Marijuana
• Cannabis, or marijuana, is a
plant that grows in most all
climates in on earth.
• It is a plant that has been
around since ancient times
and was even on the United
States Pharmacopoeia as
recently as 1937
• Many different cultures of the
world have used marijuana
for medicinal purposes, as
well as recreational use
• In the United States today,
this plant is illegal to possess,
use, distribute, and in most
states, prescribe
What does marijuana do?
• The active agent in marijuana is
delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
• When consumed, THC causes the
user to feel a “high”, or temporary
euphoric feeling
WHEN SMOKED
Effects last about 2 to 4 hours
WHEN EATEN
Effects last about 5 to 12 hours
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In high or regular amounts, marijuana produces no hallucinations, and
sanity remains perfectly intact
Acute Physical Side Effects
• Slight conjunctival
hyperemia (red eyes)
• In some cases, impairs
attention and short
term memory
• Small effects on
driving performance
• October 1, 1937:
Marihuana Tax Act
-Medicinal: $1 per ounce
-Recreational: $100 per
ounce
* Marijuana removed from
United States
Pharmacopoeia and
National Formulary in
1941
*Justice Clarence Thomas, in court decision denying legal medicinal use
of marijuana (May 14, 2001)
LEGISATION
“Congress has made a determination that marijuana has no
medicinal value worthy of an exception.”
Medicinal Uses
Cancer Chemotherapy
• Chemotherapy kills healthy blood cells as it
attacks cancerous cells
• Side effects of chemotherapy are unpleasant and
often serious
• Effects include deafness, kidney failure, loss of
heart muscle, and heavy vomiting
-----------------------------------------------------In a study by V. Vinciguerra, T. Moore, and E.
Brenan, 78% of chemotherapy patients became
symptom-free when administered doses of THC
Glaucoma
•
•
•
•
2nd leading cause of blindness in the US
Affects about 1,000,000 Americans
80,000 blinded per year
ULCA study reveals that smoking
marijuana relieves intraocular pressure
(cause of glaucoma)
• A separate study by R. S. Helper and I. M.
Frank confirmed these results
AIDS
• Most common drug prescribed to suppress the
HIV virus is azidothmidine (AZT)
• Patients on AZT often become underweight and
malnourished due to loss of appetite, frequent
vomiting, and high amounts of excrement
• Marijuana has been proven effective in increasing
the appetite of AIDS patients
• Also reduces average number of stools per day
Epilepsy
*Marijuana may be used as an anticonvulsant
*Drugs typically prescribed for epilepsy may cause bone softening,
nausea, decreased libido, impotence, depression, and possibly even
phychosis
Marijuana has far fewer and less threatening side effects
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Multiple Sclerosis
Marijuana helps patients with MS to gain control of their body and
supress tremors
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Paraplegia and Quadriplegia
Marijuana relieves muscle pain, and
increases feeling in dysfunctional limbs
Chronic Pain
• Patients with chronic pain are often prescribed
opioid narcotics and synthetic analgesics
• These drugs may cause patients to develop a
tolerance and addiction
• Marijuana is equally effective in relieving chronic
pain, but without these threatening side effects
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Rheumatic Diseases
*Marijuana is proven to be relieve inflammation and
pain for patients with various kinds of rheumatic
diseases
Other Speculative Uses
• Asthma
• Insomnia
• Nausea due to
kidney failure
• Dystonias
• Adult ADD
• Schizophrenia
•Systemic sclerosis
•Crohn’s Disease
•Diabetic gartro-paresis
•Pseudo-tumor cerebri
•Alcoholism
Popularity
• New users reached a peak in 1976-77
• Approximately 3.2 million over the
two years
• Today, 66 million Americans said to
have smoked pot
• USA Today poll: support for
legalization highest its been in 30
years
• 36% of voters support legalization;
70% of voters for medicinal marijuana
• 50% of English and Canadian
populations support recreational
legalization
“It’s dangerous in its own right, it’s addictive,
and it leads to the use of even more
destructive illicit drugs”
-Secretary of Health and Human Services
Tommy Thompson
• Very misleading statement
• Marijuana may be habit-forming, but physical
addiction is highly unlikely
• “Two recognized symptoms of addiction are
tolerance and withdrawal symptoms; these are
rarely serious problems for marijuana users.”
-Grinspoon and Bakalar
• Marijuana users might use destructive drugs, but
this is a sociological factor that results in the drug
being illegal in the first place…
• Marijuana is
classified as a
Schedule I
narcotic by the
US Government
• This is the same
classification
given to cocaine
and heroine