FDA reject Marijuana for medical uses

[mr_moppet]

FDA Rejects Marijuana for Medical Uses

 

By LOU KESTEN, Associated Press Writer Fri Apr 21, 12:07 AM ET

 

WASHINGTON - The

Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that it does not support the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

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The FDA said in a statement that it and other agencies with the Health and Human Services Department had "concluded that no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use."

 

A number of states have passed legislation allowing marijuana use for medical purposes, but the FDA said, "These measures are inconsistent with efforts to ensure that medications undergo the rigorous scientific scrutiny of the FDA approval process and are proven safe and effective."

 

The statement contradicts a 1999 finding from the Institute of Medicine, part of the

National Academy of Sciences, which reported that "marijuana's active components are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of

AIDS wasting and other symptoms, and should be tested rigorously in clinical trials."

 

Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, said Thursday: "If anybody needed proof that the FDA has become totally politicized, this is it. This isn't a scientific statement; it's a political statement."

 

Mirken said "a rabid congressional opponent of medical marijuana," Rep. Mark Souder (news, bio, voting record), R-Ind., asked the FDA to make the statement.

 

Souder, chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on drug policy, has said the promotion of medical marijuana "is simply a red herring for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Studies have continually rejected the notion that marijuana is suitable for medical use because it adversely impacts concentration and memory, the lungs, motor coordination and the immune system."

 

The FDA statement noted "there is currently sound evidence that smoked marijuana is harmful." It also said, "There are alternative FDA-approved medications in existence for treatment of many of the proposed uses of smoked marijuana."

 

Mirken responded, "There is abundant evidence that marijuana can help cancer patients, multiple sclerosis patients and AIDS patients. There is no scientific doubt that marijuana relieves nausea, vomiting, certain kinds of pain and other symptoms that don't respond well to conventional drugs, and does it more safely than other drugs.

 

"For the FDA to ignore all that evidence is embarrassing," Mirken said. "They should be red-faced."

 

Yet again narrow minded people win the day

[naturalmystic]

Somethings always so obviously good it has to be bad , but not even cause its just politics ,.. but that even health leaders can let politics get in the way of peoples health is unbelievable . Id rather have a cone than a panadol anyday and as a general all round healer i reckon we havnt even touched the sides of what cannabis can do medically . It must scare the crap out of the same people whod make spinach illegal if it could cure all ills , off course where would pharmecuticals be how much money would they loose on just one of the potential money making ailments that we require there toxic pills for ??

[Pa-uul]

...no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use...

There are plenty of articles out there about as many if not more (especially if you look hard) from scientifically reputable sources about the health benefits of marijuana such as the one I posted here.

...Studies have continually rejected the notion that marijuana is suitable for medical use because it adversely impacts concentration and memory, the lungs, motor coordination and the immune system....

This is one of those bizarre anti-drug statements that shows how out of touch from reality these prohibitionists really are such as Morris Iemma, the state hard-line Premier of NSW, who says that stronger marijuana is more dangerous than weaker marijuana. He says that increased potency "makes it a different drug". This defies simple chemical logic; it is not different in the slightest! I don't agree with this "negative impact" theory on memory and concentration. As far as I can tell the only impact it has is quite useful and that's the very reason I use it, 'cause it makes my brain work better. As for the lungs, well if you have a problem with smoke try a vaporiser or eat it. Come on, who are we still fooling with that one little old grannies? Motor co-ordination, well I don't think so but even if it did so what, it would only make it similar to alcohol then wouldn't it? Ever heard of a good shot of whiskey in your nightcap to make you sleep sound? (It sounds a bit gross I know but, they used to use it as a medicine!) As for the immune system, just ask Justin Brash about his advocacy for the medicinal use of it in his fight against acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

 

Declaring that negative side-effects simply cancels or obviates the medicinal benefits is a bit rich for the US Food and Drug Administration. It hasn't shied away from approving countless other medications using such a principle. Marijuana receives such a different treatment the drug may as well be from a different planet. Some of the drugs they've approved can reduce the appetite or cause blindness, impotency or even death; they can increase the risk of cancer, depression, suicide or psychosis. So, what the fuck is the problem with them? I'll tell you what the problem is: people could grow marijuana for free in their own backyard while the FDA is a protection racket for the pharmaceutical drug industry. They way they carry on about marijuana it must be the biggest threat right now to them and their profits. Is it really going to change people and society that much when its use becomes legal? Maybe, so they pour millions into the kinds of research the FDA and other prohibitions refer to as legitimate "evidence" for the "dangers of marijuana". That place is so corrupted by pharma-money, to invent a phrase, that they may as well be employed by them. And they are: to do their bidding.

Edited April 23, 2006 by Pa-uul

[WantDaChronic]

thats such bullshit, while reading it i was thinking about the countless reports i have seen on the news about people going blind, dying, breaking out in boils, etc. from meds approved by the fda

 

that story was basically just another paid prohibitionist statement sponsored by the pharmacutical industry

[fmfracerpro]

Has anyone here ever had any bad effects from smokin weed other then the occasional weight gain?

Hell no. If weed was bad for us why have our ancestors smoked it for hundreds upon hundreds of years.

 

 

Fuck the FDA

 

Keep on smoking

[F420]

I use weed for medicine,

I suffer from Cancer, Scoliosis, migraines.

 

Its as simple as this-

 

Without the weed, I cant eat, I cant sleep and I feel like ive been hit by a bus.

 

The doctors were demanding that I took chemo but i told them to get fucked, then went on it for a bit and it started making me really crook. SO i told them to stick it in their ear.

They vowed and declared that I was wrong and that I wouldnt get better without chemo.

 

I said I wopuld rather die well, than doe sick as fuck. As i had seen a cousin and a mate die of cancer and the chemo really fucked them up.

 

Anyways I have to go for regular tests and crap, mainly blood counts etc.

The doctors are spinning out, and cant understand it but I have put some of my weight back on, I can eat, and my blood numbers have come down!!

Which means my body has started to fix itself, I stated that it was the weed I was smoking as it allowed me to drop the pain medications, chemo and shit and im still getting better!!

 

the docs have agreed that it MUST be the weed helping, and my specialist has warned me NOT to give the weed up.

 

I recently had to move house, well last year. And havent been able to grow.

So ive been getting buds sent to me from GOOD mates, Whenever I start to run out. I then lower the useage and my number start coming up again. THen I get some more and smoke heaps and they drop again.

 

The docs dont fully understand how my bodies doing it, but we agree it IS helping.

 

I also know a couple of people with FM and MS and it prevents alot of their attacks.

 

THis ANTI weed bullshit has to stop, and wanks like the FDA would rather see people fucked up on prescritpion meds.

I for one cant stop spewing if I take the morphine and Oxycotins that theyt give me.

The oxycotin is foul shit, that makes me feel like i have a BAD dose of the flu.

 

not Happy!

[Frazz]

Yeah but its ok for the FDA to allow tens of thousands of people to suffer from the addiction to nicotine and

health related problems due to tobbacco

 

FDA = fucking dickheads & arseholes

 

 

 

Wishing you all the best Ferengi

[naturalmystic]

I use weed for medicine,

I suffer from Cancer, Scoliosis, migraines.

 

Its as simple as this-

 

Without the weed, I cant eat, I cant sleep and I feel like ive been hit by a bus.

 

The doctors were demanding that I took chemo but i told them to get fucked, then went on it for a bit and it started making me really crook. SO i told them to stick it in their ear.

They vowed and declared that I was wrong and that I wouldnt get better without chemo.

 

I said I wopuld rather die well, than doe sick as fuck. As i had seen a cousin and a mate die of cancer and the chemo really fucked them up.

 

Hats of to you Spook your a legend mate and a fine example of why cannabis has to be looked at in a different light than how its portrayed by people like the fda and other spineless nobodies .

 

The docs dont fully understand how my bodies doing it, but we agree it IS helping.

 

I also know a couple of people with FM and MS and it prevents alot of their attacks.

 

 

Mate thats fantastic and i hope you keep going well on the pot