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Some people find that marijuana combats the unpleasant symptoms associated with medical conditions. But the potential medical uses of marijuana are hard to assess, as there have been few clinical trials. Pure THC has been shown to improve appetite and prevent the severe weight loss associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and it also reduces the nausea caused by cancer chemotherapy and radiation treatments. A synthetic version of THC sold under the brand name Marinol is available in capsule form as a prescription medicine in the United States for these uses. Compared to smoked marijuana, however, this drug is slower to provide symptom relief due to the time required for the drug to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Marijuana is also reported to have beneficial effects in treating pain and muscle spasms in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Many people who suffer from MS and other chronic diseases report that marijuana provides symptom relief when all other medications fail.
In the United States, the potential medical benefits of marijuana have sparked a debate about the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. Federal laws prohibit the use, possession, growth, or distribution of marijuana for any purpose. Marijuana is classified in the United States as a Schedule I substance, defined as having a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use, and no accepted safety for use in medically supervised treatment. However, since 1996 voters in 11 states—Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington—have approved so-called medical marijuana laws. Except in Arizona, these laws allow patients with certain diseases, such as cancer and AIDS, to grow and use marijuana with a physician’s approval for medical purposes, mainly to alleviate extreme pain, nausea, lack of appetite, and other chronic symptoms when other drugs are ineffective. Under most of these laws, qualifying patients must carry special identification cards.
In 2001 the U.S. Supreme Court made its first ruling on medical marijuana in United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. The Court ruled that marijuana distributors cannot offer a medical-necessity defense to avoid a federal conviction for marijuana manufacture, distribution, and possession. In 2005 the Court ruled in Gonzales v. Raich that the federal government can prosecute violators of federal drug laws even in states that have medical marijuana laws. Although the decision did not overturn those state laws, it did override any provisions exempting patients in possession of medical marijuana from raids, arrest, and prosecution by federal authorities.
In the United Kingdom large-scale clinical trials of cannabis-based medicines for pain and multiple sclerosis (MS) were initiated in 2000. In 2001 the federal government of Canada approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes. In April 2005 a cannabis-derived drug developed by a U.K.-based pharmaceutical company was approved for use by prescription in Canada for relief of neuropathic pain from MS.
Factbook Medical Marijuana
Organizations that have endorsed medical access to marijuana include: the
Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Family Physicians; American Bar
Association; American Public Health Association; American Society of Addiction
Medicine; AIDS Action Council; British Medical Association; California Academy
of Family Physicians; California Legislative Council for Older Americans;
California Medical Association; California Nurses Association; California
Pharmacists Association; California Society of Addiction Medicine;
California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church; Colorado
Nurses Association; Consumer Reports Magazine; Kaiser Permanente; Lymphoma
Foundation of America; Multiple Sclerosis California Action Network; National
Association of Attorneys General; National Association of People with AIDS;
National Nurses Society on Addictions; New Mexico Nurses Association; New York
State Nurses Association; New England Journal of Medicine; and Virginia Nurses
Association.The DEA's Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young concluded: "In strict medical
terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example,
eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is
physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its
natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to
man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the
supervised routine of medical care." (Read more)
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/medicalm.htm
Marijuana and Medicine
Public opinion on the medical value of marijuana has been sharply divided. Some
dismiss medical marijuana as a hoax that exploits our natural compassion for the
sick; others claim it is a uniquely soothing medicine that has been withheld
from patients through regulations based on false claims. Proponents of both
views cite "scientific evidence" to support their views and have expressed those
views at the ballot box in recent state elections. In January 1997, the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) asked the Institute of
Medicine to conduct a review of the scientific evidence to assess the potential
health benefits and risks of marijuana and its constituent cannabinoids. That
review began in August 1997 and culminates with this report.
(Read more)
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/marimed/index.html
Pain Management With Marijuana
(Read more)
http://www.montananorml.org/docs/Russo-AAPM_chapter.pdf
MARIJUANA- A Medicinal Marvel
Cannabis, or marijuana, has proven
medical benefits and few, if any, toxic side-effects. Why, then, has it been a
prohibited medicine for over fifty years? (Read more)
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/hemp_conspiracy.htm
Medical Marijuana Research: What Does the Evidence Say?More than 6,500 reports and journal articles from around the world support the
medical value of marijuana. In addition, dozens of public health organizations
have endorsed medical use of marijuana including the AIDS Action Council, the
American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians,
the American Nurses Association, the Federation of American Scientists, Kaiser
Permanente, the New England Journal of Medicine, the National Association for
Public Health Policy, the California Medical Association, the Whitman-Walker
Clinic, the Lymphoma Foundation of America, and many more.(Read more)
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2781
Medical cannabis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana
The Green Cross Patient Cooperative is open to all that present a
bona fide need for medicinal cannabis on the advice of their physician or other
health care professionals. The GCPC has been in operation since 1993. (Read more)
http://www.hemp.net/greencross/
The American Nurses Association (ANA) recognizes that patients should have safe
access to therapeutic marijuana/cannabis. Cannabis or marijuana has been used
medicinally for centuries. It has been shown to be effective in treating a wide
range of symptoms and conditions. Therefore, the ANA supports evidence that marijuana has a significant margin of
safety when used under a practitioner's supervision when all of the patient's
medications can be considered in the therapeutic regimen.
THIS ONE IS VERY COOL !!!
The American Medical Marijuana Association recently received official
recognition by the United States government as one of the top organization
websites promoting medical marijuana law reform. This recommendation appears in
a briefing by the White House and is available online at the official web site
for the White House Drug Policy. (Read more) http://www.americanmarijuana.org/
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