Medical marijuana
Apart from easing pain and helping regulate the immune system, early studies have also shown that cannabis-based drugs can treat inflammatory bowel disease, migraines, and fibromyalgia and related conditions effectively and safely.
There are also studies that suggest that cannabinoids may be useful in treating many severely debilitating diseases without serious adverse effects—methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), psoriasis, asthma, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sleep apnea, gliomas, HIV-associated sensory neuropathy, dystonia, epilepsy, collagen-induced arthritis, atherosclerosis, digestive diseases, hepatitis C, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, colorectal cancer, sickle-cell disease, leukemia, skin tumors, pruritus, alcohol abuse, depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anorexia nervosa and Tourette’s syndrome.
Supporters of medical cannabis argue that the plant has several well-documented and established effects in the treatment of easing nausea and vomiting, stimulating hunger in chemotherapy and AIDS patients, lowering intraocular eye pressure shown to be effective for treating glaucoma, and in gastrointestinal illness and spasticity, premenstrual syndrome, easing insomnia, movement disorders and asthma.
Cannabinoids are biologically active compounds produced by all vertebrates (endocannabinoids), the cannabis or marijuana plant (phytocannabinoids). More recently, they’ve also been synthesized by chemists and patented.
In the U.S., 16 states and Washington D.C. now have medical marijuana laws and many other states may soon follow suit. Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington are the states that have enacted medical marijuana laws between 1996 and 2010.
Should I just smoke it?
If you can just spray a medical form it under your tongue, why don’t you just smoke it?
For MS sufferers and their caregivers tempted to go “organic,” here’s something to give pause.
A Canadian study done last year found that multiple sclerosis sufferers who smoke pot regularly to relieve pain and spastic muscles could be putting their brain function in peril.
Researchers from Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre found that marijuana smoking further reduced the cognitive abilities of MS patients—already impaired by the disease.
In their study, published March 2011 in the journal Neurology, the researchers found that MS patients who engaged in “long-term pot-smoking” were twice as likely as non-weed users to have diminished overall cognitive abilities.
“Prolonged inhaled or ingested (street) cannabis use is shown to significantly worsen one’s attention span, speed of thinking and processing information, working memory, executive functions and visuospatial skills,” lead investigator Dr. Anthony Feinstein, a Sunnybrook neuropsychiatrist tells the Globe and Mail.
“Given that about 40 to 60 percent of MS patients have problems with cognitive function to begin with, any drug that may add to this burden is cause for concern,” he says.
“Cognitive impairment isn’t some kind of abstract phenomenon,” the neuropsychiatrist points out. “There are good data to show that it impairs a person’s ability to work effectively, it negatively affects relationships and day-to-day functioning.”
“There’s a risk that if you use cannabis, you’re more likely to become impaired or to show greater impairments and thus, in the process, struggle more at work or struggle in your day-to-day functioning,” says Dr. Feinstein. “You use cannabis potentially at your peril,” he concludes.
The study involved two groups of MS patients—25 cannabis users and 25 non-users—from 18 to 65 years old. Marijuana smokers used marijuana for an average of 26 years, with 72 percent reporting that they smoked it daily, 24 percent saying they indulged in weekly use, and one person reporting bi-weekly use.
Both groups were given various cognitive skills tests and neuropsychological exams and interviews, on top of psychiatric assessments for anxiety and depression.
The researchers found that long-term pot smokers performed significantly more poorly than non-users on cognitive-functioning tests, although there were no differences in psychiatric diagnoses for depression and anxiety.
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