Marijuana

Medical Uses

There are many medical uses of marijuana BUT people need to coordinate with their doctors AND weigh the pros and cons. There may be some medical benefit, BUT there are also substantial risks, AND in no instance should a person who is using marijuana, recreationally or medically, drive or operate a motor vehicle or machine.

According to Dr. Jocelyn Elders, MD. In the Providence Journal (2004), : "The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS -- or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day."

A group called The Green Party of Aotearoa surveyed 225 medical doctors in New Zealand. Their survey (published in October 2003) reported that out of the 225 responses that:

• 37% of doctors felt they did not know enough about the medical use of marijuana.
• 32% of the doctors said they would consider prescribing marijuana if it was legal.
• 6% of the doctors said they HAD recommended marijuana to a patient.
• Between all other physicians, and ophthalmologists, 11% of ophthalmologists said they would consider prescribing medicinal marijuana if it was legal.
• 33% of the specialists surveyed and 23% of the Opthalmologists said they thought they SHOULD be allowed to prescribe medical marijuana for patients who would benefit from it.

A November, 2002 report by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) noted the following symptoms or conditions under Appendix IV of their report; "Decriptions of Allowable Conditions under State Medical Marijuana Laws":

1. Alzheimer's Disease
2. Anorexia
3. AIDS
4. Arthritis
5. Cachexia
6. Cancer
7. Crohn's Disease
8. Epilepsy
9. Glaucoma
10. HIV
11. Migraine
12. Multiple Sclerosis
13. Nausea
14. Pain
15. Spasticity
16. Wasting Syndrome

(11/02) GAO

Ethan Russo, M.D., clinical neurologist, researcher and author, told MedMJpro/con that marijuana might provide relief for the following:

1. "Migraine,
2. neuropathic pain,
3. post-amputation pain,
4. neuropathy,
5. trigeminal neuralgia,
6. rheumatoid arthritis,
7. multiple sclerosis,
8. nausea of cancer chemotherapy,
9. AIDS wasting,
10. motion sickness,
11. menstrual cramps,
12. glaucoma, etc."

Psychiatrist Tod H. Mikuriya, M.D., published on the Internet a list of 222 medical conditions Medical marijuana might be beneficial for. Click here to view the list.

Miles Herkenham, PhD, Chief of the National Institute of Mental Health's (NIMH) Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Regulation, IRP, noted on the NIMH website:

"Electrophysiological, neurochemical, and behavioral studies have shown that cannabinoids (marijuana-like drugs) suppress pain neurotransmission."

Dr. Herkenham continued:

"We think that these results have implications for how cannabinoids may work in chronic pain states. A differential anatomical basis underlying cannabinoid and mu opioid modulation of primary afferent transmission is supported. Whereas mu opioid receptors in spinal cord are associated predominantly with thin-diameter primary afferents, cannabinoid receptors are localized to both thin and coarse diameter fibers.

These differences may provide a basis for the possibility that cannabinoids may relieve pain when traditional opiate drugs fail.

The U.K.'s Medicinal Cannabis Research Foundation published on their website in November, 2001:

"Research to date suggests that research into the medicinal uses of cannabis and cannabinoids has the potential to make exciting breakthroughs in the management of severe symptoms such as pain, spasm, bladder dysfunction and nausea and could therefore bring a dramatic improvement in quality of life for people with:

AIDS wasting syndrome Alzheimer's disease Arthritis Asthma Nail Patella Syndrome Nausea w/chemotherapy Eating disorders Epilepsy Fibromyalgia Tourette's syndrome

Glaucoma Hypertension Multiple sclerosis Pain Brain injury/stroke Crohn's/colitis Depression/mental illness Phantom limb pain Migraine Spinal cord injury

Topics:

• What is it?
• Effects
• Medical Uses
• Facts

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