F.D.A. Dismisses Medical Benefit From Marijuana

[kurth]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by a panel of highly regarded scientists. The announcement inserts the health agency into yet another fierce political fight.

Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said Thursday's statement resulted from a past combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research agencies that concluded "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment." ...

Eleven states have legalized medicinal use of marijuana, but the Drug Enforcement Administration and the director of national drug control policy, John P. Walters, have opposed those laws. A Supreme Court decision last year allowed the federal government to arrest anyone using marijuana, even for medical purposes and even in states that have legalized its use...

The Food and Drug Administration statement directly contradicts a 1999 review by the Institute of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious scientific advisory agency. That review found marijuana to be "moderately well suited for particular conditions, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and AIDS wasting."...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/21/health/21marijuana.html

[WindRavenX]

1. well they're wrong

It's fact that many of the canaboids actually help prevent cancerous cell growth.

[MADem]

2. Either that or they're high (sorry, couldn't resist!) n/t

[WindRavenX]

3. lol, wouldn't doubt it

MANY of my biology professors are pot heads. One of them was rambling about Pink Floyd during our clinical physiology class on 4/20-- hmmmm... :evilgrin:

[Asgaya Dihi]

5. While the thread is still short

so it doesn't get lost in it, there is a pretty good basis for that statement. Back in the 1970's Virginia Medical College was doing a study for the DEA intended to show negative results, instead it showed THC might have some hope of shrinking or even killing tumors. the DEA shut them down and it was all but forgot till recently. It's far from proved yet, but it should have been researched. If it does bear out what have we lost in the meantime?

http://www.alternet.org/story/9257/

[WindRavenX]

6. this has been known for a very long time

The problem is, as many many posters have correctly pointed out, there is no legal way to conduct a truly scientifically valid experiment on THC on humans and the links to cancer; there has been tons of annecodotal evidence and a lot of chemical experiments, but none on smoking mj.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

4. Even If True, (Which It Isn't), Lettuce Doesn't Either But It's Legal.

[mdmc]

7. I know what will change John P. Walter's mind - CANCER!

Go through chemo, John P. Feel the sickness. Then try to eat.

then,

go through chemo, feel the sickness, smoke, and eat.

You will learn someday. I am sure of it.

[ElboRuum]

8. Well Duh...

Of course there hasn't been any proven medical use... you have to run trials for that kind of evidence and... um... well there haven't BEEN any.

Is the FDA seriously this intentionally obtuse?