Pot-ential healing - the National Institutes of Health recommends more research on the medicinal qualities of marijuana - Brief Article

Vegetarian Times, Nov, 1997

After reviewing published, peer-reviewed data, an advisory committee from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has concluded that marijuana may have medicinal value. "For at least some indications, marijuana looks promising enough to recommend that there be new controlled studies done," says William Beaver, M.D., professor of pharmacology and anesthesiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine and chairman of the committee.

Because federal law makes it illegal to buy, sell, grow or use marijuana for any purpose, a nationwide controversy ensued when voters in Arizona and California cast their ballots in favor of legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. As a result, NIH, a government agency that funds much of the country's medical research, created the advisory committee of M.D.s and Ph.D.s to analyze the validity of using marijuana medicinally.

The committee's official recommendation calls for government funding and research into the benefits of marijuana. According to a spokesperson for the NIH, "[The committee] concluded that if we're going to fund studies of medicinal marijuana, we should spend the money in the five areas that have the most promise." Those areas are:

* Alleviation of chemotherapy-induced nausea

* Stimulation of appetite and reduction of the loss of lean muscle mass in AIDS patients.

* Reduction of muscle pain and spasticity experienced by multiple sclerosis patients.

* Prevention of epileptic seizures.

* Reduction of eye pressure caused by glaucoma--the leading cause of blindness in the United States.

The notion that marijuana is more than just a common street drug gains credibility from the fact that its principal psychoactive ingredient--delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or TCH--is already available in oral form for treating nausea in chemotherapy patients and "wasting," the chronic and rapid loss of weight in AIDS patients.

However, the oral form of THC (sold as Marinol) can take up to three hours to deliver therapeutic effects, compared to the mere seconds required for smoked marijuana. Proponents of medicinal marijuana say patients being treated for nausea and vomiting have a tough time keeping the pill in their system long enough to experience any medicinal benefit.

The committee contends that studies have not sufficiently compared the effects of the THC pill with the effects of smoking marijuana. It does, however, acknowledge that the over 400 chemicals found in whole marijuana may have unknown healing effects. "Although delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol is the principle psychoactive component of the cannabis leaf, there may be other compounds in the leaf that have useful therapeutic properties," the committee's report says.

Of course, marijuana is not without its share of potential dangers. They include increased heart rate, altered thought processes, impaired perception, learning and memory capabilities, suppression of the immune system and smoking-related health problems, such as lung cancer.

Given side effects are common when it comes to prescription drugs, the committee recommends marijuana not be held to a higher standard of efficacy and safety simply because it's marijuana. "The scientific process should be allowed to evaluate the potential therapeutic effects of marijuana for certain disorders, dissociated from societal debate," the report says.

The NIH cautiously agrees. It is reviewing the committee's recommendation, and NIH director, Harold Varmus, M.D., says that in the meantime it will consider grant applications for marijuana research: "We will put the applications through our normal scientific review and are prepared to fund those meeting accepted standards of scientific design."

RELATED ARTICLE: Where Do You Stand?

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