Pubdate: Mon, 12 Aug 2013
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Contact:  http://www.ajc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Author: Rodney Ho
Page: D1

ANTI-MARIJUANA STAND MISGUIDED, SAYS CNN'S SANJAY GUPTA

Show on His Year-Long Research Explains Why He Changed His Mind.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, apologized for 
his previous anti-marijuana stance after spending a year reporting on 
the subject. His findings are highlighted in a special called "Weed" 
that debuted Sunday and will be rebroadcast Friday at 10 p.m.

Gupta called his research "stunning" and posted a mea culpa on the 
CNN website, "Why I changed my mind about weed."

In 2009, he wrote a piece in Time magazine explaining why he thought 
marijuana should not be legalized.

While Gupta doesn't specifically espouse legalization, he said he 
finds plenty of positives about cannabis.

"We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years 
in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that," he 
wrote. "I hope this article and upcoming documentary will help set 
the record straight."

The U.S. government for years has deemed marijuana a banned substance 
with no medical upside and highly addictive qualities. Gupta, after a 
year of study, said that is not the case.

Gupta's conclusion: "It doesn't have a high potential for abuse, and 
there are very legitimate medical applications."

"In some ways," Gupta said in an interview with The 
Atlanta-Journal-Constitution, "I expected more of a firestorm [to his 
essay.]. It's obviously a controversial issue. It's been placed on 
the ballot in a lot of See page 34

 From page D1 states. People have strong feelings about it. But we 
predicated this special on science. It's a fact-based documentary." 
The high-profile neurosurgeon, a faculty member at the Emory 
University School of Medicine in Atlanta, said he was dismayed to 
find 94 percent of research papers in America focused on the negative 
impact of marijuana and only a few on the potential benefits.

He traveled to Israel to talk to researchers who are doing more 
cutting edge work on the subject.

Gupta said many studies show cannabis can help those with 
pain-related maladies and seizures.

He interviewed several people who take marijuana for medicinal 
purposes and provided compelling anecdotal evidence of its efficacy.

The most emotional story during the hour-long special is a 5-year-old 
epileptic girl, who he said was the youngest person to use medicinal 
marijuana legally in Colorado.

She was having seizures hundreds of times a week and her use of 
marijuana reduced that to no more than once a week. She had gone from 
virtually catatonic to a bubbly young girl.

"As a father with three daughters, I was particularly touched by that 
one," Gupta said.

Among his other findings:

Gupta found evidence that pot smoking before the age of 16 can 
permanently damage the brain.

But surveys show most teens think marijuana is relatively harmless to them.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom