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Myths & Truths: Scientific and Medical Issues
The Medicinal Value of Marijuana
Marijuana is proven effective at treating the illness of or side-effects associated with: glaucoma, cancer, HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease, Hepatitis C, wasting syndrome, severe/chronic pain, nausea, seizure disorders, muscle spasticity, arthritis, migraines, and agitation of Alzheimer’s disease
Scientific Findings:
• National Academy of Science/Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded
in a 1999 report that "there are limited circumstances in which we
recommend smoking marijuana for medical purposes." Recommended conditions
include nausea, appetite loss and pain & anxiety.
• IOM also found that marijuana works better for some patients than
existing medications.
• Using marijuana medicinal purpose is no different than using cocaine,
morphine or methamphetamines to treat illness, all of which are currently
legal even though they are more harmful and more addictive.
Marijuana is one of
the safest therapeutically active substances known. No one has ever died
from an overdose, and it has a wide variety of therapeutic applications.
The medicinal value of marijuana can be broken down into two categories:
Medical Conditions/Symptoms, and Diseases.
Medical Conditions/Symptoms:
• Nausea
• Cachexia, Anorexia or Wasting Syndrome
• Muscle Spasticity
• Severe or Chronic Pain
• Seizure Disorders
• Arthritis
• Migraines
• Agitation of Alzheimer’s Disease
Diseases:
• AIDS Marijuana can reduce the nausea, vomiting, and loss
of appetite caused by the ailment itself and by various AIDS medications.
• Glaucoma Marijuana can reduce intraocular pressure, thereby
alleviating the pain and slowing -- and sometimes stopping--the progress
of the condition. (Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in the United
States. It damages vision by increasing eye pressure over time.)
• Cancer Marijuana can stimulate the appetite and alleviate
nausea and vomiting, which are common side effects of chemotherapy treatment.
• Multiple Sclerosis Marijuana can limit the muscle pain and
spasticity caused by the disease, as well as relieving tremor and unsteadiness
of gait. (Multiple sclerosis is the leading cause of neurological disability
among young and middle-aged adults in the United States.)
• Epilepsy Marijuana can prevent epileptic seizures in some
patients. Each of these applications has been deemed legitimate by at
least one court, legislature, and/or government agency in the United States.
• Many patients also report that marijuana is useful for treating
menstrual cramps, alcohol and opiate addiction, depression and other debilitating
mood disorders.
Myths and Truths: Scientific
and Medical Issues
MYTH #1: "There is no reliable evidence that marijuana has medical value."
TRUTH: In March 1999, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine concluded "there are some limited circumstances in which we recommend smoking marijuana for medical purposes." The report noted that "nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety...all can be mitigated by marijuana."
MYTH #2: "Other drugs work better than marijuana. We should not make marijuana medically available unless it is shown to be the most effective drug for treating a particular condition."
TRUTH: March 1999 National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine concluded, "Although some medications are more effective than marijuana ... they are not equally effective in all patients." The "most" effective drug for one person might not work at all for another person, thus there are different drugs on the market to treat the same ailment.
MYTH #3: "Marijuana isn’t needed because Marinol is already available in pill form."
TRUTH: Marijuana contains about 60 active cannabinoids in addition to THC. Many of these compounds produce therapeutic effects that THC alone does not. For example, cannabidiol seems to be primarily responsible for controlling spasticity. In March 1999, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine noted, "It is well recognized that Marinol's oral route of administration hampers its effectiveness because of slow absorption and patients' desire for more control over dosing."
MYTH #4: "A better approach than smoking is isolating the other useful cannabinoids in marijuana to make them available in a pure, synthetic form."
TRUTH: It took many years of research before THC was approved in pill form, and no other cannabinoids have since been made available. With marijuana widely available, pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to spend millions of dollars on such
research. And should patients wait years when the natural substance already exists?
MYTH #5: "Rather than smoking marijuana, THC and other cannabinoids should be available in inhalers, suppositories, etc."
TRUTH: These delivery systems would help patients, and should be made available. However, the development of these systems should not substitute for the research of smokable marijuana that is necessary for FDA approval of the natural, whole marijuana.
MYTH #6: "Marijuana is too dangerous to be used as a medicine. Numerous studies have shown that marijuana is harmful and addictive."
TRUTH: Doctors are currently allowed to prescribe cocaine, morphine, and methamphetamine, drugs that are much more harmful and addictive than marijuana. According to research, dependence among marijuana users is relatively rare:
Tobacco 32 %
Heroin 23 %
Cocaine 17 %
Alcohol 15 %
Marijuana (including hashish) 9 %
In addition, according to the 1999 Institute of Medicine report some controlled substances that are approved medications produce dependence after long-term use; this, however, is a normal part of patient management and does not generally present undue risk to the patient.
MYTH #7: "Marijuana is bad for the immune system."
TRUTH: No studies have conclusively established that marijuana's effects on the immune system exacerbate the condition of AIDS or cancer patients, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. And according to Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, there is no evidence that marijuana users are more susceptible to infections than non-users. Early studies that showed decreased immune function in cells taken from marijuana users have since been disproved. Indeed, not a single case of marijuana-induced immune
impairment has ever been observed in humans.
MYTH #8: "Marijuana's side effects -- for instance, increased blood pressure -- negate its
effectiveness in fighting glaucoma."
TRUTH: NIH medical marijuana panelist Paul Palmberg, M.D., Ph.D., a glaucoma expert, said on February 20, 1997, "I don't think there's any doubt about its effectiveness, at least in some people with glaucoma." The federal government currently gives marijuana to at least three patients with glaucoma, and it has preserved their vision for years after they were expected to go blind.
MYTH #9: "Doctors are not able to control the dosages of medical marijuana."
TRUTH: According to NIH medical marijuana panelist Avram Goldstein, M.D., "We know that there are no extreme immediate toxicity issues. It's a very safe drug, and therefore it would be perfectly safe medically to let the patient determine their own dose by the smoking route."
MYTH #10: " Smoke is not a medicine, and smoking is not a safe delivery system."
TRUTH: While there are health hazards associated with smoking anything, medicines do not have to be completely safe to be approved. Rather, they must be safe relative to other approved medicines and effective relative to the alternative. The dangers of cocaine, morphine, and methamphetamine are well documented, yet they are legal medicines. And radiation can cause damage to humans, yet it is a widely used cancer treatment.
MYTH 11: "Marijuana causes health problems that shorten the life span, including cancer."
TRUTH: Epidemiological data indicate that in the general population marijuana use is not associated with increased mortality, and there is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans, including cancers usually related to tobacco use.
MYTH 12: "Marijuana causes people to use more dangerous drugs."
TRUTH: According to the National Institutes of Medicine report, "It does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse; that is, care must be taken not to attribute cause to association. There is no evidence that marijuana serves as a stepping stone on the basis of its particular physiological effect."
MYTH 13: "Marijuana
is more dangerous than tobacco."
TRUTH: Given a cigarette of comparable weight, as much as four times the
amount of tar can be deposited in the lungs of marijuana smokers as in
the lungs of tobacco smokers. However, a marijuana cigarette smoked recreationally
typically is not packed as tightly as a
tobacco cigarette, and the smokable substance is about half that in a
tobacco cigarette. In addition, tobacco smokers generally smoke considerably
more cigarettes per day than do marijuana smokers.
* Answers based on findings reported in "Marijuana
and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," copyright 1999 by the
National Academy of Sciences (ISBN 0-309-07155-0). The
full report by the National Academy of Sciences.