Pubdate: Sat, 23 Feb 2008
Source: News Tribune, The (Tacoma, WA)
Copyright: 2008 Tacoma News Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenewstribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/442

SMOKING IS HEALTHY?

Well, no, smoking isn't actually healthy. But the  American College of
Physicians -- an association of  internists -- recently decided that
smoking marijuana  is therapeutic, right?

Not quite. We need to draw a crucial distinction here.  What a lot of
people don't get -- and other people try  to obscure -- is that the
real argument about medical  marijuana is about delivery, not content.

One guy who apparently doesn't get it is the writer of  the Los
Angeles Times article on the College's position  paper. The story
dwelt on marijuana advocates' glee  that the ACP had joined their
cause. It accurately  noted the ACP's (accurate) conclusion that some
of the  chemicals in cannabis had medicinal value. But it left  out a
small detail: The College pointedly rejected the  smoking of marijuana.

Take this excerpt, for example:

"The chronic effects of smoked marijuana are of much  greater concern,
as its gas and tar phases contain many  of the same compounds as
tobacco smoke. Chronic use of  smoked marijuana is associated with
increased risk of  cancer, lung damage, bacterial pneumonia, and poor
pregnancy outcomes."

Also: "Although the long-term effects of smoked  marijuana may not be 
relevant for patients with  terminal illnesses or debilitating 
symptoms, the  residual effects of smoked marijuana are 
prohibitive  for long-term medical use."

In other words, you don't get healthy by smoking bud.  Sorry to spoil
the party, dudes.

What the ACP actually advocates is the development of  pure, precisely
dosed pharmaceuticals -- not smoke from  burning leaves -- that
deliver the medically useful  compounds in cannabis like, well, real
medicine.

And since the dope-smoking lobby is cherry-picking from  this report,
let's pick a couple cherries of our own:

- - In "medical marijuana" states like Washington,  marijuana cigarettes
are sometimes recommended for  chronic conditions (see "chronic
effects" above). These  include glaucoma and epilepsy. But the ACP is
highly  skeptical of marijuana's much-touted power to treat  these
conditions.

- - The high-inducing tetrahydracannabinol (THC) in  marijuana does
relieve pain at lower doses. But it  intensifies sensitivity to pain
at higher doses --  another good reason for controlled doses.

The ACP does fall in with High Times in calling for the  federal
government not to threaten doctors or patients  with prosecution in
states that allow medical  marijuana. The problem here is that
criminal  drug-dealing syndicates have been concealing themselves
among good faith medical marijuana operations.

On the science, the College is dead on. On the  realities of law
enforcement, maybe not so much.
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MAP posted-by: Derek