РефератыИностранный языкTHTHC Essay Research Paper THC Cannabis Between

THC Essay Research Paper THC Cannabis Between

THC Essay, Research Paper


THC (Cannabis) Between 1840 and


1900, European and American medical journals


published more than 100 articles on the


therapeutic use of the drug known then as


Cannabis indica (or Indian hemp) and now as


marijuana. It was recommended as an appetite


stimulant, muscle relaxant, analgesic, hypnotic, and


anticonvulsant. As late as 1913 Sir William Osler


recommended it as the most satisfactory remedy


for migraine headaches . Today the 5000-year


medical history of cannabis has been almost


forgotten. Its use declined in the early 20th century


because the potency of oral ingestion was high,


and alternatives became available — injectable


opiates and, synthetic drugs such as aspirin and


barbiturates. In the United States the Marijuana


Tax Act of 1937 was passed. It was designed to


prevent non medical use. This law made cannabis


so difficult to obtain for medical purposes that it


was removed from the pharmacopoeia. It is now


confined to Schedule I under the Controlled


Substances Act as a drug that has a high potential


for abuse, lacks an accepted medical use, and is


unsafe for use under medical supervision. In 1972


the National Organization for the Reform of


Marijuana Laws petitioned the Bureau of


Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, later renamed


the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), to


transfer marijuana to Schedule II so that it could


be legally prescribed. As the proceedings


continued, other parties joined, including the


Physicians Association for AIDS Care. It was in


1986, after many years of legal maneuvering, that


the DEA acceded to the demand for the public


hearings required by law. During the hearings,


which lasted 2 years, many patients and physicians


testified, and thousands of pages of documentation


were introduced. In 1988 the DEA’s own


administrative law judge, Francis L. Young,


declared that marijuana in its natural form fulfilled


the legal requirement of currently accepted


medical use in treatment in the United States. He


added that it was "one of the safest therapeutically


active substances known to man." His order that


the marijuana plant be transferred to Schedule II


was overruled, not by any medical authority, but


by the DEA itself, which issued a final rejection of


all pleas for reclassification in March 1992.


Meanwhile, a few patients have been able to


obtain marijuana legally for therapeutic purposes.


Since 1978, legislation permitting patients with


certain disorders to use marijuana with a


physician’s approval has been enacted in 36


states. Although federal regulations and


procedures made the laws difficult to enact, 10


states eventually established formal marijuana


research programs to seek FDA approval for


Investigational New Drug (IND) applications.


These programs were later abandoned, mainly


because the bureaucratic burden on physicians


and patients became intolerable. Growing demand


also forced the FDA to Institute an Individual


Treatment IND for the use of physicians whose


patients needed marijuana because no other drug


would produce the same therapeutic effect. The


application process was made complicated, and


most physicians did not want to become involved,


especially since many believed there was some


disgrace on prescribing cannabis. Between 1976


and 1988 the government reluctantly awarded


about a half dozen Compassionate INDs for the


use of marijuana. In 1989 the FDA was


overwhelmed with new applications from people


with AIDS, and the number granted rose to 34


within a year. In June 1991, the Public Health


Service announced that the program would be


suspended because it undercut the administration’s


opposition to th

e use of illegal drugs. After that no


new Compassionate INDs were granted, and the


program was discontinued in March 1992. Eight


patients are still receiving marijuana under the


original program; for everyone else it is officially a


forbidden medicine. Many people know that


marijuana is now being used illegally for the nausea


and vomiting induced by chemotherapy. Some


know that it lowers intraocular pressure in


glaucoma. Patients have found it useful as a muscle


relaxant in spastic disorders, and as an appetite


stimulant in the wasting syndrome of HIV


infection. It is also being used to relieve phantom


limb pain, menstrual cramps, and other types of


chronic pain, including (as Osler might have


predicted) migraine. Polls and voter referenda


have repeatedly indicated that the vast majority of


Americans think marijuana should be medically


available. One of marijuana’s greatest advantages


as a medicine is its safety. It has little effect on


major physiological functions. There is no known


case of a lethal overdose; on the basis of animal


models, the ratio of lethal to effective dose is


estimated as 40,000 to 1. By comparison, the


ratio is between 3 and 50 to 1 for barbiturates and


between 4 and 10 to 1 for ethanol. Marijuana is


also far less addictive and far less subject to abuse


than many drugs now used as muscle relaxants,


hypnotics, and chronic pain relievers. The chief


legitimate concern is the effect of smoking on the


lungs. Cannabis smoke carries even more tars and


other particulate matter than tobacco smoke. But


the amount smoked is much less, especially in


medical use, and once marijuana is an openly


recognized medicine, solutions may be found.


Water pipes are a partial answer; ultimately a


technology for the inhalation of cannabinoid


vapors could be developed. Even If smoking


continued, legal availability would make it easier to


take precautions against aspergilli and other


pathogens. Right now, the greatest danger in


medical use of marijuana is its illegality, which


imposes much anxiety and expense on suffering


people, forces them to bargain with illicit drug


dealers, and exposes them to the threat of criminal


prosecution. The main active substance in


cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), has been


available for limited purposes as a Schedule II


synthetic drug since 1985. This medicine,


dronabinol (Marinol), taken orally in capsule form,


is sometimes said to prevent the need for


medicinal marijuana. Patients and physicians who


have tried both disagree. The dosage and duration


of action of marijuana are easier to control, and


other cannabinoids in the marijuana plant may


modify the action of THC. The development of


cannabinoids in pure form should certainly be


encouraged, but the time and resources required


are great and at present unavailable. In these


circumstances, further isolation, testing, and


development of individual cannabinoids should not


be considered a substitute for meeting the


immediate needs of suffering people. Although it is


often objected that the medical usefulness of


marijuana has not been demonstrated by


controlled studies, several informal experiments


involving large numbers of subjects suggest an


advantage for marijuana over oral THC and other


medicines. For example, from 1978 through 1986


the state research program in New Mexico


provided marijuana or synthetic THC to about


250 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy after


conventional medications failed to control their


nausea and vomiting. A physician who worked


with the program testified at a DEA hearing that


for these patients marijuana was clearly worked


better than both chlorpromazine and synthetic


THC.

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