Aug31

Written by:di
8/31/2010 6:11 PM 

We personally know at BKC through our own experiences with cancer, disease and injury, as many of you do, that cannabis consumption reduces pain and is one of the best nausea fighters out there. What many of you don’t know, because of the federal blockade on MMJ research, is that recent overseas medical studies are finding very promising characteristics of cannabinoids (66 compounds found in cannabis). Some of the brightest discoveries are cannabis’s ability to fight cancer cells and regulate autoimmune diseases. The challenge is convincing the broader medical community and the rest of America.

In the private overseas sector, there has been well over 2,000 MMJ studies and 17,000 papers published in the last two years. Most notably are recent findings that cannabinoids can moderate autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as their role in the treatment of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Equally important is that cannabinoids can reduce the spread of specific cancer cells via apoptosis (programmed cell death) and by the inhibition of angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels).

Increasing medical interest in MMJ is due to these recent findings, as well as patient testimonials from cannabis patients and their physicians. Despite this groundbreaking research and reports, much of the investigation of MMJ remains limited to preclinical (animal) studies, unsurprisingly, thanks to the feds unwillingness to acknowledge marijuana as a legitimate medicine (www.norml.org).

The only U.S.-based private research groups pioneering the way for legal FDA-approved MMJ, MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) founded in 1986, is currently on hold because of the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s (NIDA) monopoly on supply of marijuana for federally approved research. MAPS medical marijuana research has been thwarted for the most part part, other than one AIDS study in 2000, in which researchers found that patients who smoked marijuana gained significantly more weight than patients taking placebos, a very important finding for “wasting” AIDS patients.

Because of the unfortunate federal classification, research within American boarders has been impossible, save for one state funded medical research program, The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, under the direction of Igor Grant, MD, executive vice-chairman of the department of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. What they’ve found only further confirms weed's legitimacy as medicine:

“Five studies, published in peer-reviewed medical journals, show the value of marijuana for pain-related conditions, the researchers say in the report:

Smoked cannabis reduced pain in HIV patients. In one study, 50 patients assigned either to cannabis or placebo finished the study. Although 52% of those who smoked marijuana had a 30% or more reduction in pain intensity, just 24% of those in the placebo group did. The study is published in the journal Neurology. In another study, 28 HIV patients were assigned to either marijuana or placebo -- and 46% of pot smokers compared to 18% of the placebo group reported 30% or more pain relief. That study is in Neuropsychopharmacology.

Marijuana helped reduce pain in people suffering spinal cord injury and other conditions. In this study, 38 patients smoked either high-dose or low-dose marijuana; 32 finished all three sessions. Both doses reduced neuropathic pain from different causes. Results appear in the Journal of Pain.

Medium doses of marijuana can reduce pain perception, another study found. Fifteen healthy volunteers smoked a low, medium, or high dose of marijuana to see if it could counteract the pain produced by an injection of capsaicin, the ''hot'' ingredient in chili peppers. The higher the dose, the greater the pain relief. The study was published in Anesthesiology.

Vaporized marijuana can be safe, other research found. In this study, 14 volunteers were assigned to get low, medium, or high doses of pot, either smoked or by vaporization delivery, on six different occasions. The vaporized method was found safe; patients preferred it to smoking. The study is in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

A sixth study, as yet unpublished, found marijuana better than placebo cigarettes in reducing the spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis and the pain associated with the spasticity (Kathleen Doheny, WebMD Health News).”

Although 14 states and DC have passed medical marijuana laws, there are still 36 more states as well as the staunch federal government to hurdle. As stated in BKC’s last blog post there is a lot of misinformation and propaganda circulating in anti-MMJ regions. How much longer can we allow our fellow Americans to remain ignorant to groundbreaking MMJ discoveries? What can you do? Email or write a letter to your state representative telling them about your positive medical experiences with marijuana.

Let's keep the MMJ dialogue going! Send leah@boulderkindcare.com your personal MMJ miracle stories, and we’ll post the most inspirational and enlightening submission in our next blog!

Thank you.

BKC Bloggers

Lance Smith & Leah Fielding