AN APPEAL TO REASON

Now that there are 15 states that allow medical marijuana, and more to follow, one can imagine the confusion in engaging in an activity sanctioned by state law but still deemed illegal under federal law. The federal law in question is the Controlled Substances Act, which is found in 21 U.S.C.A. sec. 801, et seq.. Schedule I drugs, which include marijuana, are considered to have a high potential for abuse, "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and there is "a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision." (21 U.S.C.S. sec. 812((b)(1)(A) through (C).) Legislators are rarely doctors with medical degrees, and sometimes one has to wait for the law to catch up with medicine. Because marijuana is listed as an illegal drug, it is often difficult to conduct the sort of scientific tests that could establish its medicinal value. (Well, maybe not so difficult for the U.S. Government.)

The official position of the U.S. Government is that marijuana has no medicinal use. But if you turn to the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, which is part of the Department of the Department of Health and Human Services, it has an official web site that addresses the use of medical marijuana in the treatment of cancer-related symptoms. It notes cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years, and its chemical components (cannabinoids) activate specific receptors found throughout our bodies to produce pharmacological effects, which may have benefits in the treatment of cancer-related side effects. These symptoms include "antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep."

The web site acknowledges that even though the government has denied it has medical value, marijuana was distributed to patients by the U.S. government under its Compassionate Use Investigational New Drug Program, established in 1978 and discontinued in 1992. Even the Department of Veteran Affairs has approved marijuana for treating its vets in states where medical marijuana is legal. The web site goes on to list studies involving anti-tumor effects, protection against the development of some tumors, appetite stimulation, pain relief and an anti-inflammatory mechanism. The site also notes that "Cannabinoids have a favorable drug safety profile," are less addictive than prescribed drugs or substances of abuse, and have mild withdrawal symptoms compared to opiates or benzodiazepines, and even those symptoms dissipate after a few days.

If you take a look at http://articles.cnn.com/2009-05-18/justice/government.marijuana.garden_1_marijuana-drug-abuse-cameras?_s=PM:CRIME, then you might get a glimpse at what is billed the "nation's only legal pot garden," because it is the government's "cannabis drug repository." This farm exists as the result of a contract between the National Institute of Drug Abuse and the University of Mississippi to cultivate the marijuana and send it to licensed facilities across the country for research. As noted by celebrity Montel Williams in a recent episode of the Dr. Oz show, the government sends out a canister to several patients each month, and has done so for a number of years, while patients across the country run the risk of drug prosecution by the federal government even though the patient's state may find its use is legal.

But the government persists in arguing that marijuana is a dangerous substance, and if legalized, even for seriously ill patients, then the youth will become more vulnerable to using it. Hmmm, interesting argument . . . so a seriously ill patient who might benefit from medical marijuana and obtains a doctor's recommendation for the patient's treatment, should be denied medical marijuana so that youths might not be tempted by marijuana? Wouldn't the same argument apply to Vicodin or Oxycontin? Does that mean the patient should be doomed to suffer and sacrifice his or her well-being to save a young person somewhere from failing prey to the temptations of marijuana? Something is wrong here.

At the conclusion of his show, Dr. Oz summed up his position that medical marijuana should be used to give patients their lives back, not to take them away from life. But according to the government, that patient's right to medical treatment and to be free of pain deserves less recognition than saving our youths from a drug with proven medical benefits, with a lot less side effects and addictive qualities than prescribed drugs.