[Vision2020] Cannabis: Studies Anyone?

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

Debbie et al.

Thanks for your reply.

You raised some valid points about medical cannabis.  I won't go over each 
point in detail, because some of the problems you raised I think are not central 
to the debate, and I already addressed some of them, except managing the 
precise dosage issue, which Health Canada is addressing already, though you 
suggest because cannabis is a plant this cannot be precise enough.

Consider, though, that in the treatment of nausea, or loss of appetite, for 
example, a patient can use what they need to relieve their nausea, or stimulate 
their appetite, a dosage that may vary from day to day.  This problem is not 
always as critical as you imply it may be, though I do not mean to minimize 
it.

Of course it would suit the needs of the practice of medicine to have a drug 
or number of drugs of precise purified dosage that could be delivered to a 
patient to achieve the benefits of cannabis without the negative side effects.  
It would be great to have purified drugs of precise dosage that do not have the 
numerous negative side effects associated with many currently in use in 
medicine.  I already addressed this issue.  But you did not make any mention of the 
central argument for smoked cannabis dealing with the "rapid onset 
cannabinoid drug delivery" that was mentioned in the NAS report, that cannabis can 
offer, currently not duplicatable by any other means.

Concerning you concerns over precise dosage, consider all the over the 
counter medications that are not monitored at all by a doctor.  I mentioned earlier 
in a V2020 post that ibuprofen can cause internal bleeding in the digestive 
track.  In fact, if used too much too often, ibuprofen can cause scarring in the 
digestive track.  Let's not broadcast some of these facts too loudly though, 
because we do not want to interfere with the profits of the pharmaceutical 
companies, now do we?  Further studies are needed of this scaring in the 
digestive track before we jump to allowing unmonitored use of ibuprofen, don't you 
think?

Also, you mention that morphine has been studied, and state that cannabis has 
not been studied as completely, which in some respects is a false statement, 
because cannabis has been studied quite extensively in a variety of ways.  If 
you wish, I can plaster this list with more studies on cannabis regarding a 
variety of variables than you can read.  So far I have only quoted a few 
government reports dealing with their conclusions regarding the medical applications 
of cannabis.

You want studies relating to cannabis, here we go.  What is offered below is 
only a fraction of what is available in the scientific literature.  I think 
the call for more studies on cannabis from some is disingenuous, a political 
ploy to delay the application of the evidence for medical cannabis.  Kai take 
note of the first study listed, since he was so concerned with the danger of 
cannabis use by drivers of motor vehicles.  The rest are all just on the immune 
system effects (first batch), pain relief or the lack thereof effects (second 
batch) and the last batch deals with cardiovascular effects of cannabis.  They 
are all listings from scientific journals, and if the links are active, you 
should be able to view every study, unless something goes wrong.  They are 
sourced from a pro-legalization site, so you can inject the suitable skepticism, but 
the source does not automatically mean there is not vaid science being 
presented.  I don't know if the studies support or deny or are indifferent to 
medical cannabis, but I offer this listing solely to reflect on the number of 
studies done on cannabis:

http://mojo.calyx.net/~olsen/HEMP/IHA/iha01206.html


    Bayewitch et.al 96 Adenylyl Cyclase_ JBiolChem  
    Bouaboula et.al 96 MAPK & KROX-24_ EurJBiochem  
    Burstein et.al 83 Prostaglandins_ MolPharmacol  
    Chang et.al 98 Adenylyl Cyclase_ JPharmExpTher  
    Childers & Deadwyler 96_ BiochemPharmacol   
    Condie et.al 96 IL-2_ JBiolChem 
    Condie et.al 96 IL-2_ JBiolChem 
    Daaka et.al 97 IL-2_ DNACellBiol    
    Dax et.al 89 Hormone Release_ JSterBiochem  
    Fischer-Stenger et.al 93 TNF alpha_ Jpharmacol Exp Ther 
    Greenberg & Mellors 78 Inhibition of Acyltransferase_ BiochemPharmacol  
    Herring et.al 98 cAMP & Cannabinol_ BiochemPharmacol    
    Jeon et.al 96 Nitric Oxide_ MolPharmac  
    Kaminski 98 cAMP Cascade_ JNeuroimmunol 
    Kaminski et.al 92 Receptor Identification_ MolPharmac   
    Kaminski et.al 94 Humoral Suppression_ BiochemPharmac   
    Klein et.al 98 Cytokines_ DAIA  
    Klein et.al 98 Receptors & Immunity_ ImmunolToday   
    Molina-Holgado et.al 98 IL-6_ FEBSLett  
    Newton et.al 98 Cytokine Network_ DAIA  
    Noe at.al 98 Syncytia Formation_ DAIA   
    Ouyang et,al 98 IL-2_ MolPharmac    
    Patel et.al 98 Immuno- Reactivity_ Brain Res    
    Poinot-Chazel et.al 96 KROX-24 BiochemJ 
    Sanchez et.al 98 MAPK Cascade_ MolPharmac   
    Specter et.al 86 Natural Killer Cells_ IntJImmunopharmac    
    Srivastava et.al 98 Cytokine Production_ Immunopharmacol    
    Stefano et.al 96 Nitric Oxide_ JBiolChem    
    Zheng et.al 92 TNF alpha IntJImmunopharmac  
    Zhu et.al 93 IL-2_ IntJImmunopharmac    
    Zhu et.al 94 Interleukin 1 JPharmacolExpTher    


    Bloom et.al 77 Antinociception JPharmExpTher    
    Buxbaum 72 Analgesia_ Psycopharmacalogia    
    Calignano et.al 98 Pain Initiation_ Nature  
    Formukong et.al 88 Pain & Inflammation_ Inflam  
    Herzberg97  
    Jagger et.al 98 Pain & Inflammation_ Pain   
    Kosersky et.al 73 Pain & InflammationEurJPharmac    
    Lichtman et.al 91 Spinal & Supraspinal_ JPharmExpTher   
    Lichtman et.al 91 Spinal Component_ BrainRes    
    Martin et.al 96 Subthalamic Nucleus_ JNeurosci  
    Meng et.al 98 Analgesic Circuit_ Nature 
    Noyes & Baram 94 Analgesia_ ComprPsychiatr  
    Noyes et.al 75 Analgesic Actions_ CinPharmacolTher  
    Noyes et.al 75 Analgesic Effect JClinPharmac    
    Pugh et.al 97 Dynorphin B_ JPharmExpTher    
    Richardson et.al 98 Hyperalgesia & Inflammation_ Pain   
    Richardson et.al 98 Hyperalgesia_ JNeurosci 
    Russo 98 Migraine_ Pain 
    Smith et.al 98 Arthritis_ PharmacolBiocemBeh    
    Smith et.al 98 with Morphine_ PharmacolBiochemBeh   
    Sofia et.al 73 Edema & Pain_ JPharmExpTher  
    Turner & Elsohly 81Cannabichromene_ JClinPharmacol  
    Vivian et.al 98 Agonists & Effects_ JPharmExpTher   
    Welch & Stevens 92 with Morphine_ JPharmExpTher 
    Welch et.al 95 with Morphine JPharmExpTher  
    Yaksh 81 Intrathecal Administration_ JClinPharmacol


    Derocq et al., Cell Growth
FEBS Letters. 369(2-3):177-82, 1995 Aug 7   
    Derocq et al., Cell Growth
FEBS Letters. 425(3):419-425, 1998 Apr 3    
    Fulton & Quilley, Nitric Oxide
Journal of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics. 286(3):1146-1151, 1998 
Sep   
    Lake et al., Cardiovascular Effects
Hypertension. 29:1204-1210, 1997    
    Lake et al., Hypotension and Bradycardia
Journal of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics. 281(3):1030-1037, 1997 
Jun   
    Pratt et al., Vascular Relaxation
American Journal of Physiology. 274(1 Pt 2):H375-H381, 1998 Jan 
    Randall & Kendall, Vasoactivity
Trends in Pharmacological Sciences. 19(2):55-8, 1998 Feb    
    Stefano et al., Nitric Oxide
The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 271(32):19238-19242, 1996 Aug 9    
    Valk et al., Growth Factor
Blood. 90(4):1448-57, 1997 Aug 15   
    Varga et al., Hypotension
The FASEB Journal. 12:1035-1044, 1998   
    Wagner et al., During Shock
Journal of Molecular Medicine. 76(12):824-36, 1998 Nov-Dec  
    Wagner et al., Vasodilation
Hypertension. 33:429-434, 1999  

I do not understand what was confusing when I mentioned the need for further 
study of cannabinoids in medicine, as I wrote, "just as there is with many 
currently available prescribed medicines found on the market."  Why is this 
statement confusing?  People die from the effects of legal prescription drugs in 
some cases because pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession do not 
study prescription drugs enough, apparently, even when they have been studied 
extensively enough to justify releasing them onto the market, in the opinion, 
sometimes economically and politically motivated, of the FDA and the 
pharmaceutical companies.  Continuing to study drugs already on the market can reveal 
more scientific info about these drugs and their applications, but also can 
possibly reveal dangerous effects that were not previously uncovered.  Anyone who 
does not believe there are political and profit motives involved in pushing 
some prescription drugs onto the market for profit rather than health is not 
paying attention.

Your statement that you do not oppose medical use of cannabis seems to be 
contradicted by many other statements you have made that could lead to the 
conclusion you think there is not enough study of the issue, or there are too many 
problems already known, like precise dosage, or negative effects on the immune 
system, to actually take the step of legalizing cannabis for prescription by 
doctors.

So the next question is, if the Idaho government was to grow standardized 
cannabis with a known level of cannabinoids, which can be verified by testing, to 
make legal medical cannabis available for prescription by doctors for those 
patients the doctors thought, in their medical opinion, could benefit from 
cannabis, would you approve of this process being legal?

If so, you are not against medical cannabis.  If not, I suggest you are 
currently against medical cannabis, regardless of what you say.

The answer to the above question cannot be "we need further study" without 
the unavoidable conclusion that really in the opinion of the respondents view of 
current knowledge regarding medical cannabis the respondent does not really 
agree with medical cannabis.

Ted Moffett
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