Pubdate: Tue, 25 Mar 2014
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2014 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: J. David Spence
Page: A10

RX FOR POT PLANTS

Re Wary Doctors Pressed Into Prescribing Medical Pot (March 24): There
are good reasons why doctors are reluctant to prescribe marijuana.
These include all the problems with prescribing whole plants as
medicines, including the thousands of other chemicals delivered in
addition to the intended active ingredient, variations in the potency
of the active ingredient, making accurate dosing impossible, and
issues of purity.

There is no reason to think smoking marijuana is any safer than
smoking tobacco. If used at all, marijuana plants should be consumed
only orally (for example, in brownies).

Evidence for the benefit of marijuana is limited; belief, no matter
how strongly held, does not qualify as evidence. There are pure,
properly tested drugs containing the active cannabinoid ingredients of
marijuana, and those may be reasonable candidates for
prescription.

Prescribing whole plants for the purpose of smoking them cannot be
regarded as a reasonable thing to ask of physicians.

J. David Spence, MD, professor of neurology and clinical pharmacology,
Robarts Research Institute
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt