Cannabis (Marijuana) is a Safe and Effective Medicine

Between 1840 and 1900, European and American medical

journals published more than 100 articles on the therapeutic use of cannabis

(marijuana). In the early 1900’s, pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly was producing

whole plant cannabis extract for sale to patients whose physicians recommended

it. Today, new studies are being published in peer-reviewed journals that

demonstrate cannabis has medical value in treating patients with serious

illnesses such as AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and

chronic pain. The U.S. National Library of Medicine includes more than 6,500

published scientific articles on medical applications for cannabis. Many of the

isolated compounds found in the cannabis plant are being researched and used

medically. In fact, Nabilone and Dronabinol, which are isolated cannabis

compounds, are currently sold for medical use in the United States.

Numerous reports and studies have also attested to the

safety of medical cannabis, including the LaGuardia Report of 1944, the Schafer

Commission Report of 1972, a study conducted by the British House of Lords in

1997, the White House-commissioned Institute of Medicine report of 1999,

research sponsored by Health Canada, and numerous studies conducted in the

Netherlands, where cannabis is currently available in pharmacies. In 1988, the

Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) chief administrative law judge, Francis

L. Young, ruled that, “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest

therapeutically active substances known... It would be unreasonable, arbitrary

and capricious for the DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the

benefits of this substance.”

Opponents of medical cannabis have falsely asserted

detrimental health effects from its consumption. However, two recent studies

have debunked these claims. In 2006, UCLA researcher Donald Tashkin published a

study that showed there is “no association at all” between cannabis use and

lung cancer. The study was the largest case-control study on the issue ever

done, involving over 2,000 subjects. In addition, research on CD4 immunity in

people living with HIV/AIDS by UCSF researcher Dr. Donald Abrams found no

compromise to the immune systems of patients undergoing cannabis therapy in

clinical trials. Pharmaceutical drugs have been responsible for the deaths of

thousands of patients, yet cannabis has never been found to be fatally harmful

to anyone that has used it.