Pubdate: Sun, 26 Jan 2014
Source: Tampa Bay Times (FL)
Copyright: 2014 St. Petersburg Times
Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/
Website: http://www.tampabay.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Note: Named the St. Petersburg Times from 1884=C2=962011.
Page: A1

PEDIATRICS GROUP NOT SOLD ON MEDICAL POT

It's Cautious On Use Of The Drug For Kids Unless As A Last Resort, And
Proposes More Research

CHICAGO - With virtually no hard proof that medical marijuana benefits
sick children, and evidence that it might harm developing brains, the
drug should only be used for severely ill kids who have no other
treatment option, the nation's most influential pediatricians group
says in a new policy.

Some parents insist that medical marijuana has cured their kids'
seizures or led to other improvements, but the American Academy of
Pediatrics' new policy says rigorous research is needed to verify
those claims.

To make it easier to study and develop marijuana-based treatments, the
group recommends removing marijuana from the government's most
restrictive drug category, which includes heroin, LSD and other
narcotics with no accepted medical use.

The recommended switch 'could help make a big difference in promoting
more research,' said Dr. Seth Ammerman, the policy's lead author and a
professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at Stanford University.

The pediatrics academy's qualified support might lead more
pediatricians to prescribe medical marijuana, but the group says
pediatric use should only be considered 'for children with
lifelimiting or severely debilitating conditions and for whom current
therapies are inadequate.' In Florida, the state Department of Health
is still working on crafting a regulatory structure for a medical
marijuana product known as Charlotte's Web that is to be made
available for patients including children with intractable epilepsy.
Last year the Legislature approved limited use of that drug, a liquid
derivative of marijuana that is rich in canna bidiol but low in
tetrahydrocannabinol, the compound that produces a high.

The Legislature legalized Charlotte's Web for patients with seizures,
severe and persistent muscle spasms, and cancer. A ballot attempt to
legalize a more sweeping form of medical marijuana in Florida fell
just short in November.

The pediatrics academy repeated its previous advice against legalizing
marijuana for recreational use by adults, suggesting that could enable
easier access for kids. It does not address medical marijuana use in
adults.

Studies have linked recreational marijuana use in kids with ill
effects on health and brain development, including problems with
memory, concentration, attention, judgment and reaction time, the
group's policy emphasizes.

The policy was published online today in Pediatrics. I t updates and
expands the group's 2004 policy.

The marijuana movement has grown substantially since then.
Recreational and medical marijuana use is legal for adults in four
states: Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Nineteen other states
and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing medical marijuana use only,
and most allow children to qualify, according to Morgan Fox of the
Marijuana Policy Project, a national group that advocates marijuana
policy reform and tracks state laws.

'The cart is so far ahead of the horse related to this drug,' said Dr.
Angus Wilfong of Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. Marijuana has
dozens of chemical components that need to be studied just like any
drug to determine safety, proper doses and potential side effects, he
said.

Wilfong was involved in a recently completed international study
involving 30 children with severe epilepsy. About half got an
experimental drug made with the marijuana compound that doesn't make
users high; the others received dummy medicine. Study results are
being analyzed. Wilfong said five children from his hospital were
involved and while he doesn't know if any of them got the marijuana
drug, none suffered any serious side effects.

Wilfong said he has a young seizure patient in a different, less
rigorous study who has shown dramatic improvement after several months
on the marijuana-based treatment, 'but that doesn't prove it was due
to the experimental drug,' he said.
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