MARIJUANA USE IS DANGEROUS

In response to your editorial of June 7, "Medical marijuana makes
sense":

The last international NYU Medical conference on Marijuana and
Medicine (Humana Press), showed that the active psychotropic
pharmacological agent in marijuana, Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, did
provide properties for possible medical use.

The use of THC has been narrowed to an appetite stimulant for AIDS
patients and an anti-emetic in cancer chemotherapy. As an appetite
stimulant for AIDS patients, it is not effective since they have an
infection with a protein diathesis.

An oral form of THC, Marinol, is available via prescription for relief
of the nausea of chemotherapy. Marinol use has been proven to be more
effective than smoking marijuana. Studies after the oral
administration of THC show the plasma levels of THC reach a
more-sustained prolonged four-hour duration, as compared with the
smoked THC's less-sustained 1 hour duration.

Smoking marijuana exposes an individual to 421 toxic chemicals
(including phenol, creosol, naphthalene and acetaldehyde), twice the
number of carcinogens as tobacco, and inhalation of bacteria or fungi.
Marijuana worsens the symptoms of coronary insufficiency, causing
increased blood pressure and heart rate.

New brain studies on marijuana smokers showed a reduction in the size
of both the hippocampus (regulating memory and emotion), and the
amygdala (which handles fear and aggression). The patients exhibited
increased incidents of psychotic disorders with hallucinations and
paranoid delusions. In a separate study, MS patients given marijuana
showed an increase in cognitive defects and mood disorders, while
failing to show symptom relief.

Legitimizing smoked marijuana as a compassionate, legal medical
necessity leaves young people with the false impression that marijuana
is a harmless drug. Academic Medicine agrees with the Food and Drug
Administration's last report that, "There are no sound scientific
studies" supporting the medical use of marijuana, despite anecdotal
accounts to the contrary.

Dr. Nicholas A. Pace

New York City

Pace is a clinical associate professor of medicine at New York
University Medical Center and co-author of "Teens Under the
Influence."