THE CASE FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

In a piece published [1] here last week, Rachel Ehrenfeld reports
with dismay that the National Institute on Drug Abuse is presently
soliciting proposals from contractors to grow marijuana for research
and other purposes. Unfortunately, Ehrenfeld's misunderstanding of
this request for proposals is so monumental that one doesn't know
whether to laugh or cry.

Ehrenfeld suggests that this is some sinister part of "ObamaCare."
"For the first time," she writes, "the government is soliciting
organizations that can grow marijuana on a 'large scale,' with the
capability to 'prepare marijuana cigarettes and related products ...
distribute marijuana, marijuana cigarettes and cannabinoids, and
other related products' not only for research, but also for 'other
government programs.'"

Ehrenfeld spends several paragraphs explaining how this is all the
evil brainchild of George Soros, the pet villain of prohibitionists.
After all, "Since when is the U.S. government in the business of
distributing marijuana cigarettes?"

Since 1978, actually. The federal government has been distributing
medical marijuana to a small group of patients for more than [2]
three decades via a program known as an IND (for "investigational new
drug"). This program has been covered in the media from [3] time to
time, and still exists, although it was closed to new enrolment by
President George H.W. Bush in 1992. It's not exactly a state secret.

In addition, under present (thoroughly dysfunctional) rules,
scientists doing clinical research on marijuana must obtain the
marijuana for testing [4] from NIDA. Since the 1970s, the government
has contracted with the University of Mississippi to produce
marijuana for this purpose, and all expectations are that the
university will get the contract again. In other words, there is
nothing new here.

Having completely misconstrued NIDA's request for proposals as
something new and sinister, Ehrenfeld proceeds with a selective,
wildly distorted description of research on medical marijuana,
claiming, "The evidence about the harm caused by marijuana to the
individual user and society is overwhelming."

In fact, there is a wealth of research that documents marijuana's
medical [5] efficacy and safety, and a vast array of medical and
public health organizations that have recognized marijuana's [6]
medical potential.

For the record, let's consider a bit of what's been said about
medical marijuana by organizations that are presumably not part of
the Evil Soros Conspiracy. Bear in mind that this is just a tiny
sampling of the material that's available from respected medical organizations.

. From the 124,000-member [7] American College of Physicians:

"Given marijuana's proven efficacy at treating certain symptoms and
its relatively low toxicity, reclassification [out of Schedule I of
the federal Controlled Substances Act] would reduce barriers to
research and increase availability of cannabinoid drugs to patients
who have failed to respond to other treatments. ...

"Evidence not only supports the use of medical marijuana in certain
conditions but also suggests numerous indications for cannabinoids."

. From the [8] American Nurses Association:

"There is a growing body of evidence that marijuana has a significant
margin of safety when used under a practitioner's supervision when
all of the patient's medications can be considered in the therapeutic
regimen. ...

"There is significant research that demonstrates a connection between
therapeutic use of marijuana/cannabis and symptom relief. The
American Nurses Association actively supports patients' rights to
legally and safely access marijuana/cannabis for symptom management
and to promote quality of life for patients needing such an
alternative to conventional therapy."

. From the Lymphoma Foundation of America, HIV Medicine Association
of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and others (in a [9]
brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court):

"For certain persons the medical use of marijuana can literally mean
the difference between life and death. At a minimum, marijuana
provides some seriously ill patients the gift of relative health and
the ability to function as productive members of society."

And finally, from a study of smoked marijuana as a treatment for
HIV-related nerve pain, published in the February 13, 2007, issue of
the journal [10] Neurology:

"The first cannabis cigarette reduced chronic pain by a median of 72%
vs. 15% with placebo ... No serious adverse events were reported.
Conclusion: Smoked cannabis was well tolerated and effectively
relieved chronic neuropathic pain from HIV-associated sensory neuropathy."

Marijuana has been used as a medicine for some 5,000 years--maybe
longer, actually, but written records only go back that far. In the
world of scientific reality--not to be confused with the BizarroWorld
inhabited by certain prohibition ideologues--it is both effective at
treating a number of troubling symptoms and safer than the
pharmaceuticals taken by millions of patients every day. Indeed, as a
"recreational" substance it's vastly safer than booze. But it's much
easier to imagine conspiracies run by billionaires with
foreign-sounding names than it is to read and understand the actual research.

This article first appeared at forbes.com. Bruce Mirken, a longtime
health writer, serves as director of communications for the [11]
Marijuana Policy Project.

REFERENCES

1. http://drugsense.org/url/hrqFXWxS

2. http://drugsense.org/url/EmG1kbx7

3. http://drugsense.org/url/HE4Hi7XI

4. http://www.maps.org/sys/nq.pl?id=1921

5. http://www.mpp.org/assets/pdfs/library/MedConditionsHandout.pdf

6. http://www.mpp.org/library/medical-marijuana-overview.html

7. http://drugsense.org/url/RTJp0V7l

8. http://drugsense.org/url/sPuJf8tI

9. http://drugsense.org/url/bplTeMy6

10. http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/68/7/515

11. http://www.mpp.org/