CANNABIS HAS HERBAL BENEFITS RESEARCH CAN HELP UNLOCK

As a child of the '60s, I was well aware of the recreational value of
cannabis. (Yes, I inhaled, but as a non-smoker, I didn't do it very well.)
Its virtues were extolled in music and films. The biggest joke was that you
were using it for "medicinal purposes."

Recently, there was an article in The News about an advisory panel that has
concluded that compounds found in marijuana are effective for easing pain
and relieving nausea. It turns out there are very real medicinal virtues to
this forbidden herb.

Cannabis has been used for centuries, by many cultures, as a drug to combat
illness. It was officially listed in pharmaceutical repertoires in Europe
and America.

One of the first professionally prepared pharmaceuticals was a compound
called Squire's Extract, used to treat typhus and rabies. There were dozens
of cannabis-based remedies available by either prescription or over the
counter, including Chlorodyne, a stomachic made by Squibb; Dr. Browns
Sedative Tablets; One Day Cough Syrup;
Syrup Tolou; Syrup Lobelia; and Corn Collodium. Parke-Davis manufactured
several cannabis-based medications, including Casadein, Utroval and
Veterinary Colic medicine. Some of the largest companies in the world were
involved in their research and development.

In time, the pharmaceutical companies stopped using cannabis because they
were unable to standardize the levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol, Cannabidiol
and Cannabinol. Without standardization, there was no profit in developing
a drug from it.

As anecdotal evidence stimulates interest in the therapeutic applications of
cannabis, "empirical" data accumulates. From this data, scientific interest
centers on conditions that responded well to the use of cannabis, the most
familiar being nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy.

As early as 1970, patients undergoing chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease and
other cancers discovered that if they smoked cannabis before receiving
chemotherapy, they suffered less nausea and vomiting.

Research has demonstrated that cannabis has very beneficial effects on
patients suffering from glaucoma. It reduces the symptoms caused by high
ocular-fluid levels. It is a proven appetite stimulant, which can be
valuable to AIDS patients suffering from "wasting away syndrome." It even
has the potential to be used in cases of anorexia.

Cannabis is a herb that needs to be heated to release the effects of the
synergistic compounds and help the body assimilate it. That is why smoking
pot or baking it into food is the preferred way to consume it.

It is also effective when made into a hot tea and sipped slowly. This form
also helps flush the body of toxins and keeps the body hydrated. If the
pharmaceutical companies can find a more efficient delivery mechanism, such
as an inhaler, it appears that medical marijuana may become a reality.

The active compound in Cannabis, called THC, has been produced in synthetic
form by Ely Lilly and marketed under the generic name Dronabinol, and the
trade name Marinol. It has been prescribed for many of the same things that
cannabis has been used to treat. More research is being done to determine
the mechanisms that allow cannabis to affect the body's neurological system.

Hopefully, this is an area where science and medicine can join the long
historical uses of plant medicine to benefit people with serious illness and
speed their recovery. And, like the poppy plant, which gave us morphine,
marijuana can become a standard part of our pharmacopoeia.

PATRA A. MANGUS has been a professional herbalist for the past 27 years. She
owns and operates Bi-Nutrients Herbal Information Center in Buffalo.

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