center oncologist-hematologist who is also medical director for the Visiting Nurse Service hospice program in Akron.Among AIDS patients, illegal use of marijuana to help with side effects from medication is extremely common, says Marsha Michaels, a clinical counselor and a supervisor with Violet's Cupboard, a nonprofit agency in Akron that provides services for HIV and AIDS patients.``They're not smoking to get high,'' she says. ``A significant number of my clients don't even really consider it a drug. They said, `I really consider this an herb that allows me to live healthy.' ''Supporters say marijuana can also be used as a relaxant or to ease pain.Additionally, investigators in England and the United States have found evidence that derivatives of marijuana called cannabinoids help control spasticity and tremor symptoms in mice with a disease similar to multiple sclerosis.But currently, the most common -- and most widely accepted -- medicinal use of marijuana is to combat nausea and stimulate appetite.Although nausea feels like one wretched sensation, it's actually a complicated series of events involving the brain and gastrointestinal system, Petrus says.There's an anxiety component to nausea. In other words, just thinking about being nauseated can make people feel more nauseated, he explains.Some theories exist that marijuana eases nausea by working on the thought processes that contribute to nausea. It might also affect the actual part of the brain that controls vomiting.Legal anti-nausea drugs have ``dramatically improved,'' in the past 10 years, but they don't work for everyone, Petrus says.Also, the active ingredient of marijuana is already available in a legal pill form with the trade name Marinol. But Petrus says even when he prescribes Marinol for some of his patients who have told him they have used marijuana medicinally, they say the legal drug is ``nowhere near as effective.''And some people, such as migraine and seizure sufferer Eleanor Ahrens, complain they can't use the synthetic Marinol because of allergies.After years of suffering from health problems, the 47-year-old woman says she has used marijuana as medicine.When she had the visual disturbances or strange feeling that usually came before a migraine or seizure, she slipped some leaves into a cup of hot tea and slowly sipped her tension away.The American Academy of Neurology, which deals with the study of headache, seizures and other neurological problems, says it has taken no stand on marijuana use.But Ahrens says the marijuana-spiked tea helped her relax and relieve pain and anxiety during episodes.``I thought, `It's organic, it's natural,' '' she says.However, her supply dried up considerably when she was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 1996 after police found marijuana growing in the backyard of her Shalersville Township home.Ahrens now shares her story with others who come to visit her at the NORML Shop, a fund-raising store in downtown Ravenna that she manages for the Northcoast Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.The store doesn't sell drug supplies, but it does offer books about medical uses of marijuana.``When you meet people who use marijuana as a medicine, it's usually as a last resort,'' she says.Northcoast NORML is working with state legislators to try to get a law passed allowing medical use of marijuana in Ohio, says chapter President John Hartman.For the most part, the mainstream medical community remains somewhat skeptical.Radwany, Hospice of SummaCare medical director, emphasized that more scientific research needs to be done on the medical uses of marijuana before it could be used with confidence by the medical profession.He compares it to the use of legal herbal supplements -- they're widely used and available, he says, even though there's not enough research backing their safety.Petrus predicts that if medicinal marijuana is approved, it will only have use on a limited basis.``There might be a niche for it, but it's not going to be like Zantac or Tagamet,'' he says, referring to two popular drugs used for gastrointestinal upset.A recent report issued by the Institute of Medicine and funded by the federal Office of National Drug Control concluded that more research should be done on the medicinal effects of marijuana.The report advocated compassionate use of marijuana be allowed under certain, narrow circumstances. It also advised against the use of smoked marijuana for medical problems and called for the development of a medical inhaler for marijuana.The Akron HIV patient who regularly uses marijuana agrees the drug deserves more attention.``Definitely, I think it's time the laws changed,'' he says. ``I think if they really looked into it, they would see more benefits. I do think it could be an alternative to a lot of the prescription drugs that are out there.''Note: Medicinal marijuana is illegal in Ohio, but some still use it to ease nausea, pain.Source: Akron Beacon-Journal (OH)Author: Cheryl Powell and Katherine Spitz, Beacon Journal Medical WritersPublished: Tuesday, December 5, 2000Copyright: 2000 by the Beacon Journal Publishing Co.Website: http://www.ohio.com/bj/Contact: vop thebeaconjournal.comNorthcoast NORMLhttp://www.timesoft.com/ncnorml/index.htmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on December 05, 2000 at 13:53:38 PT $50 for seven joints?? That's either some quality cannabis, or he doesn't know the right people and is wasting his money. And calling it "$50" should bear some disclaimer that it only costs that much because there's a WAR on against it. How much would prices fall if it didn't have to be smuggled? And does anyone know, or is it even possible to calculate, the opposing side's cost? Like, for one $50 baggie, the government spends $100 to make sure you don't get to enjoy that baggie - making it a $150 bag, with $100 subsidized by mandatory taxation without representation and paid for out of the pocket of every taxpayer. I remember reading that cannabis cost $1 an ounce when it was first prohibited... I'm not saying it could drop that low again (remember, this was 1937, when milk cost around a nickel a gallon), but every time I hand over money to my friendly neighborhood weed merchant, I wonder how much less I would be spending if the DEA didn't exist. http://www.pot-tv.net/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by dddd on December 05, 2000 at 11:43:04 PT Astonishing Thank you Ethan for the update.I find it quite disturbing that there is such a blatant double standard,although I'm not that suprized...I'm gonna check out the federal lawsuits... [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Phyro_the_Dragon on December 05, 2000 at 11:17:17 PT WELL WELL WELL If the goverment will let 8 people use it and thair doctor said it helps inprove thair standerd of living than why not every on else that has medical problems. If it works for you then fine!... like all med,s ( Whats works for one person doesnt work for some one else).... The Goverment want,s one drug to work for every one thats Inposable..... What we all Like Dolly the sheepNOT.........People are as difforent as plants are diffrent... ( IE ) Lawn grass & a oakTree.... People are not sheep eventhoe they act like sheep. Peace & Freedom PHYRO [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on December 05, 2000 at 11:07:02 PT: Yes, Friends, They Can Smoke Anywhere It is true that the "legal patients" are allowed to smoke anywhere. However, these gentle and courageous people are not immune to getting busted by overzealous cops despite their documentation. It has happened. They can smoke but you can't. You ask how as situation such is this is possible when there is "equal protection under the law?" That's because the government is arbitrary and capricious. This was the subject of several federal lawsuits, but the result was that the judiciary saw fit to merely endorse the inconsistency. The bottom line is that the government can get away with almost anything it chooses. No brag, just fact. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by dddd on December 05, 2000 at 08:54:05 PT legal? RasJames..........I and I have wondered about the same type question.If the federal government says it is legal for 8 people,,how can it be that there are thousands behind bars because they were not one of the eight.As far as I know,Ohio is just as bad as anywhere else.....quite strange................indeed [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by kindone on December 05, 2000 at 08:26:32 PT F.T.G. "If people let government decide which foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." Thomas Jefferson [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by ras james RSIFWH on December 05, 2000 at 07:14:52 PT eight citizens The federal government supplies eight people with medical marijuana. Is it legal for these eight people to take their federally-supplied medical marijuana in Ohio? [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: