cannabisnews.com: Panel Backs Marijuana for Some Medical Uses! 





Panel Backs Marijuana for Some Medical Uses! 
Posted by FoM on March 19, 1999 at 11:28:41 PT
Chicago Sun-Times 
WASHINGTONMarijuana can relieve pain and nausea, a federal advisory panel reported Wednesday.The panel said there is no evidence that marijuana use leads to use of other drugs, or that legalized medical use would result in increased use of the drug in the general population.
The Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Science recommended that a standard method of using marijuana, such as using an inhaler, be adopted.White House drug policy adviser Barry McCaffrey said two years ago that there is not ``a shred of scientific evidence that smoked marijuana is useful or needed.''On Wednesday, McCaffrey ignored the scientists' limited call for tolerance.``We're where we need to be,'' on legalization, he said. ``The study concludes there's little future in smoked marijuana as medically approved medication.''The study was ordered by McCaffrey's office after an expert panel formed by the National Institutes of Health concluded in 1997 that some people, mainly cancer and AIDS victims, could be helped by marijuana.The study suggests that marijuana smoking be allowed only through institutional settings, with prescribing doctors overseen by other professionals, and be considered experimental and short term as work continues on safer delivery mechanisms, such as inhalers.Medical use of marijuana has been widely debated in recent years. California voters approved legal medical use in 1996, followed by Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.The effects of marijuana are produced by a group of compounds called cannabinoids, including THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient of marijuana. These compounds react with specific receptors in the brain that are involved in pain, control of movement and memory.Dr. John Benson, co-chairman of the study panel, said that while the group would prefer to see swift development of cannabinoid-based drugs, ``we concluded that there are some limited circumstances in which we recommend smoking marijuana for medical uses.''For the present, and based on the research and clinical experience presented to the committee, Benson said the list of conditions that might be helped by smoking or eating marijuana for some patients include chronic pain, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, and poor appetite and wasting caused by AIDS or advanced cancer, and perhaps for muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.``Marijuana has potential as medicine, but it is undermined by the fact that patients must inhale harmful smoke,'' said Dr. Stanley Watson, the other co-chairman of the panel. ``Until researchers develop a safe and effective delivery system, caregivers must consider the health problems that can result from smoking when deciding whether to recommend marijuana to patients,'' Watson said.THC is available in a pill form, called Marinol, but it doesn't work for all patients, and Watson noted that in many instances, only smoking the drug delivers a rapid effect.http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/mari18.htm
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