TRANSCRIPT: DR. GRINSPOON'S VISIT TO THE DRUGSENSE CHAT ROOM

Dean Becker:

First off, I wonder if you heard about the UK police chiefs announcement,
the "legalization" of heroin today?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Dean, yes I've heard of that, but I know very little about it.

bumbleweed:

and um ms research?? Do you have any new comments??

Dr. Grinspoon:

Bumble, I think the MS research is beginning to establish with modern
double blind control studies what astute clinicians who have been observing
MS patients using cannabis have known for some time.

bumbleweed:

oh no it's okay i just wanted to see if you have any new findings

Jo-D:

doc, my first eye-opener was your 1972 book!! thanx for being there for me

Jo-D:

reconsidered, yah

Dr. Grinspoon:

JO-D, Marihuana Reconsidered was actually first published in 1971 with a
2nd edition in 1977. The American Archive Press republished it as a
"classic" about 5 or 6 years ago and to my surprise it continues to sell.

Dean Becker:

Dr. do you have a target date for the release of your next book?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Dean, no I do not have a target date because I haven't quite decided how to
put this book together. I assume you are talking about the book which will
come out of the Marihuana Uses Project: www.marijuana-uses.com .

Dean Becker:

Yes sir, I see it keeps growing from time to time.

Dr. Grinspoon:

Dean, incidentally we continue to look for well written essays for that
website.

allan:

Dr- URL on that website for us latecomers please

Dean Becker:

I'm trying to put together one Dr. Any length is okay, up to a point I guess?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Allan, my website is www.marijuana-uses.com .

allan:

Dr G- in your opinion with the new administration and its staunch stand
against cannabis in ANY of its forms has our job been made harder?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Allan, I think the new administration hopes to make our job more difficult,
but the times are against them. As more and more people discover how
useful cannabis is as a medicine, they also have the opportunity to become
acquainted with its remarkable safety and to some extent, it's other than
medical utilities.

Dr. Grinspoon:

As this knowledge grows, more and more people will be outraged by the
prohibition and understand the necessity to regulate it in roughly the same
way as alcohol is.

BigBong:

I just went to www.marijuana-uses.com for the first time and, having seen
what is there, I would ask who is writing your html.

Dr. Grinspoon:

Bigbong, my webmaster's name is Mark Gotlieb, a young lawyer who does this
on the side.

George McMahon:

Dr Grinspoon, With the constant barrage of medical info getting stronger
and stronger. What do you think is keeping med mJ illegal

Dean Becker:

If you would Dr. do you feel the time is right for more of us to leave the
"closet"? More advice on how to do so?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Dean, well as you may know, I have been open about my use of marijuana ever
since about 1974 when Barbara Walters asked me, Norman Zinberg and Robert
DuPont if we used marijuana. I was the only one who acknowledged my use and
have continued to do so.

Dr. Grinspoon:

Unfortunately, the Drug Free America foundation has now petitioned the
Commonwealth of Mass Board of Registration to revoke my license to practice
medicine because of this acknowledgement which they learned of through a
recent article in High Times.

Dr. Grinspoon:

I think it is very important to come out of the closet but one must be
mindful that there may be some unfortunate consequences.

Dr. Grinspoon:

Dean, as for my situation, I intend to fight this effort -- believe that I
will prevail.

Dean Becker:

I often see these recent events as the "death throes" of prohibition, any
agreement there?

Ben Masel:

Does approval of the san diego study while clinics are raided reflect a
split within the Bush Administration?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Ben, this may reflect a split in the administration but on the other hand,
it may simply be a way of saying that if cannabis is to be used as a
medicine it must first "pharmaceuticalized" i.e., turned into pills and
liquids which can be sold by pharmaceutical houses by pharmacies through
prescription.

Dr. Grinspoon:

This is a reflection of the government's concern that cannabis as a
medicine and cannabis as a prohibited physcoactive drug must be carefully
separated.

George McMahon:

Dr Grinspoon, With the constant barrage of medical info getting stronger
and stronger. What do you think is keeping med mj illegal

Dr. Grinspoon:

George, I think it has to do with the concern on the part of the government
that if marijuana is available as a medicine it will be used for purposes
that the government disapproves of, thus the push towards
pharmaceuticalization.

BigBong:

Does the USA Gov't have an exit strategy in place in the event that say,
the rest of the civilized world relegalized cannabis?

Dr. Grinspoon:

BB, not that I know of.

JayB:

? Dr. Any thoughts of the direction that the new Tsar Waters may take?

Dr. Grinspoon:

JayB, no, I like everyone else is very concerned about the directions he
may take, but we will just have to wait and see.

celaya:

Dr. Grinspoon. your Uses of Marijuana
(http://www.marijuana-uses.com/examples/default.htm) has been an important
resource for me. We need to get off the defensive. Do you have a
publishing date in mind yet?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Celaya, I'm delighted that you like the website and I hope I can find a way
to fashion these essays into a book on the many uses of cannabis. So far I
am not satisfied with anything that I've come up with and thus I have not
written a book proposal.

[18, Steven:

ok, what do Drs have to fear prescribing marijuana if medically it's
legal?? I had no trouble finding a Dr in 1999 to qualify for the exemption,
Now , no doctors want anything to do with it..

Dr. Grinspoon:

Steven, Doctors as a whole tend to be conservative. They also tend to shy
away from controversy and many of them are aware of just how ignorant they
are about cannabis as a medicine. They are accustomed to learning about
new drugs from drug companies' detail men and women "salespeople", medical
journals and other promotional devices, some of them quite seductive. There
is no equivalent prosetilizing [sic] of doctors where cannabis is concerned.

Dean Becker:

Doctor, I too wonder how long we can look civilized if the UK legalizes
heroin, let alone cannabis, how can we claim superiority with all the
obvious damage here?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Dean, I think what is going on in England and many of the European
countries, in Canada, Australia and New Zealand is evidence that the United
States DEA led hegemony in drugs is falling apart.

Dr. Grinspoon:

Ultimately, this has to lead to a loosening of this prohibition in the
United States.

FatFreddy:

Dr Grinspoon Why does the USA say that we can't have any hemp foods? When
are they going to outlaw Fiber?

Dr. Grinspoon:

FF, the outlawing of hemp is a measure of the abysmal ignorance of the
United States government where the plant cannabis sativa is concerned.

mrfreedom:

sorry, I'm late. Dr Grinspoon, as a psychiatrist, do you find any use for
cannabis or MDMA?

Dr. Grinspoon:

MRFreedom, yes I do and I believe the day will come when both of these
drugs will be part of the psychiatric armamentarium.

George McMahon:

Dr Grinspoon, that part really bugs me. Ht and others Claim up to 70 mil mj
users. That is a lot. Why is not speaking so important to so many?

Dr. Grinspoon:

George, at this time there is a price to be paid for speaking out for some
people. As time goes on, this price will go down just as it has for gay
people who have come out of the closet. The coming out for gays has been
very important, although it has not eliminated homophobia in this country,
it has done much to reduce it. Similarly, when people who use cannabis are
open about their use it will reduce the fear and mythology that surrounds this

mrfreedom:

Dr. G are any Dr's prescribing cannabis as a drug? i.e.. in relation to a
specific complaint or ailment?

mrfreedom:

Also, is it true or a myth that one can import personal use drugs; even if
not ok'ed by the FDA.

Dr. Grinspoon:

MrFreedom, no doctor in the United States can prescribe cannabis. In
states where initiatives or legislation allows for it, doctors can
recommend the use of marijuana, but as is becoming increasing evident with
the raids on the buyers clubs in California, the Federal Government is
expressing its disapproval of these initiatives.

Dr. Grinspoon:

MrF, I'm not sure about other drugs, but it is certainly not true about
cannabis.

JayB:

Dr. G. Have you seen the glioma suppression with cannabanoids story? Do you
feel it is suppressed or censored?

Dr. Grinspoon:

JayB, I do not believe that the information was suppressed or censored.

bumbleweed:

Dr. will you be able to recommend people to a study on humans, like the
University of San Diego has created?

Dr. Grinspoon:

BW, no individual studies have criteria for subjects which they insist the
subjects satisfy. They studies will not just take someone who wishes to be
a part of the study unless he/she satisfies these often stringent criteria.

bumbleweed:

so a person's symptoms have to be irrefutably diminished by marijuana use
before the study?

Dr. Grinspoon:

BW, no that's not what I mean. The criteria generally have to do with age,
gender, medical history, drug history and many other factors which have to
be controlled in a large double blind study.

Dean Becker:

Dr... have you seen the pieces by Catherine Fitts, Eugene Oscapella, re
drug lords own the corporations that run the US economy?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Dean, I have not seen those pieces.

George McMahon:

Dr Grinspoon, will you be lecturing again at the 2002 patients out of Time
medical Seminar in Portland?

Dr. Grinspoon:

George, I'm afraid I will not be lecturing at that seminar.

allan:

Nat'l Cannabis Therapeutics Conference, May 3-4, 2002, Portland OR

celaya:

Dr. Catherine Fitts work is here: http://narconews.com/narcodollars1.html
- -- It is the most important Reform writing in years!

mrfreedom:

Dr. G, perhaps this has been asked; how do we get a drug, cannabis, off the
DEA list I schedule and allow DR's to do their job without interference?

Dr. Grinspoon:

MrF, moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II will not automatically
make it a prescribable medicine. The FDA has to approve it as a medicine
first and before they do that they demand phase I, phase II, etc. studies.
These studies are now estimated to cost $800 million per new drug; the drug
companies will come up with this money to develop a new drug they believe
will pay off once it is approved as a medicine.

Dr. Grinspoon:

The money to support these studies for whole smoked marijuana will have to
come from a source other than pharmaceutical houses. The US government is
the most reasonable source but given its history towards cannabis as
medicine so far, this possibility seems quite remote.

Debra:

Dr. G., from your perspective how can we as activists enlist other health
care professionals such as yourself in the cause?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Debra, I think that health professionals are being very slowly educated
about cannabis as a medicine. The education is not reaching them through
the traditional drug company and medical journal routes, but rather through
patients successfully use cannabis as a medicine and make their doctors a
party to this success. For example, a doctor who has been struggling with
the weight reduction problem in an AIDS patient and learns how useful cannabis

Dr. Grinspoon:

Unfortunately many of them will say "don't tell anybody I told you
so". Eventually they will become bolder about sharing this knowledge.

Rainbow:

I looked at the mayo clinic site and they are still publishing the science
that marijuana causes breast enlargement in men, so they have not change in
that sense.

Dr. Grinspoon:

Rainbow, this false notion of marijuana induced enlargement of male breasts
began with the observation of two surgeons at the Cambridge Hospital in the
early 1970's.They overlooked the fact that a small number of adolescents go
through a temporary phase of breast development as part of the hormonal
storm of adolesence. Because a number of the adolescents they observed used
cannabis, they attributed the development to the drug.

Dr. Grinspoon:

Large scale studies including one in the US Army have failed to support
their conclusion. Nonetheless, the myth apparently continues to live, at
least at the Mayo Clinic.

BigBong:

DrG, how much time do you spend each day on-line?

Dr. Grinspoon:

BB, I spend much too much time online each day, and this is the reason that
I am unable to answer many e-mails.

mrfreedom:

Dr. G. in your experience have any patients switched from smoking to a
vaporizer and received the same effects for their condition?

Dr. Grinspoon:

MrF, yes as patients become increasingly aware and sophisticated about
vaporizers, more of them start to use them, particularly patients who
suffer from chronic pain or glaucoma and have to use cannabis a number of
times a day.

Ben Masel:

Are there any studies of topical application? i.e. cannabis butter applied
to the skin?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Ben, in the 19th century, it was used topically for a number of
conditions. The most popular one was applying tincture of cannabis to the
gums of babies who were having pain as a consequence of the emerging of
teeth. Some people today believe that a read and inflamed joint (usually
from arthritis) profits from a topical application of cannabis.

celaya:

Dr. G. Don't you think vaporizers eliminate 90 percent of the smoke
inhaled harm?

Dr. Grinspoon:

Celaya, I think vaporizers eliminate much of what is harmful in the
smoke. For example a recent study demonstrated that the product of a
vaporizer was almost completely aromatic amines (presumed carcinogenic
agents) benzeme, toluene, and naphthaline.

Ben Masel:

A friend w phantom limb pain got no relief from tincture, but much from
butter. seems better at carrying it thru the skin.

Dr. Grinspoon:

Ben, in my experience the best approach to phantom pain with cannabis is
through smoking it and in one case (referred to in the 2nd edition of my
book) through the use of marinol.

Dr. Grinspoon:

After one lecture at 8am this morning and the filming of a television show
this afternoon, I am about to fall asleep. I hope that to be able to do
this again in the near future.

allan:

Thanks so very much Dr g!

Dr. Grinspoon:

Thank you for the interesting questions.

Dean Becker:

Thank you Dr. Grinspoon, a great round of Q&A.

JayB:

Thank you Doctor! Huzzah!

celaya:

Thanks Dr Grinspoon. Please consider publishing Uses of Marijuana
now. The movement needs it.