POT'S MEDICINAL BENEFITS ARE CLEAR

Recently there was in The Star an article by Jeremy Boyer about experts
debating pot legalization. The debaters were a NORML guy, Allen St. Pierre,
and former DEA administrator Peter Bensinger. Part of Bensinger's argument
was that the medicinal benefits of cannabis are unproven. Actually the
historical record of hemp as medicine begins with its listing as an herbal
during the reign of Chinese emperor Chen Nung 5,000 years ago. It was
recommended for "absentmindedness" and "female disorders."

The first Westerner to observe cannabis used as medicine was W.B.
O'Shaughnessy who studied its use in India while teaching at the Medical
College of Calcutta. After doing animal studies to determine its safety he
used it on patients suffering from tetanus, rabies, rheumatism and epilepsy.
He found it effective as an analgesic and as a muscle relaxant. In 1842
O'Shaughnessy returned to England and in 1854 cannabis was listed in the
United States Dispensatory.

It was reported to the Ohio State Medical Society in 1860 to be useful in
the treatment of "tetanus neuralgia, dysmenorrhea (painful menstruation),
convulsions, the pain of rheumatism and childbirth, asthma, post-partum
psychosis, gonorrhea, and chronic bronchitis." It was noted to stimulate
appetite. H.A. Hare said it relieved anxiety and distracted a patient's mind
in terminal illness. Others found it effective with migraine.

Its use waned by the end of the 19th century, especially as an analgesic.
This was due to the invention of the hypodermic syringe, greatly increased
use of opiates and the development of synthetic drugs such as aspirin,
chloral hydrate and barbiturates. Also cannabis preparations differed in
potency and reactions to orally ingested cannabis varied.

Prescribing cannabis after the Marijuana Tax Act became so burdensome for
physicians that in 1941 it was removed from the United States Pharmacopeia
and National Formulary.

Bruce Dunn
Maple Grove

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst