Pubdate: Fri, 16 Aug 2013
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2013 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Dr. J.C. Pecknold
Page: A11
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n406/a01.html

WE DON'T NEED MEDICAL POT

Re: A Doctor's Duty With Medical Pot, letter to the editor, Aug. 14.

I find it very odd that the Canadian government has to become a
supplier of medical cannabis when three pharmaceutical products
already exist on the market that incorporate components of cannabis
for the treatment of medical conditions. These conditions include
glaucoma, nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy,
AIdS-related anorexia and spasticity and neuropathic pain especially
associated with multiple sclerosis or chronic back pain.

The preparations include Nabilone (Cesamet) and Marinol, both of which
contain delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and Sativex, which also contains
cannabidiol and even comes in a nasal spray.

These products are not associated with the cognitive and behavioural
avolitional syndrome one associates with marijuana, a plant containing
over one hundred active psychotropic elements. There is an enormous
medical literature on the toxicity of cannabis.

With the median age of marijuana users in Quebec being 13 years (15 in
the rest of Canada), and the disastrous effect of it on the cognitive
development of these children, this toxic agent should clearly be banned.

Dr. J.C. Pecknold, Westmount, Que.
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MAP posted-by: Matt