Medicinal marijuana can cause range of adverse effects, say researchers

Medicinal marijuana can cause range of adverse effects, say researchers
METRO VANCOUVER – The use of medical marijuana to relieve pain and other disease symptoms can cause a huge range of adverse effects, says an analysis of safety studies co-authored by University of B.C. and McGill University researchers.

The researchers evaluated 31 studies done around the world during the past 40 years and found that while nearly 97 per cent of adverse events were not serious or life threatening, medicinal marijuana users still have an 86-per-cent increase in the rate of non-serious adverse effects like drowsiness and dizziness (compared to non users), according to the study in the June 17 Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Wait a minute. Am I getting this right? Are you telling me you reviewed 40 years of studies to find very few people are ever harmed by marijuana and you might get sleepy and dizzy when you’re high? Who was in charge of this study, Dr. Phineas T. Obvious, Ph.Duh?

The risk of suffering serious, adverse effects requiring hospitalization is not elevated in medicinal marijuana users, compared to non-users, according to the study. But studies on patients taking marijuana have nevertheless shown that rarely, serious effects have been documented, including multiple sclerosis relapses, convulsions, respiratory and gastrointestinal disorders, urinary infections, cancer tumour progression and psychiatric disorders.

Sentence one: medical marijuana users and non-users are at equal risk.

Sentence two: medical marijuana users rarely suffer serious harm.

Therefore, non-users also rarely suffer serious harm.

So what’s the scare tactic here? Don’t take medical marijuana to relieve your pain, because you’ve got the same chance of bad things happening to you if you just suffered with the pain without marijuana?

(“Hey dude, don’t spark up that joint!” – “Why not?” – “A tiger might see it and eat you!” – “There are no tigers in Oregon.” – “Yeah, but if you smoke that joint, your chances go up by nothing!”)

Research on recreational marijuana users who smoke cannabis shows they have an increased risk for psychosis and cancer but the authors say no one should assume that the same effects would apply for those using it for medicinal purposes, due to different delivery systems and doses.

Actually, no. There is much exciting research on the use of THC to treat glioma, the type of brain cancer Senator Kennedy is battling. Dr. Donald Tashkin at UCLA Medical Center, running studies hoping to prove the “cannabis causes lung cancer” link, found that even heavy marijuana smoking did not lead to head, neck, or lung cancer.

As for the “pot makes you psychotic”, that’s a bit of a stretch. They’ve found some evidence that young teens and those predisposed to mental illness may show increased symptoms of depression, psychotic symptoms, and/or schizophrenia. But those studies haven’t proved any causality – it may just be that mentally ill people may find relief self-medicating with cannabis.

It’s too early to say if medicinal marijuana predisposes patients to a higher risk of death or other serious events. In the current study, there were 15 deaths among 164 adverse events in 1,932 marijuana users but the authors couldn’t say whether they were directly related to – or hastened by – the marijuana products or whether underlying diseases caused the deaths.

It’s also too early to say whether smoking marijuana every day will help me to be 125 years old.  Sheesh, if it’s too early to say, then why are you saying it?  Did I get trapped in a Seinfeld episode?  Is this an article about nothing?

“There is statistical validity to the non-serious effects like nervousness, paranoia, hallucinations, dizziness and anxiety. But it would be incorrect to talk about cannabis medicines causing an excess risk of death at this point. We cannot make any conclusions about any of the serious events. We need more information and more research in order to see whether there are any trends,” said [Dr. Jean-Paul Collet, one of the study authors], who previously worked at McGill University when the study was undertaken.

Apparently not incorrect enough for you to keep bringing it up and for the Vancouver Sun to be printing it.  Look, will this make you happier:

“Ask your doctor about medical marijuana for safe, effective treatment of pain, nausea, anxiety, spasticity, wasting, depression, and stress.  While marijuana is non-toxic, it isn’t for everyone.  Side effects are rare, but may include nervousness, paranoia, hallucinations, dizziness, anxiety, munchies, time distortion, giggling, and a predilection for noodly nine-minute jam band guitar solos.  Should you experience any of these side effects, chill out and eat a muffin.”

But it’s too soon to talk about whether it will kill you.  I’m not saying it will kill you.  It would be irresponsible to suggest that marijuana might kill you.  If you did speculate that marijuana could kill you, you’d have to provide some concrete proof, something that shows marijuana could, in fact, kill you, which it is too soon to confirm or deny.  So whatever you do, don’t theorize on the possibility that smoking marijuana may someday kill you.

You realize Dr. Obvious and his people fund their salaries and these studies with taxpayer dollars, right?