Cannabis News Media Awareness Project
  Truth and Medical Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on February 24, 2007 at 06:37:26 PT
Editorial 
Source: Chicago Tribune 

medical USA -- Medical marijuana has had a lot of successes. Eleven states have legalized the therapeutic use of cannabis for people whose doctors think they can benefit from it. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right of physicians to recommend pot to their patients. A 1999 report by the federal government's Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded, "Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs, primarily THC, for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation."

But elsewhere, medical marijuana has stalled. Most states still don't allow it, and even in those that do, federal laws still ban the possession of cannabis. That means sick people who need marijuana for symptoms that don't respond to approved drugs must either do without or risk going to jail. Despite the IOM's call for more research, studies have been few and far between. As a result, the therapeutic value of cannabis remains largely unknown and untapped.

Recently, there were a couple of advances that may help to erode the federal government's stubborn resistance. The first was a study in the journal Neurology that found smoking pot can relieve pain--including a condition found in AIDS victims that is often impervious to other pain drugs, even powerful opiates. Said Donald Abrams, a physician and professor at the University of California, San Francisco, "There is a measurable medical benefit to smoking cannabis for these patients."

But such research is hard to come by. That's because the federal government is the only legal source of marijuana for clinical studies, and its monopoly presents some serious problems.

One is that it often rejects applications by scientists seeking supplies for their research. Another is that those who do get the stuff find its quality to be unreliable. By contrast, the government allows licensed private laboratories to supply such drugs as heroin and cocaine for scientific investigations.

An administrative law judge for the Drug Enforcement Administration recently ruled that a professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst should be allowed to grow marijuana in a licensed facility. Judge Mary Ellen Bittner found that some reputable scientists have been denied access to the government's supply and that providing an alternative source "would be in the public interest."

Whether that decision will actually change anything remains to be seen, since the DEA has the option of rejecting her recommendation. That would be a shame. If the government is so sure that marijuana has no medical value, it should welcome this sort of research. If it refuses to facilitate such studies, it must fear knowing the truth.

Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Published: February 24, 2007
Copyright: 2007 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact: ctc-TribLetter@Tribune.com
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Related Articles & Web Site:

MAPS
http://www.maps.org/

Monopoly on Sale of Research Marijuana May End
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22660.shtml

Ole Miss May Get Competition in Growing
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22657.shtml

Research Supports Medicinal Marijuana
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22637.shtml


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Comment #15 posted by dongenero on February 25, 2007 at 07:41:20 PT
Irv's video
Fantastic presentation by Irv. Great poise and wonderfully succinct. This should be watched by every legislator in State and Federal government.

I'm posting the URL again, just so there is one more link in the world to this great expression of truth..........

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lvzX8aNwxgM

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #14 posted by Truth on February 24, 2007 at 20:55:33 PT
whig
quite the work of art....

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #13 posted by whig on February 24, 2007 at 20:22:59 PT
16 words
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7soN6HNU3Y

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #12 posted by Truth on February 24, 2007 at 20:18:00 PT
Irv
Irv speaks the TRUTH!

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #11 posted by FoM on February 24, 2007 at 18:07:30 PT
gloovins
Thank you. It was really good.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #10 posted by gloovins on February 24, 2007 at 17:24:01 PT
Hi everyone - ready for truth?
watch this - Irv is amazing!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lvzX8aNwxgM

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #9 posted by BGreen on February 24, 2007 at 14:08:48 PT
We've all been without Hope for too long now
Stop by when you can. I miss you.

The Reverend Bud Green

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #8 posted by ekim on February 24, 2007 at 13:11:01 PT
Roosevelt University & Students for Sensible Drug
Race, Politics and the Drug War: Illinois in National and Global Perspective

The Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University & Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Roosevelt Chapter invites you to attend a FREE luncheon featuring Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, Ethan Nadelmann, JD, PhD.

March 1, 2007 Chicago, IL http://www.drugpolicy.org/homepage.cfm

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #7 posted by FoM on February 24, 2007 at 13:01:43 PT
Hope
It's good to see you. I hope your daughter is getting better. No, we haven't won yet but it isn't for lack of trying! LOL!

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #6 posted by Hope on February 24, 2007 at 12:35:40 PT
Just checking in...
I thought sure the drug war must be over by now.

Dang!

Still persecuting, terrorizing, and killing the people over what they choose to consume, I see.

Keep it up. People are suffering horribly because of this prohibition. We have to set it right.

Love you guys...will check in again.

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #5 posted by Sam Adams on February 24, 2007 at 09:49:45 PT
sir no sir
Looks like a great movie to catch when it comes around. There are so many differences between today and Viet Nam. The soldiers in Viet Nam were drafted.

There are larger, more subtle differences. During Viet Nam, a large percentage of the population was young, from 18-30, and the older population that ordered them to war was much smaller. Today, it's reversed, there is a huge bulge in the older demographic (ironically, the same generation that was young during Viet Nam).

Another fascinating thing is the cost of living. The trailer mentions how many disgruntled veterans went to San Fransisco and joined the peace movement. Today, no person in their 20's can live anywhere near San Fransisco unless they have one of two things: an high-level professional job that they probably needed 1 or 2 graduate degrees to get, or a rich family helping with their rent check. The cost of living in cities is at an all time high. During the 60s and 70s, the cities were the cheapest places to live. They were full of young people packed in at high density.

I've heard this mentioned as a big reason why there were so many black leaders in the 60s and 70s and almost none today. In the 60's and 70s, many cities were cheap to live in, and offered many manufacturing jobs for the middle-class.

Today, all the middle class jobs are going to Asia, and the cities are ridiculously expensive to live in. So the young middle class, including veterans, are spread out over rural areas, not concentrated together in cities.



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 24, 2007 at 09:23:54 PT
goneposthole
Thank you. What an amazing video.

[ Post Comment ]
 
Comment #3 posted by goneposthole on February 24, 2007 at 09:12:45 PT
The real story of how the Vietnam War ended
"Sir! No Sir!"

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/86.html

[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on February 24, 2007 at 08:14:13 PT
Come on Richard!
Don't you BELIEVE? What about the "politics of hope"? Don't worry about the fact that China is graduating 10 or 20 times as many engineers and scientists every year as the US! Ignore the fact that the only way to earn a good living in this country is to come from a rich, connected family or to work for the corrupt government.

As long as we're free to stir up the primitive, vicious people from the gutters of the world and sell them guns and bombs, the flag of American freedom will fly strong baby! Every body take off their Wal-Mart smocks and crack open another bag of chips, the future is bright!



[ Post Comment ]

 
Comment #1 posted by Richard Zuckerman on February 24, 2007 at 07:19:48 PT:

THE DEA HAS ALWAYS DEFIED THE ALJ!
Don't expect the DEA to abide by the recommendations of the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ)! They have always disregarded the ALJ recommendations to reclassify Cannabis to Schedule II.

The federal government disregarding the conclusions of the scientific studies supporting medical Cannabis is to be expected. The Bush Administration has similarly sought to suppress scientific conclusions of climate changes from gasoline combustion.

Is anybody aware of the scandal involving the theft of the $4.5 Trillion Wanta Plan Settlement by U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Vice-President Dick Cheney, and others, as described in www.worldreports.org and a recent article in the Idaho-Observer? The wars, the Cannabis decriminalization movement, firearms confiscation, "improved" public school "education", are a grim sign of the present times and a diversion of the sad reality facing Americans today: America is on the decline. You people voting for Democrats and Republicans are selling out America with your open-border immigration, "Free Trade Agreements," needless wars, restrictions on our freedoms in the name of "terrorism" [induced by inside-jobs by the United States Government]. I plan to vote for Ron Paul (R-Texas) or Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. President!!!

ARE YOU PEOPLE PLANNING ON ATTENDING THE 2007 WORLDWIDE MARCH FOR CANNABIS LIBERATION, as described in www.cures-not-wars.org? Please put it on your calendar.

Richard Paul Zuckerman, Post Office Box 159, Metuchen, New Jersey, 08840-0159, (Cell phone)(848) 250-8879.

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