Missouri Medicine: Legalization, medicinal use of pot unwarranted

The News Tribune

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Smoking marijuana can adversely affect your physical and mental health, as well as interfere with your ability to function in social and occupational settings, according to recent clinical studies published in the latest issue of Missouri Medicine.

The negative data far outweigh the few documented benefits for medical and psychological treatments, according to the article written by Dr. Dragan M. Svrakic of Washington University School of Medicine.

In recent years, there has been a strong pressure on state legislatures across the U.S. to legalize or decriminalize use and possession of specified amounts of cannabis and/or to pass laws that allow smoking of crude cannabis plant.

Advocacy groups claim that smoking cannabis is a safe and effective treatment for various psychological and medical conditions, ranging from stress and anxiety to Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Cannabis has not been approved for such use by the Food and Drug Administration.

The article in Missouri Medicine, which is produced by the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association, documents and references the health dangers, including user death by increasing the availability and use of cannabis products.

The author also argues cannabis is a powerful unstudied drug and should follow the same basic and clinical research regulatory pathways as other medicinal substances.

More like this story

wow 1 year ago

The excuse for medical marijuanna is just a that, an excuse for people to smoke weed. There is FDA approved medicine which provides the same type of medical benefit without all the THC addiditves of weed...therefore there is an alternative for medical marijuanna user's. They simply have to use the already approved meds. Now that being said, should Marijuanna be legalyzed? Honestly I'm not sure. On some days I think yes and on some days I think no. I guess if it can be done in a way that dosn't allow the provider's to add the additional posions similiar to what the Tobacco Industry did. Then yes, but it has to be carefully regulated, by the Federal Government...not the State Government. It's either legalyzed or it isn't. That way people can avoid having to deal with the "Dry County/City" incidents. This legalyz weed thing is kinda complicated....but the medical marijuanna is a true joke. That's nothing more than people getting high on a Dr's Prescription.

The true founders had already solved this issue, but look how messed up we have it now.

Please review our Policies and Procedures before registering or commenting

Or login with:

OpenID

News Tribune