Far Safer Than Prescription Drugs, This Herb Can Treat Over a Dozen
Conditions
Story at-a-glance
Many new state laws conflict with federal drug laws
when it comes to pot, which creates problems for the
industry and its consumers
If you live in a state where marijuana is legal, you
can still be fired for a positive drug test even
if you only use it medicinally
Legalization has done nothing to squelch the success
of Colorados black-market marijuana, which can be
extrapolated to other states
By Dr. Mercola
On July 1, 2015, Oregon became the fourth state to legalize
marijuana for recreational use. In Colorado, recreational pot has
been legal since 2012 and medical marijuana since 2001. About half
the states in the country now permit the use of medical marijuana.
With state laws changing almost monthly, America's appetite for
marijuana is growing leaving the weed business booming. An
estimated 33 million Americans used pot in 2013, up nearly one-third
from a decade ago.
In the midst of this "marijuana gold rush," growers eagerly
struggle to meet demand, while facing the challenges of operating a
legal drug business in a world where overriding laws still regard
pot as illegal, and the changes haven't trickled up.
The CNBC special "Marijuana Country: The Cannabis Boom" takes a
look at the challenges the new pot industry has caused in Colorado,
as well as the legal quagmire related to marijuana crossing state
lines.
What happens in Colorado won't stay in Colorado they are paving
the way for the rest of us in this brave new world of legal weed.
It's just a matter of time before other states run into the same
legal, ethical, and public health concerns.
Marijuana Bud May Be Colorado's Unofficial State Flower
Colorado is now home to more than 500 marijuana stores. One of
the largest, Medicine Man, turns out more than 120 pounds per week
and has dubbed itself "The Costco of the Grow." Their grow houses
cultivate more than 70 different varieties of cannabis.
In its first year, Colorado's legal pot sales topped half a
billion dollars and generated $50 million in taxes for the state.
Colorado has become a major pot exporter, supplying states in
which pot remains illegal. Only 40 percent of sales are to Colorado
residents the other 60 percent are to tourists.
"Marijuana tourism"1
is creating significant discord between Colorado and its neighboring
states. In fact, Nebraska and Oklahoma are suing Colorado in the US
Supreme Court, arguing they've suffered "direct and significant
harm" from pot's crossing the borders.
The Marijuana Underground Is Alive and Well
You might think legalization would have put an end to underground
pot sales in Colorado, but actually the opposite is true the
black market is booming. In Colorado, 40 percent is still grown
and sold illegally, and recent signs suggest the same may be true
for Washington State.2
But why? In the eyes of many seasoned weed users, the marijuana
underground offers several advantages, not the least of which is
economics.
In licensed Colorado dispensaries, taxes on marijuana are as high
as 36 percent, and there are limits on how much you can purchase. In
the featured documentary, buyers report they can buy weed illegally
for one-third of the price charged in dispensaries with one phone
call, day or night... no tax, no limit.
How do sellers get away with it? They claim to offer their
products for a "donation," "gift," or "exchange." Some are selling
through the mail via sites like Craigslist. A few illegal
wholesalers and brokers even manage to sell their goods to licensed
dispensaries.
Marijuana Businesses Struggling All the Way to the Bank
Selling marijuana may be legal in your state, but as far as the
banks are concerned, any money exchanged is illegal drug money and
they won't touch it.
American marijuana businesses are forced to deal only in cash
because banks refuse to bankroll them, in fear of the repercussions
from federal drug trafficking laws. According to the National
Cannabis Industry Association, this is the most significant problem
the industry faces at present.3
The proliferation of cash from marijuana sales makes the 2,000
retail shops and medical dispensaries irresistible targets for
criminals, as well as being risky for employees and vendors, who
must be paid in cash.
These problems will likely grow unless Congress steps in and
changes federal drug and drug-trafficking laws. The flip side is
that some companies are actually benefitting from this
cash-and-carry system security services and safe manufacturers are
doing just fine.
Pot Legalization Ignites Even More Controversy
Marijuana legalization has come with other complications. One is
that many workplaces still maintain a zero tolerance for positive
drug tests, including cannabis. You can be fired for testing
positive for cannabis, even if medical marijuana is legal in your
state.
Part of the problem is, unlike alcohol or cocaine, there is no
test to determine your current level of impairment from cannabis
your test result will be the same whether you use pot on a daily
basis, or used only once 40 days ago.
The development of a "pot breathalyzer" is underway, but in the
meantime, the standard drug test is what companies use. On June 15,
2015, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Dish Network was
perfectly within its right to fire a call center employee for using
medical marijuana (and testing positive on a drug test), becausepot remains illegal under federal law.4
Safety guidelines also need to be determined, such as safe levels
for driving under the influence of marijuana. This ties back the
issue already discussed about the difficulty with assessing a
person's current level of impairment. Cannabis edibles are posing
another type of challenge, as adults have been "overdosing," and
children can't resist the temptation to eat them, if carelessly left
in reach.
Marijuana can be added to all sorts of treats, from lollipops to
muffins to candy bars even sodas. Adults tend to overdose on
edibles due to the delay in their effect, which has made some
individuals fairly ill. Symptoms of THC overdose typically include
anxiety, sweating, rapid heart rate, nausea, and dilated pupils. If
you purchase marijuana edibles, please make sure to keep them out of
the reach of children and pets, as well as adhering to the
recommended dose.
Why the National Marijuana Frenzy?
Irrespective of your views on the
pros and cons of recreational marijuana, the body of scientific
evidence about its medicinal value is strong, and growing, due to
its cannabidiol (CBD) content. Much of the herb's popularity stems
from its medicinal potential. In 2014, a survey found that the
majority of physicians 56 percent favor nationwide legalization
of medical cannabis.5
A growing segment of the population is becoming aware of
marijuana's promise in treating a wide variety of health problems,
and none are more excited than the parents of children with severe
seizure disorders, such as Dravet syndrome. Dravet syndrome,6
also known as Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy of Infancy (SMEI), is a form
of intractable, life-threatening epilepsy in which a child can
suffer upwards of 100 seizures a day.
Certain varieties of cannabis offer the only real hope for
children with this type of disorder, as Dravet syndrome does not
respond well to standard epilepsy drugs. Twenty to 30 percent of
children with Dravet experience a significant reduction in seizures
within days or weeks of using high-CBD, low-THC cannabis, with
virtually no adverse effects. So for some, legalized marijuana is
just one more option for entertainment, but others feel like it's
the difference between life and death.
The Growing List of Illnesses Cannabis Can Treat
Your body makes its own cannabinoids, similar to those found in
marijuana, but in much smaller amounts. These endocannabinoids
appear to perform signaling operations similar to your body's
neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin. Cannabinoid
receptors can be found on cell membranes throughout your body in
fact, scientists now believe they may represent the most widespread
receptor system.7
The fact that your body is replete with cannabinoid receptors,
key to so many biological functions, is why there's such enormous
medical potential for cannabis. CBD may be the most potent and
beneficial of the cannabinoids, particularly for tamping down an
overactive immune system, as is the case with autoimmune disease.
CBD also has antipsychotic properties but does not get you high.
The response of cancer patients to cannabis treatment is very
encouraging. Not only does cannabis help with the unpleasant side
effects of traditional chemotherapy (including pain, nausea, and
insomnia), but the cannabis itself appears to be a natural
chemotherapy agent. Over the past several years, dozens of studies
point to marijuana's effectiveness against many different types of
cancer, including
brain cancer, breast and prostate, lung,
thyroid,
colon, pituitary, melanoma, and leukemia. It fights cancer via at
least two mechanisms, making it difficult for a cancer to grow and
spread:
Cannabis is pro-apoptotic, meaning it triggers apoptosis
(cellular suicide) of cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells
untouched
Cannabis is anti-angiogenic, meaning it cuts off a tumor's
blood supply
This may explain why chronic pot smokers have such surprisingly
low rates of lung and other cancers, especially when compared to
cancer rates among tobacco smokers.8,9
In addition to cancer, cannabis has been found effective against an
ever-growing list of illnesses. Research has been limited, but we
may be turning the corner. It's likely we'll soon be expanding this
list as the evolving political climate becomes more favorable to
cannabis research.
Mental disorders, including Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD), mood disorders, and Tourette's syndrome
Many prescription drugsare known to be
dangerous. Pharmaceuticals in general are among the
leading causes of death in the US, and some drugs have killed
tens of thousands of individuals. The
painkiller Vioxx is one classic example that killed over 60,000
before being pulled off the market. According to Dr. Margaret Gedde,
MD, PhD, owner and founder of Gedde Whole Health and the Clinicians'
Institute of Cannabis Medicine, you don't have to look far to find
research confirming that
cannabis is safer and less toxic than many prescription drugs.
This includes liver and kidney toxicity, gastrointestinal damage,
nerve damage, and of course death. Moreover, cannabinoids often work
when pharmaceutical drugs fail, so not only is cannabis safer but
it's typically more effective. Besides treating intractable
seizures, one of the strongest areas of research regarding
marijuana's health benefits is pain control.
In 2010, the Center for Medical Cannabis Research (CMCR) released
a report10
on 14 clinical studies about the use of marijuana for pain, most of
which were FDA-approved, double-blind, and placebo-controlled. The
report revealed that marijuana not only controls pain, but in many
cases it does so better than pharmaceutical alternatives.
If you compare prescription painkillers (opiates) to marijuana,
marijuana is much safer. Opioid painkillers can lead to
slowed respiration and death if an excess is taken and the risks
are compounded if you add alcohol to the equation. By contrast,
cannabis overdose cannot kill you because there are no cannabinoid
receptors in your brain stem, the region of your brain that controls
your heartbeat and respiration.
The statistics speak for themselves. In 2010,
prescription painkillers were responsible for 16,600 deaths, and
painkiller overdoses claimed more women's lives than cocaine and
heroine combined. In the CDC's Public Health Reports study,11
prescription drugs were involved in fatal car crashes at three times
the rate of marijuana. In states where medical marijuana is legal,
overdose deaths from opioids like morphine, oxycodone, and
heroin decreased by an average of 20 percent after one year, 25
percent after two years and up to 33 percent by years five and six.
As noted by Dr. Gedde:
"There's an ongoing death rate from use of pain
medications as prescribed. So, even as prescribed, they're
highly dangerous and they are open to abuse. As far as
medications used in the pediatric population to control
seizures, there are also severe toxicities to organs. Many of
them are very sedating. The children become unable to function
or really to interact because of the sedating effects. Other
medications have a side effect of rage and behavioral problems.
Unprovoked rage is actually a known side effect of some
of the anti-seizure medications. Cannabis and in particular
cannabidiol has none of these issues. No toxicities. The main
side effect of cannabidiol is sleepiness. As a child gets
accustomed to it, that does wear off and the child can be very
alert and functional on the cannabis oil once they have worked
into the dosing. Once you put them against each other, there
really is no comparison in terms of safety."
Education Is Key
It can sometimes be challenging finding accurate, science-based
information about cannabis. Dr. Gedde offers the following
suggestions for obtaining reliable information:
"The reason why it's difficult is that the preponderance
of research funds have been to show harm related to cannabis, as
a drug of abuse... [L]ook for the real research that's there on
the endocannabinoid system and the ways that marijuana cannabis
has been helping people for centuries. And look into the history
of medical practice; that's where the information starts to come
out."
She also recommends looking to current clinical practice, which
is possible in states where cannabis is now safely and legally
accessible. This is where you can learn more about optimal dosing
and protocols found effective for various conditions. Other
resources that may be helpful include the following:
Cancer.gov,12
the US government's cancer website, contains research relating
to the use of cannabis
PubMed13
is a searchable public resource containing a vast amount of
medical literature, including studies involving cannabis
The Journal of Pain14
is a publication by the American Pain Society with a long list
of studies on the pain-relieving effects of cannabis
National Institute on Drug Abuse15
is an excellent resource, including information about
preclinical and clinical trials that are underway to test
marijuana and various extracts for the treatment of a number of
diseases, including autoimmune diseases such as multiple
sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease, inflammation, pain, and
mental disorders.
I also recommend listening to my previous interview with Dr.
Frankel, in which he discusses many of the
medical benefits of cannabis.