Anti-Inflammatory Traits Helped Heal Skin of Mice in Study Skin allergies may be the next reason to use marijuana -- a topical form, at least. Scientists have long suspected that marijuana, used for recreational purposes and to help fight chronic pain, nausea and even some mental disorders like anxiety and depression, also had anti-inflammatory effects in the body. Now they think they know why. In a study published in the current issue of the journal Science, researchers show exactly how they think that works, elucidating how the body's own cannabinoids, compounds that are similar to the ones found in marijuana, reduce inflammation. [continues 579 words]
On a weekend afternoon at the Hot Box Cafe in Kensington Market, three young women are sipping greenish blender drinks. Up on a chalkboard are the house rules, which include "no smoking" and, in big, capital letters, "BYOP." On the table is something that resembles an electric pencil sharpener, with a clear plastic tube coming out the front of it. Every once in a while, one of the women takes it to her lips for a quick puff. There's no smoke, no smell - nothing to hint that they're getting the exact same hit of THC from this contraption as they would from a joint. [continues 388 words]
Imagine farmers from near and far lured by the prospect of growing pot for a new niche of medical marijuana patients in The Land of Enchantment. Since the New Mexico Legislature passed the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act this year, people who want to become licensed producers of medical marijuana have called or visited the state Department of Health. The stories that Health Department employees tell about these characters are hilarious, though no one has been willing to tell those stories on the record for print. [continues 1398 words]
Anyone who advocates for medical marijuana sooner or later runs into arguments about smoking: "No real medicine is smoked." "Smoking is bad for the lungs; why would any doctor recommend something so harmful?" It's a line of reasoning that medical marijuana opponents have used to great effect in Congress, state legislatures, and elsewhere. Indeed, the FDA's controversial 2006 statement opposing medical marijuana was couched in repeated references to "smoked marijuana." But new research demonstrates that all those fears of "smoked marijuana" as medicine are 100 percent obsolete. [continues 780 words]
Who's afraid of medical marijuana? Opponents' fears go unrealized with the implementation of Rhode Island's law Two hits of marijuana in the morning, and two in the evening before he goes to sleep. That's what it takes to get Bobby Ebert through the day. But Ebert's not a junkie or a college student looking for a quick high. He has AIDS -- and is one of more than 240 patients in Rhode Island whose use of marijuana is protected under state law. [continues 2840 words]
You probably know me as a talk-show host, and perhaps as someone who for several years has spoken out about my use of medical marijuana for the pain caused by multiple sclerosis. That surprised a few people, but recent research has proven that I was right -- right about marijuana's medical benefits and right about how urgent it is for states such as Minnesota to change their laws so that sick people aren't treated as criminals. If you see me on television, I look healthy. What you don't see is the mind-numbing pain searing through my legs like hot pokers. [continues 628 words]
One Journalist's Trip Through the Culture of Medical Pot Clubs to a Pain-Free Life I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me sooner to treat my condition with medical marijuana. I have the journalist's disease -- repetitive strain injury, which results from excessive or nonergonomic typing and mouse use. When the RSI acts up, my fingers tingle and an electrical sensation radiates up my arms, causing nagging pain in the rotator cuff area, prompting me to compulsively poke at the spot. [continues 3489 words]
Ethical, Liability Issues Rise As More States Make It Legal On a typical weekday, stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld has a marijuana cigarette before work, then goes to his firm's smoking area for another after he gets to the office. By day's end, he usually has smoked more than a half-dozen joints -- and handled millions of dollars' in clients' holdings. There's nothing illegal about it. Rosenfeld, 54, of Fort Lauderdale, has a condition that causes benign tumors in the long bones of his body. After trying to control pain by taking narcotics such as Dilaudid, he persuaded the U.S. government to put him in a test program that gives marijuana to people with certain illnesses. His pain is now manageable, he says. [continues 1968 words]
You probably know me as a talk show host and, perhaps, as someone who for several years has spoken out about my use of medical marijuana for the pain caused by multiple sclerosis. That surprised a few people, but recent research has proved that I was right: right about marijuana's medical benefits and right about how urgent it is for states to change their laws so that sick people aren't treated as criminals. The Illinois General Assembly is considering such a change right now. [continues 664 words]
AS RHODE ISLAND debates making its medical marijuana law permanent (it's set to expire in June if not extended by the legislature), recently published research demonstrates marijuana's value for patients with life-threatening illnesses. It is clear -- as shown in a new study from the University of California, published in the prestigious medical journal Neurology -- that marijuana can sometimes provide relief when conventional drugs fail. As an HIV/AIDS physician and researcher, I have seen patients who suffer from a variety of painful and debilitating symptoms. Some are caused by the disease itself, while others may be side effects of the medicines we may need to use to treat viral illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. [continues 447 words]
As Illinois legislators prepare to debate a new, practical plan for legalizing the medical use of marijuana (the Legislature actually passed a medical marijuana bill in 1971 but that flawed measure was never put into practice), they should consider a new study, published in the journal Neurology last month. That Feb. 13 study, conducted by Dr. Donald Abrams of the University of California at San Francisco, found smoked marijuana to be safe and effective at treating peripheral neuropathy, which causes great suffering among HIV/AIDS patients. This type of pain, caused by damage to the nerves, can make patients feel like their feet and hands are on fire, or being stabbed with a knife. Similar pain occurs in a number of other illnesses, including multiple sclerosis and diabetes, and responds poorly to conventional pain medications -- even addictive, dangerous narcotics. [continues 600 words]
Medical marijuana has had a lot of successes. Eleven states have legalized the therapeutic use of cannabis for people whose doctors think they can benefit from it. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right of physicians to recommend pot to their patients. A 1999 report by the federal government's Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded, "Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs, primarily THC, for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation." But elsewhere, medical marijuana has stalled. Most states still don't allow it, and even in those that do, federal laws still ban the possession of cannabis. That means sick people who need marijuana for symptoms that don't respond to approved drugs must either do without or risk going to jail. Despite the IOM's call for more research, studies have been few and far between. As a result, the therapeutic value of cannabis remains largely unknown and untapped. [continues 290 words]
Medical marijuana has had a lot of successes. Eleven states have legalized the therapeutic use of cannabis for people whose doctors think they can benefit from it. The Supreme Court has upheld the right of physicians to recommend pot to their patients. A 1999 report by the federal government's Institute of Medicine concluded, "Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs, primarily THC, for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation." But elsewhere, medical marijuana has stalled. Most states still don't allow it, and even in those that do, federal laws still ban the possession of cannabis. That means sick people who need marijuana for symptoms that don't respond to approved drugs must either do without or risk going to jail. Despite the IOM's call for more research, studies have been few and far between. As a result, the therapeutic value of cannabis remains largely unknown and untapped. [continues 290 words]
Medical marijuana has had a lot of successes. Eleven states have legalized the therapeutic use of cannabis for people whose doctors think they can benefit from it. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right of physicians to recommend pot to their patients. A 1999 report by the federal government's Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded, "Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs, primarily THC, for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation." But elsewhere, medical marijuana has stalled. Most states still don't allow it, and even in those that do, federal laws still ban the possession of cannabis. That means sick people who need marijuana for symptoms that don't respond to approved drugs must either do without or risk going to jail. Despite the IOM's call for more research, studies have been few and far between. As a result, the therapeutic value of cannabis remains largely unknown and untapped. [continues 280 words]
Ever since California and other states began passing medical marijuana laws in 1996, the federal government has claimed that -- as a 2003 White House press release put it -- "research has not demonstrated that smoked marijuana is safe and effective medicine." A new study, just published in the journal Neurology, definitively refutes that claim and underlines the urgent need for the federal government to change its prohibitionist policies. The study, conducted by Dr. Donald Abrams of the University of California at San Francisco, found marijuana to be safe and effective at treating peripheral neuropathy, which causes great suffering to HIV/AIDS patients. This type of extreme pain, which is caused by damage to the nerves, can make patients feel like their feet and hands are on fire, or being stabbed with a knife. Similar pain is seen in a number of other illnesses, including multiple sclerosis and diabetes, and cannot be treated effectively with conventional pain medications. Standard pain medicines -- even addictive, dangerous narcotics -- have little effect on this type of pain. [continues 475 words]
A new study, just published in the journal Neurology, confirms the value of medical marijuana for people with HIV/AIDS, proving scientifically what many of us have seen first-hand or through the experiences of friends. This new data should rouse our community, and the organizations that represent us, to action. This particular study dealt with peripheral neuropathy, a painful condition caused by damage to the nerves of the feet and other extremities caused by HIV or by some of the medications used to treat it. It can range from mild tingling to pain so extreme that, as writer and AIDS activist Phil Alden puts it, "It can feel like you're being stabbed with a knife, or like your feet and hands are on fire." [continues 682 words]
SAN FRANCISCO - Smoking marijuana eased HIV -related pain in some patients in a small study that nevertheless represented one of the few rigorous attempts to find out if the drug has medicinal benefits. The study, conducted at San Francisco General Hospital from 2003 to 2005 and published Monday in the journal Neurology, involved 50 patients suffering from HIV-related foot pain known as peripheral neuropathy. There are no drugs specifically approved to treat that kind of pain. Half the patients received marijuana, while the other 25 received placebo cigarettes that lacked the drug's active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol. Scientists said the study was the first one published that used a comparison group, which is generally considered the gold standard for scientific research. [continues 215 words]
Two major studies on the health effects of marijuana were published this week, but they blew in opposite directions. One study found that cannabis could be an effective means of easing nerve pain in patients infected with the virus that causes AIDS. "This placebo-controlled clinical trial showed that people with HIV who smoked cannabis had substantially greater pain reduction than those who did not smoke cannabis," said Donald Abrams, who led the research team at the University of California, San Francisco. [continues 820 words]
Marijuana Better Than Prescriptions, It Says AIDS patients suffering from debilitating nerve pain got as much or more relief by smoking marijuana as they would typically get from prescription drugs -- and with fewer side effects -- according to a study conducted under rigorously controlled conditions with government-grown pot. In a five-day study performed in a specially ventilated hospital ward where patients smoked three marijuana cigarettes a day, more than half the participants tallied significant reductions in pain. Less than one-quarter of those who smoked "placebo" pot, which had its primary psychoactive ingredients removed, reported benefits, as measured by subjective pain reports and standardized neurological tests. [continues 211 words]
San Francisco Research Showed The Smoked Drug Worked As Medication In A Carefully Controlled Study SAN FRANCISCO -- Smoking marijuana eased HIV-related pain in some patients in a small study that nevertheless represented one of the few rigorous attempts to find out if the drug has medicinal benefits. The Bush administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy quickly sought to shoot holes in the experiment. The study, conducted at San Francisco General Hospital from 2003 to 2005 and published Monday in the journal Neurology, involved 50 patients suffering from HIV-related foot pain known as peripheral neuropathy. No drugs are specifically approved to treat that pain. [continues 198 words]
HIV patients who smoked three joints of marijuana per day for five days experienced relief from chronic foot pain associated with the disease, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, reported Monday in a rare U.S. study on medical marijuana. "These results provide evidence that there is a measurable medical benefit to smoking cannabis for these patients," said study lead author Dr. Donald Abrams, UCSF professor of clinical medicine. The study involved 50 HIV patients with sensory neuropathy, a peripheral nerve disorder that causes intense, sharp pain, numbness and tingling in the hands and feet. The condition affects about one in three HIV patients. [continues 741 words]
Smoking marijuana can ease HIV-related nerve pain, UC San Francisco researchers are reporting today in a study being hailed by legalization advocates as proof that federal pot policy is deeply misguided. The rigorous study, appearing in today's issue of the journal Neurology, was funded by a state effort to provide answers in the long debate over whether marijuana makes good medicine. Primary investigator Dr. Donald Abrams, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, was not surprised that about half the people studied with burning, tingling nerve pain got relief smoking marijuana. [continues 693 words]
HIV patients who smoked three joints of marijuana per day for five days experienced relief from chronic foot pain associated with the disease, researchers at UC San Francisco reported Monday in a rare U.S. study on medical marijuana. "These results provide evidence that there is a measurable medical benefit to smoking cannabis for these patients," said study lead author Dr. Donald Abrams, UCSF professor of clinical medicine. The study involved 50 HIV patients with sensory neuropathy, a peripheral nerve disorder that causes intense, sharp pain, numbness and tingling in the hands and feet. The condition affects about one in three HIV patients. [continues 621 words]
WASHINGTON -- AIDS patients suffering from debilitating nerve pain got as much or more relief by smoking marijuana as they would typically get from prescription drugs -- and with fewer side effects -- according to a study conducted under rigorously controlled conditions with government-grown pot. In a five-day study performed in a specially ventilated hospital ward where patients smoked three marijuana cigarettes a day, more than half the participants tallied significant reductions in pain. By contrast, less than one-quarter of those who smoked "placebo" pot, which had its primary psychoactive ingredients removed, reported benefits, as measured by subjective pain reports and standardized neurological tests. [continues 659 words]
Bush Administration Criticizes S.F. Test Smoking marijuana eased HIV-related pain in some patients in a small California study that nevertheless represented one of the few rigorous attempts to find out if the drug has medicinal benefits. The Bush administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy quickly sought to punch holes in the experiment. The study, conducted at San Francisco General Hospital from 2003 to 2005 and published Monday in the journal Neurology, involved 50 patients suffering from HIV-related foot pain known as peripheral neuropathy. There are no drugs specifically approved to treat that kind of pain. [continues 399 words]
PROVING THE worth of medical marijuana isn't easy. Skeptics doubt the science put forward by advocates, and Washington is in no mood to loosen tough laws barring its use. Now comes a rigorous-sounding study by AIDS researchers at San Francisco General Hospital that shows smoking cannabis can ease nerve pain in HIV-infected patients. It's a serious advancement from the anecdotal stories of relief mocked by critics who oppose wider use of marijuana. The study should have the effect of reopening the debate on pot's medicinal value. California voters in 1996 approved marijuana for medical use with a doctor's approval, but this humane goal hasn't been achieved. [continues 170 words]
HIV patients who smoked three joints of marijuana per day for five days experienced relief from chronic foot pain associated with the disease, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, reported Monday in a rare U.S. study on medical marijuana. "These results provide evidence that there is a measurable medical benefit to smoking cannabis for these patients," said study lead author Dr. Donald Abrams, UCSF professor of clinical medicine. [continues 775 words]
AIDS Patients in Controlled Study Had Significant Pain Relief AIDS patients suffering from debilitating nerve pain got as much or more relief by smoking marijuana as they would typically get from prescription drugs -- and with fewer side effects -- according to a study conducted under rigorously controlled conditions with government-grown pot. In a five-day study performed in a specially ventilated hospital ward where patients smoked three marijuana cigarettes a day, more than half the participants tallied significant reductions in pain. [continues 845 words]
First Rigorous Research Looked at HIV Patients Doctors at San Francisco General Hospital reported Monday that HIV-infected patients suffering from a painful nerve condition in their hands or feet obtained substantial relief by smoking small amounts of marijuana in a carefully constructed study funded by the state of California. Although the study was small, it is the first of its kind to measure the therapeutic effects of marijuana smoking while meeting the most rigorous requirements for scientific proof -- a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial. [continues 943 words]
Dr. Donald Abrams Will Be Looking Into Cancer Treatments.... Dr. Donald Abrams spent his last day seeing patients at San Francisco General Hospital's famed HIV clinic Tuesday after 23 years at the forefront of AIDS research and clinical care. Abrams, 56, is leaving his HIV practice to begin a new role as head of a complementary medicine program at UCSF, where the focus is on alternative treatments for cancer. He and colleagues, led by Dr. Paul Volberding, founded the pioneering San Francisco General HIV clinic, one of the first outpatient programs in the country to take on the AIDS epidemic. [continues 432 words]
San Francisco's new pot club regulations underscore the broader issues surrounding the medical marijuana industry, including the complications doctors face in recommending a drug they often don't know a lot about. Medicinal marijuana has been legal in California since voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996. There are only a handful of published studies that analyze the positive effects of marijuana use in controlling symptoms such as pain and nausea, but anecdotal evidence is strong enough that most doctors agree that the drug is at least worth further investigation. [continues 606 words]
Cannabis Without Euphoria? The International Cannabinoid Research Society held its 16th annual meeting June 24-28 at a hotel on the shores of Lake Balaton, about 80 miles southwest of Budapest. Most of the 350 registrants were scientists -chemists, pharmacologists-employed by universities and/or drug companies. The sponsor given top billing was Sanofi-Aventis, manufacturer of a synthetic drug, known variously as "SR-141716A," "Rimonabant," and "Acomplia," that blocks cannabinoid receptors in the brain. Additional support came from Allergan, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Cayman Chemical, Eli Lilly, Elsohly Laboratories, Merck, Pfizer, two Hungarian companies -Gedeon Richter Pharmaceutical and Sigma-Aldrich- and G.W. Pharmaceuticals. Researchers affiliated with other drug companies presented papers and posters and audited the proceedings. For most the holy grail is a product that will exert the beneficial effects of cannabis without that bad side-effect known as "euphoria." [continues 657 words]
The plainly labeled brown door on the second floor of a Studio City office gives no indication of the marijuana being sold inside. Valley Collective Care keeps the deadbolt locked. Inside sits an armed security guard; another watches over the stock. There is a surveillance TV in the lobby, a few copies of Amsterdam News and a white poster board with the handwritten message of the Fourth Amendment, protection from warrantless searches. Between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily, patients walk in with a slip of paper and an ID, and a few minutes later leave with a cure for what ails them. [continues 1582 words]
Medical Marijuana Marijuana Is Medically Useful, Whether Politicians Like It Or Not IF CANNABIS were unknown, and bioprospectors were suddenly to find it in some remote mountain crevice, its discovery would no doubt be hailed as a medical breakthrough. Scientists would praise its potential for treating everything from pain to cancer, and marvel at its rich pharmacopoeia--many of whose chemicals mimic vital molecules in the human body. In reality, cannabis has been with humanity for thousands of years and is considered by many governments (notably America's) to be a dangerous drug without utility. Any suggestion that the plant might be medically useful is politically controversial, whatever the science says. It is in this context that, on April 20th, America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement saying that smoked marijuana has no accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. [continues 1356 words]
WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by a panel of highly regarded scientists. The announcement inserts the health agency into yet another fierce political fight. Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said Thursday's statement resulted from a past combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research agencies that concluded "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment." [continues 920 words]
WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by a panel of highly regarded scientists. The announcement inserts the health agency into yet another fierce political fight. Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said Thursday's statement resulted from a past combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research agencies that concluded "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment." [continues 920 words]
Pronouncement From Feds Contradicts Scientists' 1999 Review WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by a panel of highly regarded scientists. The announcement inserts the health agency into yet another fierce political fight. Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said the statement resulted from a past combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research agencies that concluded that "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment." She said the FDA was issuing the statement because of numerous inquiries from Capitol Hill but would likely do nothing to enforce it. [continues 864 words]
Agency Contradicts Scientists, Jumps into a Political Struggle WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by a panel of highly regarded scientists. The announcement inserts the health agency into yet another fierce political fight. Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said that the statement resulted from a past combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research agencies that concluded that "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment." She said that the FDA was issuing the statement because of numerous inquiries from Capitol Hill but would likely do nothing to enforce it. [continues 991 words]
Health Agency Bolsters DEA's Position, Leaps into Another Political Hot-Button Issue Washington -- The Food and Drug Administration declared Thursday that "no sound scientific studies" support the medical use of smoked marijuana. The statement, which contradicts a 1999 review by top government scientists, inserts the health agency into yet another fierce political fight. Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said the statement resulted from a combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research agencies that concluded that "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment." She said that the FDA was issuing the statement because of numerous inquiries from Capitol Hill but would probably do nothing to enforce it. [continues 580 words]
Given the cannabis-free curriculum provided by U.S. medical and nursing schools, "continuing education" is not the apt term, but more than 100 healthcare providers (including 40 MDs) will receive credit for attending a conference on cannabis therapeutics at Santa Barbara Community College April 7-8. The event was organized by Al Byrne and Mary Lynn Mathre of Patients Out of Time, a Virginia-based advocacy group, with help from David Bearman, MD, and students from Santa Barbara1s NORML chapter led by Loren Vazquez. [continues 1184 words]
How a Pulverized, Liquefied, and Doctor-Prescribed Form of Marijuana Could Transform the Drug-War Landscape IF IT WEREN'T FOR the little photo gallery on the wall, the office where Dr. William Notcutt's research assistants keep track of their patients would be just like any other cubicle at the James Paget Medical Center in England. As phones ring and stretchers wheel by and these three women go about their business, the snapshots--Cheryl Phillips, one of Notcutt's staffers, gently holding an emerald green bud of marijuana; a group of people in lab coats smiling for the camera, sinsemilla towering over their heads; a hangar-sized greenhouse stuffed to the gills with lush pot plants--are about the only evidence that this hospital in East Anglia is at the epicenter of one of the most extensive medical marijuana research projects in the world. [continues 5295 words]
On October 6, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider legislation to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries. The LGBT community needs to make clear to our representatives that we support responsible regulation, but will not tolerate arbitrary, unnecessary rules that limit patient access to a vitally important medicine. Fortunately, a new poll shows that the majority of San Franciscans agree. Many of us have watched medical marijuana (cannabis, to use the scientific term) help friends and loved ones with AIDS cope with the nausea and loss of appetite often caused by harsh anti-HIV drugs. That's one of the reasons Prop. 215 passed with 78 percent of the vote in San Francisco and an astonishing 91 percent in the Castro. [continues 723 words]
A classic question of morals, ethics and philosophy: Would you rather be a righteous man in prison or an immoral man lavished with accolades and riches? This classic conundrum is quite evident today if you pay close attention. For example, a group of nuns travel to the terrorist-training School of Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., each year to protest and often get arrested. I would call those nuns righteous prisoners. Real life is most often less cut-and-dry than philosophy class and the moral decisions we make are often heavily colored by the many variables of our lives. [continues 884 words]
Protective Effect "Not Unreasonable" Marijuana smoking -"even heavy longterm use"- does not cause cancer of the lung, upper airways, or esophagus, Donald Tashkin reported at this year's meeting of the International Cannabinoid Research Society. Coming from Tashkin, this conclusion had extra significance for the assembled drug-company and university-based scientists (most of whom get funding from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse). Over the years, Tashkin's lab at UCLA has produced irrefutable evidence of the damage that marijuana smoke wreaks on bronchial tissue. With NIDA's support, Tashkin and colleagues have identified the potent carcinogens in marijuana smoke, biopsied and made photomicrographs of pre-malignant cells, and studied the molecular changes occurring within them. It is Tashkin's research that the Drug Czar's office cites in ads linking marijuana to lung cancer. Tashkin himself has long believed in a causal relationship, despite a study in which Stephen Sidney examined the files of 64,000 Kaiser patients and found that marijuana users didn't develop lung cancer at a higher rate or die earlier than non-users. Of five smaller studies on the question, only two - -involving a total of about 300 patients-concluded that marijuana smoking causes lung cancer. Tashkin decided to settle the question by conducting a large, population-based, case-controlled study. "Our major hypothesis," he told the ICRS, "was that heavy, longterm use of marijuana will increase the risk of lung and upper-airways cancers." [continues 1702 words]
Marijuana smoking -"even heavy longterm use"- does not cause cancer of the lung, upper airwaves, or esophagus, Donald Tashkin reported at this year's meeting of the International Cannabinoid Research Society. Coming from Tashkin, this conclusion had extra significance for the assembled drug-company and university-based scientists (most of whom get funding from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse). Over the years, Tashkin's lab at UCLA has produced irrefutable evidence of the damage that marijuana smoke wreaks on bronchial tissue. With NIDA's support, Tashkin and colleagues have identified the potent carcinogens in marijuana smoke, biopsied and made photomicrographs of pre-malignant cells, and studied the molecular changes occurring within them. It is Tashkin's research that the Drug Czar's office cites in ads linking marijuana to lung cancer. Tashkin himself has long believed in a causal relationship, despite a study in which Stephen Sidney examined the files of 64,000 Kaiser patients and found that marijuana users didn't develop lung cancer at a higher rate or die earlier than non-users. Of five smaller studies on the question, only two -involving a total of about 300 patients- concluded that marijuana smoking causes lung cancer. Tashkin decided to settle the question by conducting a large, prospectively designed, population-based, case-controlled study. "Our major hypothesis," he told the ICRS, "was that heavy, longterm use of marijuana will increase the risk of lung and upper-airwaves cancers." [continues 1613 words]
Doctors Should Be Free To Prescribe Pain Medication That Works Conservatives' defense of states' rights over the Goliath of federal government intervention verges on the pathological. So it seems a teeny bit hypocritical for Republicans in Congress to suddenly support the recent Supreme Court ruling that federally outlaws medical marijuana in the 10 states that had legalized it for medicinal purposes. But perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. Enlightened conservative discourse on the topic of marijuana harkens back at least to 1937, when Harry Anslinger, U.S. commissioner of narcotics, testified: "marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others." [continues 266 words]
As Supreme Court Nears Decision, Benefits Of Drug Remain In Question Medical marijuana is now legal in Washington and 10 other states, and bills to legalize it are pending in at least seven more. The drug is also at the heart of a case being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet there remains much confusion over whether marijuana has any significant medical effect. "People subjectively report benefits," said Dr. Joseph Sirven, an epilepsy specialist and associate professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Scottsdale, Ariz. "There's a whole Internet literature suggesting what a wonderful thing it is. But the reality is, we don't know." [continues 1280 words]
There Seems To Be No Clear Cut Evidence That Medicinal Marijuana Provides Any Benefits Medical marijuana is now legal in 11 states, and bills to legalize it are pending in at least 7 more. The drug is also at the heart of a case being considered by the United States Supreme Court. Yet there remains much confusion over whether marijuana in fact has any significant medical effect. "People subjectively report benefits," said Dr. Joseph I. Sirven, an epilepsy specialist and associate professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Scottsdale, Ariz. "There's a whole Internet literature suggesting what a wonderful thing it is. But the reality is, we don't know." [continues 1190 words]
Medical marijuana is now legal in 11 states, and bills to legalize it are pending in at least seven more. The drug is also at the heart of a case being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet there remains much confusion over whether marijuana in fact has any significant medical effect. "People subjectively report benefits," said Dr. Joseph Sirven, an epilepsy specialist and associate professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Scottsdale, Ariz. "There's a whole Internet literature suggesting what a wonderful thing it is. But the reality is, we don't know." [continues 880 words]
Medical marijuana is now legal in 11 states, and bills to legalize it are pending in at least 7 more. The drug is also at the heart of a case being considered by the United States Supreme Court. Yet there remains much confusion over whether marijuana in fact has any significant medical effect. "People subjectively report benefits," said Dr. Joseph I. Sirven, an epilepsy specialist and associate professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Scottsdale, Ariz. "There's a whole Internet literature suggesting what a wonderful thing it is. But the reality is, we don't know." [continues 1191 words]
