What’s the Matter With MaryJane?

Áine on June 29th, 2004 filed in General

images/marijleaf.png” width=”92″ height=”92″ border=”0″ />The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether federal anti-drug laws apply to thousands of sick people who smoke marijuana with a doctor’s prescription. If the court agrees with a lower court that the federal government can’t prohibit medical marijuana in nine states where it’s legal, the Bush administration would lose its rationale for cracking down on patients who use pot to relieve pain. The case is Ashcroft v. Raich, 03-1454. [Source: Tucson Citizen, also NYTimes]

California and eight other states have legalized medical marijuana, and 35 states have passed legislation recognizing marijuana’s medicinal value. Canada appears to be in favor of decriminalization, if not outright legalization.

Political opponents of allowing the use of marijuana as a medicine routinely say that there is no scientific basis for claims that the drug is useful. However, the U.S. Government-Funded Institute of Medicine (IOM) Study verifies that marijuana does have medical benefit, and argues that it should be made available to patients who could benefit from its use now. [The IOM Study in .pdf format] Studies of cannabinoids by research groups at the University of California in San Francisco, the University of Michigan, and Brown University found evidence that THC and other cannabinoids have a direct effect on pain signals in the central nervous system, by tracing the biochemical pathway that pain signals follow from the site of an injury, through the spinal cord, to the brain. More recently, in just the last few months, new information has emerged from studies by federal researchers at the National Institutes of Mental Health. Their reports have stated that THC appears to protect brain cells from the damage that often occurs during a stroke. Marijuana has been found to be very effective in treating Multiple Sclerosis, a disease for which there is no cure. It has also been found to be the most effective treatment in preventing nausea, whether caused by chemotherapy, migraine, or other illness. All of this scientific evidence is key to further exploring marijuana’s therapeutic potentials and flies in the face of opponents of legalization.

The most obvious concern when dealing with drug safety is the possibility of lethal effects. Can the drug cause death? Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects, but marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented
cannabis-induced fatality. This is a remarkable statement because the record on
marijuana encompasses 5,000 years of human experience. Yet, despite this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers, there are simply no credible medical reports to suggest that consuming marijuana has caused a single death. By contrast, aspirin, a commonly used over-the-counter
medicine, causes hundreds of deaths each year.

Drugs used in medicine are routinely given what is called an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced toxicity. Aspirin has a therapeutic ratio of around 1:20, considering a normal dose is about two aspirins for an average adult. Forty aspirins may cause a lethal reaction in some patients, and will almost certainly cause gross injury to the digestive system, including extensive internal bleeding. A number of researchers have attempted to determine marijuana’s LD-50 rating in test animals, without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough marijuana to induce death. They estimate that if marijuana’s LD-50 rating is 1:20,000 or 1:40,000 in order to induce death, a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette (or roughly 1,500 pounds of marijuana) in about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response. Practically speaking, that’s impossible.

No doubt marijuana is used recreationally by thousands, if not millions, of smokers and has been used in this way for thousands of years. I’m not saying it’s completely harmless, anything we put into our bodies can cause harm, including milk. What I am saying is that there has not been one recorded case of anyone dying from consuming marijuana. Can the same be said for aspirin? No. Can the same be said for oxycontin or ritalin or many of the other prescription drugs that people abuse? No. So what is the problem with legalizing (or at the very least, decriminalizing) marijuana? Could it be that ignorance and fear are keeping people from having access to a substance that has been shown to be effective in treating their ailments? Could it be that drug companies don’t want marijuana with it’s non-toxicity replacing their very expensive, toxic, prescription drugs in patient care programs, even if it is found to be more effective with less adverse side effects than the drugs they are selling us? Heh, indeed. I can think of several reasons various entities within the government and corporate world would want to keep it illegal, but none of them are morally imperative enough to warrant the kind of legal maneuvering that’s been done over the past 70 years in this country. And none of those reasons are based on the scientific evidence and studies that have already been done. We don’t need more expensive taxpayer-funded studies. We’ve had thousands of years to study marijuana and the evidence amassed over all that time supports legalization.

For more information visit:

The Science of Medical Marijuana
Medical Marijuana Research
Erowid : Medical Marijuana
NORML : National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Medical Information on Marijuana
Marijuana Policy Project
Americans for Safe Access

10 Responses to “What’s the Matter With MaryJane?”

Robyn Says:
June 30th, 2004 at 10:59 pm
Ok, my arguement is with Alcohol. Is it not completly obviuos of the “adverse effects” of alcool but it is very legal. Kiils so many people hourly, and you can find it anywhere.

I think the reason marijuana is still illegal is because of the mass amounts of people that would so freely use it if it were legal. Theres also the whole “contact buzz” factor, being near a cigarette smoker is one thing, the smoke is annoying at the least if your a non smoker, but I know I’d be kinda pissed if my 2 year old daughter got a contact buzz cause the person in line in front of me was tokin. I’m all for legalizing it though, if it didn’t do anything else, legalizing it would surely cut down on the overcrowding problem in local jails. So many people are arrested for possession of marijuana when it’s not really a big deal. It should have warning labels like cigarettes and alcohol do, and should be controlled by the FDA like everything else, but there are benefits to having it around definitly.
Aine Says:
July 1st, 2004 at 1:04 am
Ok, well, many substances that are legal and that we routinely consider “safe” to use are actually toxic to certain people or when taken in dosages that result in a lethal reaction or effect on the body. Some medications, even when taken as specified, can result in death for some people. Each person’s body reacts to whatever substance is introduced into it. Some react well, others react badly. Legalization would not mean that children would have more access to it than they do right now while it is illegal, no more than children have access to alcohol or cigarettes or even that bottle of aspirin in the medicine cabinet. Responsible parents take care of their children and watch what they do, right? Justifying keeping marijuana illegal “because the kids will get it” is not a good reason to deny it from people who would use it responsibly, either for recreation or as a medicine.

Personally, when I started researching this story, the thought kept occurring to me that marijuana may have been useful in my sister’s battle with cancer, her chemotherapy treatments, and the subsequent nausea and lack of appetite that caused. Without the ability to eat, she was not taking the medicine (in the food) that she needed to battle the disease and the effects of the chemotherapy on her body. The fact that marijuana is illegal and that there are no dependable supplies of it for those who need it, may have been a factor in her death in 1998. At the very least, I believe it would have kept her from suffering as badly as she did.

I don’t want to see that keep happening to people. I think we have a responsibility to ease the suffering of the sick. Marijuana is one such way to do that.
Aine Says:
July 1st, 2004 at 1:13 am
And yes, second-hand smoke is a concern, especially around the asthmatic and children. We already have restaurants and bars that are smoke-free, so I would suspect that such places will be off-limits to marijuana smokers, just as they are to tobacco smokers.
lughshand Says:
July 1st, 2004 at 1:57 pm
Your thoughts and feelings so mirror mine, that I hesitate to add anything. The addictive personality will find something to abuse, regardless of what it is. For this reason, I would favor controlling marijuana, as other substances are controlled, but yes, de-criminalizing an otherwise benign and helpful herb is the sane thing to do.
Manda Says:
July 2nd, 2004 at 1:11 pm
I completely agree with all of you…You would think it wouldn’t be a problem and the goveronment would be in favor! Hell they could tax the shit out of it! I think instead of worring about raising taxes they should take a popular thing like this and put it on the shelves, just like ciggeretes and put a tax on it. It almost seems to sensable so of course they aren’t going to do it! Nobody seems to worry about the “real killers” we DEAL with the fact that alcohol has killed millions, but geez how would that effect our economy if the 9-5 guy couldn’t go to the pub after work to drink his worries away, spending a good chunk of his weeks pay just to get smathered and then DRIVE home, endangering everyone he encounters on the roadways! i don’t get it! Oh and doesn’t it seem like an oxymoron that you can’t smoke in a bar in some states because second hand smoke is dangerous…um isn’t drinking?
Aine Says:
July 7th, 2004 at 4:14 am
Robyn wrote: “I think the reason marijuana is still illegal is because of the mass amounts of people that would so freely use it if it were legal.”

This reminds me of some of the things I read about Prohibition (alcohol). The fear that so many would use it if it were legal. The funny thing about fear is that it often leads to exclamations about how such-and-such will “destroy society as we know it” or that people will go crazy and riot and loot the cities, etc.

Maybe at first a lot of people will openly smoke a joint wherever they happen to be, some may even get obnoxious about it (I heard of one fellow blowing marijuana smoke in an English bobby’s face), but after a while things will calm down and a pattern of acceptable behavior will emerge. It may take longer for such a pattern to form in the case of marijuana, but that’s to be expected since it’s been prohibited for so long (since 1934?). Alcohol prohibition did not last nearly that long, so the societal “norm” was established fairly quickly, along with the laws governing public drinking.

If and when marijuana becomes legal in the future, it’s likely we’ll see laws specifically address who can smoke and when and where (under what circumstances). It’s also likely to bear a tax stamp and generate far more revenue than I can even estimate… which many states desperately need to fund these programs that have been mandated yet unfunded by the federal government. Some people (though not all) will avoid paying those taxes by growing their own.
Michele Says:
July 7th, 2004 at 3:46 pm
I too feel very strongly that excessive alcohol intake is much more toxic and harmful than marijuana is. But, marijuana still greatly diminishes reaction time, thinking and perception and people who do not choose to partake can get a contact high. It has strong addictive properties and that is why the gov’t has had to deem it illegal.

As far as the health benefits pf pot…for people undergoing chemotherapy…it seems to help increase appetite so that a patient can sustain their weight and fight cancer more effectively. However, it can also serve to further the diseases they are trying to fight. I found at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/evidence99/marijuana/Health_1.html.. the following info…The main respiratory consequences of smoking marijuana regularly (one joint a day) are pulmonary infections and respiratory cancer, whose connection to marijuana use has been strongly suggested. The effects also include chronic bronchitis, impairment in the function of the smaller air passages, inflammation of the lung, the development of potentially pre-cancerous abnormalities in the bronchial lining and lungs, and, as discussed, a reduction in the capabilities of many defensive mechanisms within the lungs.

Marijuana smoke and cigarette smoke contain many of the same toxins, including one which has been identified as a key factor in the promotion of lung cancer. This toxin is found in the tar phase of both, and it should be noted that one joint has four times more tar than a cigarette, which means that the lungs are exposed four-fold to this toxin and others in the tar. It is notable that several reports indicate an unexpectedly large proportion of marijuana users among cases of lung cancer and cancers of the oral cavity,pharynx, and larynx. Thus, it appears that the use of marijuana as a medicine has the potential to further harm an already ill patient in the same way that taking up regular cigarette smoking would, particularly in light of the fact that those patients for whom marijuana is recommended are already poorly equipped to fight off these infections and diseases.

Pam, it is only my opinion…but I think if Auntie Gail smoked pot for her cancer after 35 years of cigarette smoking..it would have only irritated her already destroyed lungs even more rapidly.

I am all for consumer choices. Every citizen of America has been given the right to choose. You can smoke or not. You can drink or not. You can eat fatty greasy fast food or not…Look at a non-smoker’s point of view. I have not made the choice to smoke plus I have severe sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, and chronic nasal polyps so that is why I cannot smoke or drink for that matter. Any smoke, whether it be from fire, cigarette, marijuana or chemicals irritates my already inflamed sinuses and is simply a precursor to me getting very ill. Again, I am all for choices. So why should someone else’s choice supercede MY choice? Even if marijuana was legalized….there would be laws against public use so in the end..it is still a personal and private choice be it legal or illegal.
Aine Says:
July 7th, 2004 at 4:45 pm
There are more ways to consume marijuana than just smoking, but your point is well taken.
I can’t agree with you that it diminishes perception, however… but I suppose it depends on what aspect of perception you are measuring. Psychotropics have been used for thousands of years in various cultures and religions to open the doors of and expand perception.
Aine Says:
July 8th, 2004 at 5:08 pm
Apparently, smoking marijuana improves night vision.
amanda Says:
October 27th, 2004 at 1:22 pm
my argument is all about why we should beabled to smoke pot…. because smoking pot can also make some people concentrate a lot better then usuall.
we should have the right to say or smoke anything we want too!!! life sucks then u die, fuck the world lets all get high!!!!