Pubdate: Sun, 30 Dec 2012
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2012 The Clarion-Ledger
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Jared Robert Senseman, Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-ledger
Page: A8

OLE MISS GROWS MARIJUANA FOR RESEARCH

OXFORD, Miss. - The only reason 73-year-old Elvy Musikka still has 
her sight, she says, is she's been smoking pot for 30 years.

"In 1975, my doctor told me if I didn't start using marijuana, I'd go 
blind," said Musikka. "Shortly thereafter I found out that, indeed, 
it was the only thing that would help me with my glaucoma."

Musikka is one of four people still enrolled in the federal 
government's Investigational New Drug program, which allows a small 
number of patients to use medical marijuana grown at the University 
of Mississippi. The program stopped accepting new participants in 
1992. Those already in the program are allowed to continue receiving 
their prescriptions. At its peak, the program provided pot for 30 patients.

"All of us admitted in the program were required to prove to the FDA, 
DEA and NIDA that marijuana was the safest and most efficient 
treatment available for us," she said. "The bottom line for me was 
that I was losing my sight."

For more than 30 years Musikka has had glaucoma, a disease that 
causes a gradual increase in eye pressure and can lead to blindness. 
Pot relieves pressure in the eye caused from glaucoma and has been 
shown to occasionally reverse some damage caused by the disease.

Musikka recently moved from Florida to Oregon to enroll in a 
state-run medicinal marijuana program but said she found it to be 
very expensive. Now that Colorado and Washington have legalized the 
drug, Musikka thinks access to medical marijuana might be easier and 
that the cost might be cheaper.

"There is no state, no place, where people do not seriously need this 
medicine. There is public support for all of us, everywhere," she said.

Inside the marijuana research lab at Ole Miss, the potent smell of 
marijuana lingers. The grow room, housing plants that are up to six 
feet tall, buzzes with the sound of heat lamps and ventilation 
systems. The complex is surrounded by guard towers, two enormous 
barbed wire fences and security cameras.

Ole Miss was selected in 1968 as the United States' first, and only, 
legal marijuana farm since the drug became illegal in 1937 under the 
Marijuana Tax Act. The pot was grown for research being done by the 
National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Pot by prescription in 18 states

Acceptance of marijuana for medical use has come a long way since 
1968. Currently, 18 states and Washington D.C. all offer prescription 
pot. The change has been slow, yet gradual, over recent years.

Arkansas came close to becoming the19th state last month by trying to 
legalize marijuana for medicinal use. The measure, known as Issue 5, 
would have made medical marijuana legal for the first time in a Southern state.

Mahmoud ElSohly, the head of the marijuana research program since 
1981, said he doubts the new laws in Washington and Colorado will 
make a big difference to his work, but he said they might cause an 
increase in drug abuse.

"The danger of high potency marijuana is not necessarily with people 
that are chronic users of the drug. They probably know how to limit 
themselves to the right amount of smoke. The problem is with young 
people who are trying marijuana," ElSohly said. "The psychoactivity 
of high-potency marijuana is really not a pleasant thing. People get 
paranoid and very irritable, almost violent sometimes."

While high-potency marijuana can be dangerous for some, Musikka 
believes it's the only reason she still has her vision. She said one 
of the main reasons she moved to Oregon was to have access to 
stronger marijuana.

ElSohly is concerned about the unregulated market for marijuana. He 
said that without some type of regulation in place people are 
subjected to dangerously high levels of THC, its main psychoactive chemical.

"They get something off the street without knowing the potency of 
what they are smoking, and before they realize they've had too much, 
it's already too late."

ElSohly said it's also important to remember marijuana is still illegal.

"The United States government is obligated under national treaty to 
treat marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug," he said. "We have to make the 
distinction that this is an approval by referendum, rather than an 
approval by regulatory testing and due process."

Pot by patch

ElSohly and his team at Ole Miss are working on a new method of 
administering THC, the main therapeutic component in marijuana. They 
hope the new approach will decrease some of the unwanted 
psychological effects and offer a safer way to attain the therapeutic 
effects without having to inhale smoke.

"What we are working on right now is a transmucosal - a small patch 
that will be put inside the mouth above the gum line. We have support 
from the National Institute of Health and also from my private lab," 
he said. "We've concluded the first couple phases, and we are working 
on releasing it soon with a pharmaceutical partner."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom