MARIJUANA MYTHS

Re: "Marijuana not totally safe" by Michael Orlin, letters, May 12

Michael Orlin may be a "medical professional," but his opinions about
marijuana and immunosuppression are seriously flawed and long out of
date. It appears Orlin bases his immunosuppression theory on the work
of disgraced cannabophobe Dr. Gabriel Nahas who tried to prove
immunosuppression in vitro by using massive amounts of cannabis that
were near lethal when applied to animals. No other researchers have
ever been able to replicate Nahas's work, and Nahas was kicked out of
Columbia University because of his fraudulent research on marijuana.

The immunosuppression myth is based on studies where animals were
given extremely high - in many cases, near-lethal -doses of
cannabinoids. These results have never been duplicated in human
beings. Interestingly, two studies done in 1978 and one done in 1988
showed that hashish and marijuana actually stimulated the immune
system in the people studied. The recent discovery of a cannabinoid
receptor inside rat spleens, where immune cells reside, raises the
likelihood that cannabinoids exert a positive influence on the immune system.

As a member of the St. Joseph Hospital Pain Management team, no doubt
Orlin comes into contact with some real immune damage caused by
anti-cancer drugs such as Cisplatin, Chlorambucil, Carboplatin and
nitrogen mustards that destroy the patient's ability to fight a host
of common infections. Anti-cancer drugs are so highly toxic to the
immune system that patients are warned to stay away from people with
colds, flus and other common infections that might be fatal with the
immune system shut down.

Not one case of marijuana-induced immune deficiency has ever been
clinically or epidemiologically detected in humans.

Source:
Myth: Marijuana Damages the Immune System
http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3475#16

Is marijuana bad for the immune system?

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=128

The National Commission On Marihuana And Drug Abuse Marihuana: A
Signal Of Misunderstanding: SCIENTIFIC OVERSIMPLIFICATION
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/nc/mis2_12.htm

The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cu5.html

Psychoactive Substances and Violence

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/GOVPUBS/psycviol.htm

Programme For A Medical Prescription Of Narcotics
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/programme.htm

Status Report On The Medical Prescription Of Narcotics.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/library%5Ctlcswiss.cfm

Swiss Heroin Maintenance Program Declared a Success
http://www.ndsn.org/AUGUST97/SWISS.html

Swiss Voters Overwhelmingly Support Heroin Maintenance Program
http://www.ndsn.org/novdec97/swiss.htm

Did Alcohol Prohibition Reduce Alcohol Consumption and
Crime?

http://www.druglibrary.org/prohibitionresults.htm and
http://www.druglibrary.org/prohibitionresults.htm#a2

Should the amphetamines be prohibited?
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cu40.htm

Redford Givens, Webmaster
DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy, San Francisco