jack claudius: Medical Marijuana and Legalisation

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Medical Marijuana and Legalisation | Autism

Health and Fitness | Autism | * Written by Mark Phillips | Monday, 30 July 2012 01:46 | Word Count: 450

As of 2012, marijuana is still classified as Schedule 1 ? a drug with no medical value ? according to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. However, cannabis has been proven to reduce symptoms in a number of disabilities and diseases. This view is supported by anecdotal evidence from people who have used marijuana for medicinal purposes, and by proven scientific research.

In 2010, a team of researchers at the McGill University Health Centre in Canada found that the drug significantly reduced chronic pain in patients with damaged nerves caused by traumatic injury or surgery.

Twenty-one patients aged between 25 to 77 smoked 25 milligrams from a pipe three times a day for five days. The highest potency strain, which contained 9.4% of the active ingredient THC, reduced pain, decreased anxiety and depression, and aided sleep.

Doctors recorded no significant fluctuations in vital signs, heart rate and kidney functions.

Last year, researchers at the University of California found that people with the degenerative condition multiple sclerosis had decreased pain and muscle tightness as a result of smoking cannabis.

The study, which was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, tested thirty MS sufferers ? 63% of them women - with an average age of fifty. More than half the people tested needed walking aids such as sticks and frames. Twenty percent were in wheelchairs. Some of the study volunteers were randomly chosen to receive marijuana, while others were given a placebo.

The research found that those participants who smoked cannabis were had a 50% decrease in pain scores, and had less muscle tightness and spasticity than volunteers given a placebo.

Marijuana use for medicinal purposes is currently legal in sixteen US states plus the capital Washington DC.

In March 2012, researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine discovered that chemicals found in cannabis can inhibit a type of HIV found in late-stage AIDS. The findings, published in the online journal PLoS ONE, showed that receptors found on immune cells released a marijuana-like chemical called CB2 to suppress the infection in resting immune cells.

The drug is already prescribed to HIV sufferers in the United States to treat pain, debilitating weight loss and appetite suppression. These symptoms are common in advanced AIDS.

The legalisation of cannabis in the UK would prevent people from receiving police cautions for the relatively minor offence of possession. This would remove the risk of people jeopardising their employment prospects. With the UK currently in recession and many young people struggling to find work, the criminalisation of the drug sees a number of law-abiding people denied jobs because of unnecessary legislation.

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