Pubdate: Thu, 08 Aug 2013
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Copyright: 2013 Boulder Weekly
Contact:  http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Author: Leland Rucker
Column: Weed Between the Lines

TOO MUCH MEDICAL MARIJUANA CAN MAKE YOU SICK

That was a headline in the July 26 edition of the Detroit Free Press,
above a story about researchers finding 93 cases of regular marijuana
users, mostly males, all under 50 years old, whose symptoms included
uncontrolled cyclic vomiting, nausea and severe abdominal pain. The
only relief seemed to come from daily, hours-long, hot showers or by
ceasing marijuana use, according to Dr. Cassius Drake, the medical
director at the Henry Ford Health Center-Brownstone in Michigan. It
even has a name: "cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome."

By all means, read the story yourself, but for me, it seemed a bit
much. I read as much as I can about cannabis, but I had never found
anything, even anecdotally, like this. And even medical doctors,
including some who suggest it for chemotherapy patients, know cannabis
for its nausea-quelling properties.

So I wondered why this particular story showed up on USA Today, Fox
News, CNN, UPI and other local outlets.

It isn't that the study itself seems particularly fraudulent, although
reading it, I certainly got the feeling that the authors weren't
seeking any benevolent medical qualities of cannabis, and their
"warning" of many more cases as marijuana is legalized or
decriminalized seems more hopeful than scientific.

The headline, "Doctors: Too much medical marijuana can make you
sick," misrepresented the number of physicians who are quoted. The
second voice is Susan Smolinske, managing director at the Children's
Hospital of Michigan Regional Poison Control Center, who calls the
syndrome "the antimunchies," whatever that means.

The headline could be an honest mistake, but the reporter even went to
the trouble to call Kalamazoo-based Michigan Holistic Health, which
could find no cases among its 13,000 clients. I checked the Wikipedia
page for the syndrome, which includes this admonition: "While there
have been anecdotal testimonies to the veracity of this condition,
caution should be exercised concerning this medical evidence due to
small numbers of patients studied."

Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws, was quoted in the original news story. I
contacted Armentano, who said he suggested a number of things for the
reporter to follow up on. "I made clear to her on several occasions
that such a phenomenon, when documented, is so rare to be - from a
practical standpoint - irrelevant. The reporter largely agreed, noting
that she spoke with many physicians and as of the time of our
discussion, had yet to even find one familiar with this syndrome."

Armentano asked why, if millions of Americans "abuse" cannabis, there
weren't more than these few cases. Or whether the cannabis itself
might be tainted, resulting in the body becoming nauseous as it tries
to rid itself of an unwanted toxin. "I also supposed that this result
could be due to a dysfunctional endogenous cannabinoid system in those
specific users, which is a valid scientific theory. This discussion
somehow became reported by the author as a 'malfunction of the
patient's internal system,' which I'm sure meant next to nothing for
readers."

So why is this minimal research paper getting so much attention, while
studies that suggest possible positive benefits of cannabis are mostly
ignored?

The National Institute on Drug Abuse, established by the federal
government in 1974 and now part of the National Institutes of Health,
states on its website that it "supports over 85 percent of the world's
research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction," and that
"NIDA-supported science addresses the most fundamental and essential
questions about drug abuse."

Well, up to a point. Here's NIDA spokeswoman Shirley Simson talking to
The New York Times in 2010: "As the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
our focus is primarily on the negative consequences of marijuana use.
We generally do not fund research focused on the potential beneficial
medical effects of marijuana."

So NIDA, which has a virtual monopoly on drug research in the United
States (and controls access to all medicinal test cannabis in this
country), also has a mission of seeking out only the adverse effects
of cannabis in research.

"The federal government still discourages research into the medicinal
uses of smoked marijuana," reporter Gardiner Harris wrote in the Times
article that quotes Simson. "That may be one reason that - even though
some patients swear by it - there is no good scientific evidence that
legalizing marijuana's use provides any benefits over current therapies."

Suddenly I'm queasy, I'm feeling sharp abdominal pain and I have an
uncontrollable urge for a very long, very hot shower.
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