University of Washington researcher Sunil Aggarwal and colleagues document 33 U.S. controlled clinical trials published from 1971 to 2009 confirming that cannabis is a safe and effective medicine for many specific medical conditions. Medical Marijuana
It was in 1996 that the state of California in the US implemented the first of 13 medical cannabis programs designed take advantage of the many medical benefits which are to be found in the active elements of cannabis. But the story doesn't start there as its been over thirty years since the American government first started supplying cannabis to medical patients who have a doctors recommendation, and just in case you think you may have mis-read that last statement let me type it again; |
And that from a country which announced recently that cannabis arrests have DROPPED for the first time since 2002 . In America, as is the case in the United Kingdom, cannabis is classified as having absolutely no medical worth to humanity and campaigning groups such as the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) have set up their organisations with the brief of putting this unjust and some would say downright dishonest situation, to rights.
When asked for his opinions on this information MPP's Executive Director Rob Kampia had this to say; "This is arguably the most thorough review of the literature on medical marijuana since the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report over a decade ago, with a trove of data that wasn't available to the IOM. It is simply incomprehensible that a medicine that is so clearly safe and effective remains banned from medical use by federal law, and the laws of 37 states."
Under US federal law, cannabis is classified as a Schedule I drug, defining it as having high potential for abuse, unsafe for use even under medical supervision, and lacking currently accepted medical uses in the U.S.
"In fact," Aggarwal and colleagues write, "nearly all of the 33 published controlled clinical trials conducted in the United States have shown significant and measurable benefits in subjects receiving the treatment."
Additionally, the paper documents the growing acceptance of the therapeutic use of marijuana among organized medicine groups and estimates that "in 2008, approximately 7,000 American physicians have made such authorisations for a total of approximately 400,000 patients."
Patients, who suffer the same conditions, such as cancer, HIV and MS, as British patients. Who are forced into a choice of taking pharmaceutical drugs over the long term, which can (and do) have highly toxic side-effects, rather than taking cannabis, which has a remarkeably safe side-effect profile.
'Extremely' Safe
Regarding abuse and safety issues, Aggarwal et al. write that withdrawal symptoms -- a classic symptom of drug dependence -- are notably absent from the published trials, while "the vast majority of reported adverse events were not serious ... It is clear that as an analgesic, cannabis is extremely safe with minimal toxicity."
And that, from a highly educated scientist interested in humanity, not a politician interested in protecting his or her investments.
It will be interesting to see how Gordon Brown and the British government handle this new evidence, which it would seem, points irrefutably to the fact that any further attempts to block British patients being given free and unrestricted access to cannabis as little more than an act of barbarism and inhumanity. An act which is motivated it seems, by something which has absolutely nothing to do with public health.
The normal course of action for a government under pressure is simply to ignore the new data. If no-one mentions it in the House of Commons then it never makes it onto the agenda, and is destined yet again, to be swept under the carpet.
So the British public should force the issue by sending a copy of this article to their elected representatives and asking for their opinions, as well as for their support.
Those that simply refust to act on this new information should be exposed, and their personal investment portfolio examined closely.The time to act, is now!
Adapted by Ian Malley, from information first made public by the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington DC.
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