Ron Paul Meets Medical Marijuana Patient


Reefer Madness — The Federal Response to California's Medical-Marijuana Law, George J. Annas, J.D., M.P.H.


"Angel McClary Raich, a California woman at the center of the recent Supreme Court case on medical marijuana, hasn't changed her treatment regimen since the Court ruled in June that patients who take the drug in states where its medicinal use is legal are not shielded from federal prosecution. A thin woman with long, dark hair and an intense gaze, Raich takes marijuana, or cannabis as she prefers to call it, about every two waking hours — by smoking it, by inhaling it as a vapor, by eating it in foods, or by applying it topically as a balm. She says that it relieves her chronic pain and boosts her appetite, preventing her from becoming emaciated because of a mysterious wasting syndrome. Raich and her doctor maintain that without access to the eight or nine pounds of privately grown cannabis that she consumes each year, she would die.

Although Raich has embraced a public role advocating the medicinal use of marijuana, she says that her health suffered during the hectic days following the announcement of the Court's decision, when a whirlwind schedule of press conferences and congressional meetings in Washington prevented her from medicating herself with cannabis as regularly as she needed to. 'My body was shutting down on me,' she said in an interview from her Oakland home last month. "I'm scared of my health failing. I'm scared of the federal government coming in and doing more harm. [Recently,] the city of Oakland warned there were going to be some raids" on marijuana dispensaries. 'We're all just waiting. Sitting on the frontline is extremely stressful.'"

From:
Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court

Although this story portrays medicinal marijuana as a life saving drug, pharmacology has produced many drugs which will alleviate chronic pain. From
Advil to Valium, a broad spectrum of legal drugs have been created to subdue varying levels of pain.

What pharmaceutical companies have not been able to produce is an appetite increasing drug without the use of THC, one of the active chemicals found in Marijuana. Even the legal drugs that have been created with THC have proven relatively ineffective.
An article on medicinal marijuana alternatives

Appetite enhancing effects help sufferers of a variety of illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and cancer, to maintain healthy eating habits, thus maintaining strength and stamina. For cancer patients undergoing Chemotherapy, this is especially important because of the baleful effects of the treatment, often causing patients enormous stomach pain and frequent vomiting.

Marijuana as Medicine:

The criminalization of marijuana leads to unfair and unnecessary policing of individuals who use marijuana for medical purposes, as exemplified by Matthew Ducheneaux who was arrested for smoking marijuana in a park in South Dakota on July of 2000. He was a quadriplegic who used marijuana with his doctor's permission to treat violent muscle spasms. Wheelchair-bound since a 1985 car accident, Ducheneaux had tried Valium, codeine, and Marinol to treat the life-threatening muscle spasms that caused his legs to shake in profusely violent manners. Nothing calmed his tremors except for marijuana. Even more importantly, marijuana was a medicine that did not come with the baggage of side effects that other medicines had. He then proceeded to seek permission to use marijuana and in 1988, he was approved for a now-discontinued program through which very ill people could obtain marijuana from the federal government. However, the federal government required strong security measures for pharmacies serving patients marijuana, and Ducheneaux could not find a local pharmacy willing to comply. Hence, he turned to friends and drug dealers for his medicine. Ducheneaux asked his doctor for a note saying he used marijuana for medical purposes, and the note stated "Matthew is quadriplegic. He uses marijuana for muscle spasms caused by his paralysis." On August 28, 2002, Matthew Ducheneaux was convicted of marijuana possession. A previous ruling had barred him from letting the jury know that he used marijuana for medical purposes. Ducheneaux's attorney, in speaking of the jury, stated "All of them conclusively said afterward that they didn't want to find him guilty." Even prosecutor Matthew Theophilus stated, "I think there is some merit to his defense."
There are other important medicinal uses of marijuana besides inhibiting muscle spasms, as supported by the Institute of Medicine. The FDA has also approved marijuana as a treatment for cancer and the symptoms of HIV and Influenza but believe that isolated compounds (such as cannabinoids) are more effective than smoking or ingesting the plant (Meyer). Glaucoma, a condition of increased pressure within the eyeball causing slow loss of sight, can be treated with medical marijuana to decrease this pressure. Medical marijuana is also used for or pain relief and is reported to be beneficial for illnesses such as bipolar disorder (Russo). Case reports have found that cannabis can relieve tics in people with obsessive compulsive disorder and Tourrette Syndrome by fifty percent or more (Muller and Sandyk). A recent study has also concluded that cannabinoids found in cannabis might have the ability to prevent Alzheimer's disease (Ramirez). THC has been shown to reduce arterial blockages (Steffens). The most important reason marijuana is a priceless medicinal plant is because its side effects are limited to, at the worst, a joyous drowsiness whereas any other medication that would alleviate the aforementioned conditions would lead to several unwelcome side effects like migraines, confusion, and even depression.
With such beneficial effects, medical marijuana should be used so that individuals with medical conditions have alternative sources from which they can receive treatment from. In doing this, the side effects of common medicinal treatments will be circumvented to the relief of the patient. Yet most of those who need medicinal marijuana are unable to attain it due to strict marijuana laws. In essence, this conduct is a form of evil behavior, especially when effective medicine is being withheld from patients who are in crucial need of it.

Here are some pictures of Medical Marijuana:



check out a comprehensive list of medicinal/recreational marijuana strains: http://strainreview.com/



References:

http://www.november.org/razorwire/rzold/24/24016.html

Meyer, Robert J.. "[http://www.fda.gov/ola/2004/marijuana0401.html Testimony before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, Committee on Government Reform]". U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Russo and Grotenhermen; Cannabis and Cannabinoids, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutic Potential; Haworth Press, 2002;page 124-132

K.R. Muller, U. Schneider, H. Kolbe, H.M. Emrich (1999). "Treatment of Tourette's Syndrome With Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol". American Journal of Psychiatry 156 (3), http://www.marijuana.org/AmJoPsychMarch99.html.

K.R. Muller, U. Schneider, A. Koblenz, M. Jöbges, H. Kolbe, T. Daldrup, H.M. Emrich (2002). "Treatment of Tourette's Syndrome with Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC): A Randomized Crossover Trial". Pharmacopsychiatry 35 (2): 57.

R. Sandyk, G. Awerbuch (1988). "Marijuana and Tourette's Syndrome". Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology 8 (6): 444.

Ramíirez, B. G., C. Blázquez, T. Gómez del Pulgar, M. Guzmán, and M. L. de Ceballos (2005). "Prevention of Alzheimer's disease pathology by cannabinoids: neuroprotection mediated by blockade of microglial activation". Journal of Neuroscience 25 (8^): 1904–1913.

Steffens, S.,Veillard, N.R., et al.. "Low dose oral cannabinoid therapy reduces progression of atherosclerosis in mice". Nature 474 (7034): 782–786, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v434/n7034/abs/nature03389.html.

The Marijuana Drug War: Economic Analysis
Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined savings and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year, finds a June 2005 report by Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard University. The report has been endorsed by more than 530 distinguished economists, who have signed an open letter to President Bush and other public officials calling for "an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition," adding, "We believe such a debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods." Dr. Miron's paper, "The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition," concludes: Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of legal regulation would save approximately $7.7 billion in government expenditures on prohibition enforcement -- $2.4 billion at the federal level and $5.3 billion at the state and local levels. Revenue from taxation of marijuana sales would range from $2.4 billion per year if marijuana were taxed like ordinary consumer goods to $6.2 billion if it were taxed like alcohol or tobacco.

References:

The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition, June 2005, Jeffrey A. Miron, Visiting Professor of Economics Harvard University

The Marijuana Drug War: Moral Analysis
Rachel Hoffman, 23, had been in a pretrial diversion program after a minor marijuana arrest. Police in Tallahassee searched her home and found marijuana and ecstasy. The police threatened to send her to prison, unless she agreed to become a police informant. Upon complying, the police wired Hoffman and sent her to meet Andrea J. Green, 25, and Deneilo R. Bradshaw, 23, on May 7, 2008 to buy 1,500 ecstasy pills, 2 ounces of cocaine or crack, and a gun. She had $12,000 to $15,000 in cash when she met the men and her dead body was discovered two days later. Doesn't it seem that the drug war against marijuana has gone a bit too far? How can police justify sending a woman, who has most likely never dealt in shady dealings of cocaine and guns, into such an obviously dangerous situation? Clearly the marijuana drug war isn’t effective when there have been no deaths linked directly to marijuana use, but as an unpleasant surprise the known deaths that do involve marijuana are a result of an effort to force people to not smoke the harmless plant. Not only is the drug war against marijuana taking lives, but it is also severely punishing individuals for simple possession of the plant as well. In addition to the punishment imposed by a judge, a misdemeanor conviction for possession of marijuana can lead to bars on educational aid, a bar on serving as a foster parent, denial of federal housing assistance, revocation or suspension of occupational licenses, or suspension of one’s driver’s license (Center for CL & E). These sanctions are known as 'collateral sanctions' which are enforced differently according to state codes, but have more severe consequences than the direct punishment from a judge. A felony conviction (i.e., growing a marijuana plant) can result in all of the aforementioned sanctions, and more. If marijuana offenses are considered less of a menace to society than crimes such as murder, rape, or kidnapping, or even less of a crime than other drug offenses, this consideration is hardly found in any of the collateral sanctions. A person convicted of growing marijuana (a felony in most states) is often subjected to the same, and sometimes greater, collateral sanctions than a person convicted of murder, rape, or robbery.

Here is a link that provides an excellent summary of all the collateral sanctions that may come with either a misdemeanor conviction or a felony conviction based each states' laws: http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/pdf/col_sanc_pdfs/appendix_c.pdf


Check out these videos for more information on the HUMAN COSTS of Marijuana Prohibition:

References:

"Life Sentences: Collateral Sanctions Associated With Marijuana Offenses." A report by the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics. Ver. 1, July 2, 2007.

Nic Corbett, August 2, 2008, Grand jury points to TPD negligence in Hoffman case, Tallahassee.com.


Harry J. Anslinger: Father of the Drug War
In understanding the history behind the criminalization of marijuana, it is important to know about the one man who worked aggressively to make the harmless plant illegal. In 1930, Anslinger became director of the newly established Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Upon assuming position in this new government agency, Anslinger was given a wide scope of power allowing him to both define the problems regarding drugs and provide a solution for it. As to why Anslinger chose to oppose marijuana so fervently is largely unknown but a look into his descriptions of why marijuana is detrimental to individuals, and society as a whole, will shed light on this mystery. Anslinger drew upon themes of racism and violence by reading from his "Gore Files" which consisted of wild tales of ax murderers, sex-crazed women, and violence-driven rapists. According to Anslinger, "Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men;" and then there’s my favorite, "You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother." These are simply a few of the not-so-accurate remarks made by Anslinger regarding the effects of marijuana. By describing marijuana as more of a menace to society than it actually was he used it as a medium by which he could expand the Bureau’s powers, denigrate minority races, and belittle women. Anslinger may have also fallen under the influence of various companies as well. For example, pharmaceutical companies were not pleased when they could neither identify nor standardize cannabis dosages, and with cannabis, folks could grow their own medicine and not have to purchase it from the large companies. Combined with the efforts of Anslilnger’s propaganda and companies looking to eliminate the competition posed by marijuana, the stage was set for the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 which did not criminalize use or possession of marijuana but was the first significant step in the path to do so. Its net effect was that it increased the risk in dealing marijuana. In 1969, the act was repealed on the basis that it violated the Fifth Amendment and was followed by the Control Substances Act. Under this act, marijuana was unfortunately labeled a Schedule 1 drug with addictive qualities and no medicinal purposes. The shock waves of such a preposterous step has transcended generations, which is made visible by the continuing efforts of individuals and organizations, over decades, to legalize marijuana.

References:

Marijuana - Assassin of Youth, H.J. Anslinger, U.S. Commissioner of Narcotics, (The American Magazine, July 1937).

Statement of H. J. Anslinger, Commissioner of Narcotics, Bureau of Narcotics, Dept. of Treasury.

"Marijuana Tax Act of 1937," House Hearings

Controlled Substances Act--full text

How safe is Marijuana use?

One of the largest arguments against the use of medicinal marijuana and the legalization of marijuana is the harmful effects of the illegal drug. According to several studies, marijuana has some harmful and some negligible effects on the human body.

Neurological and Psychological Effects:

The use of marijuana has previously been linked to an increased possibility of depression in adults; however, a study in the October 2005 edition of Addiction, a scholarly journal about addictive substances, showed that even heavy users of marijuana are only 1.1 times more likely to experience depression than non-users. This debunks a previously held conception that marijuana is a causal factor of depression.
From: Marijuana Use and Depression Among Adults: Testing for causal associations (2005). Harder, et al.

Another study has concluded that smoking marijuana changes regional cerebral cortex blood flow (rCBF) in the brain. While the change was significant, it did not reduce behavioral performance or attention as previous conceptions of the effects of marijuana have suggested.
From: Effects of Smoking Marijuana on Focal Attention and Brain Blood Flow (2007). O'Leary, et al.

Although these two studies suggest little to no effect on these areas of cognition and neurology, a study performed in 2003 found that smoking marijuana reduces working and episodic memory. Working memory is the faculty of attention to a current task, while episodic memory is the ability to retain and reproduce information when a distracting factor has been introduced. This is consistent with previous assessments of the effects of marijuana use.
From: Effects of Marijuana on Neurophysiological Signals of Working and Episodic Memory (2003). Ilan, et al.

Respiratory Effects:

Because the typical method of introducing cannabinoidal elements into the body is through smoking, the harmful repiratory effects are a large consideration for the safety of marijuana use. A study by Yale's School of Medicine found that smoking marijuana has similar harmful effects to that of smoking tobacco.
From: Respiratory Effects of Marijuana and Tobacco Use in a U.S. Sample (2004). Moore, et al.

Conspiracy

Some conspiracy theorists believe that the reason for the hemp prohibition is not because of harmful effects, but because hemp may be useful for myriad applications. The picture below shows the proposed uses for hemp and marijuana. The conspiracy theory suggests that hemp is outlawed because many inputs for production would be easily replaced by hemp products due to its reusability, abundance, and low cost. These claims, however, are unfounded in empirical data, and the practical application of hemp is questionable.

From: Marijuana Conspiracy - The Sequel

Marijuana: Addiction and the Gateway Theory

Here is an interesting graph comparing marijuana to other drugs in relation to five categories: dependence, withdrawal, tolerance, reinforcement, and intoxication. As is evident from the graph, marijuana use is safer in terms of all five categories compared to nicotine, heroin, cocaine, and alcohol. And obviously, it poses more danger to an individual than does caffeine. In a book published by the American Chemical Society, health officials concluded that marijuana is the least addictive of drugs in comparison to nicotine, alcohol, heroine, and cocaine. They also found that alcohol is about as addictive as heroin, whereas marijuana’s addictive properties did not come close to any of the aforementioned drugs.

In a statement by the former Surgeon General, Joycelyn Elders, she said that “After decades of looking, scientists still have no evidence that marijuana causes people to use harder drugs(IOM).” What many critics of marijuana so gladly forget is that marijuana itself is not a gateway, but the black market created by its prohibition acts as a medium by which harder drugs become more easily available to marijuana users. Another important point to consider is that most individuals do not begin drug use with marijuana, but instead start with alcohol and nicotine usually when they are too young to do so legally. Yet, those two drugs are never targeted and do not share the criticism that marijuana receives for being a gateway drug. In a study conducted by the Research and Development Corporation, it was shown that marijuana use in fact does not lead to the use of harder drugs such as cocaine or heroine, thus challenging the decades old assumption about the "gateway theory" that has helped shape government policy around marijuana use. The study demonstrates that associations between marijuana and hard drug use could be expected even if marijuana use has no gateway effect. Instead, marijuana typically is used first by individuals because it is more readily available (marijuana is the United States' number one cash crop) (RAND). Because of this widespread availability of marijuana, individuals tend to gravitate towards starting drug use with marijuana. Just because marijuana is often used first, due to its easier availability than harder drugs, does not mean that there is a direct causal link that makes a person who is smoking/consuming marijuana want to try harder drugs. In concluding, the lead author of the study Andrew Morral says "The people who are predisposed to use drugs and have the opportunity to use drugs are more likely than others to use both marijuana and harder drugs (RAND)."

References:

Jack E. Henningfield, PhD for NIDA, Reported by Philip J. Hilts, New York Times, Aug. 2, 1994 "Is Nicotine Addictive? It Depends on Whose Criteria You Use."

Institute of Medicine, Mar. 1999, "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base":

RAND. "Marijuana Not A Gateway To Hard Drug Use, RAND Study Says: Conclusions Raise Serious Doubts Regarding The Legitimacy Of U.S. Drug Policy." December 3, 2002. <http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5490.>

Marijuana Use and Aggressive Behavior
A study conducted by Taylor et al. (1976) found that cannabis (aka marijuana) reduces the likelihood that individuals will engage in aggressive behaviors. Low doses of THC (the active, high inducing chemical in marijuana) can slightly increase aggression, moderate and high doses actually suppress and eliminate aggressive behavior. For instance, they found that aggression was more visible when participants were given a low dose (0.1 mg/kg) of THC, whereas participants in the medium-dose (0.25 mg/ kg) or high-dose (0.4 mg/kg) condition did not exhibit aggressive behaviors (Taylor et al., 1976).

Studies conducted on animals also support the idea that cannabis does not cause aggressive behavior. In fact, cannabis administration engenders submissive behaviors and suppresses attack behaviors amongst animals ( Sieber et al., 1980).

References:

Taylor, S., Vardaris, R., Rawich, A., Gammon, C., Cranston, J., & Lubetkin, A. I. (1976). The effects of alcohol and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol on human physical aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 2, 153–161.

Sieber, B., Frischknect, H., & Waser, P. G. (1980). Behavioral effects of hashish in mice: III. Social interactions
between two residents and an intruder male. Psychopharmacology, 70(3), 273–278.

CONCLUSION:
There has always existed the argument that marijuana should be kept illegal in order to reduce crime and corruption, solve social problems, and improve the health and hygiene in America. This sounds awfully familiar to another propaganda-induced debacle in American history. Does alcohol prohibition ring a bell? Similarly, the war on marijuana is proving that the green tree is far more dangerous, and costly, a substance when it is illegal than if it were made legal, but regulated. A key factor in legalizing marijuana is to make sure there are limitations and constraints put on both its medicinal and recreational use. Legalization, as opposed to decriminalization, will create a legal, regulated market for marijuana, with age limits and controls akin to those placed on alcohol. Much like the dispensaries used in California for medical marijuana patients, or the ABC stores that sell alcohol, a similar system of attaining marijuana should be implemented across all states. But it should be kept in mind that the ability to freely smoke this herb in the comfort of one’s home, and without the disdain of those who may be uncomfortable with marijuana, should be a privilege, not a right.

In understanding the detrimental effects of marijuana prohibition and by implementing strict rules and regulations in the legalization of marijuana, lives will not be lost due to this ‘herbal’ drug war and resources and finances formerly used to contain the use of marijuana can be channeled to more effective uses.

As a final thought, it should be noted that individuals have the right to buy common household substances like nail polish, white out, sharpie markers, spray paint, and glue that can provide potential highs, with severe implications for a person’s health and lifestyle, so it comes as a surprise that the privilege to smoke, consume, and grow a risk-free plant is too often stifled.