Pubdate: Fri, 02 Jun 2006
Source: Monterey County Herald (CA)
Copyright: 2006 Monterey County Herald
Contact:  http://www.montereyherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/273
Author: Bruce Mirken
Note: Bruce Mirken, a longtime health journalist, is director of 
communications for the Marijuana Policy Project (www.mpp.org). The 
writer wrote this for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal 
commentary on domestic and international issues.
Cited: The Institute of Medicine report 
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/marimed/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Donald+Tashkin
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Stephen+Sidney
Bookmark:  http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark:  http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm  (Opinion)

WASHINGTON'S MARIJUANA LIE

The White House's War on Drugs Is Off the Mark

Last year, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy ran 
an ad in newspapers around the country, warning parents, "Quite a few 
people think that smoking pot is less likely to cause cancer than a 
regular cigarette.

"You may even have heard some parents say they'd rather their kid 
smoked a little pot than get hooked on cigarettes. Wrong, and wrong again."

The same message was included in a television spot aimed at young 
people, titled "Four Cigarettes."

Actually, it was the White House that was wrong.

Even very heavy marijuana smokers are not at increased risk for lung 
cancer, according to a new study.

On May 23, University of Californa-Los Angeles researcher Dr. Donald 
Tashkin presented new findings that should make the White House stop 
lying about this issue. But don't count on it.

In the UCLA study, even people who had smoked more than 22,000 
marijuana cigarettes had no increase in lung cancer rates, while for 
heavy cigarette smokers, the risk of lung cancer was increased by 
2,000 percent.

The new data are important but not a surprise.

In a 10-year, 65,000-patient study conducted at the Kaiser-Permanente 
HMO, Dr. Stephen Sidney found the same result: Cigarette smokers had 
much higher rates of cancer of the lung, mouth and throat than non- 
smokers, but marijuana smokers who didn't smoke tobacco had no such increase.

Others experts agree.

In its 1999 White House-commissioned report, "Marijuana and Medicine: 
Assessing the Science Base," the prestigious Institute of Medicine 
reported, "There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes 
cancer in humans, including cancers usually related to tobacco use."

This is not exactly obscure research. The White House simply ignored it.

And there is actually a great deal of evidence that marijuana's 
active components, called cannabinoids, may stop tumor growth and 
selectively kill cancer cells, leaving normal cells untouched.

If that seems surprising, it shouldn't. Dozens of lab and animal 
studies, published in some of the world's leading medical journals, 
have documented these effects. But the mass media have rarely 
reported on them, and our government has ignored this important work, 
just as it ignores anything that might contradict official dogma.

The ethical thing for the Office of National Drug Control Policy to 
do would be to publicly retract its misleading ads. Correcting errors 
and even issuing full retractions of stories that prove incorrect is 
common practice among news organizations and scientific journals alike.

It's no fun for anyone concerned, but the pursuit of truth demands it.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake