cannabisnews.com: Federal Panel Urges Tests of Medical Pot!





Federal Panel Urges Tests of Medical Pot!
Posted by FoM on March 20, 1999 at 05:44:19 PT
Drug czar won't ease stance despite findings! 
A science panel commissioned by the Clinton administration called for clinical trials of medical marijuana, declaring that cannabis could be a useful drug but that smoking is a hazardous way to take it. 
Begun at the request of President Clinton's drug czar, Barry McCaffrey, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine study carefully charts a middle path through the minefield of American pot politics. ``Smoked marijuana should generally not be recommended for long-term medical use,'' researchers said. ``Nonetheless, for certain patients such as the terminally ill or those with debilitating symptoms, the long-term risks are not of great concern.'' Like other studies that have preceded it, the new report neither encourages nor condemns the medical use of marijuana. Instead, it calls for more studies, under rigid controls. But proponents of laws permitting medical use of marijuana seized on the report as a thinly veiled endorsement of pot for patients. They call it a repudiation of McCaffrey, who considers medicinal use of the drug a hoax, perpetrated by those who want the weed legalized. ``The equivocation is there for political reasons, but the underlying science is there, too: They clearly support the use of medicinal marijuana,'' said Bill Zimmerman, executive director of Americans for Medical Rights, a Santa Monica advocacy group. McCaffrey's Office of National Drug Control Policy stressed the problems with medical marijuana spotlighted in the report. In a written response yesterday, the office declared, ``The study concludes there is little future in smoked marijuana as a medically approved medication.'' At a Los Angeles news conference, McCaffrey said there would be no relaxation of federal policy on medical pot. ``Smokable marijuana is not the answer,'' McCaffrey said. He praised the Institute of Medicine study, declaring that it took the issue out of the political arena and placed it ``firmly in the context of science, where it belongs.'' Dr. Donald Abrams, a physician at the University of California at San Francisco who is conducting the only approved study of medical marijuana, said the latest report has a familiar ring to it. ``I don't know why they needed to do this again. They did the same thing in 1982 and came up with similar findings. The National Institutes of Health panel said the same thing in 1997. . . . I think a million dollars could have been better spent doing the studies they are proposing.'' However, the panel's tacit recognition that smoking marijuana can help some patients may embolden more states to pass laws making it legal for patients to do so. California led the way in 1996, when 56 percent of voters passed Proposition 215. Last November, similar measures passed in five other states. If the Institute of Medicine study provides ammunition for medical marijuana advocates, however, it doesn't provide much. The beneficial effects of cannabinoids -- the active ingredients in pot -- were modest, limited and come at a cost. ``In most cases, there are more effective medications,'' the researchers wrote. The scientists cautioned that ``marijuana is not a completely benign substance,'' calling it a ``powerful drug'' that can cause dependence in some users and can cause a distinct but mild withdrawal syndrome when use is stopped. The psychological effects of cannabinoids can be ``disturbing,'' particularly to older patients who have never smoked pot. Most of the blue-ribbon panel's criticism of medical pot focused on the unhealthful effects of marijuana smoke, which contains many of the same cancer-causing agents that are in tobacco. Consequently, the panel called for development of a device that would deliver the beneficial effects of marijuana chemicals to patients quickly, without the smoke. The implicit suggestion is for an inhaler, like those used to deliver a mist of drugs to asthma sufferers. ``I think the main take-home message from this report is that we prefer to move away from the plant,'' said report co-author Dr. Stanley Watson at a Washington, D.C., press conference. ``From the point of view of safety, we are quite concerned about it.'' But the panel's report also concludes there is no convincing evidence that marijuana is a ``gateway'' drug that leads to abuse of other, more dangerous substances; nor was there any proof that sanctioning medical use of marijuana would increase its nonmedical use among the general population. Medical pot advocates said those findings are extremely significant. Marijuana is currently listed in drug enforcement guidelines as a Schedule I drug, comparable to heroin. Schedule I drugs are both ``dangerous'' and ``of no medical use.'' The study findings undercut the view that pot is either dangerous or medically useless -- evidence medical marijuana advocates say supports reclassifying pot to Schedule II, comparable to drugs such as morphine, which can be legally prescribed. Instead, the scientists concluded that evidence from prior studies indicates ``a potential therapeutic value for cannabinoid drugs, particularly for symptoms such as pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting and appetite stimulation.'' The report notes that AIDS patients suffering from wasting syndrome, in which they lose much of their body mass because of an inability to keep down foods, ``would likely benefit from a medication that simultaneously reduces anxiety, pain and nausea while stimulating appetite.'' Currently, the only way for patients to take cannabinoids is to smoke marijuana, eat it in brownies or cookies, or take a prescription pill, Marinol, which contains the cannabinoid THC, the primary active ingredient in marijuana. Approved by the FDA for cancer patients in 1985, Marinol has racked up modest sales of $20 million. It can cost patients $200 a month -- a problem for those without insurance. But AIDS patients have long insisted that Marinol alone does not provide the same beneficial effects they get from smoking marijuana. Patients who cannot hold down food have the same problem with absorbing a swallowed pill or brownie. Daniel Zingale, executive director of AIDS Action, the nation's largest AIDS lobby, said he is pleased with the new study. ``It validates the value of medicinal marijuana,'' he said. ``I hope it will shed some light on the politics of this misunderstood therapy.'' MARIJUANA STUDY The National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine made six recommendations in its study of medical marijuana: -- Continue research on the differences between natural and synthetic cannabinoids, the active ingredients in marijuana. -- Clinical trials should be conducted on safer ways to deliver cannabinoids, such as use of nasal sprays or inhalers. -- Studies should examine the psychological effects of medicinal pot, aside from drug's anti-nausea and appetite-stimulating effects. -- Long-term health risks of marijuana smoking, such as lung cancer, should be assessed. -- Clinical trials of marijuana should be limited to six months and be limited to patients for which there is ``reasonable expectation of efficacy.'' -- Rules for trials: Documented failure of other drugs; close medical supervision of marijuana treatment; 24-hour turnaround on acceptance by review board of patient admission to study. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/cnews/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/03/18/MN85224.DTLSabin Russell, Chronicle Staff Writer©1999 San Francisco 
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Comment #4 posted by Green Fairy on December 20, 2000 at 17:28:55 PT
THC IS A GOOD THING
I have an ulcer and very much enjoy smoking marijuana. It soothes my stomach and eases my inane worries caused by the verbal pollution that society has created. Being named after a virtue, I could not bear to live in such a world without getting stoned. Good job clinton-we all know you inhaled.sincerely stoned in californiathe green fairy
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Comment #3 posted by memyselfandi on January 26, 2000 at 09:11:00 PT:
weed
weed is very very good....gimme some please
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on March 20, 1999 at 07:32:49 PT
Drug Czar doing what paid for
I agree! If the war on drugs would end so would his job! We don't need a General as a Czar but a good Doctor like Dr. Andrew Weil, I think!Peace not WoDS, FoM!
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Comment #1 posted by Rainbow on March 20, 1999 at 06:31:21 PT
Drug Czar doing what paid for
Please remember the generals job is to continue the War on People (err drugs). This is probably in his performance plan so if he lets up he will not get a good apprasil.For a general that would be devastating. Basically we do what we are paid to do. He probably does not have a set of values or morals which would enable him to try and change his superiors minds. A general is taught do what you are told and don't think differently.
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