From a science standpoint, marijuana is on wrong drug list
OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 06/19/2005
THE recent Supreme Court ruling that federal authorities may prosecute
individuals for the possession and use of medical marijuana, even in
the 11 states that permit it, reopened long-standing questions. What
kind of scientific data exist to clarify just how useful or harmful
marijuana actually is? And why does the Drug Enforcement
Administration assign it to the same class of controlled substances as
heroin and LSD?
As director of a laboratory funded by the National Institutes of
Health to study how drugs act on the brain, I'm committed to answering
that first question, which could help with the second. When my
colleagues and I look dispassionately at the available data on
marijuana, we see a Janus-faced drug with many adverse, even dangerous
properties, even as it presents an exciting and largely untapped
therapeutic potential. But science's ability to tap marijuana's
potential is inhibited by the DEA's inappropriate classification of it
as a Schedule I controlled substance.
It's true that marijuana and its active ingredient a chemical in the
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) family of compounds can produce
undesirable effects in experimental animals and human subjects alike.
A single marijuana cigarette has been shown to impair the judgment of
a professional pilot in a flight simulator, and one injection of THC
significantly reduces a rat's ability to navigate a maze. Long-term
use of these drugs may also have adverse consequences.
Most importantly, perhaps, and contrary to common misconceptions, a
growing number of studies show that prolonged exposure to marijuana or
THC can cause addiction. This is best seen in lab experiments with
monkeys that learn to self-administer THC by pressing a lever that
allows the drug to be delivered directly into a vein. The animals will
work hard to get that fix, though not as hard as they would for
cocaine or other more addictive drugs. What's more, a marijuana
withdrawal syndrome has been demonstrated in frequent long-term users
of this drug: it is characterized by mild but distinctive symptoms,
including loss of appetite, irritability and depression.
<http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/oped/ci_2811691>
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