Marijuana and Cancer: Governmental Arrogance Buries Viable Cancer Therapies

The principle reason that hemp cannot be legally grown in the United States has nothing to do with its perceived detrimental health effects. There are countless products being legally marketed that carry much greater deleterious health effects than cannabis.

Sometime around the turn of the 20th century, hemp products began to appear as construction materials. Building studs and joists, panels, and siding, all made of compressed hemp began making inroads on the lumber market. The materials were lighter, stronger, impervious to termites, not subject to dry rot, and to top it all off, the stuff was a lot cheaper than lumber.

Well, the lumber industry couldn't let that go on. Hemp products were threatening their profits big time. So they .lobbied congress to outlaw it. And congress, always eager to please those who pay them, did so. And the growing of hemp has been outlawed ever since, which makes it very convenient for the opponents of marijuana use to initiate laws prohibiting it

And the resulting official marijuana policies are dangerous, wrong, and destined to continued failure of their stated objectives. Millions of Americans smoke pot regularly as international drug cartels, violent gangs, and street pushers reap enormous profits.

Our wrong headed policy has also failed to address the true health threat posed by its use. Nothing good can come from the chronic ingestion of marijuana smoke. Nevertheless, used appropriately, marijuana can be a blessing for those who find themselves desperately in need of its palliative effects, and it should not be denied them. Should marijuana be regulated? Certainly. Should its use be criminalized? Absolutely not! Hopefully some day our government will stumble its way through the net of myths and special interests to come upon a realistic way of regulating a substance that can provide such sought after relief to those in dire need of it.

The use of medicinal marijuana in the treatment of cancer has long received the vigorous support of the medical community. Patients and medical professionals understand fully the relief from the side effects of chemotherapy provided by marijuana.

Glaucoma, depression, and numerous other health conditions can realize significant benefits from treatment with marijuana. These are facts, indisputable, and impossible for the dogmatic opinionists to deny. And yet they do. Those who obstinately oppose the medicinal use of marijuana in any form continue their incoherent clamor about the availability of prescription drugs that alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy. And they conveniently ignore the side effects these prescription drugs themselves produce, not to mention the horrendous expense involved. These patented, debilitative drugs, dangerous in themselves, are far from cheap, and to counter their side effects, a patient most often requires additional drugs, placing the patient on to a non-stop merry-go-round of drug on drug. So what is the objection to the use of marijuana?

Well, marijuana cannot be patented. The pharmaceutical industry has been trying unsuccessfully for years, to isolate the factors that cause marijuana to work its magic, so they can work them up into a patentable, and marketable drug. Rest assured, if they ever succeed, any negative side effects will be roundly ignored.

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Way back in 1974, the National Institute of Health funded research at Medical College of Virginia. Their mission was to prove the contention that marijuana damages the immune system. In funding this research, the NIH was destined to be roundly disappointed - they effectively shot themselves in the foot. Rather than receiving confirmation and supporting evidence of their contention, the NIH people were annoyed to learn that the MCV researchers found instead, that THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, undeniably slowed the growth of three kinds of cancer in mice.

Since this failed miserably in bolstering the government's case against marijuana, in their view the most noxious of all weeds, and in fact proved just the opposite, the DEA came charging into the fray, banners flying, trumpets blaring. They shut down the Virginia study along with all other cannabis tumor research.

Not to be outdone in the public assault on a useful albeit often misused plant and substance, President Gerald Ford got on the bandwagon in 1976, and put an end to all cannabis research while simultaneously granting that right exclusively to the maniacally delighted pharmaceutical industry.

Then again, in 1983, in accommodation to intense lobbying and reception of massive campaign contributions, the Reagan/Bush administration tried hard to persuade American Universities and researchers to destroy all of the 1966-76 cannabis research work, including compendiums in libraries. They were partially successful. Large amounts of information have disappeared.

But all this negative effort is like trying to hold back the dawn. The facts keep cropping up in spite of the best efforts of vested interests to bury them. In February of 2000, another confirmation of marijuana's cancer fighting abilities came out of Madrid. Researchers there had destroyed incurable brain cancer tumors in rats by injecting them with THC. This confirmed the earlier Virginia study.

The news of this discovery has been virtually non-existent in the United States. The New York Times ignored the story. So did the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. These papers receive major advertising revenues from the pharmaceutical industry, which by the way, employs two lobbyists for each and every member of congress.

As public pressure to allow the use of medicinal marijuana continues to build, more and more politicians are being induced to taking a closer look at the facts. Its strong support by patients and medical professionals is beginning to be felt. More and more states are adopting compassionate laws toward medicinal marijuana as many patients clamor for the substance to relieve the symptoms and side effects of chemo.

The nausea, vomiting, pain, and insomnia that are typically a consequence of conventional cancer therapy, cripple a patient's quality of life. Marijuana, smoked, vaporized, infused in teas, or baked in foods, can dramatically restore a patient's place in the world. Noting this has induced the entire oncology community to endorse its use.

The pharmaceutical companies, hard pressed to compete against this tidal wave of sentiment, have isolated the active compound in marijuana, delta-9-tetrahydrocanabinol, THC, and made a synthetic version of it available by prescription. But it doesn't work nearly as well as plain old marijuana, it doesn't work at all on some people, it takes from 45 minutes to 2 hours to take effect when it does work, and it will set a patient back about $ 800.00 a month. Not really a good alternative.

Medicinal marijuana is not without its own side effects. Anxiety, drowsiness, dry mouth, slow reaction times, and loss of short term memory are among them. Patients using this substance for medicinal purposes will experience varying side effects. Everyone reacts differently to its use and it is very important to buy marijuana from an authorized source. Other drugs or harmful substances are often added by unscrupulous criminal dealers.

Doctors treating cancer patients are in critical need to be kept informed of all drugs taken by their patients, including marijuana, over-the-counter, prescription, or homeopathic remedies. It's very important to keep in mind that marijuana, at this point, is not a form of treatment and is not curative. It is used only to treat cancer symptoms like pain, and to relieve the side effects of treatment.

Fourteen states have legalized the use of medicinal marijuana. They are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Each state has its own rules and regulations regarding its use and these need to be complied with. Most states require registration with supporting documentation and certification by a physician. This should by no means be construed as an endorsement for the indiscriminate use of marijuana. The substance has some very serious negative side effects and needs to be treated like any other drug. If you don't need it, stay away from it.

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