Pubdate: Thu, 17 Mar 2005
Source: Courier (Pasadena City College, CA Edu)
Contact:  2005 Courier
Website: http://www.pcc-courieronline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3726
Note: LTE priority is given to people who reside in California
Author: Jennifer MacDonald, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS NO DOPEY MATTER

Myasthenia gravis, a rare neurological disorder that affects the
muscles causing loss of strength with each use of that muscle, is one
of many illnesses for which marijuana is prescribed. The naturally
growing plant can aid in reducing side effects like loss of appetite
and stomach cramps caused by medication taken to alleviate symptoms of
the disease.

In California someone suffering from myasthenia gravis or a number of
other illnesses can receive a prescription from a doctor allowing
legal marijuana use at least under state law. But the patient can't
wander down to Rite Aid to fill this prescription. And most places set
up to provide marijuana to medical users called "Cannabis Clubs," are
raided by narcotics agents. This prevents medical users from having a
reliable source for the medicine and they are left to buy the
beneficial herb off the streets.

The legalization of marijuana for medical use on the state level is a
step in the right direction toward a system where AIDS, cancer and
glaucoma patients could obtain the medicine in an organized, legal and
safe way. But the federal government not only continues to oppose
legalization for medical use, they refuse to declassify marijuana as a
Schedule I substance: illegal and having no medical benefits.

Marijuana was technically still legal for doctors to prescribe until
the Uniform Controlled Substances Act of 1970 placed it in the same
class as heroin.

No medical benefits? Then why do cancer patients undergoing
chemotherapy praise the drug, saying it reduces nausea and increases
their appetite? Why do multiple sclerosis patients say it relives
muscle spasms?

Research has proven its ability to protect brain cells from toxic
levels of chemicals that occur during a stroke. For those who suffer
from glaucoma, marijuana reduces pressure on the ocular nerve
resulting in less damage to the nerve so vision is not lost.

With federal approval, research could be further explored to tap into
the potential medical benefits of the primary components of marijuana,
tetrahydocannabinol (THC) and cannabinol.

But the federal government is too stubborn to legalize marijuana. In
1992 the federal compassionate use program, which still provides
"joints" to a handful of seriously ill patients, was discontinued
because it was said to undercut the war on drugs.

The population is supposedly saved from marijuana at the expense of
the sick and potentially sick.

Over the years, the government has called marijuana a "gateway drug"
to heroin, the drug of choice for lazy potheads, and the cause of
teenage psychosis. Since medical marijuana remains banned in the
United States, it seems the plant's role as a potentially helpful
medicine has been overshadowed by unfounded rumors of its dark side.

So where did the negative association with marijuana come from? To
understand, one must understand the herb's history that dates back to
1 A.D. where it is identified in a Chinese pharmaceutical book as a
cure for over 100 ailments. Over the centuries, marijuana was used all
over the world as both a medicine and a recreational drug. In the
United States during the early 1900s, cocaine and opium were available
in over-the-counter elixirs. The population quickly became addicted to
these narcotics, prompting a series of laws that eventually banned
these drugs. But marijuana was left untouched until the 1930s when
Harry J. Anslinger, head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, launched
a campaign against the drug that was stereotypically used by jazz
musicians and Mexican immigrants. This is where marijuana gained its
reputation as an evil drug that drives its user to harder drugs or
insanity.

Fearful, states quickly prohibited the non-medical use of the drug.
But the federal government wasn't satisfied so it enacted the
Marihuana Tax Act that imposed so high a tax on importation that
doctors stopped prescribing the drug.

The government's control of marijuana has been sneaky and unfair. For
thousands of years the sick used marijuana as medicine. Now we have
many other drugs that have been developed, but current research has
also shown new ways marijuana can help sick people.

Until the federal government is willing to listen to the patients,
doctors, researchers and historians who support the legalization of
medical marijuana, its use by the sick for healing will remain a
criminal act and its values will be left untapped.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake