1 Page about Medical Uses of Marijuana?
The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR), a three-year research initiative established in 1999 by the California state legislature, has funded several placebo-controlled clinical trials of smoked marijuana to treat neuropathic pain, pain from other causes, and spasticity in multiple sclerosis, and the results are likely to be available soon. The National Institute on Drug Abuse provided both the active marijuana and the "placebo," a smokable version of the drug from which dronabinol (9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC) and certain other active constituents had been removed. "It's like decaf coffee or nicotine-free cigarettes, and it tastes the same [as marijuana]," said Igor Grant, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the CMCR. He said additional studies of the whole plant, as well as its individual components, are still needed. "It's still the case that we don't know which components of botanical marijuana have beneficial effects, if any," he said.
In an open-label trial, oncologist Donald I. Abrams of the University of California, San Francisco, found evidence of marijuana's effectiveness in the treatment of neuropathic pain among HIV-infected patients and has just finished a placebo-controlled trial that he intends to publish soon. Abrams has also shown that cannabinoids that are smoked or taken orally do not adversely affect drug treatment of HIV, and he is completing a study that compares blood levels of cannabinoids among volunteers who inhaled vaporized marijuana with similar levels among volunteers who smoked the drug. Vaporizers heat the drug to a temperature below that required for combustion, producing vapor that contains the active ingredients without the tar or particulates thought to be responsible for most of the drug's adverse effects on the respiratory tract.
Meanwhile, a new marijuana-derived drug is on the Canadian market and may soon be considered for approval by the Food and Drug Administration. Sativex, a liquid cannabis extract that is sprayed under the tongue, was approved in Canada in June for the treatment of neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis. Its principal active ingredients are dronabinol and cannabidiol, which are believed to be the primary active components of marijuana. The drug's manufacturer, GW Pharmaceuticals of Britain, is also testing it for cancer pain, rheumatoid arthritis, postoperative pain, and other indications. Marinol, a synthetic version of dronabinol supplied in capsules, is approved in the United States for chemotherapy-associated nausea and for anorexia and wasting among patients with AIDS.
On the day the Supreme Court ruling was announced, John Walters, President George W. Bush's "drug czar," issued a statement declaring, "Today's decision marks the end of medical marijuana as a political issue. . . . We have a responsibility as a civilized society to ensure that the medicine Americans receive from their doctors is effective, safe, and free from the pro-drug politics that are being promoted in America under the guise of medicine." Nine days later, the House of Representatives, for the third year in a row, defeated a measure that would have prevented the Justice Department from spending money to prosecute medical marijuana cases under federal law.
Nevertheless, marijuana advocates insist that the long-running battle between federal and state governments over the medicinal use of marijuana is far from over. Activists next plan to focus on getting more states to pass laws legalizing medical marijuana, according to Steve Fox, former director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project.
It is surprising that the Supreme Court decision does not necessarily spell the end even of Angel Raich's legal case. Raich and another California patient, Diane Monson, who initially sued to prevent the Justice Department from prosecuting them or their suppliers, won a favorable ruling in 2003 from California's Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Supreme Court's reversal now sends their case back to that court. Raich said that she, Monson, and their attorneys will ask the appeals court judges to consider other legal arguments, such as whether prosecuting patients who use marijuana to relieve pain violates their right to due process of law. "Previous decisions have established that there is a fundamental right to preserve one's life and avoid needless pain and suffering," explained Boston University's Randy Barnett, a constitutional lawyer who argued the women's case before the Supreme Court. "Federal restriction on accessibility to medical cannabis is an infringement" on that right, he said.
Raich vowed to continue her personal battle. "I'm stubborn as heck, so I don't plan to give it up that easily. I plan to fight until I can't fight anymore," she said.
Medical Marijuana Reports
Health Reports
Marijuana's therapeutic uses are well-documented in modern scientific literature. The studies indicate that marijuana provides symptomatic relief for a number of medical conditions, including nausea and vomiting, stimulating appetite, promoting weight gain, and diminishing intraocular pressure from glaucoma. There is also evidence that smoked marijuana and/or THC reduces muscle spasticity from spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, and diminishes tremors in multiple sclerosis patients. Patients and physicians have also reported that smoked marijuana provides relief from migraine headaches, depression, seizures, insomnia and chronic pain, among other conditions.
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