Monthly Archives: August 2012
Cannabis as Painkiller
ScienceDaily (Aug. 7, 2012) — Cannabis-based medications have been demonstrated to relieve pain. Cannabis medications can be used in patients whose symptoms are not adequately alleviated by conventional treatment. The indications are muscle spasms, nausea and vomiting as a result of chemotherapy, loss of appetite in HIV/Aids, and neuropathic pain.
This is the conclusion drawn by Franjo Grotenhermen and Kirsten Müller-Vahl in issue 29-30 of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International.
The clinical effect of the various cannabis-based medications rests primarily on activation of endogenous cannabinoid receptors. Consumption of therapeutic amounts by adults does not lead to irreversible cognitive impairment. The risk is much greater, however, in children and adolescents (particularly before puberty), even at therapeutic doses.
Over 100 controlled trials of the effects of cannabinoids in various indications have been carried out since 1975. The positive results have led to official licensing of cannabis-based medications in many countries. In Germany, a… Continue reading
Federal Court Will Review Marijuana’s Classification As A Dangerous Drug With No Health Benefits
by Aviva Shen, Think Progress
For the first time since 1994, the question of medical marijuana will go before a federal court. The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has agreed to hear a lawsuitchallenging the DEA’s classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical value. The ten-year-old suit, brought by Americans for Safe Access, will present scientific evidence on marijuana’s therapeutic properties.
The appeal brief calls the DEA’s refusal to analyze numerous studies on the drug’s medical uses “arbitrary and capricious,” and asks the court to order the DEA to conduct a hearing on the scientific evidence.
Marijuana is currently a Schedule 1 substance with “high potential for abuse,” in the same legal classification as heroin and cocaine. In spite of numerous petitions to reschedule the drug, the federal government has maintained that marijuana has no medical value and launched costly and aggressive… Continue reading
Group Of Senators Seeking Industrial Hemp Reform
Hope For Industrial Hemp? Group Of Senators Seeking Legislative Sanity
By Allen St. Pierre
According to Washington, D.C. Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill, a group of bipartisan Senators, led by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden (D), have filed legislation seeking to exempt industrial hemp (which, in effect, is very low potent cannabis) from the Controlled Substances Act (which, concerning cannabis specifically, is largely directed at prohibiting recreational and therapeutic use of the herb).
One of the most indefensible aspects of modern Cannabis Prohibition is the federal government’s continued opposition to allowing American farmers and consumers benefit from a domestic industrial hemp industry, when, ridiculously, other free market and democratic countries who also maintain user prohibitions on cannabis—countries like the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland and notably Canada—allow their farmers to legally cultivate industrial cannabis. This inherently places American farmers and agriculture at a competitive disadvantage and American consumers paying higher costs… Continue reading
Medical marijuana possible to make November ballot
BISMARCK, N.D. (WDAY TV) - After turning in more than 20,000 signatures to the North Dakota Secretary of State office, those in favor of legalizing medical marijuana are confident the measure will be on the November ballot.
BISMARCK, N.D. (WDAY TV) - After turning in more than 20,000 signatures to the North Dakota Secretary of State office, those in favor of legalizing medical marijuana are confident the measure will be on the November ballot. The measure needed less than 14,000 signatures to make the ballot.
The Secretary of State will have 30 days to verify there were enough signatures. The petition is aimed at helping those with cancer, stress disorders and other debilitating illnesses.
Those in favor of the legalization want North Dakotans to know medical marijuana would be something strictly regulated in the state.
Dave Schwartz - North Dakota for Compassionate Care: “This is not about recreational use. This… Continue reading
U.S. Olympian Nicholas Delpopolo Tests Positive for Marijuana
Nicholas Delpopolo, a Yugoslav-born American judo competitor in the London Olympics, has been disqualified on account of a positive drug test. This is the fifth positive drug test reported by the IOC for this year’s testing program but the first to turn up positive during the competition itself. The 23-year-old tested positive for marijuana metabolites, substances that would appear in the blood for several weeks after consuming marijuana. By way of explanation, he stated that he had recently consumed food that, unbeknownst to him, contained cannabis.
Delpopolo is not the first athlete this year to be disqualified for cannabis, as Scott Morgan explains in his post here. Information from the World Anti-Doping Agency suggests that anti-doping policies in sports are simply concerned with performance-enhancing substances which might give the user an unfair advantage, including stimulants and anabolic steroids. However, caffeine, a stimulant, is not on the list of… Continue reading
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