Flipside Have Your Say on medical pot

drstuey · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2003 6:56 pm

TV2's Flipside programme had a piece on medical pot this evening (where a nurse made a number of inaccurate statements but was generally supportive) and to follow it up they have a topic in their have your say feature. You have to register to use it, but you can go and post your message about law reform @
http://flipside.nzoom.com/

charlie · Guest

haha notice how they showed the unitedfuture women with alchohol looking pretty drunk just before she started talking, for probably less than a second but it was effective.

where can i find info on that britan trial thing nandor was talking about

drstuey · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2003 12:18 am

We have loads of info about the UK clinical trials here:
http://www.norml.org.nz/category4.html
This page gathers "News stories about the official medical cannabis trials conducted in the UK. These large scale trials used whole plant extracts delivered under the tongue using aerosols sprays. The trials tested different strains of cannabis, grown at a secure location by GW Pharmaceuticals, to see which strain had the most benefit for each medical condition."

Also, there's a previous forum post I wrote about it here:
http://www.norml.org.nz/postt25.html
This page has details of the 3 different delivery mechanisms trialed, and of the different strains of cannabis trialed.

cheers

charlie (again) · Guest

how about this, broadcast a cannabis debate on tv with all the experts and cover every single point. after the show there will be people on the radio rubishing it, ring up each one and combat those points.. then after a couple of days show the debate one more time and i think most people will be behind law reform. i'm sure flipside would allow it but you need to have people of all ages watching it, not just the young ones.

jemelsa · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 11:04 am

Report On The Therapeutic Benefits Of Cannabis sativa (Marijuana) July 2002.

1. INTRODUCTION:

1.1. Aim

To outline the amazing therapeutic benefits of the herb Cannabis sativa & Cannabis indica (marijuana) & bring these benefits to the attention of Health Professionals, MPs, Judges & Police for a more health conscious & compassionate approach on this very important issue.

1.2 Writers background

Studying a Diploma in Health Science (herbal medicine) at the Australian College of Natural Medicine.

1.3 Sources of information

* Books:
Marijuana- the Forbidden Medicine written by Dr Lister Grimspoon
The Emporer wears no Clothes written by Jack Herer
* Websites:
www.rxmarihuana.com
MCRF www.helpcannabisresearch.org
www.norml.org (medical section)
yahooka (medical section)
hempnews
nzdf
House of Lords-science & technology report Chapter 3-pharmacology of cannabis
www.jackherer.com

2. MARIJUANA - THE FORBIDDEN MEDICINE:

Cannabis sativa & Cannabis indica have been used medicinally for thousands of years in western medicine since 60AD- The Herbal Dioscorides, (2,000 years before in eastern medicine). It has also been listed in subsequent herbals or pharmacopoeia since then.

Cannabis has been medically, scientifically & anecdotally tested. It has been found to have over 400 active components, 60 active cannabanoids, the major compound being THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) which has now been made synthetically called (Marinol), due to the scientific findings of its wide therapeutic properties.

There is sufficient scientific evidence to establish that MJ is a non-toxic substance, described as one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man in its natural form. The lethal dose ratio of MJ 1:20,000 - 1:40,000: which means you would have to consume approx. 1,500lbs in 15 mins to induce a lethal response, their are no known fatalities from this substance.

3. DISCUSSION:

3.1 Some examples of current use of cannabis as medicine

People undergoing cancer chemotherapy have found smoked cannabis to be an effective anti-nauseant - often more effective than available pharmaceutical medications.
Cannabis is also smoked by thousands of AIDS patients to treat the nausea and vomiting associated with both the disease and AZT drug therapy. Because it stimulates appetite, marijuana also counters HIV-related "wasting," allowing AIDS patients to gain weight and prolong their lives.
Many people suffering neuro-muscular disorders such as multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinsons, paraplegia and tetraplegia, phantom limb pain, and arthritis report significant improvements in motor control and spasms from their use of cannabis.
The active ingredient in cannabis, THC, has been shown to be effective at limiting brain damage from stroke, halting the growth of usually-fatal glioma brain tumours, and is more effective than morphine for the relief of chronic pain.

This list should include migraine. Cannabis has a long history in the treatment of this disorder; Sir William Osler proclaimed it to be the best available treatment in his 1915 textbook. Despite the development of new medicines, including sumatriptan, many people suffering from migraine still prefer marijuana, partly because it has fewer uncomfortable or dangerous side effects.

3.2 A number of studies have shown that MJ is effective in:

* Reducing nausea & vomitting.
* Covering intranocular pressure associated with Glaucoma.
* Cancer chemotherapy, helpful in side effects, anti-nauseant-more effective than available pharmaceutical medications.
* Decreasing muscle spasms & elasticity-Multiple sclerosis.
* Cerebral palsy
* Crohns disease
* Epilepsy
* Acute depression
* Cachexia or wasting disease.
* Bipolar disorder
* Severe nausea in pregnancy

NOTE: Appendix 1 - The Therapeutic use on Cannabis - from the book The Emperor wears no Clothes (chapter 7) by Jack Herer. www.jackherer.com

3.3 Cannabis binding to receptor sites:

In order for a chemical to affect the brain it must bind to a receptor site capable of receiving it.
(Omni, August 1989; Washington Post, Aug 9, 1990)

Although morphine fits the receptor sites of beta-endorphin roughly, and amphetamines correspond loosely to dopamine, these drugs as well as tricyclics and other mood altering drugs present grave danger to the subtle balance of the nerves' vital fluids. Omni and the Washington Post cited no physical dangers in natural cannabis.

One reason cannabis is so safe to use is that it does not affect any of the involuntary muscles of breathing and life support. Rather, it affects its own specific receptor cites for motion (movement strategy) and memory (mental strategies).

3.4 Prescribed medicines:

Various marijuana & hashish extracts were the first, second & third most prescribed medicines in the United states from 1842 until 1890s. Its medicinal use continued legally through the 1930s for humans & figured even more prominently in American & world veterinary medicines during this time.
Cannabis extract medicines were produced by Eli Lilly, Parke-Davis, Tildens, Brothers smith (smith brothers), Squibb, & many other American European companies & apothecaries. During all the time there was not one reported death from cannabis extract medicines, & virtually no abuse or mental disorders reported, except for first time or novice users occasionally becoming disoriented or overly introverted.
(Mikuriya, Tod, MD, Marijuana Medical papers, Medi-Comp press, CA; Cohen, Sidney & Stillman, Richard, Therapeutic Potential of Marijuana, Plenum Press, NY 1976).

3.5 Less horrific side effects:

This herb is invaluable to the suffering & pain of many thousands of people with very few, very mild, painless side-effects. Anecdotal evidence has proven that Cannabis has far less side effects & withdrawal symptoms than prozac, zoloft, xanax, paxil & many other anti-depressants. Also dantrolene and diazepam, commonly prescribed anti-spasticity drugs have far more serious side effects than cannabis.

NOTE: Appendix 2 - Medical literature on Cannabis Medicine - from the book The Emperor wears no Clothes (chapter 6) by Jack Herer. www.jackherer.com

4. SUMMARY:

4.1 As I research this topic & learn about the amazing therapeutic properties of this wonderful herb, I am sadly uncovering a huge conspiracy against this amazing healing herb. The gross amount of propaganda & untruths that is being printed by governments, pharmaceutical companies, the media, & selected committees to control & stop this drug from becoming medicinally legalised; not as it seems for the welfare of society but basically because of greed & the almighty dollar.

4.2 Is it because this drug cannot be patented is this the true basis of denying thousands of suffering individuals the right & access to this wonderful therapeutic plant...because money may not be made in the billions for pharmaceutical companies & losses will ensue for many big businesses namely; tobacco companies, breweries, timber companines...& many more....

4.3 It seems ludicrous that Drs & health professionals are banned from using this less toxic, much safer substance as a remedy for many illnesses, than the alternative of more dangerous, addictive & toxic drugs being prescribed today. We need more Drs & health professionals standing up & demanding that Cannabis be sanctioned for medical use, for the suffering & the alleviating of pain with far less side effects & far more favourable & far less dangerous conditions to the patient.

4.4 Should Cannabis be decriminalised & used medicinally for a wide variety of medical complaints. Should Cannabis be placed in the hands of Health Professionals as other far more dangerous drugs are & used to treat the sick & suffering or should it be kept under the power, control & total ignorance in many cases of the legal authorities: mps, judges & police.

5. RECOMMENDATIONS:

5.1. I am strongly in favour of patients having the right to choose the drug they would like to use that will bring about a much more improved quality of life with the least amount of side effects, this is an individuals right & choice which should NEVER be taken away from them by another.

5.2. To legalise medical cannabis & take it away from the control of the justice system & put it where it rightly belongs in the hands of Health Professionals to prescribe & treat people in the context of a health issue. The law as it stands now is causing far more detrimental & inhumane suffering, far more serious consequences than this healing herb could or would ever do. The situation as it stands is a HEALTH TRADGEDY, beyond belief!!

COMMON SENSE IN HEALING & COMPASSION FOR PEOPLE NEEDS TO PREVAIL HERE...!!

AWARENESS IS A DIVINE GIFT IF USED FOR THE HEALING OF HUMANITY!!!

APPENDIX 1: The Therapeutic use of Cannabis:
Excerpts from the book.THE EMPEROR WEARS NO CLOTHES...by Jack Herer.

For the overwhelming majority of people, cannabis has demonstrated literally hundreds of therapeutic uses. Among them:

ASTHMA More than 15 million Americans are affected by asthma. Smoking cannabis (the "raw drug" as the AMA called it) would be beneficial for 80% of them and add 30-60 million person-years in the aggregate of extended life to current asthmatics over presently legal toxic medicines such as the Theophylline prescribed to children.

GLAUCOMA Fourteen percent of all blindness in America is from glaucoma, a progressive loss of vision. Cannabis smoking would benefit 90% of our 2.5 million glaucoma victims, and is two to three times as effective as any current medicines for reducing ocular pressure! Cannabis use has no toxic side effects to the liver and kidneys; nor is there any danger of the occasional sudden death syndromes associated with the legal pharmaceutical glaucoma drugs/drops.

TUMORS Researchers at the Medical College of Virginia discovered that cannabis is an incredibly successful herb for reducing many types of tumors, both benign and malignant (cancerous).

NAUSEA RELIEF (e.g., AIDS, CANCER THERAPY, SEA SICKNESS) Though it is known to be extremely damaging to the immune system, chemotherapy is claimed by practitioners to benefit cancer and AIDS patients. But chemo has some other serious side effects too, including nausea. "Marijuana is the best agent for control of nausea in cancer chemotherapy," according to Dr. Thomas Ungerleider, who headed California's Marijuana for Cancer research program from 1979 to 1984. This is also true in AIDS and even in the unsettled stomach common in motion sickness.

EPILEPSY, MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, BACK PAIN, MUSCLE SPASMS Cannabis is beneficial for 60% of all epileptics. It is definitely the best treatment for many, but not all types of epilepsy, and for victims' post-seizure mental traumas. Cannabis extract is more effective than Dilantin (a commonly prescribed anti-epileptic with severe side effects). Medical World News reported in 1971: "Marijuana . . . is probably the most potent anti-epileptic known to medicine today." (Mikuriya, Tod H., M.D., Marijuana Medical Papers, 1839-1972, page xxii.) Cannabis users' epileptic seizures are of less intensity than the more dangerous seizures experienced by users of pharmaceuticals. Similarly, smoking cannabis has proven to be a major source of relief for multiple sclerosis, which affects the nervous system and is characterized by muscular weakness, tremors, etc. Aside from addictive morphine, cannabis, whether smoked or applied as an herbal pack or poultice, is also the best muscle relaxant, back spasm medicine and general antispasmodic medication on our planet.

ANTIBIOTIC CBD DISINFECTANTS Young un-budded hemp plants provide extractions of CBDs (cannabidiolic acids). There are many antibiotic uses of the cannabidiols, including treatment for gonorrhea. A 1990 Florida study indicated its use in treating herpes. The acid side of tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiols occur inversely to the amount of the plant's THC and is therefore more acceptable to prohibitionists because "it won't get you high." For virtually any disease or infection that can be treated with terramycin, cannabis derivatives did better in Czechoslovakian studies, 1952-1955.

ARTHRITIS, HERPES, CYSTIC FIBROSIS AND RHEUMATISM Cannabis is a topical analgesic. Until 1937, virtually all corn plasters, mustard plasters, muscle ointments, and fibrosis poultices were made from or with cannabis extracts.

LUNG CLEANER AND EXPECTORANT Cannabis is the best natural expectorant to clear the human lungs of smog, dust and the phlegm associated with tobacco use. Marijuana smoke effectively dilates the airways of the lungs, the bronchi, opening them to allow more oxygen into the lungs. It is also the best natural dilator of the tiny airways of the lungs, the bronchial tubes - making cannabis the best overall bronchial dilator for 80% of the population (the remaining 20% sometimes show minor negative reactions).

SLEEP AND RELAXATION Cannabis lowers blood pressure, dilates the arteries and reduces body temperature an average of one-half degree, thereby relieving stress.

THERAPEUTIC EMPHYSEMA POTENTIAL Medical research indicates that light cannabis smoking might be useful for a majority of mild emphysema victims. It would improve the quality of life for millions of sufferers and extend their life spans.

STRESS AND MIGRAINE HEADACHE RELIEF Most of all: it is best for the world's number one killer - stress. It can safely curtail or replace Valium, Librium, alcohol, or even Prozac, for millions of Americans.

TO INCREASE APPETITE Users of marijuana often (but not always) experience "the munchies," a stimulated appetite for food, which, at this time, makes cannabis the very best medicine on the planet for anorexia.

IN ADDITION. . . AIDS, DEPRESSION & HUNDREDS OF OTHER PRIMARY MEDICAL USES One well known effect of THC is to lift the spirit, promoting a state of well being and self assertiveness. This kind of attitude adjustment, along with a healthier appetite and better rest, often represents the difference between feeling like you are "dying of" AIDS or cancer and feeling like you are "living with" AIDS or cancer. Cannabis also eases small pains and some big ones and helps senior citizens live with aches and pains like arthritis, insomnia and debilitating infirmities, and enjoy life in greater dignity and comfort. Legend has it, and medical evidence indicates, that cannabis is the best overall treatment for dementia, senility, and maybe Alzheimer's disease, for long-term memory "gain" and hundreds of other benefits. U.S. statistics of the 1970s indicated that you will live eight to 24 years longer if you substitute daily cannabis use for daily tobacco and alcohol use. New research is outlawed, of course.

ACCEPTABLE RISKS Every U.S. commission or federal judge who has studied the evidence has agreed that cannabis is one of the safest drugs known. With all its therapeutic uses, it has only one side effect that has been exaggerated as a concern: the "high." The DEA says this is not acceptable, so cannbis continues to be totally illegal in utter disregard for both doctor and patient. Every day we trust physicians to determine whether the risks associated with therapeutic, yet potentially dangerous drugs are acceptable for their patients. Yet, doctors are not allowed to prescribe the herb that Federal Judge Francis Young in 1988 called "one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." We don't put out doctors in charge of stopping violent crimes. The police, prosecutors and prison guards should not be in charge of which herbal therapies people may use to treat their personal health problems.

APPENDIX 2: Medical Literature on Cannabis medicine:
Excerpts from the book...THE EMPEROR WEARS NO CLOTHES...by Jack Herer.

Our authority here is the 'Body of Literature,' starting with ancient materia medicae; Chinese and Hindu pharmacopoeia and Near Eastern cuneiform tablets, and continuing all the way into this century, including the 1966-76 U.S. renaissance of cannabis studies - some 10,000 separate studies on medicines and effects from the hemp plant. Comprehensive compendia of these works are designated as the prime sources for this medical chapter, as well as ongoing interviews with many researchers. Affordable, Available Herbal Health Care

Superstar of the 19th Century Marijuana was America's number one analgesic for 60 years before the rediscovery of aspirin around 1900. From 1842 to 1900 cannabis made up half of all medicine sold, with virtually no fear of its high. The 1839 report on the uses of cannabis by Dr. W.B. O'Shaugnessy, one of the most respected members of the Royal Academy of Sciences, was just as important to mid-19th Century Western medicine as the discoveries of antibiotics (like penicillin and Terramycin) were to mid-20th Century medicine.

20th Century Research As outlined in the previous chapters, the American Medical Association (AMA) and drug companies testified against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act because cannabis was known to have so much medical potential and had never caused any observable addictions or death by overdose. The possibility existed, they argued, that once the active ingredients in cannabis (such as THC Delta-9) were isolated and correct dosages established, cannabis could become a miracle drug.

Federally sponsored research results began to ease Americans' fears of cannabis causing violence or zombie pacifism, and hundreds of new studies suggested that hidden inside the hemp plant's chemistry lay a medicinal array of incredible therapeutic potential. The government funded more and more studies. Soon, legions of American researchers had positive indications using cannabis, anorexia, tumors and epilepsy, as well as for a general use antibiotic. Cumulative findings showed evidence of favorable results occurring in cases of Parkinson's disease, anorexia, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy; plus thousands of anecdotal stories all merited further clinical study. Prior to 1976, reports of positive effects and new therapeutic indications for cannabis were almost a weekly occurrence in medical journals and the national press

National Conference Praised Cannabis Therapy Potential In November 1975, virtually all of America's leading researchers on marijuana met at Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, California. Seminars were sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to address a compendium of studies from their earliest to most recent findings. When the seminars were over, practically all the scientists concluded that the federal government, with the hard evidence collected so far on the therapeutic potential of marijuana, should be rushing to invest tax money into more research. They felt the taxpayers should be informed that there was every legitimate reason for the field of public health to continue large scale research on cannabis medicine and therapies. All the participants, it seems, believed this. Many of them (such as Mechoulam) believed that cannabis would be one of the world's major medicines by the mid-1980s. In March 1997, Mechoulam, in a speech at the Bio-Fach in Frankfort, Germany, still believed that cannabis is the world's best overall medicine.


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