P R O V E N :
C A N N A B I S I S
S A F E M E D I C I N E
By Ian Williams Goddard
In reaction to medical cannabis access referendums on
the ballots in Arizona and California, former presidents
Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George Bush signed a let-
ter stating that they ``categorically oppose'' access to
cannabis for its many proven therapeutic uses such as the
prevention of blindness and epileptic seizures [1].
Their chief concern was that legal medical access would
send the message that cannabis is safe. The presidents
can, however, lay their safety concerns to rest because
the scientific literature overwhelmingly confirms that
cannabis is both an effective and safe medicine.
The Cannabis Safety Profile
The journal PHARMACOLOGICAL REVIEWS [2] reports that
decades of research prove that, "Compared with legal
drugs...marijuana does not pose greater risks." Yet
based upon mortality statistics, we can safely con-
clude that cannabis is one of the safest medical drugs
known, for, while prescription drugs, defined as safe
by the FDA, kill up to 27,000 and aspirin up to 1,000
Americans per year, cannabis kills 0 per year [3].
When we know the facts we can understand why in 1988,
after extensive review of the scientific literature,
the DEA's own administrative judge Frances Young con-
cluded that ``Marijuana is one of the safest thera-
peutically active substances know to man.'' [4]
Opponents of legal cannabis access would have us be-
lieve that there is not enough research available to
determine its safety. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Cannabis is one of the most thoroughly re-
searched drugs in history, and the evidence gathered
over the centuries clearly proves that it is safe:
* The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report (1894): an
exhaustive seven-volume, 3,281-page report that con-
cludes: "Moderate [cannabis] use produces practically
no ill effects." [5][6][7]
* The Panama Canal Military Study (1916-1929), amass-
ing extensive data on the health impact of cannabis
smoking upon American soldiers stationed in Panama,
recommended that "No steps be taken by the Canal Zone
authorities to prevent the sale or use of Marihuana."
The research also concluded that, "There is no evi-
dence that Marihuana...is...'habit-forming.'" [7][8]
* The LaGuardia Report (1939-1944), commissioned by
New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, which includ-
ed evidence gathered over thousands of years, con-
cluded that "Smoking marihuana does not lead to add-
iction... does not lead to morphine, heroin, or co-
caine addiction" and that "the publicity concern-
ing the catastrophic effects of marihuana smoking
in New York City is unfounded." [7][9]
* The Baroness Wootton Report (1968), commissioned
by the Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence of the
United Kingdom Home Office, concluded, "There is no
evidence that...serious physical dangers are directly
associated with the smoking of cannabis." The report
also noted that "Cannabis use does not lead to heroin
addiction" and that "there is no evidence that [can-
nabis]...is producing in otherwise normal people con-
ditions of dependence or psychosis, requiring medical
treatment." [7][10]
The HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH LETTER [11]
reports the findings of other major cannabis studies:
In three major studies conducted in Jamaica,
Costa Rica, and Greece, researchers have
compared heavy long-term cannabis users
with non-users and found no evidence of
intellectual or neurological damage, no
changes in personality, and no loss of
the will to work or participate in society.
The Jamaican study states that, even as cannabis use
in Jamaica "is pervasive" and is used "in heavier quan-
tities with greater THC potency than in the U.S.," its
use is "without deleterious social or psychological
consequences." [12]
What's more, the three studies cited, the largest human
cannabis studies to date, also revealed that heavy long-
term cannabis users scored slightly higher on IQ tests,
had slightly lower rates of illness and cancer, and liv-
ed longer on average than non-users. Users also proved
to be more relaxed and sociable than non-users [4][12]
[13]. The best evidence indicates, contrary to GovtMedia
disinformation, that cannabis is safe and good for you.
In line with the findings of the Panama Canal study
and the LaGuardia Report, current research confirms
that the addictive potential of cannabis is very low.
The journal TRENDS IN PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES states
that research shows cannabis has "limited potential
for development of...psychological dependence due to
the weak reinforcing properties of Delta-9-THC." [14]
BRAIN RESEARCH journal observes that "cannabinoid
dependence and withdrawal phenomena are minimal." [15]
Research proves that cannabis is nontoxic. For example,
in the journal FUNDAMENTAL AND APPLIED TOXICOLOGY [16],
Dr. William Slikker, director of the Neurotoxicology
Division of the National Center for Toxicological Re-
search (NCTR), described the health of monkeys exposed
to very high levels of cannabis for an extended period:
The general health of the monkeys was not
compromised by a year of marijuana exposure
as indicated by weight gain, carboxyhemoglobin
and clinical chemistry/hematology values.
When THE ARKANSAS TIMES [17] asked Dr. Merle Paule of
NCTR about evidence of cannabis toxicity and the health
of the monkeys in the study, Dr. Paule said, "There's
just nothing there. They were all fine."
The journal TOXICOLOGY LETTERS [18] published a study
that found no link between cannabis smoking and lung
cancer. The seven researchers in the study concluded:
It has been suggested that marijuana smoking
is a proximal cause of respiratory cancer.
However, these intimations have not been
borne out by epidemiological investigation.
Not only is the evidence linking cannabis smoking to
cancer negative, but the largest human studies cited in-
dicated that cannabis users had lower rates of cancer
than nonusers. What's more, those who smoked both can-
nabis and tobacco had lower rates of lung cancer than
those who smoked only tobacco -- a strong indication
of chemo-prevention [4][12][13]. Even more, in 1975 re-
searchers at the Medical College of Virginia found that
cannabis showed powerful antitumor activity against
both benign and malignant tumors (the government then
banned all future cannabis/cancer research) [4]. In
fact, the NEW ENGLISH DISPENSATORY of 1764 recommends
boiled cannabis roots for the elimination of tumors [19].
Powerful evidence that cannabis not only does not cause
cancer, but that it may prevent and even cure cancer.
The few studies that the GovtMedia drums into the pub-
lic mind over and over, which claim to show that can-
nabis is a harmful drug, are almost all the work of the
the government's top hired gun, Dr. Gabriel Nahas. The
NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE described Nahas's work
as "psychopharmacological McCarthyism that compels him
to use half-truths, innuendo and unverified assertions."
The JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION also con-
demned his work, stating, "Examples of biased selection
and...omissions of facts abound in every chapter." [20]
Conclusion:
Not only does the best scientific research overwhelming-
ly confirm that cannabis is both an effective medicine
and a safe drug, but that it may be both chemo-preven-
tive and therapeutic and generally beneficial to health.
What this shows us most clearly, in light of the consen-
sus to the contrary, is the enormous power of a Big Lie.
With its vast resources, the "GovtMedia elite" are
able to fabricate and fob off a pharmacological fraud
against both cannabis and the public interest. Through
sheer repetition and consistent suppression of contrary
information, they are able to construct an edifice of
public consensus which even the hardest scientific
facts fail to topple.
The truth is no stronger than the ability of true in-
formation to surpass the public distribution of false
and misleading information. The GovtMedia has a greater
ability to distribute a Big Lie than any other sector
of society has to distribute the truth. However, this
report right here contains copious quantities of care-
fully referenced scientific facts that consistently
and conclusively confirm that cannabis is safe --
thereby exploding the GovtMedia's Big Lie.
As truth is only as powerful as it is known, do all
that is in your power to make these powerful facts
known, that we might put an end to the destructive
and illogical prohibition of the proven safe and ef-
fective drug cannabis, for possession of which 10
million Americans have been arrested since 1965 [21].
************************************************************************
IAN GODDARD <igoddard@erols.com> Q U E S T I O N A U T H O R I T Y
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISIT Ian Goddard's Universe -----> http://www.erols.com/igoddard
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
[1] "Three Former U.S. Presidents Oppose Medical
Marijuana Measures," Associated Press (10/30/96).
[2] PHARMACOLOGICAL REVIEWS: Health Aspects of
Cannabis. 1986, 38:1, 1-20. pg. 17.
[3] Bureau of Mortality Statistics, 1988. U.S. Public
Health Service statistics. National Institute of
Drug Abuse statistics. U.S. Surgeon General's Report.
[4] The Emperor Wears No Cloths. Jack Herer, Queen
of Clubs Pub, 1991. Recommended: 213-392-1806.
[5] INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADDICTIONS. Spring 1968,
digest of 1894 Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report.
[6] The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report of 1894.
Jefferson Press, Silv.Spring, MD, 1969, John Kaplan.
[7] http://www.natlnorml.org/research/studies.shtml
[8] MILITARY SURGEON. 1933, vol:73, pages 269-280.
[9] The La Guardia Report, reprinted in "The Mari-
juana Papers," Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1966.
[10] The Consumer's Union Report: Licit & Illicit
Drugs. Mt. Vernon, New York, 1971.
[11] HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH LETTER:
Marijuana. L. Grinspoon, vol. 4, no. 5. Nov, 1987.
[12] Ganja in Jamacia: A Medical Anthropological Study
of Chronic Marijuana Use. 1975. Anchor Books, NY.
[13] Cannabis in Costa Rica: A Study of Chronic Mari-
juana Use, 1980-82, Institute for the Study of
Human Issues, 3401 Science Center Philadelphia, PA.
[14] TRENDS IN PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES: Neurobiology
of Marijuana Abuse. 1992, 13:201-206. pg. 203.
[15] BRAIN RESEARCH: Chronic cannabinoid administra-
tion alters cannabinoid receptor binding in rat
brain: a quantitative autoradiographic study.
1993, 616:293-302. pg. 300.
[16] FUNDAMENTAL AND APPLIED TOXICOLOGY: Chronic
Marijuana Smoke Exposure in the Rhesus Monkey.
1991, Aug; 17, 321-34.
[17] THE ARKANSAS TIMES: Refer Madness. 9/16/93.
[18] TOXICOLOGY LETTERS, "No Increase in Carcinogen-DNA
Adducts in the Lungs of Monkeys Exposed Chronically
to Marijuana Smoke," 1992, Dec;63 (3): 321-32.
[19] Marijuana: The First 12,000 Years. Plenum Press, 1980.
[20] The Great Drug War, Macmillan Publishing, 1987.
[21] Marijuana Policy Project, 202-462-5747, P.O. Box
77492, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. 20013.
http://www.mpp.org, MPP@MPP.ORG
For info on the medical uses of cannabis visit:
http://www.erols.com/igoddard/hemp-med.htm
(c) 1996 Ian Williams Goddard - (*) free to copy nonprofit w/ attribute.