American College of Physicians calls on Federal Government to Reschedule Marijuana for Medicinal Uses
Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 2:50 pm | By: Radical Russ
The nation’s largest organization of doctors of internal medicine, the American College of Physicians has issued a 13-page paper calling on the government to remove marijuana from the Schedule I classification which declares the herb to have no medicinal value.The ACP position paper urges the use of non-smoked forms of cannabis as well as further research to identify the illnesses best treated with cannabis and the proper dosages for specific conditions.
It called for further research into cannabis as a pain reliever for conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and as an aid in treatment of neurological and movement disorders such as spasticity, pain and tremor in patients with multiple sclerosis, spinal-cord injuries and other trauma.
The declaration could put new pressure on Washington lawmakers and government regulators who for decades have rejected attempts to reclassify marijuana.
Bruce Mirken, a San Francisco spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the ACP position is “an earthquake that’s going to rattle the whole medical-marijuana debate.”
The group, he said, “pulverized the government’s two favorite myths about medical marijuana — that it’s not supported by the medical community and that science hasn’t shown marijuana to have medical value.”
But officials at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said calls for legalizing medical marijuana were misguided.
“What this would do is drag us back to 14th century medicine,” said Bertha Madras, the agency’s deputy director for demand reduction. “It’s so arcane.”
No, what this would do is push us forward from the draconian, anti-scientific propaganda from the 20th century prohibitionists. If marijuana had never been heard of, if it carried no societal baggage and was suddenly discovered growing in some remote rainforest, scientists and doctors would be hailing it as the new wonder drug. Humans have used cannabis as medicine for our entire recorded history and the 70+ years of its prohibition are a historical anomaly.
I would like to voice my opinion on just how important Marijuana is to my health. I have Multiple Schlerosis, And I have lived in Nevada for almost 30 years and when Medical Maijuana became legal for me to grow, posess and smoke, I DID! I had been doing it before it was legal, because of my own research. now I am in a state where it is illegal! It is wrong! I have been learning about diet, exercise, and herbs and alternitive treartments, The difference in my mobility and ability to be independent is so dependant on something that is available to me as perscribed and there for my health is not at a stage of NO SYMPTOMS! there was a time not long ago that I could not be identified as disabled if you did not know me well. I was diagnosed in 1996, so you can only imagine the treatments, the medications, the oh so many needles and tests. I have been thru so much guessing and try out procedures that turn out to, well it is beyond words. I have been down on my but before(not so now ) I had to take charge of myself. It is so wrong that my mobility and function improvement could put me in jail. It is just so wrong! I would like to become active in the complete federal aproval for me to be my best and I have a huge health battle. I am proof of how much meical marijuana means to me caring for myself or not. I have many medical records and MRI’s to prove what I am saying. The decrease of leisions on my brain, when I used marijuana as I was suposedto. I have a weight problem I have ahard time gaining weight and even harder time keeping it on. Sometimes being to skinny is a problem that causes many other problems. I even have to take a persciption fat pill) I am trying to get off of that one too, as with many other costly unnatureal pin cushion making meds. that end up giviving another bad condition to fight. MEDICAL MARIJUAN IS SO VERY IMPORTANT AND I CAN PROVE IT!
Thank you for your time, and I hope you steer me in the right direction to help this cause,
Theresa Stoddard
2789 E. County Rd. 800 S.
Cloverdale, Indiana 46120
Phone: 765-719-3675 or 618-918-0280
Läkarförening försvarar medicinskt bruk av cannabis…
Nyligen släppte den respekterade läkarföreningen the American College of Physicians (ACP) en rapport som manar till en ökad acceptans för marijuana som medicin. Enligt ACPs 124000 medlemmar så är det problematiskt att syssla med forskning inom o…