Pubdate: Mon, 04 May 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Mark Hume
Page: S1

POT SHOPS MULTIPLY DESPITE HEALTH WORRIES

The effectiveness of marijuana in suppressing chronic pain, reducing
nausea in chemotherapy patients and controlling muscle spasms, among
other things, has allowed proponents to label the narcotic as a medicine.

That branding is now paying dividends for drug retailers in Vancouver,
where a growing number of pot shops are opening, billing themselves as
"medical marijuana dispensaries."

But marijuana is not a medicine, it is not approved by Health Canada
and the way research is trending, it will never get that coveted
designation.

Across Canada, doctors may prescribe it for cancer patients and others
with pain when conventional therapeutic options fail. But medical
professional organizations such as the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of B.C. are struggling with how to regulate it, because
doctors know that marijuana use comes with health risks.

While medical professionals are carefully reflecting on the health
implications of more liberal marijuana laws, however, dope retail
stores are opening up in Vancouver like saloons in a gold rush town. A
few months ago there were 20; now there are more than 80.

The City of Vancouver is about to hold public hearings into the
regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries, but Mayor Gregor
Robertson makes it sound as though the big concern is just coming up
with a new class of business licence to control where the outlets are
located.

"As a city, we just can't let these shops be everywhere all over
town," he said recently. "And certainly we don't want them close to
schools."

No, we certainly don't, and here's why: Medical research is
increasingly indicating marijuana use can be damaging to your health,
especially if you are young.

A study published April 16 in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests
that even moderate use of marijuana can lead to changes in the brain.
The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to compare the brains
of 18- to 25-year-olds.

"The nucleus accumbens - a brain region known to be involved in reward
processing - was larger and altered in its shape and structure in the
marijuana users compared [with] non-users," EurekAlert!, an online
science news service, reported in describing the study.

In 2013, Northwestern Medicine published a study in Schizophrenia
Bulletin stating that teens who were heavy marijuana users (smoking
daily for three years) showed brain abnormalities in which structures
related to memory shrank and collapsed.

A 2009 study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle
found that being a marijuana smoker was associated with a 70-per-cent
increased risk of testicular cancer and "the elevated risk =C2=85 was
associated with marijuana use prior to age 18." It was suspected that
boys who smoked during puberty were especially at risk.

In April, a study published in the Journal of the American Heart
Association reported that marijuana use was associated with
"cardiovascular complications" among young and middle-aged adults in
France. We're talking here about 34-year-olds having heart attacks.

"The general public thinks marijuana is harmless, but information
revealing the potential health dangers of marijuana use needs to be
disseminated to the public, policymakers and health-care providers,"
Dr. Emilie Jouanjus, lead author of the study, said in a statement.

In 2009, the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology published a study
that said marijuana smoke caused more damage to cells and DNA than
tobacco smoke. And last November, preliminary research presented at
the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions stated that
breathing second-hand marijuana smoke can be just as damaging to your
heart and blood vessels as second-hand cigarette smoke.

Marijuana has beneficial uses, as patients who use it to treat chronic
pain can attest, but there are big health risks, too, and that fact
shouldn't be obscured by a storefront sign that claims a drug shop is
a medical dispensary.
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MAP posted-by: Matt