Medical Marijuana Not Just About Getting High — Journal Article Ends the Argument
One of the canards regularly raised by opponents of medical marijuana is that it just gets people high and doesn’t provide real medical relief. For example, last year former deputy drug czar Scott Burns told a California newspaper, ”Anybody can say something makes me feel better anecdotally. And I hear that a lot. ‘Marijuana is the only thing that makes me feel good.’ I say you should try crack, because from what I hear, crack cocaine will make you feel really good as well.”
Anyone inclined to believe such nonsense should check out an article just published online by the journal Pharmacological Research. The article, by two researchers from the University of Naples, covers the potential benefits of cannabinoids in illnesses involving intestinal inflammation (e.g. Crohn’s disease) and in colorectal cancer.
The authors explain that “cannabinoids exert important physiological and pathophysiological actions in the digestive tract, including appetite regulation, emesis, protection of the gastric mucosa, intestinal ion transport, gastric emptying and intestinal motility.” They then go into a detailed and highly technical explanation of how the body’s CB1 and CB2 receptors — the route through which marijuana and the body’s own marijuana-like chemicals act — are involved in controlling the excessive inflammation that is the hallmark of Crohn’s and other forms of inflammatory bowel disease and how enhancing those actions can help.
The researchers then go into a similarly detailed discussion of the cellular mechanisms by which cannabinoids — including natural plant cannabinoids like THC and CBD — fight colorectal cancer, opening the discussion with this: “Cannabinoids exert antiproliferative, antimetastatic and apoptotic actions in colorectal carcinoma epithelial cells as well as antitumoural effects in experimental models of colon cancer.”
So, can we lay to rest once and for all the lie that medical marijuana is just about “getting high”?
Tagged with: cancer and canninoids and Crohn's and drug czar and ONDCP and science by the author
52 comments
It didn’t have anything to do with getting “high” for my daughter, it was about living and not dying of starvation. Every moment, second of her life was precious to her. She so badly wanted to live. and so she did with the help of the marijuana. 89 more days she lived. I can’t tell you how grateful i am for that little five leaf plant.
joni whiting
im sad to say since my grandfather pass, he too was misinform about marijuana and was told how bad it was back in the day.then the day came when the doctors told him he had cancer and the meds he was taking won’t allow him to eat food so only 1 doctor told him to try marijuana but with all the bad things he was fed he refuse and suffer a slow death.the only thing i wish is the truth be told so NO One suffers the way my grandad did,we are only humans u know and we all bleed the same.So why would other people refuse to help someone in need?
Attention to all MPP Norml has a article
http://blog.norml.org/2009/05/22/the-new-york-times-debates-marijuana-law-reform-norml-weighs-in/
on our cause I wanted to share with every one as a support to our cause. Thank you MPP for allowing this post on our cause.
BOB,
I think and believe that every one in the MPP and NORML would say sorry for your loss and that no one should have that happen to them.
great post and im glad to hear someone actually confront that myth and debunk it. hopefully it doesn’t resurface although it most likely will.
if you and your doctor both agree that marijuana is beneficial, who else needs to be involved? the answer is no one and the worst one to be involved is the government. believe it or not we don’t need the government as much as they need us.
doctors + beneficial medicine = genuine help
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Scott Burns sounds like he is pushing crack.
I was in Houston during the great crack epidemic of the early 1980’s, and I was watching the local news, and the news reporter says, “For those who turn on, don’t do crack”. That is the best advice I ever had.
I want to thank you Bruce and MPP for what you do! I read the posts of the people who tried to help their suffering family members and it brings tears of empathy and anger and sadness. My mother too would not use cannabis when she had ALS and I know it would have helped her. We all have been LIED to long enough! I know I’m tired of it and I’m tired of the government lying to our children. They have poisoned enough minds it’s time SCIENCE had a true voice in this country instead of politics! The GREEDY have almost ruined this great country! LET US GROW OUR MEDICINE AND HEAL OUR SICK!
@Joni sorry to hear of your loss, a grievous situation indeed. I’m in tears.
Thank you for sharing.
I say enough of this bullshit. I say we take to the god damned streets.
No more of this.
Thanks again for a wonderful article, Bruce. This is one of only a few places I know of where I can pick up real news regarding the benefits of cannabis. I’m grateful for your work.
so true…..
A medical study that shows cannabiniods help fight cancer???
Imagine that!…. won’t change the DEAs mind though… the study was done in Italy so that in and of itself will make it null and void in some way….
Our Government is so hypocritical… they can’t even recognize that marijuana has medical value.. they turn their heads and act as if they didn’t hear all of the positive medical research studies and fall back on trying to save the children from the evil weed. Don’t they realize that kids now-a-days have turned to prescription meds? They mix that shit at parties not knowing what the effect of chemical interactions will be… OD’s on prescription meds are highly possible while mixing chemicals makes the prospect even more likely.
You answer this one… would you rather your kids be out at parties smoking some weed or mixing pills???
Dear Bruce Mirken & blog readers,
Opponents of MJ for personal consumption and Medicinal MJ purposes know they’re not deliverying correct information. It’s another road block and I will find out what it takes to protect the American public from this type of attack on everyday good hearted citizens. Rest assure, I have the rest of my life to bring agony to the idiots who have brought so much pain upon so many people simply because opponents don’t like marijuana and people who use it. It’s to easy to just leave pot smokers alone and that approach doesn’t cost opponents anything!
I am on a daily crusade to inform and enlighten those who just want it legal so they can get high…I quote statistics and info about the important medical research and findings going on all over the world, as well as the horrific costs of incarceration and lost lives resulting from this prohibition…I report each important step that our growing “army” of legislators and governmental heirarchy takes and remind each person I talk to that if they are old enough to vote, they are old enough to contact their state reps, senators and governors and encourage them to work toward these important goals…. I encourage them as well to make a manageable donation to some of the organizations that are working on the “front lines”.. I myself donate a total of $20.00 a month to 4 of these organizations @ $5.00 each , which is easily do-able for anyone making minimum wage…….I explain that I suffer from migraines and I can take 6 tylenol (which is in the long run, toxic to my liver) or I can smoke a few hits from a bowl and have relief within 15 minutes max…….but just as important to me is this….I don’t care for alcohol..even in small doses,it hurts my stomach….I have been anti-pharmaceutical for many years as a result of a dear sister that has been legally allowed to destroy her liver with the blessings of her psychiatrist, (and have you paid any attention to the info at the end of commercials for pharmaceuticals? The side effects range from anal leakage to death!)…..When I want to relax and cop a mild buzz…which really isn’t very often (once or twice a week is alot for me), I want to be able to do so without fear…. I work very hard at my job (which is often quite stressful), I am as dependable as the sunrise, I am a good parent, I am a responsible and otherwise law abiding citizen and …I smoke pot….and I want it to be legal to do so….
I always try to remind people as well, that it doesn’t get us ‘high’, it gets us NORMAL….
What does it matter if it gets us high? Doesn’t ALCOHOL? In a different more unsafe way, but it is the same thing. So what if some of us want to use it recreationaly, who cares? WHO CARES? It is still less dangerous than alcohol, and tobacco. And people can go to the hospital or pharmacist and get heroine, methamphetamine, etc… WHY DOES OUR GOVERNMENT GET SO INVOLVED WITH MARIJUANA??? We were able to make heroine and morphine into a medicine commonly used at hospitals and at home for pain and other things, but theres this big deal about POT, which has NEVER killed anybody!!! Does ANYONE else find it strange? Am I the only one that sees something weird here? Our government didn’t get involved with making REALLY DANGEROUS DRUGS into meds, but they are interfering with POT? WHAT!!! Lets talk about truth. I would reaeaeaeally like to hear what REAL reason they have for being so actively involved against cannabis. Any thought on that anyone?
(P.S. Please STOP calling it Marijuana they are NOT the same plant. Everyone call it what it is. People are scared of the word anyway, not helping us. So please just say Cannabis)
Stephani, the REAL reason it’s illegal is because of an angry, evil and racist little man by the name of Anslinger who had “control issues”. The REAL reason is that our own government was ignorant to the truth when it came to making it illegal. The REAL reason was, for decades, when research became available to prove the benign nature and the wonderous medical value of cannibis, nobody (in the government) was wise enough to say, “We may have been wrong about this”, … and now we have to continue to work hard to undo the damage of 7 decades of ignorance by our government and all the many Anslingers that have proceeded him ( like Tim Pawlenty)…
Hey Tennessee Activist, Not everyone that is saying bad things about pot know they are giving false facts. As much as I hate saying it, well, most people are brain washed thanks to DARE and other programs that went around using TERRORISM tactics to scare the shit out of kids. An example, my buddy Jeremy was one of the biggest users of MJ. Unlike us, his body actually didnt want to eat from smoking, he lost 40 or 50 pounds because pot made him hyper. He loved it. He said the reason behind his opposite effect on him was because he was SO depressed, he would just lay on the couch and eat and eat and eat. Then one day he got introduced to pot…he got high…and started cleaning his room..cleaning his house..and wanting to not be depressed. THEN, he met his now wife. She was raised in a small town by a father that was the DARE cop for the town. She has now effectively made Jeremy STOP smoking pot, he is gaining weight, and is on the brink of losing his job. He is depressed. She makes him take randoms she buys at Wal Mart. He dont want to leave her because she will take his daughter under missouri law of NO substances allowed around children. She tells him all the time how pot destroys your lungs *while smokin a cig* and how soon he will be trying Meth and crack and all kinds of DARE induced lies….what to do? She is brain washed…she really believes Jeremy will ruin his and her and their child’s life if he even smells pot…but she dont know what she is saying is a bold faced lie…she never tried pot…never will…
im not standing up for the bitch or any of the other brain washed Mo Fos out there but its kinda scaary that people really really really believe this…still pisses me off…fuckin nixon…he started this bullshit…all the while he was rippin off the people of his country….lol…shouldnt stupid president’s laws be null and void?
Lets get this poll to #1 An obama poll site we will show them how important this is.
http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2762-4049
Hay JJ #19,
Yeah, I know there’s some honestly brain washed opponents out there every where you go. My primary target is the mean people. We’ve all gone through an awakening to the benefits of MJ. At present there’s only two groups, opponents and advocates. The undecided voters will be won over, all in good time.
can you imagine what would be know about this wonderful plant if they were allowed to study it for the past 70 years?
Fact is, even crack has medical uses. See “Intoxication” by Ronald K. Siegel, Ph.D., pg.308. ISBN 0-671-69192-9
“Peggy Sue went dancing”, a wheelchair-bound arthritic who was given “Esterene” intranasally. It works!
Joni, My sincerest condolences , I also had a loved one who Marijuana helped to live a couple of months more with an improved quality of life. All of our relatives deserve the best treatment the money can buy. Unfortunately our Past and current president do not believe this to be true. Heaven sent my loved one back for a visit in a dream and to see my buddy restored was a sweet gift from above. I pray that Heaven will bless you that way as well. God Bless you!!!
I cannot beleave this, i know this shouldn’t be in here, but yah Tim Pawlenty – Gov of Minnesota Vetod the bill yesterday, wut a heartless bastard.
http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2593-4049
vote for this also!
if norml wants a story of neurological aid from marijuana, email me….I have lived quite the story and have quite the perspective for a 23 year old with CMT.
some thing I keep reminding people…. One major reason they wont legalize,aside from the billions in taxes and power, is this. If WE THE PEOPLE rise up and use our voice to change this one law, This law that is so entrenched in politics, they know WE THE PEOPLE can change everything they do that WE THE PEOPLE don’t agree with.. They don’t want us to see just how POWERFUL our voices are,for they must be powerful and loud indeed. Just look at the lies they use. Look at how loudly they cry about “THE DEMON WEED”. Let them squirm! Lets take their power from them! SPEAK LOUDER PEOPLE! SO LOUD THEY CAN”T HEAR THEM SELVES!! Listen…do ya hear that? (ding ding ding) Thats freedom ringing!
The sins of the corrupt will be seen by all!
I recently realized something of importance . I sent letters to my congressmen and sentor alike. I get back letters thanking me,but… They always say “I don’t agree with your view..” This got me thinking. This is where WE THE PEOPLE make our mistakes. If I am one of many many thousands sending a letter to them and they reject what I say,then are they not rejecting all those many many thousands…or millions who also sent letters? They are allowed thier belief, but their belief does NOT trump the veiw of the people. They are in that position to resonate the voice of the people, not resonate thier voice over the people. This is how they keep power over us,by making us believe thier voice is more important than our own.
I say to the people,STOP this by responding to them. Telling them they are there to do the will of the people,not do their will!
THANK GOD ROE…someone is finally looking at this from my side….I got the same response back from my Reps…if you can call them Representatives…they also said that their beliefs were not the same as mine, thus they would vote down any and all laws supporting MJ…thats why I have started saying we vote these MO FO’s out of their office…and COHEN FOR PRESIDENT 2012
Bruce,
Thanks for the, Pharmacological Research, reference. As a Medical Marijuana Activist, I share all these facts in the community.
Congressman Steve Cohen of TENNESSEE, you got to love a man that has your better interest in mind to end all dabate on marijuana issues and he’s positively secured his re-election to office.
exactly and that is why cannabis is the number oune issue for me, because if they suddendly, “respectfully don’t share my posisition”, then what else don’t they share with me. some how with out making it the number one issue we need to find out how every canidate stand on cannabis and then make a list of canadate that support it for our states. we also need to blast out these hypocrites that claim to be statesman.
Thanks Joni for all the hard work testifying,How the people we vote for couldnt help us out on this in Mn is unreal.especially Palenty,what a cold heartless individual,not even for the dying,really says something about this guys morals or lack and compassion i should say,
JJ.. Its this realization all people of america need to see. If this country is to change, we cant have people in office that will just throw our voices aside because it doesn’t resonate what THEY want. Not just on poilicy concerning cannibis but all policies that WE THE PEOPLE disagree with. Its our voice that is important. It is our voice that is powerful..NOT THIERS. Spread the word.
As long as what I freely choose to do, or not do, does not violate the rightful freedoms and liberties of another citizen, including getting high or not getting high, it is none of the government’s damn business! Prohibitionists need to get another hobby, something besides trying to run other people’s lives.
I whipped this up fast. You guys go ahead and enhance it or change it however you see fit. Just don’t go militant, that’s not the answer, not yet anyway.
Dear Congressperson, Senator,
It is glaringly obvious what your response will be to this letter and the previous letter I’ve respectfully written to you. Only this time it’s not acceptable. Previous letters from me have been about addressing the unfair Prohibition of Marijuana. This has been going on far too long and, as one of my elected representatives to continually send out your “form” letter in response to what is quickly becoming an important and hotly contested issue is pure insanity and irresponsibility on your part.
No longer will I, or many others, nay thousands, accept your standard answer.
You obviously haven’t a clue as to what the positive implications of the end to Prohibition of Marijuana would mean to sick and dying people, to chronic painful conditions, to those who want a simple and safe alternative to the damaging effects of alcohol. You have denied my rights and ignored my requests.
No longer do I support you. Please be advised that I’m spreading the word over your lack of understanding and compassion on this important issue that Americans around the world are screaming about.
Yes representative, they are screaming, we are screaming.
Wake up, before you lose your job. Do your homework on the issue. I’ll be here ready to receive your non-form letter and fully informed decision.
Sincerely,
Ya know…I am looking at some other groups and such that stand for causes…how come they have like 1000 members and 50000. Doesnt pot have like 25 million people that have tried it. Even if only 10 million liked it and stayed with it…thats 10 million people…why cant people put this on ballets and just let the public vote on federal legalization?
What kind of a country would even try to prohibit people from getting “high,” which I presume means “feel” good? The answer is, definitely not a free country that truely valued individual liberty. How is what anyone feels or doesn’t feel, or if they can feel at all, any of anyone else’s damn business? It is prohibitionists that are trying to control the conduct of others, conduct that is rightfully a personal, private matter as it does not violate the rightful liberties and freedoms of others. Like the sociopaths they are, prohibitionists feel this is “their right,” and take great satisfaction from destroying the dreams and lives of others. This nation’s horrific “war” on the God-given liberties and freedoms of its citizens must stop. The prohibitionist “war” criminals must be tried and thrown into prison where they belong for their crimes against humanity. Full “war” reparations must be paid to all freedom loving American patriots who have suffered so long at the hands of misguided, cruel, confused and wrong prohibitionists.
yes of course this is true. But this kind of argument always disappoints me. It’s way too much like the “being gay isn’t just about sex” argument. Of course it’s not. On the other hand, we certainly don’t want to say that being gay isn’t at all about the sex.
In conversations about the medical use of marijuana we have to also be able to insist that:
– while it is of course important to “to lay to rest once and for all the lie that medical marijuana is JUST about ‘getting high’,”
it is ALSO important to lay to rest once and for all the lie that for most people medical marijuana has nothing to do with getting high.
We need to challenge rather than reinforce the false opposition between “real medical relief” and “getting high”.
We have to be able to say in a straightforward way that the effects of cannabis on mood, consciousness and perception — i.e. “the high” — are unquestionably therapeutic for many people, for instance at end of life when people are looking death in the face or in the midst of unrelenting, untreatable pain.
For goodness sake, there are FDA approved clinical trials underway with MDMA and hallucinogenics for precisely these kinds of therapeutic situations. Clearly marijuana is and should be part of that conversation.
yesterday i saw a family member that is suffering from parkinsons. she has tremor so bad she can’t get out of the wheel chair, and she sometimes twitches uncontollably in the wheel chair. she’s gained alot of weight and i can tell that she seems depressed. i wanted to tell her she should try cannabis and see what that would do, but her family is all law enforcement ranching type. they buy in lock stock and barrell for the prohibition argument. sad for sure, i think that cannabis could relieve some of her symptoms, and make her mood better because it get you “high”. instead she would rather take 30 medications aday and deal with the side effects that are bad enough to seek hospital attention for them alone.
The high is the pleasant side effect of the medicine. The creator knows what it is doing.
That’s such a ridiculous argument… CRACK KILLS DUMB FUCK!!!
Folks, I had to take down a comment advocating a riot. Incitements to violence of any kind are not acceptable here. Thanks for understanding.
I smoke Marijuana and I wrote a song about it! It’s called, “I Smoke Marijuana”. And, as my song says,”When I smoke Marijuana I can feel God’s warm embrace”.
Prohibitionists always label cannabis a gateway drug. They always compare marijuana to cocaine, or else their argument doesn’t have the same effect. However, according to the government, Cocaine is a Schedule 2 drug, while Marijuana is Schedule 1. Apparently, the government believes cocaine and methamphetamine (also Schedule 2) are safer than marijuana. What kind of message is this country sending? The U.S. drug policy is ridiculous.
http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3156-4049
I just added this post to the Policy Ideas website , please checkit out and vote it up:
http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3191-4049
My request is that marijuana be removed from Schedule I of the CSA as it no longer conforms to the definition crated back in 1970.
I know that all of us here would like to see prohibition ended, but in these types of questions for the Administartion we all already know the President’s point of view… he is not interested in legalization.
Here’s my take:
If the Fed would reclasify it would allow ALL 50 states the chance to make MMJ available to it citizens. Once the general population was able to see that marijuana doesn’t hurt the user, that there are no increases in marijuana related crime (is there any now?), and teen usage doesn’t spike… maybe then we will see attitudes across the boards change.
We know how the President feels about legalization (do I have to remind everyone of his disrespect in his Online Town Hall meeting?) so why not push him on an idea that he has publically commented positively on?
Sure that is one aspect. People don’t usually drink to feel “normal”. Its a benefit that comes along with its consumption, as well as having medicional qualities. Alcohol usually wine is thought to be a good thing by doctors to decrease stress and promote good heart health. It also give you a wine buzz at the same time. They go hand in hand. Its not about one or the other, either way you look at it the outcome is good. Now excessive use should be cautioned against in both catagories. Too much wine and your a wine-o, too much marijuana and your a pot head. Labeling is easy. Convincing politicians that both are good and have benefits in moderate amounts is not so easy.
yesterday i saw a family member that is suffering from parkinsons. she has tremor so bad she can’t get out of the wheel chair, and she sometimes twitches uncontollably in the wheel chair. she’s gained alot of weight and i can tell that she seems depressed. i wanted to tell her she should try cannabis and see what that would do, but her family is all law enforcement ranching type. they buy in lock stock and barrell for the prohibition argument. sad for sure, i think that cannabis could relieve some of her symptoms, and make her mood better because it get you “high”. instead she would rather take 30 medications aday and deal with the side effects that are bad enough to seek hospital attention for them alone.
The deputy drug czar compares marijuana with crack. I guess he’s just sitting on his brains again.
Thanks for a good article detailing Crohn’s Disease and marijuana. I was arrested this month for personal possession and will have a misdemeanor charge against me for the rest of my life. Protect patients, don’t arrest us!
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