Unprecedented SF study find pot helps ease pain

[Kadie]

Unprecedented SF study find pot helps ease pain
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer

Monday, February 12, 2007


(02-12) 12:59 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Doctors at San Francisco General Hospital reported today that HIV-infected patients suffering from a painful nerve condition in their hands or feet obtained substantial relief by smoking small amounts of marijuana in a carefully constructed study funded by the State of California.

Although the study itself was small, it is the first of its kind to measure the therapeutic effects of marijuana smoking while meeting the most rigorous requirements for scientific proof -- a so-called randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled trial.

As such, the results of the trial are being hailed by medical marijuana advocates as the most solid proof to date that smoking the herb can be beneficial to patients who might otherwise require opiates or other powerful painkillers to cope with a condition known as peripheral neuropathy.

Federal agencies oppose the use of marijuana for medical purposes on the grounds that it is harmful and that there is no scientific evidence to support medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States.

"It's time to wake up and smell the data,'' said Bruce Mirkin, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a group advocating legalization of medicinal use of the drug. "The claim that the government keeps making that marijuana is not a safe or effective medicine doesn't have a leg to stand on.''

more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/12/BAG6KO3BLP5.DTL

[Mnemosyne]

1. It has worked better for "my friend" than any of those

brain-numbing pain pills the doctors gave her.

Free the Weed!

[terip64]

2. kick

[Trillo]

3. INCREASE the PAIN!

Our government has wished to INCREASE the PAIN of its citizens. "Smoke a joint, Go to Jail".

Perhaps, at some unknown future time, governments can figure out how to INCREASE the JOY of their citizens.

[indepat]

5. It's like the government says "Let them eat cake and suffer to the hilt"

[Zhade]

20. The government would have no problem with me going painfully blind from glaucoma.

Sadly, it seems a few really ignorant DUers would, too.

DEA - Disappearing Eyesight Acceptable.

[Occulus]

23. Those DUers deserve to be beaten with a hose n/t

[Zhade]

28. I'd reather just help educate them.

If they refuse to even acknowledge facts once presented and backed up, though, then the noodle comes out!

[Cobalt Violet]

33. I wish I knew where ALL the 2008 candidates stood on this issue.

:shrug:

[OneBlueSky]

4. hell, I could have told them that . . . n/t

.

[walldude]

14. Yep... they spend money on these studies to get answers

that any pot smoker could tell you from experience. But we can't trust those stoners now can we... :eyes:

[sutz12]

6. Peripheral neuropathy afflicts diabetics, too.

Now there's a large patient/customer base for this therapy. :)

[undeterred]

7. San Francisco Values, I'm telling ya!

:applause:

[jannyk]

8. My 82 yo mil was prescribed pot in BC

she was suffering from terminal cancer and they prescribed it to ease pain and increase her appetite. And it was 'FREE' - thanks to National Health System there.

So while SF conducts redundant studies, more humane nations are implementing the already known benefits.

[Zhade]

21. Man, I can't WAIT to move to Vancouver!

NT!

[Jonathan50]

9. "Drug pusher" paranoiacs in 5, 4 ,3, 2 1....

[madokie]

10. Let me say this I know for sure. I have PAD and it is very painful, take hydrocodone

4 times daily and with a little herb thrown in sometimes I don't need the pills at all

[Richard Steele]

11. Wow, cannabis is a safe and effective pain reliever? Who knew?

EVERYONE...

EVERYWHERE...

SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME!!!!!

That's who.

To paraphrase the great 20th-century philosopher, M. Python:
"At this point, even the US Media began to sit up and take notice."

And to paraphrase Nixon's Chief-of-Staff:
"We paid for the studies, we saw the data, we KNEW it posed no health risk.
But since we couldn't outlaw Rock and Roll, we couldn't outlaw "being young"
or "being BLACK", we settled for outlawing the common denominator shared
by those three groups: recreational marijuana usage."

[meow mix]

15. even among proto-humans, its so easy a caveman

can do it.

[Zhade]

12. Keeps me from going blind and clawing my eyes out.

Helped more than anything from Big Pharma in regulating my clinical depression.

Let's just break it down - it's a beneficial plant that's been used SAFELY for tens of thousands of years.

Just stop the lies, free the prisoners, and legalize already, for sanity's sake!

[Kurovski]

13. Studies are important, but all I can say is "duh!" It also doesn't damage the liver,

and it's not dangerous in the way that narcotic painkillers are. (Ask Rush Limbaugh about that one!)

[Pastiche423]

30. Hugely important fact wrt to the liver

In the mid 90's, I was diagnosed w/an unknown liver disease at ............. San Francisco General. I was put on a national donor list and told I had three months to live.

A year or so later and after moving 3,000 miles away, I discovered the problem myself. I had been taking Dilantin for seizures and it was killing my liver. I stopped taking the Dilantin (it din't prevent seizures anyway) and my liver rejuvenated.

Please everyone that is taking meds - have your blood levels checked regularly, as well as your liver.

Daily I live w/neuropathic pain and spasms due to paralysis. The ONLY thing that gives me some relief is pot.

[Kurovski]

31. I'm glad you were so aggresive about your own health,

and that it paid off.

Too often the message from the health community is: "hush now, and remain passive." Kinda crazy, really.

[Lurking Dem]

16. There is nothing unprecedented about this study.

They did one in Scotland for peripheral neuropathy almost a decade ago. It, too, showed marijuana relieve neuropathy pain.

Sadly, the US decided that was not okay and I should take combinations of morphine sulfate, darvocet, and either valium or zanaflex. That, apparently, is okay.





edit typo

[BrewerJohn]

17. My neighbor is a diabetic with peripheral neuropathy

along with other conditions. The list of meds he takes daily for all this is amazing for its length
alone. Something tells me he would be much better served by being able to take a toke
now and then for the pain, and shorten that list.

Legalization has to happen. If enough people wake up from the propaganda and demand it, it will.

[williesgirl]

18. No way the drug companies will allow it to be legalized. Fuck them all.

My daughter has chronic nausea and can't hold anything down for sometimes a week at a time. But fuckhead Bush and his cronies could care less. They'd much rather we pay $7,700 a month for Zofran that also doesn't work.

[Jonathan50]

22. I see that there is an injectable version of Zofran

But there are several other oral versions.

Does anyone else think that an oral medication for nausea doesn't make a lot of sense?

[Zhade]

19. Another kick for truth.

I've seen some rather badly misinformed posts on DU today about how "dangerous" and "harmful" marijuana is, so here's another kick to help correct those DUers' misrepresentations.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

24. LEGALIZE IT NOW!!!!!!!

Its illegality continues to be one of the most ignorant, illogical and monumentally nonsensical acts of humankind.

[Zhade]

29. You said it!

NT!

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Not if you're dragged off to the slammer for smoking it, it doesn't.

I'd imagine that can be quite painful.

[me b zola]

26. K and R!

[madrchsod]

27. relieves the problems of menopause

[Cobalt Violet]

32. It leads to a better cure rate in Hepatitis C.

Due increased abililty to tolerate medication side effects.

Now that can save $300,000 for a liver transplant and $50k a year for meds.

And with 4.5 million Americans HCV+, we are taking a lot of money.