By Tom O’Connell MD
“Blurred Boundaries: The Therapeutics and Politics of Medical Marijuana” by the Mayo Clinic is a reasonably accurate assessment of the many benefits of cannabis in the treatment of a wide variety of conditions, together with a commendably complete bibliography. My only complaint is that it’s stated as timidly as possible- almost apologetically.
The truth is that the American government owes the world an apology for the “War on drugs” promulgated by Richard Nixon and all his successors. It was law that was based entirely on empty rhetoric with no foundation in either logic or clinical research.
It’s been a punitive nightmare– a disgrace, one has ruined many lives for no good reason while withholding beneficial treatment from literally millions of others.
EXCERPTS: “Traditional Eastern medicine met Western medicine when W. B. O’Shaughnessy, an Irish physician working in Calcutta in the 1830s, wrote a paper extolling “Indian hemp.” 10) The list of indications for which he recommended cannabis—pain, vomiting, convulsions, and spasticity—strikingly resembles the conditions for which modern medical marijuana proponents extol its virtues.”
“Marijuana is touted as a kind of social lubricant, helping users relax and feel more expansive and less self-conscious. Effects that can limit use in a medical setting (short-term memory disruption, a sense of slowed time, increased body awareness, reduced ability to focus, incoordination, and sleepiness) are exactly the sensations recreational users prize. (21,34) Cohen (35) sums it up thus: ‘Can the recreational use of marijuana cause cognitive impairment? The most obvious answer is ‘yes’—after all, this is the basic reason for its recreational use.’ ”
“Marijuana continues to have the reputation among the general public as being benign, non–habit-forming, and incapable of inducing true addiction. (39, 48) For most users this may be so. Experimentation with marijuana has become an adolescent rite of passage, with the prevalence of use peaking in the late teens and early 20s, then decreasing significantly as youths settle into the adult business of establishing careers and families. With a lifetime dependence risk of 9% in marijuana users vs 32% for nicotine, 23% for heroin, 17% for cocaine, and 15% for alcohol, (25) the addiction risk with marijuana is not as high as that for other drugs of abuse”
‘Whereas adult users appear comparatively immune to cannabis-induced behavioral and brain morphologic changes, the same cannot be said of individuals initiating use during their early teens, when effects are both more severe and more long-lasting than in adults. (66) During puberty, a period characterized by significant cerebral reorganization, particularly of the frontal lobes implicated in behavior, the brain is especially vulnerable to adverse effects from exogenous cannabinoids. (58) “
“Not until 1970, however, citing marijuana’s potential for abuse and addiction, did the US Congress finally declare it to have no medical value, rendering illegal a plant that had been used medicinally throughout the world for thousands of years. (51, 83) Ironically, given the recent hue and cry over medical marijuana having been legalized without scientific input, the US Congress had failed to follow its usual review process dictated by the Controlled Substances Act that requires scientific evaluation and testimony before legislative action. It declared cannabis illegal in the absence of such evidence. (15)”
