Some ailments that have been helped by the use of marijuana

In order to treat themselves, people in the United States are now forced to break the law and pay outrageous prices. Man y people want to legalize marijuana so that they can be non-suffering, law-abiding citizens whose money supports respectable causes, rather than the black market created by marijuana prohibition. This page will provide some evidence supporting the use of marijuana to treat the ailments listed below. This is by no means the extent of the literature available, but it should prove to be fairly convincing

Marijuana has been shown to have potential medical uses in tre ating the following conditions:
1. Cancer
2. Glaucoma
3. Epilepsy
4. Multiple Sclerosis
5. Paraplegia and Quad riplegia
6. AIDS
7. Chronic Pain

1. Cancer and Chemotherapy

Some of the most commonly used drugs in chemotherapy are cisplatin, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, ifosfami de, and nitrogen mustard derivatives such as melphalan and chlorambucil. These drugs are extraordinarily toxic and can cause side effects that include: deafness, kidney failure, uncontrolled bleeding and bruising, suppression of the immune system, destru ction of heart muscle tissue, hair loss, profound nausea and vomiting, and even secondary types of cancer. The dosage of these medicines must be measured very carefully to prevent kidney, heart, or respiratory failure.( citation)

The most common, and often the most devastating side effect for chemotherapy patients is the nausea and vomiting. Vomiting and retching (dry heaves) can last for hours or days after a chemotherapy treatment. Some patients retch so unco ntrollably that they can break bones or rupture their esophagus. This can be followed by weeks of nausea and marked appetite loss. This loss of appetite can be a major hindrance in the treatment of a cancer patient because as their body begins to waste away from lack of caloric intake, the patients become less able to tolerate the toxins with which they are administered. A loss of the will to live is also associated with this wasting syndrome.(citation)

Some pat ients' responses to the chemotherapy drugs are so severe that they say the treatment is worse than the disease. If they perceive the treatment to a greater evil than the cancer, they may ask their doctors to lower the dosage, which could compromise the e ffectiveness of the therapy, or they may discontinue treatment altogether. In patients that are otherwise treatable and refuse therapy, the nausea and vomiting should be considered a potentially lethal form of toxicity.

These symptoms can often be a lleviated, or at least eased, by a group of drugs called antiemetics. These drugs work to eliminate or reduce nausea and allow the patient to eat, or at least not vomit uncontrollably. The most commonly prescribed and currently the most effective of syn thetic antiemetics is ondansetron (Zofran). This drug must be administered over a number of hours through an intravenous drip, where the patient must remain in a hospital bed. In addition to the inconvenience of this administration, the cost per treatme nt is hundreds of dollars.(citation)

Fortunately, many chemotherapy patients can get relief from the mainstream antiemetics, but for up to 30% to 40% of them, these drugs simply do not work. The most common reas ons for them not working are that they do not work long enough or, if they are taken orally, they can not be kept in the body long enough to take effect. One chemotherapy patient said, "It's hard for a pill to take effect when you puke it up every time y ou try to swallow it."(Personal Communication)

Marijuana has been shown to be a very effective substitute for these people.(Citation) Vinciguerra et al. found in a study involving 56 patients for whom standard anti emetics were ineffective, that 78% of them became symptom-free after smoking marijuana. Several studies have been done by state health agencies, specifically New Mexico, Michigan, Tennessee, New York, Georgia and California. These studies compared smoke d marijuana with oral THC and other antiemetics. In all of the studies, marijuana was determined to be a safe and effective antiemetic and was often found to be more effective than other drugs in many cases. (Citation)

The major active ingredient in marijuana, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, has been synthesized and oncologists have been able to prescribe it under the brand name Marinol since 1985. This synthetic form comes in a pill and has been proven to be effective for some people, but it has some inherent short-comings. As mentioned before, the effectiveness of a pill for someone who is continuously vomiting is questionable. Secondly, Marinol contains only one of the more than 40 active cannabinoids in natural marijuana. Many patients who have been prescribed Marinol say that after waiting up to hours for it to take effect, it completely debilitates them physically and elicits disturbing psychiatric symptoms such as paranoia and anxiety.(Citation)

Smoked marijuana has a number of advantages over its synthetic counterpart, Marinol. One factor determining the effectiveness of a drug is its bioavailibility, or how easily and quickly it can be absorbed by the b ody. Different patients may have varying responses to the same proportionate dosage of Marinol, depending on their rate of metabolism, the condition of their intestinal tract and other factors. Regardless of an individual's ability to absorb THC, smoked marijuana generates faster and more predictable results because it raises blood THC concentration to the desired level quicker. The effects of smoked marijuana can be felt almost immediately, so patients can, when smoking slowly, titrate the exact amount needed to alleviate their nausea.(Citation)

In 1990 two researchers send out an anonymous questionnaire to over 2000 members of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, approximately one third of the total membe rship, asking about their views on the use of marijuana in cancer chemotherapy. Nearly half of the recipients responded, and though this sample was self-selected and may contain some bias, it can show a general trend in attitudes. Only 43% of the respon dents said that the available antiemetics (including oral synthetic THC, Marinol) provided adequate relief to all or most of their patients. Less than 46% said that the side effects caused by these drugs were rarely a serious problem. A remarkable 44% ha d already recommended illegal marijuana to one or more of their patients and half of the respondents said that they would prescribe marijuana if it were legal.(Citation)

Glaucoma is a disorder that arises from an imbalance in the pressure inside of the eye. Our eyes are filled with a liquid, the aqueous humor, which works to keep our eyes nearly sph erical. If the eye produces too much of this fluid, or if the passages through which it is removed are blocked, the increased intraocular pressure can result in damage to the optic nerve. This damage may go unnoticed, as it initially affects peripheral vision only, until the disease is well advanced. Glaucoma affects three to four million Americans, most of whom are over the age of fifty, and is the second leading cause of blindness. If it can be detected early in its progression and treatment is start ed, the permanent effects of glaucoma can be avoided. (Citation)

The standard treatment for glaucoma consists of eye-drops that contain beta-blockers, which inhibit adrenaline's activity. These drops are v ery effective, but can have some serious side effects, such as inducing depression, aggravating asthma, slowing the heart rate and increasing the chance of heart failure. They have also been known to irritate the white part of the eye.(Citation)

Marijuana has been shown in numerous studies to reduce intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients as well as healthy people. (Citation) The effects are dose-related and usually last from 4 to 5 hours. This effect is seen whether THC is administered orally or smoked. One experiment, that was undertaken to determine if a tolerance would be developed to THC's effects, found that 29 patients smoking marijuana daily for 94 days sho wed no signs of tolerance or any deterioration of vision. (Citation)

Several studies have been done using animals in an attempt to develop a topical application, a method tha t is preferred by opthamologists. Unfortunately in 1981 the National Eye Institute announced that it would no longer approve human research using cannabis-derived eye-drops. This has put a halt on research for what could be a route of administration tha t would minimize the unwanted psychological side effects. (Citation)

Epilepsy is a condition in which certain brain cells become abnormally excitable and fire of nerve signal uncontrollably, often causing a seizure. There are various types of seizures, varying from a grand mal, where severe convulsions are seen, to absence seizures, which result in a loss of consciousness, to partial seizures, which may have slight if any effects on consciousness. (Citation)

This condition is most commonly treated with anticonvulsant drugs, such as carbanazepine, valproi c acid and primidone, as well as several others. These drugs, alone or in combination, are effective for about 80% of epilepsy patients. Those that suffer from temporal lobe epilepsy or from focal seizures, however, have not had positive results from the se drugs. Even if the drugs are effective in alleviating or reducing seizures, they often have adverse side effects which can include: bone softening, anemia, double vision, hair loss, swelling of the gums, headaches, nausea, decreased libido and impoten ce, depression and psychosis. These drugs must also be carefully administered because the wrong dosage could result in loss of muscular coordination, coma or even death. (Citation)

The medical literature concerning marijuana's potential for helping epilepsy patients is severely lacking, but a few positive results have been seen. One study, with 16 patients suffering from grand mal convulsions, showed that for some patients cannabidiol, when taken in addition to other anticonvulsant drugs proved to be very helpful. Whether or not cannabidiol taken on its own is effective is not yet known. (Citation)

Multiple sclerosis is a currently incurable disease in which patches of the protective myelin sheaths that surround all nerve fibers are degenerated. This degeneration is centered in the brain and appears to be a type of autoimmune response in which the body attacks the myelin as if it were and invading organism. The devastating symptoms usually appear first in early adulthood and then intermittently progress and enter stages of remission. Pe riods of progression vary from days to months, with remission often being incomplete. The symptoms of MS vary with the part of the brain that is affected by the demyelination. Some common symptoms include tingling or numbness, impaired vision, difficult y speaking, painful muscle spasms, ataxia (loss of coordination and or balance), weakness, paralysis, tremors, loss of bladder or bowel control and severe depression. (Citation)

A variety of medications are cur rently used to treat the various symptoms of MS, but no effective treatment has been discovered yet. One drug, known as ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) has been shown to provide relief for some acute symptoms, but it has the deleterious side effects of weight gain and irritability. Several drugs can be used to treat muscle spasms, but most cause drowsiness and some can be addictive.

Marijuana has been shown in a few cases to help with ataxia, t remors, and the chronic pain associated with MS. The breadth of medical literature on this subject is limited, but one case published in the Journal of Neurology in 1989 calls for mor e study on humans and cites some promising studies have been done with guinea pigs. The human case was of a 30 year old male whose multiple sclerosis symptoms improved drastically when he smoked a marijuana cigarette. The effects were assessed quantitat ively by means of clinical rating, electromyographic investigation of the leg flexor reflexes and electromagnetic recording of the hand action tremor. The investigators concluded that cannabinoids may have powerful beneficial effects on controlling both spasticity and ataxia and that they warrant further study. Another study was done on Treatment of Human Spasticity with THC that covers a number of ailments, including MS, stroke and cerebral palsy.

Multiple sclerosis is thought to arise from part of the immune system going awry and attacking self-cells. Keeping this in mind and knowing that smoked cannabis does not increase susceptibility to infectious disease even though it d oes have some immunosuppressant qualities, researchers studied its effects on EAE, a disease used to model MS in guinea pigs. When the animals were exposed to EAE and given a placebo, 98% of them died. When they were exposed to EAE and then treated with THC, more than 95% survived. (Citation)

These two studies, though far from being conclusive, do show that marijuana can help to alleviate the pain associated with spasticity from MS. The guinea pig experiment leads to the q uestion of whether marijuana could be used to arrest the development of MS as well as working as an analgesic. Further studies are necessary, but the outlook is good. There are many more more references on Multiple Sclerosis and Marijuana availible on the internet if you require more information.

Par aplegia is a condition that is marked by extreme weakness or paralysis of the lower body that can be caused by injury to the lower or middle spine, disease, such as MS, or heredity. Quadriplegia arises when the disease or injury occurs in the neck region and is marked by partial or total paralysis of all of the limbs. These two conditions are often associated with severe muscle spasms and tremors as well as chronic pain.

Para- and quadriplegics are usually treated with some sort of opioid-based drug (the same drug family as morphine and heroin) to alleviate pain in combination with some sort of antispastic drug similar to those take by MS patients. (Citation) The danger of opiod drugs is that they have a high potential for addiction and the side effects of the antispastic drugs, such as baclofen, include dizziness, weakness, confusion and liver damage. (Citation)

Once again, the medical literature concerning this aspect of marijuana's potential use is scant, but one study published in the journal Paraplegia detailed the benefits that five out of eight males got from smoked marijuana relieving muscle spasticity and pain. (Citation) There is, however, quiet a breadth of anecdotal endorsements from people suffering from para- and quadriplegia. Many of these people claim that marijuana alleviates their pain without the dangerous potential of opiates and simultaneously helps to control their muscle jerks and tremors, as has been documented with MS patients.

In 1990 some Swiss neurologists reported on the experimental treatment they had been trying on a paraplegic patient that had been having painful spasms in both legs and had been medicated with baclofen, clonazepam (a anti-anxiety drug related to Valium) and codeine for pain. During the first stage of the experiment, the patient took oral THC (Marinol) instead of codeine 14 times in a three month period. In the second phase, the patient was given 5 mg of oral THC, 50 mg of codeine or a placebo. The three experimental conditions were each applied 18 times over a five month period. Both codeine and oral THC helped the patient to sleep better and both had analgesic effects, but only the THC helped control muscle spasms. Both of the drugs improved the patient's bladder control, mood and ability to concentrate on intellectual work. Because THC seemed to work just as well as codeine in many respects and was better at preventing muscle spasms, the neurologists concluded that it should be considered in the treatment of paraplegics. (Citation)

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is one of the scariest diseases of our time. It is caused by the HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and causes a break down of the body's immune system, allowing othe rwise harmless pathogens to wreak havoc upon afflicted people. HIV is spread via exchange of bodily fluids, whether they be from sexual contact, sharing of needles during IV drug use or blood transfusions. Right now there is no known cure for the diseas e and it appears that all infected people eventually become ill. Thus far, the fatality rate of AIDS patients is 100%, but many people have lived more than a decade after becoming diagnosed with full blown AIDS. Education about the spread of HIV and AID S has slowed its progression, but the pool of infected people is so large, nearly one million Americans, that the number of cases is sure to increase. Another complicating factor is that the incubation period of the virus, the amount of time that can pas s before any symptoms are evident, can be longer than ten years. Effective annonymous tests are available free of charge in most areas, but there is a period of six months from exposure during which the virus is undetectable. If you don't know where to get tested yourself, inquire at a local hospital.

One condition associated with AIDS is called the Wasting Syndrome. It is defined as an inexplicable body weight loss of 10% or more. The nauseated feeling that accompanies AIDS causes the patients to be turned off by food and simply stop eating. This condition is often fatal, or at least contributes to the deterioration of the patient's health as their caloric fuel supply is diminished. (Citation)

Currently the re are only two FDA-approved drugs used for treating this condition. The first is megestrol acetate (Megace), a hormone that is used to regulate the menstrual cycle, to treat a disorder of the uterine lining and to stimulate appetite. This drug is only moderately effective with AIDS patients and has been shown to have serious side effects, especially after prolonged use. The other drug is synthetic THC (Marinol or dronabinol), which has proved to be effective, though not preferable to smoked marijuana. In a study that involved 139 AIDS patients, those patients that took synthetic dronabinol (a cannabinoid) showed marked weight gain but complained of undesirable psychological effects . Most of the patients said that they preferred smoked marijuana. (Citation)

Dr. Donald Abrams of UC San Francisco is currently in the process of getting approval for a very large experiment comparing the effectiveness of Marinol with smoked marijuana in treating the AIDS Wasting Syndrome. This study will consist of both inpatient and outpatient subjects that will hopefully provide a we alth of knowledge about the effecti veness of these two drugs.

Another misfortune for AIDS patients is the harshness of the drugs used to slow the progression of the disease. The best know AIDS drug is zidovudine (AZT), which has anti viral properties. Unfortunately, it also lowers production of both red and white blood cells, damages the digestive system and can cause severe nausea and vomiting. Marijuana has been shown counter the nauseating effects of AZT similarly to its effects on chemotherapy patients.

Chronic pain can arise from a number of different ailments varying from cancer to MS to mel orheostosis, an incurable joint disorder. Severe pain, as is seen in these conditions, is usually treated with opioid-derived drugs or a synthetic analgesic. Opioids' limitations are great, as tolerance can develop and they are highly addictive. Some o f the synthetic analgesics used, such as aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen are not addictive, but are often of insufficient potency to alleviate severe pain. They can also have serious toxic side effects, such as gastric bleeding, ulcers, kid ney and liver disease. Stomach bleeding and ulcers that arise from over-use of aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may be responsible for as many as 7,600 deaths annually in the United States.(Citation)

One study done at the University of Iowa in 1975, compared the analgesic properties of THC and codeine on hospitalized cancer patients. The patients were given either Marinol, codeine or a placebo. Marinol in doses as small as 5 and 10 mg relieved pain for several hours and doses of 20 mg relieved pain for even longer. It had fewer physical side effects than other commonly used analgesics and proved to work as a sedative as well. (Citation forthcoming)

There are seemingly limit less amount of anecdotal endorsements of marijuana's analgesic effects, many of which say that it not only alleviates pain, but allows for clearer thought and normal activity when compared to alternate pain-relieving drugs. One 32 year-old mother of thre e who suffers from chronic pain said that marijuana did not compromise her functioning the way large doses of opioids did:

"Marihuana for some reason relaxes my nervous system and allows me to function mentally on a normal basis. When taking Darvoce ts (a combination of a synthetic opiod, codeine and acetaminophen) and Tylenol I become a different person. I wake up feeling drugged, I go to sleep feeling drugged, I function like a drugged person. I lose little bits and pieces of my family because I am so drugged out that I can't function, even to just sit there and talk to them or read them a story..." (Citation)

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