MARIJUANA RESEARCH REVIEW
Study shows MS patients further impaired by smoking low THC marijuana: Greenburg et al. in their paper in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Vol.55.324-328, 1994, performed a double-blind randomised, placebo-controlled study of inhaled marijuana smoke on balance and coordination responses in ten adult patients with spastic multiple sclerosis and normal volunteers who were matched for age, sex and weight. The study showed that marijuana smoking enhanced the abnormalities already present in MS patients and that smoking just one marijuana cigarette containing 1.5%delta-9-THC increased the objective errors in these responses. The Researchers concluded that marijuana smoking impairs coordination and balance in patients with spastic MS.
Marijuana not listed in latest review of beneficial treatment for Multiple Sclerosis: G.C.Eber writing in The Lancet (Vol 343 Jan.1994) noted that MS is unpredictable, being characterised by a tendency to relapse and remission and/or to stabilisation without treatment. He concluded that although clinical symptoms and anecdotes are valuable, highly sensitive objective methods are now available in the form of serial MRI scans to document improvement of the disease with such exciting therapies as beta-interferon. Comment: This careful review of MS puts to rest any contention that smoked marijuana is good for this disorder and can be given without side effects. There is no data to support the claim that smoked marijuana is a safe or effective therapy for Multiple Sclerosis.
NOTE:Marijuana-like compounds ease tremors in mice with a condition similar to Multiple Sclerosis according to a study carried out by the MS Association in the UK (March 2000) Lorna Layward one of the study's authors who heads the research arm of the MS Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland said that this lends credence to anecdotal reports that some people with MS have said that cannabis can help control some of the distressing symptoms. The compounds tested were synthetic but included the chemical equivalent of THC. The compounds apparently hit the right buttons in the nervous system. However, Stephen Reingold, vice president of research at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, said it would be wrong to assume the results would hold true for humans. David Baker of University College in London, who led the study, said the work could lead to compounds that can treat MS symptoms without the high of marijuana, which can affect memory.
These findings are clearly a blow to the pro-cannabis lobby who are using the sufferings of people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other debilitating illness to further their own cause.
Professor Gabriel G Nahas MD of New York Medical University Centre and INSERM Paris an internationally renowned researcher writes: "There is now irrefutable proof of the cellular toxicity of marijuana". The development of apoptosis caused by THC is directly related to storage of this drug in fat depots such as cell membranes and bone marrow. After a single dose of marijuana, 50percent of its active element, THC will be stored in fat depots for five days. THC accumulates in the body and it will take 30 days for complete elimination of THC after a single dose. If one takes marijuana every two days, one will have stored 10 times more than the initial dose after 10 days and after 30 days, 30 times more. Noting that DNA is the sole vehicle for the evolution of the human species, some specialists in international law have suggested that drug trafficking and the condoning of drug consumption be considered crimes against mankind, since drug dealers and their network of associates achieve wealth and political power through advocating the use of substances that destroy DNA.
NOTE:
Prof.Gabriel G Nahas MD is a peer-reviewed researcher and research Professor of Anesthesiology, New York Medical Centre; Professor of Anesthesiology (Emeritus), College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; Adjunct Professor, University of Paris, Faculty of Medicine and Director of Research INSERM, Paris. He is the author of over 700 scientific publications, 27 books and numerous monographs. He is Scientific Advisor to EURAD and Drug Watch International. He is advisor to the World Health Organisation and the French Government. He has numerous decorations and distinctions from the French and Dutch Governments for his actions during the 2nd World War with the French Resistance. He is a member of Drug Watch International and of the Scientific Advisory Board of EURAD.
Prof. Nahas was a French Partisan during world War 11 and has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Gold Palm, the Legion of Honour, the Order of the British Empire, the Order of Orange Nassau and the Medal of Honour of the Centennial of the Statue of Liberty. In 1996 the French National Academy of Medicine, the oldest and most prestigious Medical Academy in Europe, awarded him the title of Laureate of the National Academy of Medicine for his studies and books on drug abuse.
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