WHATFG
Well-Known Member
Medical cannabis laws increase pot use by adolescents Wrong again. Writing in the Journal of Adolescent Health in April, researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University assessed the impact of medical cannabis laws over a 20-year period by examining trends in self-reported drug use by high schoolers in a cohort of states before and after legalization. Investigators compared these trends to geographically matched states that had not adopted medical marijuana access laws during this time. They determined, “Our study of self-reported marijuana use by adolescents in states with a medical marijuana policy compared with a sample of geographically similar states without a policy does not demonstrate increases in marijuana use among high school students that may be attributed to the policies. … Concerns about (medical marijuana laws) ‘sending the wrong message’ may have been overblown.”
Inhaling medical cannabis significantly damages the lungs
According to a 2012 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, subjects exposed to moderate levels of cannabis smoke over an extended period of time do not experience the sort of significant pulmonary harms associated with tobacco smoking. “Our findings suggest that occasional use of marijuana … may not be associated with adverse consequences on pulmonary function,” the study concluded.
Further, the long-term inhalation of pot smoke is not associated with increased incidents of lung-related cancers. According to the results of the largest case-controlled study ever to investigate the matter, ganja smoking is not associated with higher incidences of cancers of the lung or upper aero-digestive tract, even among subjects who reported smoking more than 22,000 joints over their lifetime. Summarizing the study’s findings to the Washington Post, the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles affirmed: “We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use. What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect.”
No medicine is smoked
Yet patients inhale many conventional medications, such as anti-asthma drugs. These patients inhale conventional medications for largely the same reasons as do medical cannabis smokers: they require rapid onset of therapeutic drug effect, they desire the flexibility to self-regulate their dosage depending on the circumstances, and the medication they are administering lacks lethal overdose potential.
Further, clinical studies assessing the efficacy of vaporization as a cannabinoid delivery device have determined it to be a safe alternative to smoking, concluding: “Vaporization of marijuana does not result in exposure to combustion gases and [was] preferred by most subjects compared to marijuana cigarettes. … It is an effective and apparently safe vehicle for THC delivery.”
There is no legitimate need for medical cannabis because Marinol is already available by prescription
Marinol is an FDA-approved synthetic version of a single isolated compound in cannabis. Consequently, Marinol lacks dozens of other identified, therapeutically active components available in the plant, as well many of the terpenes present in pot. It possesses poor bioavailability compared to inhaled plant cannabinoids, and its mood-altering effects tend to be far more dysphoric. Not surprisingly, when given the choice between Marinol and whole-plant cannabis, the majority of patients choose the herbal alternative.
Cannabis isn’t medicine because the FDA has not approved its therapeutic use
The FDA evaluates patented, synthetic products developed by private companies. It does not evaluate naturally occurring botanical products such as cannabis. Of course, that is not to say that the plant, in particular a standardized variety of the herb, could not arguably meet the conventional FDA standards of safety and efficacy. After all, humans have consumed cannabis for thousands of years and it possesses adequate safety profile. Further, its therapeutic utility is demonstrated in numerous controlled trials. Arguably, by any objective analysis, cannabis and cannabinoids exceed the FDA’s existing standards for safety and efficacy.
Inhaling medical cannabis significantly damages the lungs
According to a 2012 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, subjects exposed to moderate levels of cannabis smoke over an extended period of time do not experience the sort of significant pulmonary harms associated with tobacco smoking. “Our findings suggest that occasional use of marijuana … may not be associated with adverse consequences on pulmonary function,” the study concluded.
Further, the long-term inhalation of pot smoke is not associated with increased incidents of lung-related cancers. According to the results of the largest case-controlled study ever to investigate the matter, ganja smoking is not associated with higher incidences of cancers of the lung or upper aero-digestive tract, even among subjects who reported smoking more than 22,000 joints over their lifetime. Summarizing the study’s findings to the Washington Post, the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles affirmed: “We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use. What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect.”
No medicine is smoked
Yet patients inhale many conventional medications, such as anti-asthma drugs. These patients inhale conventional medications for largely the same reasons as do medical cannabis smokers: they require rapid onset of therapeutic drug effect, they desire the flexibility to self-regulate their dosage depending on the circumstances, and the medication they are administering lacks lethal overdose potential.
Further, clinical studies assessing the efficacy of vaporization as a cannabinoid delivery device have determined it to be a safe alternative to smoking, concluding: “Vaporization of marijuana does not result in exposure to combustion gases and [was] preferred by most subjects compared to marijuana cigarettes. … It is an effective and apparently safe vehicle for THC delivery.”
There is no legitimate need for medical cannabis because Marinol is already available by prescription
Marinol is an FDA-approved synthetic version of a single isolated compound in cannabis. Consequently, Marinol lacks dozens of other identified, therapeutically active components available in the plant, as well many of the terpenes present in pot. It possesses poor bioavailability compared to inhaled plant cannabinoids, and its mood-altering effects tend to be far more dysphoric. Not surprisingly, when given the choice between Marinol and whole-plant cannabis, the majority of patients choose the herbal alternative.
Cannabis isn’t medicine because the FDA has not approved its therapeutic use
The FDA evaluates patented, synthetic products developed by private companies. It does not evaluate naturally occurring botanical products such as cannabis. Of course, that is not to say that the plant, in particular a standardized variety of the herb, could not arguably meet the conventional FDA standards of safety and efficacy. After all, humans have consumed cannabis for thousands of years and it possesses adequate safety profile. Further, its therapeutic utility is demonstrated in numerous controlled trials. Arguably, by any objective analysis, cannabis and cannabinoids exceed the FDA’s existing standards for safety and efficacy.