Opposing Views: OPINION: Feds' Top Pot Researcher Says Marijuana Should Be Legal

Feds' Top Pot Researcher Says Marijuana Should Be Legal

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LOS ANGELES --- A University of California researcher who has performed US-government sponsored studies of marijuana and lung function for over 30 years says that pot should be legal.

In an interview with the McClatchy newspaper chain, Donald Tashkin of the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, said: "[A]t this point, I'd be in favor of (marijuana) legalization. I wouldn't encourage anybody to smoke any substances. But I don't think it should be stigmatized as an illegal substance. Tobacco smoking causes far more harm. And in terms of an intoxicant, alcohol causes far more harm (than marijuana)."

Tashkin said that when he began his work thirty years ago, he "opposed ... legalization because [he] thought it would lead to increased use and that would lead to increased health effects." However, he now admits that his decades' worth of scientific research revealed an opposite conclusion.

In 2006, Tashkin led the largest population case-control study ever to assess the use of marijuana and lung cancer risk. The study, which included more than 2,200 subjects (1,212 cases and 1,040 controls), reported that marijuana smoking was not positively associated with cancers of the lung or upper aerodigestive tract – even among individuals who reported smoking more than 22,000 joints during their lifetime.

"What we found instead was no association and even a suggestion of some protective effect," Tashkin told the newspaper chain, noting that cannabinoids cause "cells [to] die ... before they age enough to develop mutations that might lead to cancer."

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OPINION: Feds' Top Pot Researcher Says Marijuana Should Be Legal

Interesting...

Interesting that cells being killed off before they can become cancerous makes smoking pot better for the lungs than smoking tobacco (when cancer is the yardstick).

I am more and more on the side of legalizing marijuana the more I learn. No, I don't smoke weed, and don't even smoke cigarettes anymore. Still vote, though, lol.

- SolarSanitizer June 19, 2009 8:38AM

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- Its not everyday...
  
  We see actual US studies, especially long term, that come down on this side of the medical science debate.
  
  We need more research, and there are many institutions who apply every year only to be turned down by the DEA. Seems that the agency in charge of enforcing drug law should not be in charge of research into said drug. It should be the FDA.
  At least UMass in Amherst got their go ahead, finally.
  
  - tRANIS June 19, 2009 1:17PM
  
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  - In charge of what?
    
    In what capacity is the DEA in charge of researching the science surrounding long-term drug effects? The actual research or the grants for research, or approval to research legally? I really don't know.
    
    - SolarSanitizer June 19, 2009 1:23PM
    
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    - They don't research
      
      They block everyone else from doing research. They have pretty much the approval power to allow research and they consistantly block or tie it up for years. I can post some links. Surely not all but a start of the paper trail
      
      http://www.maps.org/mmj /
      http://www.maps.org/mmj/DEAlawsuit.html
      http://ga0.org/drcnet/alert-description.tcl?alert_id=10201889
      
      - tRANIS June 19, 2009 1:29PM
      
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      - Not Everyone.
        
        The first link took me to a MAPS page where they talked about DEA-licensed labs. Someone must get clearance to study. Furthermore MAPS is researching vaporized marijuana (among other things, like bongs).
        
        I hope like 'ell they get their clearance from whomever Obama posts in the DEA.
        
        I used to smoke cigarettes , but now I vape. e-cig is the best thing to happen to tobacco since fire, and I am sure it can make ingestion of marijuana healthier, just as it has tobacco.
        
        - SolarSanitizer June 19, 2009 1:58PM
        
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    - Approval
      
      Too do any study you must submit an outline of your study,with the projected results to the DEA for approval and to receive the government raised pot to use in your study.
      They put the agency charged with the removal of all drugs from American streets with the final approval or denial on all studies
      and as any bureaucratic organization will do,they are protecting their turf when they refuse any medical testing of any drug.
      
      - Clay June 21, 2009 3:26PM
      
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  - they got the wrong results.
    
    This was not a study to find good in marijuana ,the study was approved because they thought they would find a direct connection
    to pot smoking and cancer . The same as with tobacco smoke,only the statistics and results didn't go as the DEA and NIDA had hoped
    and it left them paying for a study that helped pots medical claims.
    We should all send thank you notes for this study to those organizations.
    
    - Clay June 21, 2009 3:12PM
    
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Reform is needed

Numerous studies have stated the exact same thing as what Donald Tashkin has reported – marijuana is far less harmful than alcohol and tobacco . According to a report from the Institute of Medicine, psychological dependence to marijuana is highly unlikely and there is no amount of marijuana that can result in an overdose. In addition, studies indicate that alcohol and tobacco have each contributed to more deaths than all illicit drugs combined. It is outrageous that we are wasting valuable resources in an effort to continue the prohibition on marijuana, when it has been proven less harmful and less addictive than legal substances. Our marijuana laws need to be reformed

- sphillips June 19, 2009 6:55PM

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- Tobacco
  
  Tobacco has killed more people than any other drug due to health
  damages,while alcohol has killed more people in accidents and acts of violence while intoxicated,than any other drug.
  And either one of the two " legal " drugs has killed more people than all the illegal drugs,put together.
  When they tell you that they are making laws to protect your health
  and life,be sure and thank them for allowing us those legal drugs.
  
  - Clay June 21, 2009 3:19PM
  
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Freedom of info act

I'm sure MPP and other organizations have asked for a list of all the studies approved by the DEA,and a list of the ones denied would show that they have systematically denied any study that would
indicate marijuana had any medical uses or that it was harmless.
Its only been accidental studies like the one Dr Tashkin was in,where the projected outcome was not what they were looking for
that we get the true facts,and I wonder if Dr. Tashkin is still working for NIDA,since he went out of camp,recommending legalization.

- Clay June 21, 2009 3:36PM

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GOOD LEVERAGE

This man, should have a tremendous amount of leverage on the legalization side of things. Plz! Obama, stop this propaganda,

and free us from slavery! Free the WEED

- wgraves4786 June 22, 2009 9:39PM

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