CANNABIS COULD REPLACE HARMFUL MEDS

Millions of Americans are living in pain; so many, in fact, that
doctors now prescribe enough painkillers in a single year to medicate
every person in the nation. According to a disturbing new study by
the Associated Press, Americans in 2005 consumed over 90,000
kilograms of powerful narcotic painkillers, not only codeine,
hydrocodone and morphine, but also meperidine (Demerol) and
oxycodone. In many cases, these drugs can be habit-forming. In some
cases, their use can be deadly.

But what if there were a safer, cheaper, and potentially more
effective alternative available for pain management -- one that
greatly reduced the user's risk of dependency, and one that was
incapable of causing a lethal overdose?

For a handful of Americans there is. That medicine is cannabis. In 12
states, including New Mexico, patients now can use cannabis
therapeutically under state law. Many of these patients use cannabis
for pain relief.

Investigators at San Francisco General Hospital and the University of
California's Pain Clinical Research Center assessed the efficacy of
inhaled cannabis on HIV-associated sensory neuropathy. Neuropathic
pain, colloquially known as nerve pain, affects an estimated 1
percent of the world's population and is typically unresponsive to
both opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications.

Researchers reported that patients who smoked low-grade cannabis
three times daily experienced, on average, a 34 percent reduction in
pain. Assessing the use of cannabinoids as analgesics has
demonstrated that they also can alleviate the neuropathy associated
with multiple sclerosis, diabetes, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.
Canadian health regulators just approved the use of an oral cannabis
spray for the treatment of cancer pain.

Survey data from numerous studies also indicates that medicinal pot
users typically require fewer pharmaceutical drugs than their
non-using counterparts. In June, investigators at Columbia University
reported that HIV patients who used cannabis therapeutically made
fewer requests for over-the-counter medications, such as pain
relievers and anti-nausea drugs, than subjects administered a placebo.

Evidence also demonstrates that cannabis has an adequate safety
profile, particularly when compared to other pain medications. For
instance, long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,
such as ibuprofen and naproxen, is a leading cause of stomach ulcers
and stomach bleeding, with some reports estimating that their use
contributes to more than 100,000 hospitalizations and 16,500 deaths
annually in the United States.

The use of narcotic painkillers such as oxycodone (OxyContin) to
treat chronic pain also poses serious health risks, including death
by overdose and addiction. Recently, a federal judge in Virginia
ordered OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma L.P. and three of its
executives to pay more than $634 million in fines for misleading the
public about the drug's risk of addiction.

By contrast, few users of cannabis, less than 10 percent, according
to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, ever
become dependent on the drug, and no human case of fatal overdose has
ever been attributed to cannabis.

Finally, cannabis is far less expensive to the consumer than most
prescription painkillers. For example, Americans spent $4.7 billion
on OxyContin between 2002 and 2004. By comparison, pain management
with medical cannabis can cost patients as little as $40 per month,
perhaps even less if they choose to grow their own medicine at home.

In states such as California, many medical-cannabis patients have the
option to participate in locally sanctioned not-for-profit
organizations which provide patients' access to medicine on a sliding
scale based on what they can afford.

According to the American Chronic Pain Association, one in three
Americans lives in persistent pain. Isn't it time to grant these
patients legal access to a non-toxic alternative that can help them
alleviate their pain and suffering?