Pubdate: Sun, 26 Feb 2006
Source: Rutland Herald (VT)
Copyright: 2006 Rutland Herald
Contact:  http://www.rutlandherald.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/892
Author: Brendan McKenna
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

PHYSICIAN ADVOCATES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

As he opened his remarks about medical marijuana, Dr. Joseph McSherry 
said he couldn't be as informative as he would like to be.

"I asked a very good friend, who happens to be a medical marijuana 
patient, what I should tell you today," McSherry said. "He said to 
tell you not to ask a doctor. Doctors don't know (expletive) about 
medical marijuana."

McSherry, a neurophysiologist and PhD associated with Fletcher Allen 
Medical Center and the University of Vermont, said his friend is 
largely correct: There have been few scientific studies on the 
effects of marijuana as a medicine, and even less research has been 
conducted on its medical effects in humans.

"You'll probably be more educated than your doctor by the time we get 
through," McSherry told his audience at the Godnick Center in Rutland 
on Friday.

He walked the audience through the limited medical data on cannabis 
and the properties of the chemicals in marijuana other than THC that 
can have beneficial effects.

Canabanoids, McSherry said, can boost the effectiveness of other 
painkillers, inhibit the growth of tumors and alleviate wet macular 
degeneration, which causes blindness in some cases.

"We're just beginning to scratch the surface of this iceberg," he said.

McSherry said that inhaled marijuana can be very effective at 
treating sudden swift pains, while many other painkillers, including 
marinol - a legal prescription drug that is a capsule of THC in 
sesame oil - can take too long to take effect.

"I don't approve of smoking for anybody," he said. "There's got to be 
a better way of doing it, but the U.S. government hasn't been 
interested in doing any research.

"If you eat it, the chemicals peak in two to four hours. Eating it is 
probably the worst way of intaking THC," he said. "If you inhale it, 
THC levels peak in a few minutes and it actually goes away in the first hour."

He noted that researchers in other countries are trying to develop 
different types of medical cannabis for patients.

Two members of the audience who said they use the drug for medicinal 
purposes offered compelling testimony about its benefits. Neither 
identified themselves.

The first patient said that at one point he had been on 17 different 
medications to treat his multiple sclerosis - some to counteract the 
side effects of other medications.

"Now I think I'm on four medications now," he said. "I'm not on 
medications for the side effects of medication. I'm not drugged out 
or high. From 17 meds, down to four."

A second patient said he had lost more than 50 pounds while 
undergoing chemotherapy before using marijuana to counteract the nausea.

"I went from 236 pounds down to 176," he said. "Part of the problem 
was the sickness of chemo. I couldn't hold down food, and marinol did 
not work for me. Cannabis did work."

Members of the audience had many questions about medical marijuana, 
from its chemical properties to the intricacies of growing plants to 
use for medicine.

"If you have a seed that has a known history of consistent product, 
you will get a consistent product medically," McSherry said. "That's 
why I think patients ought to be able to grow their own."

One audience member wondered how patients who don't grow it can 
access medical marijuana.

"Where does the pot come from if you're not a green thumb person?" she asked.

McSherry said "compassionate clubs" have formed in California that 
allow medical marijuana patients to bring in prescriptions to be 
filled with marijuana of a known quality rather than forcing patients 
to rely on what they can find on the black market, he said.

"In Vermont, if you have a friend or a grandson . you can make a 
provision to register with the state that you're a registered patient 
and they're a registered grower," he said, adding that Vermont's 
medical marijuana law does not shield users or growers from federal 
prosecution.

McSherry sees access to the drug as an uphill battle. He said many 
doctors are resistant to the notion of medical marijuana.

"There are very definitely a lot of doctors who are very adamant it's 
not a medicine," he said. "There are doctors that believe if it were 
a medicine, the FDA would approve it and pharmaceutical companies 
would make cannabis that you can take as a product.

"But patients' definition of a medicine is a different thing," he added.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom