Click here for delivery
|
Medical Cannabis
The name marijuana is Mexican or Latin American in origin. That marijuana is now well known in English as a name for cannabis is due largely to the efforts of drug prohibitionists in the United States during the 1920s and 30s. Under the name hemp the herb was then well known as a source of industrial materials and, under the name cannabis, it was also in widespread legal use as a medicine.
Due to widespread illegal use of cannabis as a recreational drug its legal or licensed use in medicine is now a controversial issue in most countries.
There are many competing claims regarding the use of cannabis in a medicinal context. Some claim that it is effective for a wide spectrum of medical problems, while others limit its efficacy to a few specific circumstances. On the other side of the debate, there are those who feel that cannabis simply has no legitimate medical uses, and others who feel that there are theoretical uses that are superseded by more effective treatments using other drugs. As an example, Dr. Stuart Hoffman, formerly a private oncologist and now working for ChoicePoint, a drug testing company, has claimed that other combinations of drugs render any potential use of cannabis outdated.
Cannabis was listed in the United States Pharmacopeia from 1850 until 1942, however the United States federal government does not currently recognize any legitimate medical use. Regardless, Francis L. Young, an administrative law judge with the Drug Enforcement Agency, has declared that in its natural form, (cannabis) is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known.
Cannabis as a medicine was common throughout most of the world in the 1800s. It was used as the primary pain reliever until the invention of aspirin. Modern medical and scientific inquiry began with doctors like O'Shaughnessy and Moreau de Tours, who used it to treat melancholia, migraines, and as a sleeping aid, analgesic and anticonvulsant.
By the time the United States banned cannabis (the third country to do so) with the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, the plant was no longer extremely popular. The only opponent to the bill was the representative of the American Medical Association.
Later in the century, researchers investigating methods of detecting marijuana intoxication discovered that smoking the drug reduced intraocular pressure. High intraocular pressure causes blindness in glaucoma patients, so many believed that using the drug could prevent blindness in patients. Many Vietnam War veterans also believed that the drug prevented muscle spasms caused by battle-induced spinal injuries. Later medical use has focused primarily on its role in preventing the wasting syndromes and chronic loss of appetite associated with chemotherapy and AIDS, along with a variety of rare muscular and skeletal disorders. Less commonly, cannabis has been used in the treatment of alcoholism and addiction to other drugs such as heroin and the prevention of migraines.
In 1972 Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D. reignited the debate concerning marijuana as medicine when he published "Marijuana Medical Papers 1839-1972".
Later in the 1970s, a synthetic version of THC, the primary active ingredient in cannabis, was synthesized to make the drug Marinol. Users reported several problems with Marinol, however, that led many to abandon the pill and resume smoking the plant. Patients complained that the violent nausea associated with chemotherapy made swallowing pills difficult. Smoked marijuana takes effect almost immediately, and is therefore easily dosed; many patients only smoke enough to feel the medical effects — many complained that Marinol was more potent than they needed, and that the mental effects made normal daily functioning impossible. In addition, Marinol was far more expensive, costing upwards of several thousand dollars a year for the same effect as smoking a plant easily grown throughout most of the world. Many users felt Marinol was less effective, and that the mental effects were far more disastrous; some studies have indicated that other chemicals in the plant may have a synergistic effect with THC.
In addition, during the 1970s and 1980s, six US states' health departments performed studies on the use of medical marijuana. These are widely considered some of the most useful and pioneering studies on the subject.
|