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. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt