MARIJUANA, THE ANTI-DRUG

The extent to which medical cannabis users discontinue or reduce
their use of pharmaceutical and over-the-counter drugs is a recurring
theme in a recent survey of pro-cannabis (PC) California doctors. The
drug-reduction phenomenon has obvious scientific implications.
Medicating with cannabis enables people to lay off stimulants as well
as sedatives -suggesting that the herb's active ingredients restore
homeostasis to various bodily systems. (Lab studies confirm that
cannabinoids normalize the tempo of many other neurotransmission
systems.) The political implications are equally obvious. Legalizing
herbal cannabis would devastate the pharmaceutical manufacturers and
allied corporations in the chemicals, oil, "food," and banking
sectors. Put simply, the synthetic drug makers stand to lose half
their sales if and when the American people get legal access to cannabis.

In the 10 years since Proposition 215 made it legal for California
doctors to approve cannabis use by patients, the PC docs did not
adopt a common intake questionnaire, and, with one exception, did not
collect systematic data on which pharmaceutical drugs their patients
had chosen to stop taking. However, the consistency with which the
doctors describe this phenomenon has a force as impressive as any
slickly presented "hard" data.

This summer I surveyed 19 PC doctors who, between them, had approved
and monitored cannabis use by more than 140,000 patients. Herewith
some replies to a question about patients reporting reduced reliance
on pharmaceuticals.

Frank Lucido, MD:

"Chronic pain patients report reduced use of opioids, NSAIDs, muscle
relaxants, sleeping pills. Psychiatric and insomnia patients reduce
use of tranquilizers, SSRI antidepressants, and sleeping pills.
Neurologic patients reduce use of opioids, muscle relaxants, NSAIDS,
triptans and other migraine headache remedies."

Marian Fry, MD:

"Medications discontinued or reduced include Oxycontin, Norco,
Percoset, Vicodin, Flexerol, Soma, Valium, SSRI antidepressants, and
blood-pressure medications Norvasic and Hydrochlorothiazide.
Approximately 1% of my patients report reduced reliance or
discontinuation of seizure medication by substituting Cannabis for
Dilantin and remaining seizure free. Many of my Glaucoma patients no
longer require their Timoptic drops and are able to maintain normal
pressures with the use of Cannabis. Many of my patients who have lost
hope in conventional pharmaceutical treatments report enhanced
health, decreased pain, decrease depression and an overall sense of
well being despite chronic illness."

Helen Nunberg, MD is medical director of MediCann, a statewide chain
of clinics through which 53,000 patients have received approvals.
Nunberg reviewed records of 1,800 patients seen at nine clinics.
"Prescription drug substitution is very significant," she writes.
"51% of the 1,800 patients report using cannabis as a substitute for
prescription medications; 48% report using cannabis to prevent
prescription medication side effects; 67% report using cannabis to
reduce dosage of prescription medication; 49% of patients using
cannabis for chronic pain were previously prescribed an opioid (such
as hydrocodone) by their personal physician."

Philip Denney, MD:

"Cannabis allows significant decreased use or elimination of many
prescription medications, particularly narcotics. Patients usually
report decreases of 50% or better."

Tom O'Connell, MD:

"Vicodin and other opioids; lithium; Klonopin; various sleep aids;
and the whole gamut of psychotropic medications from Prozac to Xanax.
I don't tell patients to stop taking anything, but I will suggest
they discuss it with the prescribing doctor. I have the feeling that
most don't."

Robert Sullivan, MD:

"Opiates, muscle relaxants, antidepressants, hypnotics (for sleep),
anxiolytics, neurontin, anti-inflammatories, anti-migraine drugs, GI
meds, prednisone (for asthma, arthritis)."

William Eidelman, MD:

"Opioids, sleeping pills, anxiolytics, SSRI anti-depressants."

Hanya Barth, MD:

"Approximately 90% of my patients have at one time or another tried
traditional medications for their symptoms and found that they
produced significant side effects. With cannabis most patients report
either being able to manage their symptoms without any other
medications, or using less than they would ordinarily have to. It is
not unusual to have patients come for a recommendation, bringing a
whole bag of medications that they are taking. They might then return
the following year saying that they no longer needed many of them and
had cut back on many others.

"It is also true that most patients who were using alcohol to manage
their symptoms or who were abusing alcohol or speed or opiates, etc.
find that they can stop these drugs when they have marijuana. Many
also report that they were using those drugs to manage certain
symptoms such as pain or anxiety and then became addicted. This is
especially true of certain populations, mainly the homeless and the
mentally ill. Even cigarette smokers often state that they can
substitute cannabis for nicotine.

"What amazes me overall is the efficacy and lack of side effects. It
is not that the pain stops but that the mind doesn't fixate on the
pain in the same way. In addition, the muscles that become tense
around an area of pain can cause secondary symptoms, which then are
relieved with cannabis. If someone is in pain and/or anxious, he or
she often has a hard time sleeping. With cannabis, patients report
that they are able to sleep better, wake up more refreshed, have less
secondary depression and are able to function more efficiently the
following day. Many hypnotics can only be taken at a certain time
(not at 4 a.m., for example). However, having a puff of cannabis at
that time will help them fall back asleep without a morning hangover."

Dr. A:

"Narcotics, including heavy narcotics such as Fentanyl."

William Courtney, MD:

"While the percentage of patients in my practice using cannabis for
management of ADHD is small, those who have discovered its benefits
are pleased that they can achieve control without having to continue
to use Ritalin, etc."

Tod Mikuriya, MD:

"Opioids, sedatives, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, and SSRI
anti-depressants are commonly used in smaller amounts or
discontinued. These are all drugs with serious adverse effects."

Jeffrey Hergenrather, MD:

"A cannabis specialist soon becomes aware of two remarkable facts.
The range of conditions that patients are treating successfully with
cannabis is extremely wide; and patients get relief with the use of
cannabis that they cannot achieve with any other pharmaceuticals.

"The testimonies that I hear on a daily basis from people with
serious medical conditions are moving and illuminating. From many
people with cancer and AIDS come reports that cannabis has saved
their lives by giving them an appetite, the ability to keep down
their medications, and mental ease. "No other drug works like
cannabis to reduce or eliminate pain without significant adverse
effects. It evidently works on parts of the brain involving
short-term memory and pain centers, enabling the patient to stop
dwelling on pain. Cannabis helps with muscle relaxation, and it has
an anti-inflammatory action. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis
stabilize with fewer and less destructive flare-ups with the regular
use of cannabis.

"Other rheumatic diseases similarly show remissions. Spasticity
cannot be treated any more quickly or efficiently than with cannabis,
and, again, without significant adverse effects.

"Patients who suffer from migraines can reduce or omit conventional
medications as their headaches become less frequent and less severe.
"About half of the patients with mood disorders find that they are
adequately treated with cannabis alone while others reduce their need
for other pharmaceuticals. In my opinion, there is no better drug for
the treatment of anxiety disorders, brain trauma and post-concussion
syndrome, ADD and ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder, and
post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are stabilized,
usually with comfort and weight gain, while most are able to avoid
use of steroids and other potent immunomodulator drugs.

"People who were formerly dependent on alcohol, opiates, amphetamines
and other addictive drugs have had their lives changed when
substituting with cannabis.

"Patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis and those with
transplanted kidneys show mental ease, comfort, and lack of
significant graft-versus-host incompatibility reactions in my small
series. "Diabetics report slightly lower and easier-to-control blood
sugar levels, yet to be studied and explained.

"Sleep patterns are typically improved, with longer and deeper sleep
without any hangover or significant adverse effects.

"Many patients with multiple sclerosis report that their condition
has not worsened for many years while they have been using cannabis
regularly. MS and other neurodegenerative diseases share the common
benefits of reduced pain and muscle spasms, improved appetite,
improved mood and fewer incontinence problems. Many patients with
epilepsy are adequately treated with or without the use of other
anticonvulsants.

"Patients with skin conditions associated with systemic disease such
as psoriasis, lupus, dermatitis herpetiformis, and eczema all report
easement and less itching when using cannabis regularly.

"Airway diseases such as asthma, sleep apnea, COPD, and chronic
sinusitis deserve special mention because I encourage the use of
cannabis vapor or ingested forms rather than smoking to reduce airway
irritation."

All these clinical reports jibe perfectly with lab studies showing
that synthetic THC enables rodents to achieve pain relief with half
the amount of opioids. (Under the rules of evidence established by
corporate Science, rodents are considered more trustworthy witnesses
than we, the people, are.)