WHAT IS ALL THE HYPE OVER MEDICAL MARIJUANA?

Cannabis has always been a medicine, found in China at 4,000 B.C.
and in Turkestan in 3,000 B.C., and also by Chinese Emperor Chen Nung
over 5,000 years ago. It was recommended for malaria, constipation,
rheumatic pains, "absentmindedness" and "female disorders."

In the West, cannabis did not come into its own as a medicine until
the mid-nineteenth century. From 1840 to 1900, over 100 papers were
written recommending it for various illness and discomfort. In 1985,
the Food And Drug Administration (FDA) approved dronabinol (Marinol)
for the treatment of the nausea and vomiting from cancer
chemotherapy. Dronabinol is a solution of synthetic
tetrahydrocannabinol in sesame oil (the sesame oil is meant to
protect against the possibility that the contents of the capsule
could be smoked).

We now know another fortuitous property of marijuana is that there is
a temperature window which is below the ignition point of cannabis,
but within a range in which the cannabinoids will vaporize. There is
now generally available a device known as a vaporizer which takes
advantage of this property. It holds herbal marijuana at a
temperature of between 2840F and 3920F, thus allowing the patient to
inhale the therapeutic cannabinoids free of any of the products of
the burning plant material, including putative carcinogens.

Today we know cannabis sativa and cannabis indica (the two types of
cannabis) both respectfully have medicinal properties. Cannabinoid
receptors are often more common in the brain than are opiate
receptors. This tells us our brain is hardwired to ingest this
age-old plant as a medicine rather than synthetic and highly
addictive opiates and other synthetics.

In a doctor's eyes this is not often true, as the unknown origin of a
plant and raw combustion of plant material is often too dangerous and
too hard to manipulate doses and because of other unknown organic
matter that may be ingested (I often believe it to be true in some
health problems).

There has never been reported a case of lung cancer or emphysema
attributable to the smoking of cannabis, nor an overdose. This leads
me to think -- what is the hype over medical marijuana or cannabis?

Casey O'Halloran

New Castle