Documentary Discusses Challenges in
the Legalization of Marijuana
September 26, 2015
https://youtu.be/QnVHxOPEbqc
Story at-a-glance
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CNN’s Sanjay Gupta makes the case for across the board
legalization of medical marijuana in “Weed 3: The
Marijuana Revolution”
The first study of marijuana’s therapeutic potential for
PTSD has been federally approved, after years of
bureaucratic hurdles and setbacks
The proposed CARERS Act reclassifies marijuana to a less
restrictive category and removes barriers to research,
application, and access
By Dr. Mercola
CNN’s medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta says medical
marijuana should be legalized — period. In his third special on the
subject, “Weed 3: The Marijuana Revolution,” he calls for all
healthcare providers to re-evaluate their stance on this natural
therapy, in light of the latest science.
“There is now promising research into the use of
marijuana that could impact tens of thousands of children and
adults, including treatment for cancer, epilepsy, and
Alzheimer's, to name just a few.
With regard to pain alone, marijuana could greatly reduce
the demand for narcotics and simultaneously decrease the number
of accidental painkiller overdoses, which are the greatest cause
of preventable death in this country.”
Dr. Gupta is not alone — marijuana’s stigma is rapidly
dissolving. For the first time in history, a majority of Americans
favor legalization: 53 percent favor legalizing marijuana across the
board, and 77 percent support legal medical use.2
In 1969, only 12 percent of Americans favored marijuana
legalization — support has risen 11 points in the past few years
alone!
In terms of public policy, the tides seem to finally be turning
toward compassion and common sense. Politicians on both sides of the
aisle are casting votes in favor of legalization. Even the new
surgeon general cites data on just how helpful
medical cannabis can be.
One of our major challenges is the revision of federal drug laws
so that they’ll no longer clash with state laws, which will smooth
the path toward better scientific research and improved marijuana
accessibility.
Marijuana Is Legal... Sort Of
Laws related to marijuana are changing so rapidly that keeping
them straight can be daunting. Below is a summary of where things
stand, in terms of the practical application of recent marijuana
laws:3
Medical marijuana is legal in 24 states and Washington
DC
Anyone over age 21 can smoke marijuana legally in
Alaska, Washington DC, and Oregon
Anyone over age 21 can now buy marijuana in Colorado and
Washington State
No one can smoke marijuana in public, anywhere
You can still be fired from your job for smoking
marijuana, anywhere
There is still a black market for marijuana, even in
states where it’s been legalized
There is one government-run pot store (in Washington
State)
Banking remains a huge problem for marijuana shops
Everyone in Colorado could get a pot tax refund
Pain, PTSD, and Suicide Among Vets
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a major problem for many
veterans who’ve experienced the horrors of war. The Veterans Affairs
Department estimates between 11 and 20 percent of Iraq and
Afghanistan war veterans suffer from PTSD.4
Twenty-two vets commit suicide every day because they’re haunted
by nightmares and insomnia, flashbacks, anxiety and depression, and
a sense of disconnection from their loves ones upon returning home.
Standard treatments are often unsuccessful in providing relief,
and many veterans develop even more symptoms from the
multiple drugs typically prescribed. Many trying to deal with
physical pain become addicted to opiates, and
overdoses are far too common.
Marijuana May Offer PTSD Sufferers the ‘Gift of Forgetting’
Some veterans have reported that marijuana is helpful in
relieving many of their PTSD-related symptoms.5
Marijuana seems to suppress dream recall — so for those having
nightmares, it can be transformative. Marijuana is also reported to
help individuals stay focused in the present, which is beneficial
for those experiencing flashbacks.
PTSD sufferers have an “overactive fear system.” When you
encounter something scary, your brain's fear system goes into
overdrive. Your heart pounds and your muscles prepare for action,
but once the danger has passed, everything goes back to normal —
ideally.
That's not what happens if you have PTSD as it appears to be
characterized by insufficient amounts of endogenous cannabinoids,
which is why
marijuana may be therapeutic. Cannabis endows sufferers with the
“gift of forgetting” by temporarily deactivating traumatic memories.6
Unfortunately, veterans’ access to medical marijuana is often
limited, and when they can obtain it, it’s a guessing game about
what strain to use, how much and how often.
Nine states now allow physicians to recommend medical marijuana
for PTSD patients, but there is little scientific research to guide
them, in part due to the difficulty researchers have in getting
their studies approved.
Three times now, the Colorado Board of Health has rejected a
petition to put PTSD on medical marijuana’s list of approved
conditions, citing lack of scientific evidence of its benefit.7
More studies are urgently needed about condition-specific
benefits before marijuana can be approved for the treatment of
specific disorders, but that may be about to change in the case of
PTSD.
First Federally Approved Study of Marijuana for PTSD
Researchers are several bureaucratic hurdles closer to a green
light for a major scientific study on marijuana’s benefits for PTSD.
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is
on the verge of commencing a study involving the use of marijuana
for combat veterans, led by Dr. Suzanne Sisley, who is one of the
scientists featured in “Weed 3.”8
After years of setbacks, the study has received approvals from
nearly all of the required agencies — National Institute of Drug
Abuse (NIDA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA).
While I'm not in favor of smoking in any form, this will be the
first federally approved study in which the subjects will ingest
marijuana by
smoking, and it’s also the first
whole-plant marijuana study, as opposed to an extract.
Why has this taken so long? Politics and outdated laws have stood
in the way of scientific progress. Approval has been a hot mess of
bureaucratic red tape — one of which is the question of who will
grow and supply the marijuana used in the study. The fact that so
many agencies are required to approve marijuana studies creates
extended delays, and there’s built-in bias.
For example, one of the agencies required to sign off on all
marijuana research, NIDA, was designed to prevent people
from using marijuana! There is only one place in the US where pot is
allowed to be grown for scientific purposes — a field at the
University of Mississippi in Oxford. In the past year alone, they’ve
increased their production 30-fold, from 46 to 1,400 pounds.
New Hope for Alzheimer’s Patients
Alzheimer’s is a disease with no known cure and few effective
treatments, but cannabis is renewing hope for Alzheimer’s patients
and their families. Researchers at the University of South Florida
and Thomas Jefferson University9,10
found that low-dose THC directly impedes the buildup of beta amyloid
plaque in the brain, which is associated with the development of
Alzheimer’s — and unlike so many pharmaceutical drugs, it produces
no toxicity. THC was also found to “enhance” the function of your
brain cells’ energy factories — the mitochondria.
Lead author and neuroscientist Chuanhai Cao, PhD writes:
“THC is known to be a potent antioxidant with
neuroprotective properties, but this is the first report that
the compound directly affects Alzheimer’s pathology by
decreasing amyloid beta levels, inhibiting its aggregation, and
enhancing mitochondrial function.”
Cannabis is also known to have strong anti-inflammatory
properties, as well as reducing some of the non-memory-related
symptoms typically experienced by Alzheimer’s sufferers, including
anxiety, irritability, and rage.11
So, it looks promising that cannabis may have multiple benefits for
Alzheimer’s sufferers.
Harvard University’s Dr. Staci Gruber has been researching
marijuana since the early 1990s. Her colleagues affectionately call
her “The Pot Doc.” Most of her past research focused on the risks of
marijuana, but now she’s shifting her focus to its benefits. The
federal government has signed off on a large study about the effects
of marijuana on the developing brain.
The ABCD study (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development) will
investigate marijuana’s impact on the cognition, brain structure,
and function of 10,000 youth, age 10 and older. This research is
important given the reports of marijuana’s adverse impact on brain
development in children and adolescents that’s been quoted for
decades, but in reality is scientifically flimsy.
According to Dr. Alan Budney of Dartmouth’s medical school,12
“We know a lot, but we don’t know a lot about what we know.” The
evidence linking pot to stunted brain development is “fairly weak
and somewhat inconsistent” and may very well be limited to a subset
of early heavy users. It’s hoped that Dr. Gruber’s research will
shed some light on this issue. Her study uses
brain imaging to evaluate structural and functional changes in
response to marijuana.
Preliminary reports suggest no evidence of impairment after three
months of daily marijuana use. However, there is an observable
structural change in the anterior cingulate cortex — the part of
your brain responsible for decision-making, empathy, and emotion. As
the study progresses, we’ll have better information about what these
changes actually mean.
New Legislation Proposes ‘Downscheduling’ Marijuana
Senate Bill 683,13
or the CARERS Act (Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and
Respect States) was recently introduced by three senators —Cory
Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Rand Paul. This comprehensive
legislation would create fundamental changes to the way the US views
drug law, allowing states to set their own marijuana policies
without federal interference, without fear of prosecution.
Firstly, the CARERS Act “downschedules” marijuana, reclassifying
it from Schedule 1 to the less restrictive Schedule 2, and it
removes low-THC, high-CBD strains from controlled substance status
altogether, which paves the way for interstate commerce.14
It removes some of the federal barriers to marijuana research and
allows more farms to begin growing research-grade marijuana, which
would relieve many logistical problems. However, this arrangement
has a drawback. The strains available from government-sponsored
farms bare little resemblance to the potency and chemical
composition of those available in modern marijuana dispensaries.
Another proposed change in this legislation is the relaxation of
financial constraints on the marijuana trade by providing safe
harbor for banks and credit unions to offer services to
dispensaries, growers, and manufacturers. The act also improves
veterans’ access to marijuana by allowing prescription within the
Veterans Administration. Overall, Senate Bill 683 has received
fairly broad support and is believed to stand a good chance of
passage.
EFT Is Available RIGHT NOW to PTSD Sufferers, and Others
In discussing treatment options for PTSD sufferers, I’d be remiss
if I didn’t mention a technique that’s been scientifically proven
effective in reducing the symptoms of PTSD — and it’s completely
free, legal, and immediately accessible. The technique is EFT
(Emotional Freedom Technique), a form of psychological acupressure
that utilizes the same energy meridians used in traditional
acupuncture for more than five thousand years, but without the
invasiveness of needles. The best part is you can learn to do EFT
for yourself but please understand that self-administered EFT may
not work and you’re far more likely to get benefit by seeing a
skilled therapist.
A large proportion of the
scientific research about EFT has been done using populations of
PTSD-diagnosed veterans — with stunning success. This ongoing study
is part of the Veterans Stress Project. In a randomized controlled
trial, veterans with moderate to severe PTSD received six sessions
of EFT. Upon completion, 90 percent had such a profound decrease in
symptoms that they no longer met the criteria for PTSD. Their levels
of pain were also assessed, and even though pain was not the primary
target of the study, it decreased by 41 percent.15
If you would like to be considered for participation in the Veterans
Stress Project,16
you can obtain information on their website. A key aspect of PTSD is
anxiety, and EFT is typically effective with many forms of anxiety.
You can read more, including how to find a professional
practitioner, in our prior article about
EFT for stress and anxiety.