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Cannabis as Medicine

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Quotes from Medical Journals

Cannabis has been used for centuries by civilizations all over the world.  It wasn’t until the mid 20th century when Reefer Madness took hold in America that this miracle plant became illegal and marijuana was feared to be a dangerous “gateway drug.”  For the past few decades there have been numerous medical studies and scientific research supporting the use of cannabis in treating a wide-range of medical ailments.  Below are just a few of the quotes from medical journals around the world touting the safety and efficacy of medical marijuana.

Dr. Ethan Russo, Cannabis Health (Canada)

“Cannabinoids represent an important parallel system to the endogenous opioid system of pain modulation, and administration of cannabinoids can effectively synergize opioid responses while mitigating side effects. Cannabinoids show unique promise in treatment of neuropathic pain.”

Bolognini D, et al. Br J Pharmacol 2010; 160(3):677-87

“The ability of cannabis and cannabinoids to control inflammation has been demonstrated in many studies, but a new report from the University of Aberdeen has shown that the plant cannabinoid THCV (delta-9- tetrahydrocannabivarin) attaches to CB2 receptors and is effective in reducing inflammation and pain.”

Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, 1999

INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE: “Nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety . . all can be mitigated by marijuana…. For patients, such as those with AIDS or undergoing chemotherapy, who suffer simultaneously from severe pain, nausea, and appetite loss, cannabinoid drugs might offer broad spectrum relief not found in any other single medication.”

American Nurses Association

In 2003 the American Nurses Association passed a resolution that supports those health care providers who recommend medicinal use, recognizes “the right of patients to have safe access to therapeutic marijuana/cannabis,” and calls for more research and education, as well as a rescheduling of marijuana for medical use.

Francis L. Young, DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge, 1988

“Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known … The evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for [the] DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance.”

British Medical Association, November 1997

“Prevent evidence indicates that [cannabinoids] are remarkably safe drugs, with a side effects profile superior to many drugs used for the same indications.”

August 7, 2006 Appellate Brief

“For a significant number of patients, clinical experience and research confirm that marijuana serves as the only effective medicine for relieving pain, suppressing nausea or stimulating appetite. Numerous studies by blue-ribbon government panels and federally funded, peer-reviewed scientific studies have consistently found that marijuana is effective for treating certain debilitating symptoms.”  (American Pain Foundation, American Medical Women’s Association, Lymphoma Foundation of America, American Nurses Association, California Nurses Association, AIDS Action Council, National Women’s Health Network, Doctors of the World- USA, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner, Ross v. Ragingwire, 2006 WL 3244938 )

Institute of Medicine, “Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base,” 1999

“Nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety are all afflictions of wasting, and all can be mitigated by marijuana.”

Dr. Jerome Kassirer, “Federal Foolishness and Marijuana,” editorial, New England Journal of Medicine, January 30, 1997

“[A] federal policy that prohibits physicians from alleviating suffering by prescribing marijuana for seriously ill patients is misguided, heavy-handed, and inhumane.”

Institute of Medicine, “Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base,” 1999

“[T]here will likely always be a subpopulation of patients who do not respond well to other medications … The critical issue is not whether marijuana or cannabinoid drugs might be superior to the new drugs, but whether some group of patients might obtain added or better relief from marijuana or cannabinoid drugs … Although some medications are more effective than marijuana for these problems, they are not equally effective in all patients.”

Dr. Manuel Guzman, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Complutense University, Madrid, Spain, “Cannabinoids: Potential Anti-Cancer Agents,” Nature Reviews – Cancer, October 2003

“Cannabinoids, the active components of cannabis sativa and their derivatives… exert palliative effects in patients with cancer and inhibit tumor growth in laboratory animals.”

Dr. Lester Grinspoon, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2006

“Cannabis will one day be seen as a wonder drug, as was penicillin in the 1940s. Like penicillin, herbal marijuana is remarkably nontoxic, has a wide range of therapeutic applications and would be quite inexpensive if it were legal.”

Gregory Carter, M.D., clinical professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, and co-director, Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA)/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Center

“We have now found that the cannabinoids, the active ingredients in medical marijuana, work remarkably well in controlling the clinical symptoms of ALS. Even more exciting is that we are now discovering that the cannabinoids actually protect nerve cells and may prolong the life of patients with ALS.”

“Reefer Madness, Marijuana Is Medically Useful Whether Politicians Like It or Not,” The Economist, April 29, 2006

“If Cannabis were unknown, and bio-prospectors 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.“

 

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