cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Is Medically Useful





Marijuana Is Medically Useful
Posted by FoM on March 17, 1999 at 21:19:14 PT
Study Finds Drug Can Help Fight Pain And Nausea
Read The Full ReportThe debate over whether marijuana has a medical use just got a little bit hotter. An advisory panel to the federal government has issued a report saying the active ingredients in marijuana can help fight pain and nausea, according to The Associated Press. 
The Institute of Medicine also said there was no conclusive evidence that marijuana use leads to harder drugs. Marijuana's medical value or lack there of has been under debate for years. Voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have approved measures in support of medical use of the drug, even though critics say such measures send the wrong message to kids, said AP. However, the state's actions are in direct opposition to Congress. The House last fall adopting by 310-93 vote a resolution that said marijuana was a dangerous and addictive drug and should not be legalized for medical use. Asked to examine the issue by the White House drug policy office, the institute said because the chemicals in marijuana ease anxiety, stimulate the appetite, ease pain and reduce nausea and vomiting, they can be helpful for people undergoing chemotherapy and people with AIDS, said the wire service. However, the panel did warn that smoking marijuana can cause respiratory disease and called for the development of standardized forms of the drugs, called cannabinoids, that can be taken, for example, by inhaler. "Marijuana has potential as medicine, but it is undermined by the fact that patients must inhale harmful smoke," said Stanley Watson of the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan, one of the study's principal investigators, reported AP. Even so, the panel said, there may be cases where patients could in the meantime get relief from smoked marijuana, especially since it might take years to develop an inhaler. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said it would carefully study the recommendations. "We note in the report's conclusion that the future of cannabinoid drugs lies not in smoked marijuana, but in chemically defined drugs" delivered by other means, the office headed by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said in a statement, reported AP. The panel urged clinical trials to determine the usefulness of marijuana in treating muscle spasms. Opponents of allowing medical use of marijuana long have claimed that it is a "gateway" drug, giving people a start on the road to more dangerous drugs such as heroin and cocaine, said the wire service. But the report concludes there is "no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs." In fact, the report concludes, most drug users did not begin with marijuana but rather started by using tobacco and alcohol while they were underage. More Information: The Marijuana Magazine offers details on the issue. Text of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (California's Medical Marijuana Intiative, submitted to the public as Proposition 215) The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) maintains a Web site that tracks legislation and offers facts about marijuana usage. The anti-narcotics DrugWatch monitors efforts to legalize drugs from an opposition standpoint.The pro-marijuana magazine High Times does the same thing, from a supporter's viewpoint.HempNet is a site devoted to "raising public awareness of the Cannabis Hemp plant" as a product source.The Industrial Hemp Information Network is a global network of agricultural-fiber experts and communicationprofessionals, working to reintroduce industrial hemp.Ecolution keeps up on the latest news about the hemp legalization movement.One of the stories on the Ecolution Web Site is a recent Washington Post article that describes the national debate over hemp.http://www.wcco.com/news/stories/news-990317-150637.html
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