Medical Marijuana Information

"The profile of cannabinoid drug effects suggest that they are promising for treating wasting syndrome in AIDS patients. Nausea, appetite loss, pain, and anxiety are all afflictions of wasting, and all can be mitigated by marijuana. Although some medications are more effective than marijuana for these problems, they are not equally effective in all patients. A rapid-onset (that is, acting within minutes) delivery system should be developed and tested in such patients. Smoking marijuana is not recommended. The long-term harm caused by smoking marijuana makes it a poor drug delivery system, particularly for patients with chronic illnesses."

From: medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=129
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Lisa M. Eubanks, PhD, Research Associate at the Scripps Research Institute, et al. stated in an Aug. 9, 2006 article titled "A Molecular Link Between the Active Component of Marijuana and Alzheimer's Disease Pathology," published in Molecular Pharmaceutics: "In contrast to previous studies aimed at utilizing cannabinoids in Alzheimer's disease therapy, our results provide a mechanism whereby the THC molecule can directly impact Alzheimer's disease pathology.[...]

It is noteworthy that THC is a considerably more effective inhibitor [...] than the approved drugs for Alzheimer's disease treatment, donepezil and tacrine, which reduced [protein deposits in the brain] by only 22% and 7%, respectively, at twice the concentration used in our studies. [...]

THC and its analogues may provide an improved therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease [by] simultaneously treating both the symptoms and progression of Alzheimer's disease." b

From: medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=130

According to Bill Zimmerman, PhD, who wrote in his 1998 book Is Marijuana The Right Medicine For You? :

"Patients experiencing extreme nausea find it difficult to swallow any medication in pill form. Some patients vomit when trying to swallow the capsule and are unable to use it.

When Marinol does work, many patients claim it takes over an hour re relieve their symptoms. This probably results from the fact that the THC passes through the liver before reaching the receptors in the brain...

Because Marinol takes so long to reduce nausea, some patients have complained that they are at risk of overdosing when they are driven to get quick relief from their violent symptoms."
medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=136
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Rheumatology reported in a Jan. 2006 article titled "Preliminary Assessment of The Efficacy, Tolerability and Safety of A Cannabis-based Medicine (Sativex) in The Treatment of Pain Caused By Rheumatoid Arthritis," by D.R. Blake et al.: "In comparison with placebo, the CBM [cannabis-based medicine] produced statistically significant improvements in pain on movement, pain at rest, quality of sleep....

In the first ever controlled trial of a CBM in RA [rheumatoid arthritis], a significant analgesic effect was observed and disease activity was significantly suppressed following Sativex treatment." medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=131

The New England Journal of Medicine, a peer-reviewed medical journal, published a 1973 study titled "Single-Dose Effect of Marihuana Smoke. Bronchial Dynamics and Respiratory-Center Sensitivity in Normal Subjects," by L. Vachon et al., that stated:

"Marihuana smoke, unlike cigarette smoke, causes bronchodilatation [expansion of the air passages] rather than bronchoconstriction [narrowing of the air passages] and, unlike opiates, does not cause central respiratory depression.
medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=132

Linda Parker, PhD, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Neuroscience at Wilfrid Laurier University, told The Windsor Star (Canada) in an Aug. 24, 2006 article titled "Marijuana May Relieve Chemo Patients' Nausea": "Many chemotherapy patients vomit walking into clinics in anticipation of treatment. The symptoms can deter some patients from continuing with recommended treatment.

Known anti-emetic drugs aren't effective in treating learned nausea.

People report that if they smoke marijuana before they go for chemotherapy treatment, they don't experience the anticipatory nausea or vomiting."
medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=137

O'Shaughnessy's, a scientific journal, published a study in its Autumn 2005 issue titled "Cannabis Alleviates Symptoms of Crohn's Disease," by Jeff Hergenrather, MD, that found: "[Crohn's] patients described marked improvements with the use of cannabis.

Beneficial effects were reported for appetite, pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, activity, and depression. Patients also reported that cannabis use resulted in weight gain, fewer stools per day and fewer flare-ups of less severity...

Cannabis-using Crohn's patients not only report significant relief of their symptoms, they are also able to reduce the amount of immunosuppressive medications that have been a mainstay of conventional treatment...

Crohn's disease is so debilitating and life-threatening and so difficult to manage with conventional medications it is very encouraging to find that cannabis is proving to be an effective treatment for it right now."
medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=138

Donald Gross, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology at the University of Alberta, et al., stated in their June 8, 2004 article, "Marijuana Use and Epilepsy; Prevalence in Patients of a Tertiary Care Epilepsy Center," published in Neurology: Twenty-one percent of subjects had used marijuana in the past year with the majority of active users reporting beneficial effects on seizures. Twenty-four percent of all subjects believed marijuana was an effective therapy for epilepsy.

Despite limited evidence of efficacy, many patients with epilepsy believe marijuana is an effective therapy for epilepsy and are actively using it.
medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=139

The Mayo Clinic stated in its Aug. 25, 2006 article "Marijuana as Medicine: Consider the Pros and Cons," published on its website:

In the early 1970s, scientists discovered that smoking marijuana reduced pressure in the eyes. Exactly how the cannabinoids in marijuana produce this effect isn't known. Scientists have discovered CB1 receptors in the eyes, which may provide clues for future research on how marijuana affects glaucoma.

Your doctor can prescribe other medications to treat glaucoma, but these can lose their effectiveness over time. Researchers are working to develop medications containing cannabinoids that can be put directly on the eyes - to avoid the mind-altering side effects and other health consequences of smoking the plant.

GW Pharmaceuticals stated on its website (accessed Jan. 2004):
The ability of cannabis and THC to lower intra-ocular pressure in glaucoma was serendipitously discovered in the late 1970's by a variety of patients and researchers. Several patients in the US Compassionate Use Investigational New Drug Program maintained their vision while employing large amounts of daily cannabis in situations where standard drug therapy failed....
An emerging concept is that glaucoma represents a progressive vascular retinopathy that requires a neuroprotectant to preserve vision. Some of the resulting optic nerve damage accrues due to NMDA hyperexcitability, an effect that THC and CBD may counter as neuroprotective antioxidants.

Thus, glaucoma is an area where cannabis and cannabinoids may offer particular advantages over available single ingredient ocular anti-hypertensive agents. Delivery methods remain an exacting challenge.
medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=140

Rick Weiss, a science and medical reporter, discussed the study noted above (by Benedikt Fischer et al.) in his article "Marijuana Aids Therapy," published Sept. 13, 2006 in the Washington Post:

Marijuana can improve the effectiveness of drug therapy for hepatitis C, a potentially deadly viral infection that affects more than 3 million Americans, a study has found. The work adds to a growing literature supporting the notion that in some circumstances pot can offer medical benefits.

Treatment for hepatitis C involves months of therapy with two powerful drugs, interferon and ribavirin, that have severe side effects, including extreme fatigue, nausea, muscle aches, loss of appetite and depression. Because of those side effects, many patients do not finish treatment and the virus ends up destroying their livers.



While it is possible that the marijuana had a specific, positive biomedical effect, it is more likely that it helped patients by reducing depression, improving appetite and offering psychological benefits that helped the patients tolerate the treatment's side effects, the team reports in the current issue of the European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=217

Philip Denney, MD, Co-founder of a medical cannabis evaluation practice, in the June 2, 2005 Whittier Daily News is quoted by Shirley Hsu in the article "Migraine Sufferer Finds Relief from Marijuana":

Cannabis is one of the best medicines for migraines. It's so effective - it works rapidly, and it has limited toxicity, although lung damage from smoking is a concern.

Jack Herer, author and pro-marijuana activist, wrote in his Nov. 2000 book The Emperor Wears No Clothes:

Because migraine headaches are the result of artery spasms combined with over-relaxation of veins, the vascular changes cannabis causes in the covering of the brain (the meninges) usually make migraines disappear.

Ethan Russo, MD, Senior Medical Advisor at the Cannabinoid Research Institute, in a 2001 article "Hemp for Headache: An In-Depth Historical and Scientific Review of Cannabis in Migraine Treatment," published in the Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics, wrote:

In closing, a unique dance of medical science and politics is occurring that will soon decide whether herbal cannabis (a derivative, or synthetic analogue) will rise like the legendary phoenix to resume an ancient role as a remedy for migraine and neuropathic pain.

medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=218

The Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics (JCT) reported in a 2001 article by researchers at GW Pharmaceuticals:

Some patients with multiple sclerosis who smoke cannabis [marijuana] report relief of spasm and pain after the second or third puff of a cannabis cigarette. This implies very rapid transit to, and absorption into the central nervous system. The time involved is seconds rather than minutes.

Britain's House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, published a Nov. 1998 report titled "Cannabis: The Scientific and Medical Evidence," which stated:

We have received enough anecdotal evidence to convince us that cannabis almost certainly does have genuine medical applications, especially in treating the painful muscular spasms and other symptoms of MS and in the control of other forms of pain...

We therefore recommend that the Government should take steps to transfer cannabis and cannabis resin from Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations to Schedule 2, so as to allow doctors to prescribe an appropriate preparation of cannabis, albeit as an unlicensed medicine and on the named-patient basis, and to allow doctors and pharmacists to supply the drug prescribed.

medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=215

The Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics published a 2001 article by researchers from GW Pharmaceuticals which stated:

In practice it has been found that extracts of cannabis [processed whole plant compounds] provide greater relief of pain than the equivalent amount of cannabinoid given as a single chemical entity [such as Marinol].

The Mayo Clinic stated in its Aug. 25, 2006 online article "Marijuana as Medicine: Consider the Pros and Cons":

People widely used marijuana for pain relief in the 1800s, and several studies have found that cannabinoids have analgesic effects. In fact, THC may work as well in treating cancer pain as codeine, a mild pain reliever. Cannabinoids also appear to enhance the effects of opiate pain medications to provide pain relief at lower dosages.

Researchers currently are developing new medications based on cannabis to treat pain.

medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=216

Paul Armentano, Senior Policy Analyst at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), stated in an Aug. 2, 2007 press release titled "NORML Responds to New Rash of Pot and Mental Health Claims":

"Despite the enormous popularity of cannabis in the 1960s and 1970s in numerous Western cultures, rates of psychotic disorders haven't increased since then in any of these societies. Individuals suffering from mental illness such as schizophrenia tend to use all intoxicants - particularly alcohol and tobacco - at greater rates than the general population. Not surprisingly, many of these individuals also use cannabis."

medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=220

The American Medical Association stated in an online report "Medical Marijuana (A-01)" (accessed on Jan. 10, 2007):

Only limited data exist on the effects of marijuana in patients with Tourette's syndrome who respond inadequately to standard treatment, consisting of 4 case histories that report beneficial effects of smoked marijuana and 1 who reported substantial benefit from oral 9-THC (10 mg).

The Institute of Medicine published in its Mar. 1999 report titled "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base":

The movement disorders most often discussed as candidates for marijuana-based therapies are dystonias, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease and Tourette's syndrome.

As a general consideration, it is important to note that stress and anxiety tend to worsen the symptoms of movement disorders. Thus, marijuana's calming effect could be a primary reason why some patients claim that it brings them relief.

medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=221

The Institute of Medicine published in its Mar. 1999 report titled "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base":

Terminal cancer patients pose different issues. For those patients the medical harm associated with smoking is of little consequence. For terminal patients suffering debilitating pain or nausea and for whom all indicated medications have failed to provide relief, the medical benefits of smoked marijuana might outweigh the harm.

Consumer Reports, a nonprofit magazine, stated in May 1997:

Consumer Reports believes that, for patients with advanced AIDS and terminal cancer, the apparent benefits some derive from smoking marijuana outweigh any substantiated or even suspected risks. In the same spirit the FDA uses to hasten the approval of cancer drugs, federal laws should be relaxed in favor of states' rights to allow physicians to administer marijuana to their patients on a caring and compassionate basis.

medicalmarijuana.procon.org/viewanswers.asp?questionID=222