Pubdate: Tue, 13 Sep 2016
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Page: A8

MORE MARIJUANA RESEARCH NEEDED

The process of legalizing marijuana is a bit like driving a car down a
road at night with the lights off - we're not sure what dangers lie
ahead and we're not sure where this journey will end.

The use of marijuana is becoming more widespread, and legalization -
whatever form it takes - seems inevitable. The federal government has
promised to table legislation next spring that will legalize and
regulate marijuana, leaving other levels of government to wrestle in
the meantime with a proliferation of marijuana dispensaries.

Victoria's new regulations concerning marijuana dispensaries come into
effect this month. Mayor Lisa Helps says the bylaws are intended to
ensure people have access to their medicine, and not to enable
recreational consumption.

"We expect that there will not be consumption of cannabis at any of
the places that are going to be open as a result of this new licensing
regime," she said.

Regardless of the bylaws' intent, until the federal government enacts
its legislation, the issue will continue (pardon the pun) to be hazy.
Ottawa's new laws, we hope, will bring order and structure to the
production, distribution and consumption of marijuana.

We hope also that Ottawa will heed the advice of a group of doctors,
patients, health charities and scientists who have urged the
government to study the health effects and potential therapeutic
benefits of medical marijuana.

The Medical Cannabis Research Roundtable issued a report in May that
calls on the government to invest $25 million over the next five years
for the research. That amount is probably too modest.

"As our country embarks on a debate about the legalization of
recreational marijuana, we should not lose sight of the need to invest
in medical science and proper trials to better understand the impacts
and effects of medical cannabis," said roundtable chairman Dr. Jason
McDougall, a professor of pharmacology and anesthesia at Dalhousie
University in Halifax. "Physicians and patients are left with
uncertainty about the potential therapeutic benefits of medical
cannabis and particularly the potential to bring relief to those
living with chronic pain."

We've come a long way since Reefer Madness, a ridiculous 1930s
propaganda film that portrayed marijuana as a potent narcotic that
instantly turns users into addicts prone to homicidal rages. We know
now that alcohol, so widely accepted, is a far more dangerous drug,
the misuse of which has resulted in untold misery.

We know also that someone who smokes a joint of marijuana should not
be prosecuted as a criminal, any more than someone who has a beer or a
cocktail.

And we know that many people have found relief from pain and other
health problems through the use of cannabis. Studies indicate that
medical marijuana might offer some relief for nerve pain,
cancer-related pain or muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis.

The drug might help relieve arthritis symptoms, but Canada's Arthritis
Society wants to know for sure - it has committed at least $120,000 a
year toward medical-marijuana research.

As science increasingly points to evidence that marijuana can help, it
is also finding that it can harm, particularly the brains of young
users and those prone to schizophrenia. The effects, good and bad,
need to be studied and quantified over the long term.

When Europeans first became aware of tobacco, they saw it as a
panacea, to the extent it was called the "holy herb" and "God's
remedy," echoing claims we hear about marijuana today. It took several
hundred years - and millions of lives cut short - to reveal tobacco's
harms.

That isn't to say marijuana will be as harmful as tobacco, but let's
not wait that long to find out. As we drive down the road to marijuana
legalization, let's get a better understanding of where we're going.
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MAP posted-by: Matt