02/10/2007 00:00:00
US: Marijuana Laws Ruin Lives, Legalize Cannabis, Say US Activists
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Over eight hundred thousand Americans were arrested for violating
marijuana laws last year, according a report released by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Of those arrested, 89 percent of those were charged with simple pot
possession -- the highest annual total ever recorded and nearly three
times the number of citizens busted 15 years ago.
As per figures released by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) 2006
National Survey on Drug Use and Health less than 2 percent increase in
pot users was recorded from '05 to '06. But pot arrests jumped more than
five percent. Activists and blame it all on the “zeal” of enforcement
officials.
The bottom line: Since 1990 over 10.4 million Americans -- predominantly
young people under age 30 -- have been busted for pot. Thousands have
been disenfranchised, tens of thousands have been unnecessarily sent to
"drug treatment," hundreds of thousands have lost their eligibility for
student aid, and perhaps an entire generation (or two) has been
alienated to believe that the police are an instrument of their
oppression rather than their protection. These are the tangible results
of the government's stepped up war on pot -- results that go beyond the
FBI's record numbers, and it's high time that politicians and the
general public began taking notice.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is
campaigning in a big way supporting “the right of adults to use
marijuana responsibly, whether for medical or personal purposes,” it says.
All penalties, both civil and criminal, should be eliminated for
responsible use. Further, to eliminate the crime, corruption and
violence associated with any "black market," a legally regulated market
should be established where consumers could buy marijuana in a safe and
secure environment.
According to the American Chronic Pain Association, one in three
Americans lives in persistent pain. Isn’t it time to grant these
patients legal access to a non-toxic alternative that can help them
alleviate their pain and suffering? Paul Armentano, a senior policy
analyst with the NORML asks and suggests that cannabis could be that option.
In 12 states, including New Mexico, patients now can use cannabis
therapeutically under state law. Many of these patients use cannabis for
pain relief.
Investigators at San Francisco General Hospital and the University of
California’s Pain Clinical Research Center assessed the efficacy of
inhaled cannabis on HIV-associated sensory neuropathy. Neuropathic pain,
colloquially known as nerve pain, affects an estimated 1 percent of the
world’s population and is typically unresponsive to both opioids and
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications.
Researchers reported that patients who smoked low-grade cannabis three
times daily experienced, on average, a 34 percent reduction in pain.
Assessing the use of cannabinoids as analgesics has demonstrated that
they also can alleviate the neuropathy associated with multiple
sclerosis, diabetes, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Canadian health
regulators just approved the use of an oral cannabis spray for the
treatment of cancer pain.
Survey data from numerous studies also indicates that medicinal pot
users typically require fewer pharmaceutical drugs than their non-using
counterparts. In June, investigators at Columbia University reported
that HIV patients who used cannabis therapeutically made fewer requests
for over-the-counter medications, such as pain relievers and anti-nausea
drugs, than subjects administered a placebo.
Evidence also demonstrates that cannabis has an adequate safety profile,
particularly when compared to other pain medications. For instance,
long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as
ibuprofen and naproxen, is a leading cause of stomach ulcers and stomach
bleeding, with some reports estimating that their use contributes to
more than 100,000 hospitalizations and 16,500 deaths annually in the
United States.
The use of narcotic painkillers such as oxycodone (OxyContin) to treat
chronic pain also poses serious health risks, including death by
overdose and addiction. Recently, a federal judge in Virginia ordered
OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma L.P. and three of its executives to pay
more than $634 million in fines for misleading the public about the
drug’s risk of addiction.
By contrast, few users of cannabis, less than 10 percent, according to
the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, ever become
dependent on the drug, and no human case of fatal overdose has ever been
attributed to cannabis, argues Armentano.
http://www.medindia.net/news/Marijuana-Laws-Ruin-Lives-Legalize-Cannabis-Say-US-Activists-27259-1.htm
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12882
Author:
MedIndia.com via UKCIA
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