WHAT THE RESEARCH SHOWS

Re: "Charting the Rise of Medical Cannabis," Legalization Nation, 11/17

Here are just some of the many studies the Feds wish they'd never commissioned:

1) MARIJUANA USE HAS NO EFFECT ON MORTALITY: A massive study of
California HMO members funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse
(NIDA) found marijuana use caused no significant increase in
mortality. Tobacco use was associated with increased risk of death.
Sidney, S et al. Marijuana Use and Mortality. American Journal of
Public Health. Vol. 87 No. 4, April 1997. p. 585-590. Sept. 2002.

2) HEAVY MARIJUANA USE AS A YOUNG ADULT WON'T RUIN YOUR LIFE:
Veterans Affairs scientists looked at whether heavy marijuana use as
a young adult caused long-term problems later, studying identical
twins in which one twin had been a heavy marijuana user for a year or
longer but had stopped at least one month before the study, while the
second twin had used marijuana no more than five times ever.
Marijuana use had no significant impact on physical or mental health
care utilization, health-related quality of life, or current
socio-demographic characteristics. Eisen SE et al. Does Marijuana Use
Have Residual Adverse Effects on Self-Reported Health Measures,
Socio-Demographics or Quality of Life? A Monozygotic Co-Twin Control
Study in Men. Addiction. Vol. 97 No. 9. p.1083-1086. Sept. 1997

3) THE "GATEWAY EFFECT" MAY BE A MIRAGE: Marijuana is often called a
"gateway drug" by supporters of prohibition, who point to statistical
"associations" indicating that persons who use marijuana are more
likely to eventually try hard drugs than those who never use
marijuana - implying that marijuana use somehow causes hard drug use.
But a model developed by RAND Corp. researcher Andrew Morral
demonstrates that these associations can be explained "without
requiring a gateway effect." More likely, this federally funded study
suggests, some people simply have an underlying propensity to try
drugs, and start with what's most readily available. Morral AR,
McCaffrey D and Paddock S. Reassessing the Marijuana Gateway Effect.
Addiction. December 2002. p. 1493-1504.

4) PROHIBITION DOESN'T WORK: The White House had the National
Research Council examine the data being gathered about drug use and
the effects of US drug policies. NRC concluded, "the nation possesses
little information about the effectiveness of current drug policy,
especially of drug law enforcement." And what data exist show "little
apparent relationship between severity of sanctions prescribed for
drug use and prevalence or frequency of use." In other words, there
is no proof that prohibition - the cornerstone of US drug policy for
a century - reduces drug use. National Research Council. Informing
America's Policy on Illegal Drugs: What We Don't Know Keeps Hurting
Us. National Academy Press, 2001. p. 193.

5) PROHIBITION MAY CAUSE THE "GATEWAY EFFECT"?): US and Dutch
researchers, supported in part by NIDA, compared marijuana users in
San Francisco, where non-medical use remains illegal, to Amsterdam,
where adults may possess and purchase small amounts of marijuana from
regulated businesses. Looking at such parameters as frequency and
quantity of use and age at onset of use, they found the following:
Cannabis (Marijuana) use in San Francisco was 3 times the prevalence
found in the Amsterdam sample. And lifetime use of hard drugs was
significantly lower in Amsterdam, with its "tolerant" marijuana
policies. For example, lifetime crack cocaine use was 4.5 times
higher in San Francisco than Amsterdam. Reinarman, C, Cohen, PDA, and
Kaal, HL. The Limited Relevance of Drug Policy: Cannabis in Amsterdam
and San Francisco. American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 94, No. 5.
May 2004. p 836-842.

6) OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER (PART 1): Federal researchers
implanted several types of cancer, including leukemia and lung
cancers, in mice, then treated them with cannabinoids (unique, active
components found in marijuana). THC and other cannabinoids shrank
tumors and increased the mice's lifespans. Munson, AE et al.
Antineoplastic Activity of Cannabinoids. Journal of the National
Cancer Institute. Sept. 1975. p. 597-602.

7) OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER, (PART 2): In a 1994 study the
government tried to suppress, federal researchers gave mice and rats
massive doses of THC, looking for cancers or other signs of toxicity.
The rodents given THC lived longer and had fewer cancers, "in a
dose-dependent manner" (i.e. the more THC they got, the fewer
tumors). NTP Technical Report On The Toxicology And Carcinogenesis
Studies Of 1-Trans- Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, CAS No. 1972-08-3,
In F344/N Rats And B6C3F Mice, Gavage Studies. See also, "Medical
Marijuana: Unpublished Federal Study Found THC-Treated Rats Lived
Longer, Had Less Cancer," AIDS Treatment News no. 263, Jan. 17, 1997.

8) OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER (PART 3): Researchers at the
Kaiser-Permanente HMO, funded by NIDA, followed 65,000 patients for
nearly a decade, comparing cancer rates among non-smokers, tobacco
smokers, and marijuana smokers. Tobacco smokers had massively higher
rates of lung cancer and other cancers. Marijuana smokers who didn't
also use tobacco had no increase in risk of tobacco-related cancers
or of cancer risk overall. In fact their rates of lung and most other
cancers were slightly lower than non-smokers, though the difference
did not reach statistical significance. Sidney, S. et al. Marijuana
Use and Cancer Incidence (California, United States). Cancer Causes
and Control. Vol. 8. Sept. 1997, p. 722-728.

9) OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER (PART 4): Donald Tashkin, a
UCLA researcher whose work is funded by NIDA, did a case-control
study comparing 1,200 patients with lung, head, and neck cancers to a
matched group with no cancer. Even the heaviest marijuana smokers had
no increased risk of cancer, and had somewhat lower cancer risk than
non-smokers (tobacco smokers had a 20-fold increased Lung Cancer
risk). Tashkin D. Marijuana Use and Lung Cancer: Results of a
Case-Control Study. American Thoracic Society International
Conference. May 23, 2006.

10) MARIJUANA DOES HAVE GREAT MEDICAL VALUE: In response to the
passage of California's medical marijuana law, the White House had
the Institute of Medicine (IOM) review the data on marijuana's
medical benefits and risks. The IOM concluded, "Nausea, appetite
loss, pain and anxiety are all afflictions of wasting, and all can be
mitigated by marijuana." The report also added, "we acknowledge that
there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic
conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana, such as pain
or AIDS wasting." The government's refusal to acknowledge this
finding caused co-author John A. Benson to tell The New York Times
that the government "loves to ignore our report ... they would rather
it never happened." Joy, JE, Watson, SJ, and Benson, JA. Marijuana
and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. National Academy Press.
1999. p. 159. See also, Harris, G. FDA Dismisses Medical Benefit From
Marijuana. The New York Times. Apr. 21, 2006

Malcolm Kyle, New York