MEDICAL MARIJUANA: A BLAZING DEBATE

Pot, reefer, weed, marijuana. Whatever name you associate with
cannabis, the plant and its various forms are now in the hands of
medical researchers and, in some U.S. states, the hands of prescribed
patients.

The uses for cannabis vary, and although it is sometimes viewed simply
as a psychoactive drug, its uses extend beyond recreation. Marijuana
is legal in 13 states for medical use, and many other states have
pending legislations on the issue.

The use of marijuana for medical purposes is still an ongoing debate
and many studies have been done in the past few years to highlight the
positive effects and the repercussions of marijuana use.

An article from Alternet, a news magazine, relayed a recent medical
marijuana debate between a study from a medical institute in New
Zealand and a study from medical school professor Donald Tashkin at
UCLA.

Jason Rainwater, a political science major, says that studies like
these "help people to become more aware of both sides of the issue and
to recognize both the positive and negative sides of medical marijuana."

Tashkin's 2005 study found that marijuana smokers were at a lower risk
of developing lung cancer than tobacco smokers, and tobacco smokers
who also smoked marijuana were at a lower risk of lung cancer than
those that solely smoked tobacco.

He also found that the risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
(COPD) was accelerated for tobacco smokers, but marijuana smokers and
non-smokers had similar rates of decline.

Tashkin's study at UCLA found that marijuana yielded positive effects
on the body. Negative effects were the summation of the following New
Zealand study.

Richard Beasley of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand
reported, from his 2008 study, that "those who smoked the equivalent
of one joint a day for 10 years had a 5.7 times higher lung cancer
risk than nonsmokers even after adjusting for tobacco use."

The researchers concluded that their study was "sufficient to convince
everybody that lung cancer has to be added to the list of secondary
effects of cannabis smoking, along with asthma and chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease."

The researchers' comments seem to come off as more of a personal
conclusion rather than a scientific one. Still, the 2008 New Zealand
study was reported on worldwide: quite a contrast from the study done
at UCLA a few years prior, which did not even get coverage from the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

The NIDA apparently did not view Tashkin's findings on the positive
aspects of marijuana use as worthy of printing. The negative findings
from New Zealand's study, however, gained international
recognition.

Tashkin investigated New Zealand's study and found the research to be
skewed.

"88% of their controls had never smoked marijuana, whereas 36% of our
controls (in Los Angeles) had never smoked marijuana," said Thaskin.
"Why did so few of the controls smoke marijuana?"

The controls of the New Zealand study led Tashkin to question the
findings. He also noted that the model used by the New Zealand
researchers to study lung function copied Tashkin's own study.

Although the two studies seem like polar opposites, some of the
evidence of the New Zealand study and the UCLA study can be partially
unified.

The New Zealand study found that marijuana smoke has twice as many
carcinogens than tobacco smoke, and it tends to be inhaled more
deeply. This leads to higher a concentration of smoke that is inhaled
into the lungs, which would result in more damage.

The study at UCLA found that some of the elements of smoke in
marijuana, such as THC, prevent cell malignancy even though they
damage cells in lung tissue. He found that the damaged cells die
instead of reproduce. With cancer, the cells reproduce uncontrollably;
this would prevent the spreading, and perhaps even the formation, of
cancer.

The research on marijuana continues, and with that research, comes
both legal action and ambiguity. A report from the Marijuana Policy
Project shows that only 26 states considered medical marijuana
legislation during the 2007 and/or 2008 legislative sessions.

Alex King, a health sciences and psychology double major, is not
dissuaded by the conflicting reports.

"While it's undeniable that marijuana has physical effects on the
brain and body, I think that given the legality of alcohol,
cigarettes, and other substances that also have harmful effects, it's
somewhat unjustifiable to keep marijuana as an illegal substance,"
said King.