Pubdate: Wed, 25 Mar 2015
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Gazette
Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/
Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165
Authors: Pula Davis, Wayne Laugesen, Christine Tatum
Series: Special report, 'Clearing the Haze:'

NO APPROVED 'MEDICINE' IN MARIJUANA

Dr. Stuart Gitlow, a physician serving as president of the American 
Society of Addiction Medicine, does not mince words: "There is no 
such thing at this point as medical marijuana," he said. It's a point 
he has made routinely for the past decade, as advocates for marijuana 
legalization have claimed the drug treats an array of serious 
illnesses, or the symptoms of illnesses, including cancer, 
depression, epilepsy, glaucoma and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Backing up Gitlow are the National Institute on Drug Abuse and 
practically every major medical association in the United States, 
including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of 
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Academy of 
Pediatrics, which recently reaffirmed its stance. Cannabis in its 
various forms is an addictive drug that is especially dangerous to 
the developing brain - a linchpin the country's largest medical 
groups give for opposing its legalization.

NIDA details specific reasons why the cannabis plant is "an unlikely 
medication candidate" - whether smoked as marijuana or consumed in 
the form of hash oil or "wax." The organization argues:

The plant contains numerous chemicals with unknown health effects.

It is too variable to be considered medicine, which requires all 
ingredients to be specified so the product can be reproduced 
consistently. In other words, there's no way to guarantee a plant 
produced and processed in northern Colorado yields the same, or even 
similar, treatment as one produced and processed in another part of 
the state, much less in a different region of the country.

It is typically consumed by smoking, further contributing to 
potential adverse effects.

It has cognitive and motor-impairing effects, which may limit its utility.

At the same time, medical experts say it is important to distinguish 
between the whole marijuana plant - which is sold in dispensaries 
without U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval or oversight and 
has been shown to have more carcinogenic compounds than tobacco when 
combusted - and isolated ingredients of the plant. Those ingredients 
can and be researched and developed into nonsmoked medications that 
actually work and do not subject users to unreasonable risks of 
addiction and communities to greater public-safety risks, medical 
experts and marijuana legalization opponents say. They point to 
medications that have received FDA approval, such as dronabinol, 
which is man-made THC, or are being developed under the agency's 
supervision. The FDA is monitoring Sativex, an oral spray made from 
cannabis for the treatment of neuropathic pain related to cancer and 
spasticity related to multiple sclerosis, and Epidiolex, also derived 
from cannabis, for the treatment of intractable epilepsy.

Since 2007, the National Institutes of Health has awarded more than 
$14 million for research of components of cannabis and whether they 
could be used to treat several diseases and conditions, including 
chronic pain, brain damage, Crohn's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

"Could we and should we speed up research? Absolutely, and let's make 
sure we push for the funding that allows qualified and highly skilled 
scientists to do that work, free from the influence of politicians 
and the marijuana industry," said Kevin Sabet, a former senior White 
House drug policy adviser who co-founded Smart Approaches to 
Marijuana, a nonprofit, marijuana policy reform group whose science 
advisers, including Gitlow, are among the world's most respected 
addiction researchers and treatment specialists. "We do not have to 
legalize marijuana and trigger massive problems for public health and 
safety to conduct this science."

State policies sanctioning marijuana for medical use are undermining 
the integrity and safety of the country's medicine approval process, 
the world's safest and most respected, said David Murray, a senior 
fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he co-directs the Center for 
Substance Abuse Policy Research. He formerly served as chief 
scientist and associate deputy director of the White House Office of 
National Drug Control Policy.

"With marijuana, we are seeing medicine created by popular vote and 
political pressure, both of which undermine the safety and efficacy 
of the U.S. medical supply," he said. "No matter where anyone stands 
on marijuana, do we really want to allow the subversion of this 
process and the integrity of medical approval? The cost of doing so 
would be greater than I think we can imagine now."

[sidebar]

Day 4: MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Medical marijuana sales in Colorado exploded after October 2009 as 
the result of a federal memorandum stating that resources likely 
would not be used to prosecute people involved in the business, which 
remains illegal under federal law. Gazette research confirmed the 
medical marijuana market continues to grow as the result of porous 
regulation and a favorable price differential versus retail marijuana 
sales. The issue is big and complex and may derail legitimate efforts 
to conduct research on parts of the marijuana plant that could 
produce new, clinically proven medicines.

About the series

The reporting team: editorial board members Pula Davis and Wayne 
Laugesen and local reporter Christine Tatum.

After the first year of recreational pot sales, The Gazette takes a 
comprehensive look at the unintended consequences of legalizing sales 
and use of recreational marijuana.

Day 1: Colorado has a fragile scheme for regulating legal marijuana 
and implementing a state drug prevention strategy.

Day 2: One of the suppositions about legalizing pot was that 
underground sales would be curtailed, but officials say there is 
evidence of a thriving black market.

Day 3: One teen's struggle to overcome his marijuana addiction shows 
how devastating the effects of the drug can be for younger, more 
vulnerable users.

Day 4: Amid the hoopla about recreational marijuana sales, the 
medical marijuana industry is flourishing and has its own set of 
complicated concerns.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom