Government-Sponsored Study Destroys DEA's Classification of Marijuana as 'Medically Useless'

Government-Sponsored Study Destroys DEA's Classification of Marijuana as 'Medically Useless'

http://www.alternet.org/story/15614..._marijuana_as_'medically_useless'?page=entire

The DEA classifies marijuana as having no medical uses, but a government-sponsored study concludes that the miracle drug is much needed for many patients.



A government-sponsored study published this month in The Open Neurology Journal concludes that marijuana provides much-needed relief to some chronic pain sufferers and that more clinical trials are desperately needed, utterly destroying the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) classification of the drug as having no medical uses.

While numerous prior studies have shown marijuana’s usefulness for a host of medical conditions, none have ever gone directly at the DEA’s placement of marijuana atop the schedule of controlled substances. This study, sponsored by the State of California and conducted at the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, does precisely that, driving a stake into the heart of America’s continued war on marijuana users by calling the Schedule I placement simply “not accurate” and “not tenable.”

Reacting to the study, Paul Armentano, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told Raw Story that the study clearly proves U.S. drug policy “is neither based upon nor guided by science.”

“In fact, it is hostile to science,” he said. “And despite the Obama Administration’s well publicized 2009 memo stating, ‘Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of my Administration,’ there is little to no evidence indicating that the federal government’s ‘See no evil; hear no evil’ approach to cannabis policy is not changing any time soon.”

Schedule I is supposedly reserved for the most inebriating substances that have no medical value, like LSD, ecstasy, peyote and heroin. As the DEA describes it: “Drugs listed in schedule I have no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States and, therefore, may not be prescribed, administered, or dispensed for medical use. In contrast, drugs listed in schedules II-V have some accepted medical use and may be prescribed, administered, or dispensed for medical use.”
And that’s the problem, the study’s authors portend.

“The classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug as well as the continuing controversy as to whether or not cannabis is of medical value are obstacles to medical progress in this area,” they wrote. “Based on evidence currently available the Schedule I classification is not tenable; it is not accurate that cannabis has no medical value, or that information on safety is lacking. It is true cannabis has some abuse potential, but its profile more closely resembles drugs in Schedule III (where codeine and dronabinol are listed). The continuing conflict between scientific evidence and political ideology will hopefully be reconciled in a judicious manner.”

They add that their evidence showed marijuana reliably reduced chronic neuropathic pain and muscle spasticity due to multiple sclerosis versus trials where a placebo was used. They also specifically tested marijuana’s effects when smoked, calling the delivery method “rapid and efficient” but noting that vaporization is a better choice because it produces less carbon monoxide.

The study adds that, like all medicines, there are negative side effects associated with marijuana, such as dizziness, fatigue, lightheadedness, muscle weakness and pain and heart palpitations — all of which can pose a risk in some chronic pain patients with co-occurring conditions like cardiovascular disease or substance abuse disorders. However, they call these side effects “dose-related” and “of mild to moderate severity,” adding that they “appear to decline over time, and are reported less frequently in experienced than in naïve users.” Researchers also noted that “fatal overdose with cannabis alone has not been reported.”

Authors additionally found that marijuana does cause withdrawal symptoms within 12 hours of use, noting the symptoms are mild in experienced users and typically abate within 72 hours. They added that ingesting marijuana “can acutely impair skills required to drive motor vehicles,” but noted that the data on marijuana and traffic accidents is “inconclusive.”

Ultimately, they concluded that more clinical trials are needed to determine which individual components of the marijuana plant are causing the medicinal effects, and whether the plant can be used to treat a host of other ailments.

“Medical marijuana is mostly used for chronic pain, and has enabled countless patients to either reduce or eliminate their pharmaceutical drug regimen,” Kris Hermes, a spokesman forAmericans for Safe Access (ASA), one of the nation’s leading medical marijuana advocacy groups, told Raw Story. “However, it can also be used for: arthritis, nausea or as an appetite stimulant for people living with HIV/AIDS or cancer, gastrointestinal disorders, and movement disorders (not just for people with multiple sclerosis). That is only a sampling of health conditions for which cannabis has been found helpful in alleviating symptoms. Other health conditions include: [post-traumatic stress disorder], [attention deficit disorder], [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] and other mental health conditions, glaucoma, and migraines.”

In hopes of forcing recognition of marijuana’s medical value, ASA sued the federal government last year after a long-running appeal for the reclassification of marijuana was shot down nearly a decade after it was filed. That case should go before the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit later this year.

“The federal government’s strategy has been delay, delay, delay,” ASA chief counsel Joe Elford said in an advisory. “It is far past time for the government to answer our rescheduling petition, but unfortunately we’ve been forced to go to court in order to get resolution.”

“Reform advocates can and should use this study to show their congressional representatives that our country’s leading medical marijuana researchers agree that it should be reclassified,” Hermes added. “…This certainly should also have a bearing on the D.C. Circuit’s deliberations in the appeal of the rescheduling petition denial.”

Medical marijuana is currently legal in just 17 states and Washington, D.C.

I hate the feds, someday this country will wake up and realize that our drugs, money, and politics are all controlled not by the people who vote but buy a few very wealthy men. It makes me sad how unfree we have truly become.

Well it is already sad that we are all slaves to money... But at the same time a fucking plant is illegal..

Also these drugs are basically illegal because they change people's views, perspectives and outlooks. To the government that is a threat because it rids the person of the fake illusion of bullshit society and "rules".. I wish all government agencies would disappear and we could all re-unite as a society and grow fresh food together and live free and be whole and work jobs we actually can happily contribute to.

I thought a lot of their primitive pharmaceuticals (Star Trek Voyager reference) did the same thing.

the real problem isnt what the DEA thinks...
they just parrot what they are told to think by the W.H.O.!

W.H.O. is the organization that made marijuana a class 1 controlled substance.
and under threat of penalty for failing to comply with UN food and drug trade laws, the US gubberment will back down every time, because they are not going to want to pay the fines involved with non compliance.
look for yourself what this organization thinks...

THIS IS THE ORGANIZATION WHO'S MIND YOU HAVE TO CHANGE!!!
http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/facts/cannabis/en/index.html

at the bottom, after their propaganda, they even admit themselves the theraputic benefit of cannibis, and that more studies need to be done.. stupid wankers!!

sadly, imo, i think we have a 10-15 year battle against red tape to change the determination of an organization as sprawling and sluggish as WHO

please prove me wrong people!!

im tempted to start a new thread focusing attention onto the WHO where it belongs!!

you need to do your research, my friend... because you are wrong on several points there...
im not going to do it for you, so go check it out for yourself.

Can you please give some solid facts, with links, to disprove what he said? Please don't come here and tell someone they are wrong with no proof to back it up. Thanks.

this information is all on the UN site and others, for everyone to look up and see.
thanks.

I will say it again. Please don't come into a thread and tell people they are wrong without providing any facts to back it up. You are the one who has the burden of proof, not anyone else, because you said he was wrong. Please provide a link too.

first off, you are NOT understanding what i wrote, so RE-read it if you have too.

i didnt say the UN made marijuana a controlled substance, i said
"class 1 controlled substance" meaning it has been determined to have no medicinal value, that was the UN, not the usa.
i am completely aware that usa had laws about marijuana before that, and that isnt what i was talking about.

initially, he is the one who said i was wrong.
i accept no burden, its your choice to listen/believe me or not,
if its important to you, research it.
thanks

*facepalm....

wow, really?
the WHO is an arm of the UN.
dont tell me you didnt know this.


if you want the WORLD, including the USA to enjoy the freedom to do as we wish with our food and medicine, (which im hoping is your point/goal of being a marijuana activist),
your going to have to deal with the WHO/UN eventually.
dont believe me??
look up the UN's "codex alimentarius" and agenda 21.
http://youtu.be/spoucYXa3-A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzEEg...eature=related

here's a quote from an article on the subject i read;
"why isnt it legal? ask the UN" by mike allison for the northwest leaf...

"generally we presume that any country can make its own laws. and for the most part thats true,
but not always... lets suppose your country signs an international treaty to regulate drugs, like our country has. then your country is bound by international treaty, right? RIGHT!
the fact is thay ANY government which ops for a legal framework to supply and regulate cannibis will find themselves in a serious bind. Thats because rescheduling and regulating cannibis is against the law!"

"Unsuprisingly the treaty is modeled much like our own laws with a similar drug schedule scheme.
drugs are placed in one of 4 schedules, and not suprisingly, cannibis is in the class reserved for the most harmful drugs. our controlled substance act of 1970 and UK's 1971 misuse of drugs act are both designed to fufill treaty obligations. the WHO has the authority to place new drugs in appropriate schedules and transfer drugs from one schedule to another. in the US, the power to reschedule drugs lies with several entities, primarily the attoney general. but its obvious that the US cant violate international treaty by rescheduling a drug which the UN, through the WHO, hasnt rescheduled first!!!! so even though our laws say drugs can be rescheduled by domestic authorities,the FACT remains that they can only do that after the UN does.
well then, why not get the UN to reshedule cannibis under the single convention on narcotic drugs?? BECAUSE THEY CANT!
because cannibis is so special, it is specifically forbidden within the language of the treaty itself.
so instead of being just another "most harmful" drug, which could be moved to a less regulated catagory, cannibis can ONLY be rescheduled if the ENTIRE TREATY is rewritten!!
that sort of thing takes about 20 years to pull off, by the way- AND NO ONE IS EVEN TALKING ABOUT IT!! it blows my mind that it isnt part of the ongoing discussion about regulation an legalization."

Sorry, I pass on believing people that provide no proof, but thanks anyway.

you guys are welcome to think and do as you wish.
enjoi

feel free to read the article quote on UN/WHO drug laws that i had to attach to my previous post.
thanks

You posted You tube video's. How is that a reliable source?

I watched the first video, listened to this women, and it all sounds like a conspiracy theory to me.

i used the vids because thats all the pertinent info, now go find out if its true.

for gods sake people...
never heard of something??
want to know more??
wikipedia and google...
please use them.

Isn't this all a moot point because it all supposedly took effect Dec 2009? And, you don't need to tell me how to do research, sir, I do it everyday, thank you very much. When I state something as fact, I try to find reliable sources on the web that I can link people to. I never link them to a You Tube video.

i merely tried to follow your directions to "please do not make back to back posts"
and i revised no history, i added to my post instead of making a new post.
maybe include the entire rule if your going to spout off rules??

deleting subsription to thread now...
i dont have the motivation to argue in a debate,
i'd rather medicate.
believe what you want, and do as thou wilst.
have a nice day.

mod note- more back to back posts?

If you have no motivation to debate, then don't make a debatable comment in the first place. Have a good weekend!