Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Obama's image photoshopped for pot ad
Obama's image photoshopped for pot ad | | |
March 2, 2010, 9:42 am by Christina Wilkie |
President Barack Obama's photo is being used to promote a marijuana gala in Los Angeles, and according to the gossip site TMZ.com, organizers have photo-shopped Obama's image to make it look like he's smoking pot. (Image courtesy of TMZ.com) Check out the original article here: http://washingtonscene.thehill.com/in-the-know/36-news/2475-obamas-image-photoshopped-for-pot-ad |
Friday, February 26, 2010
The Straight Dope: Time to recognize real benefits of medical marijuana
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The Straight Dope: Time to recognize real benefits of medical marijuanaby William Brigham / Press-Banner
Feb 25, 2010
The recent proposal for a medical marijuana outlet in Scotts Valley raises many questions, most of which I leave to those who know best about law enforcement, zoning, liability and other legal considerations. But underlying all of this is the question of the application of marijuana (Cannabis sativa) to the treatment of medical problems.
The timing is propitious in this case, as the Center for Medical Cannabis Research at the University of California — established in 2000 as a result of Senate Bill 847, the Medical Marijuana Research Act — submitted its most recent report to the governor and the Legislature earlier this month.
The center has conducted 15 randomized clinical studies, and its conclusions in five of those studies are quite clear: Smoked cannabis has clear and positive benefits in the treatment of pain secondary to injury (e.g., spinal cord injury), disease (e.g., HIV disease) or injury to the nervous system due to infections, stroke or other causes, as well as to the treatment of muscle spasticity resulting from multiple sclerosis.
In those controlled studies, patients who previously did not receive sufficient relief from pain by taking prescription analgesic medication did obtain pain relief from cannabis. To assure validity, the control groups in the studies received cannabis cigarettes with the active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, removed. So, while they looked and smelled like marijuana cigarettes, they were in fact placebos.
Studies of people with cancers were discontinued because of procedural problems, but it has been reported elsewhere that relief from the nausea associated with chemotherapy is commonly attained by the use of cannabis.
There are side-effects from the use of smoked cannabis, of course, and in the center’s studies, those included respiratory problems, dizziness, sedation and changes in cognition. But those can be measured against the side effects of opioid pain medication (e.g., Vicodin or OxyContin), which can include some of those from smoked cannabis, as well as others.
The use of vaporizers to ingest cannabis is one solution to avoid some side effects of smoking, most notably respiratory problems. The CMCR has undertaken studies comparing the effects of vaporized to smoked cannabis and found that, while the levels of THC were initially higher in those using vaporized cannabis, over a several-hour period levels were similar to that from smoked cannabis. Importantly, carbon monoxide levels were much lower in those who used vaporized cannabis.
Unfortunately, all of the scientific research one can muster is often not sufficient to counter the social and moral arguments leveled against the use of “medical marijuana.” We can trace this back to the modern stigmatization of marijuana following the end of alcohol’s prohibition in 1933.
A huge federal bureaucracy was left with little to do at that point, and its leader, Harry Anslinger, set about to demonize and criminalize marijuana, leading to the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. The use of marijuana was associated with “undesirables” and deviants, such as musicians, artists, “Negroes” and common criminals.
Notwithstanding the widespread use of marijuana today — about 18 million Americans report having used marijuana at least once in the past month — American society is far from accepting of this drug.
But whether Scotts Valley is ready for medical marijuana remains to be seen.
• William Brigham, M.S.W., M.A., of Scotts Valley is administrator of the National Football League Program for Substances of Abuse and father of five daughters. Contact him at wcberm@gmail.com.
Check out the original article here: http://www.pressbanner.com/view/full_story/6469058/article-The-Straight-Dope--Time-to-recognize-real-benefits-of-medical-marijuana?instance=home_community
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Marijuana use up for seniors as Boomers age
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Matt Sedensky, Associated Press
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
(02-23) 04:00 PST Miami --In her 88 years, Florence Siegel has learned how to relax: A glass of red wine. Some classical music, preferably Bach. And every night like clockwork, she lifts a pipe to her lips and smokes marijuana.
Long a fixture among young people, use of the country's most popular illicit drug is now growing among the AARP set, as the massive generation of Baby Boomers who came of age in the 1960s and '70s grows older.
The number of people aged 50 and older reporting marijuana use in the prior year went up from 1.9 percent to 2.9 percent from 2002 to 2008, according to surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The rise was most dramatic among 55- to 59-year-olds, whose reported marijuana use more than tripled from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent.
Observers expect further increases as 78 million Boomers born between 1945 and 1964 age. For many Boomers, the drug never held the stigma it did for previous generations. Some have always used it, while others are revisiting the habit in retirement, either for recreation or as a way to cope with the ailments of aging.
The drug is credited with relieving many problems linked to aging: aches and pains, glaucoma, macular degeneration. Patients in 14 states enjoy medical marijuana laws, but those elsewhere buy or grow the drug illegally to ease their conditions.
But there's also the risk that health problems already faced by older people can be exacerbated by regular marijuana use. Older users could be at risk for falls if they become dizzy, smoking it increases the risk of heart disease, and it can cause cognitive impairment, said Dr. William Dale of the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Siegel, who finds marijuana has helped her sleep better than pills ever did, was well into her 50s before she tried pot for the first time. She can muster only one frustration with the drug.
"I never learned how to roll a joint," she said. "It's just a big nuisance. It's much easier to fill a pipe."
This article appeared on page A - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Monday, February 22, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Medical Marijuana Has Merit, Research Shows
Image by dumbeast via Flickr
Medical Marijuana Has Merit, Research ShowsAlthough Research Shows Medical Mariuana Works, Critics Say California Center's Research Is Flawed
By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Feb. 18, 2010 -- Marijuana can be a promising treatment for some specific, pain-related medical conditions, according to California researchers who presented an update of their findings Wednesday to the California Legislature and also released them to the public.
''I think the evidence is getting better and better that marijuana, or the constituents of cannabis, are useful at least in the adjunctive treatment of neuropathy," Igor Grant, MD, executive vice-chairman of the department of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California, tells WebMD.
''We don't know if it's a front-line treatment. I'm hoping the results of our studies will prompt larger-scale studies that involve a much more varied population."
''This [report given to the Legislature] sets the stage of larger-scale studies,'' he says.
Some experts who reviewed the report say some of the studies are flawed and that they worry about the long-term health effects of marijuana smoke.
Perspective: Medical Marijuana Research
Some observers speculated that the researchers presented their report to the Legislature to call attention to marijuana research because an initiative to legalize marijuana for general use is expected to be on the California ballot in November 2010.
But Grant says that's not the case. "We sent it to the Legislature because our report was due," he says.
The program Grant directs was launched in 1999, when the California Legislature passed (and the governor signed) SB 847. Since then, the center has completed five scientific trials, with more in progress.
Medical Marijuana: The Research Scorecard
Five studies, published in peer-reviewed medical journals, show the value of marijuana for pain-related conditions, the researchers say in the report.
* Smoked cannabis reduced pain in HIV patients. In one study, 50 patients assigned either to cannabis or placebo finished the study. Although 52% of those who smoked marijuana had a 30% or more reduction in pain intensity, just 24% of those in the placebo group did. The study is published in the journal Neurology. In another study, 28 HIV patients were assigned to either marijuana or placebo -- and 46% of pot smokers compared to 18% of the placebo group reported 30% or more pain relief. That study is in Neuropsychopharmacology.
* Marijuana helped reduce pain in people suffering spinal cord injury and other conditions. In this study, 38 patients smoked either high-dose or low-dose marijuana; 32 finished all three sessions. Both doses reduced neuropathic pain from different causes. Results appear in the Journal of Pain.
* Medium doses of marijuana can reduce pain perception, another study found. Fifteen healthy volunteers smoked a low, medium, or high dose of marijuana to see if it could counteract the pain produced by an injection of capsaicin, the ''hot'' ingredient in chili peppers. The higher the dose, the greater the pain relief. The study was published in Anesthesiology.
* Vaporized marijuana can be safe, other research found. In this study, 14 volunteers were assigned to get low, medium, or high doses of pot, either smoked or by vaporization delivery, on six different occasions. The vaporized method was found safe; patients preferred it to smoking. The study is in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.
A sixth study, as yet unpublished, found marijuana better than placebo cigarettes in reducing the spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis and the pain associated with the spasticity.
Medical Marijuana Research: What's Next?
Grant's researchers will finish two more studies, with results expected by 2011, he says. What happens then, when the initial allocation of nearly $8.7 million, awarded back in 2000, runs out?
"We're going to act as a kind of shell or organizational structure to help investigators apply for funding with the NIH [and others]," he says. Grant says he is expecting no more funding from cash-strapped California.
Although 14 states have legalized medical marijuana, he says, California is the only state that has ''stepped up to the plate'' to do research.
Medical Marijuana Research: Other Opinions
The California center's studies are flawed, says Joel Hay, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical economics and policy at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and a vocal critic of medical marijuana.
"It's not medicine," he says of marijuana. "It would never be approved by the FDA.
''I certainly concede that cannabinoids may have a very valuable medical role," he says. But the danger is in the smoking of marijuana, he says, citing health effects.
Isolating the active ingredient is a better approach, he says, and has actually already been done. "If you want a cannabionoid, it's here," he says, referring to Marinol, available and FDA approved. The active ingredient is THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, the same as found in marijuana.
''Marijuana contains a huge variety of compounds, some of which have not even been thoroughly identified," Hay tells WebMD. The studies, he says, are all short-term, with small groups.
Another flaw, he says, is that it's difficult to have a true placebo when studying marijuana. "People know when they are consuming a psychoactive product," he says.
Another flaw is that patients were allowed to continue on their pain medicine, says Kevin Weissman, PharmD, director of drug information services at Los Angeles County+University of Southern California Medical Center. That may have affected the results.
Grant counters that it was not humane to take patients off pain medicines that were providing any degree of relief.
Like Hay, Weissman says marijuana does have an analgesic effect. But he worries about the long-term effect of marijuana smoke and says research is needed to find a safer delivery system that works, such as vaporization.
Here is the link to the actual article: http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/news/20100218/medical-marijuana-has-merit-research-shows