Safer Deals: The Physicians — Is Medicine Going To Pot?

CRAWFORD On June 28, 2006, the United Nations warned Britain, the United States, and Canada that new, highly potent strains of cannabis are just as dangerous as cocaine or heroine. According to statements by the international agency, the drug is no longer “soft and relatively harmless,” as popular belief dictates.

The U.N.’s Office on Drugs and Crime claimed it was a mistake for the U.K. to reclassify cannabis from a Class B drug to a Class C, which constituted lower penalties for citizens caught in possession of the substance.

Along with Costa’s warnings, the United Nations delivered a report that claims over 160 million people worldwide use the drug. The study also claims that a “significant” number of those who use the potent strains of cannabis suffer from severe anxiety, panic attacks, extreme paranoia and “psychotic symptoms” during intoxication. They also claimed it has no medicinal value for society, and that to legalize its use for medicinal purposes would send the wrong message.

“Today the harmful characteristics of cannabis are no longer that different from those of other plant-based drugs such as cocaine and heroin,” said Costa. “Policy reversals leave young people confused as to just how dangerous cannabis is.”

However, an increasing number of scientific studies stand in stark contrast to the United Nations’ statements. Some of the most recent medicinal uses discovered include THC-based treatments for cancerous tumors and Alzheimer’s disease.

In February of 2000, a team of scientists in Madrid, Spain, led by Dr. Manuel Guzman of Complutense University, came upon an astonishing discovery: the researchers managed to destroy brain tumors in rats previously thought incurable by injecting the animals with concentrated THC, the main psychoactive compound in the cannabis herb.

The results of the study, reported in the March 2000 issue of Nature Magazine, showed that three of the 45 infected rats completely recovered from their cancers, while nine more THC-treated rats lived as much as 35 days longer than rats that were not given the drug.

“All the rats left untreated uniformly died 12-18 days after glioma (brain cancer) cell inoculation,” read the study. “Cannabinoid (THC)-treated rats survived significantly longer than control rats. THC administration was ineffective in three rats, which died by days 16-18. Nine of the THC-treated rats surpassed the time of death of untreated rats, and survived up to 19-35 days. Moreover, the tumor was completely eradicated in three of the treated rats.”

The same research team also irrigated healthy rats’ brains with THC concentrate for seven days to search for harmful neurological effects, but found none.

“Careful MRI analysis of all those tumor-free rats showed no sign of damage related to necrosis, edema, infection or trauma,” wrote Dr. Guzman. “We also examined other potential side effects of cannabinoid administration. In both tumor-free and tumor-bearing rats, cannabinoid administration induced no substantial change in behavioral parameters such as motor coordination or physical activity.”

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