Part 5: Ironically, MMJ blocks clinical research into cannabis’ healing properties
Today is July 4th, American Independence Day, a celebratory day we pause to examine “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” after 235 years.
That’s a long time, 235 years. 80 years is a good chunk of change, too. That’s how long a falsely accused herb has spent sequestered in solitary confinement, strapped in a restraint device that rhymes with fall and rain.
It’s bad enough that keeping cannabis under wraps is strangling the economy. But as we learn more and more about the healing properties of cannabis — and I’m not just talking about providing palliative relief from headaches, I’m talking about tackling the most toxic diseases and defeating them — Cannabis Commerce finds itself at a crossroads. So, should this publication stick to poteconomics, while others talk up the tremendous promise of cannabinoids and other disease-scavenging THC sub-compounds?
Suffice it to say I’ve turned down the best drunken pig-outs and fireworks Denver has on tap to bring you the saddest fallout from MMJ in the mainstream.
I’ve been sitting on this one, waiting for the right time and the right place to unleash it.
That time is now. The place is here.
In an ironic twist, “medical” marijuana actually blocks critical clinical research into cannabinoids that could confirm THC’s effectiveness at controlling, neutralizing, and reversing any number of catastrophic ailments.
That’s because when you approve MMJ initiatives, like the pending Ohio Medical Cannabis Act of 2012, authored “for the sole benefit of the sick and dying,” you essentially give the DEA tacit approval that it’s perfectly OK with you to maintain cannabis as a Schedule One drug . . . and to manage it in a very special way, under very special conditions, that no other drug or herb is subject to.
That’s with the crack management team Ball & Chain in charge, meaning it will be next to impossible to conduct telling studies on an illicit substance.
Messrs. Ball and Chain are one and the same overseers who gave us the following agenda:
- Dynamic MMJ laws will force existing businesses, who jumped through every beaurocratic hoop, onto the street.
- MMJ will limit cannatax to 5% of what it could be.
- MMJ will limit cannajobs to 5% of what they could be.
- MMJ will limit contribution to GDP to 5% of what it could be.
Now we can add to the list, “MMJ will indefinitely postpone clinical studies into the curative power of THC on systemic diseases in humans.” That achievement is hereby awarded its own bullet point:
- MMJ will indefinitely block research into THC’s healing effects . . . even as a half-million Americans die each year of cancer.
That tandem of Ball and Chain, which got up to speed attending intensive seminars at the vaunted DEA School of Hypocrisy, doesn’t just hand out “Schedule One drugs” like M&Ms to any lab itching to blow the world away with breakthrough research. Why would they? If a substance they’ve portrayed as a demonic drug for eighty years actually turns out to have “miraculous” healing properties — which proponents have insisted since the 70’s — then the DEA looks foolish for suppressing the information for so long.
The DEA already knows that every man, woman, and child will eventually realize the agency has been lying to them for eighty years. However, everyone who presently works for the DEA brings home the bacon in the form of sizable government paychecks. DEA agents are also piling up government pensions. They’re delaying the inevitable for as long as they possibly can.
Inadvertently, MMJ activists have actually been helping the DEA maintain the status quo.
I hate to break this to you, but a vote for MMJ is a vote against holding clinical studies targeted at proving cannabis’ effectiveness at mitigating major human maladies.
There is a school of thought which suggests that another force entirely is at work. Could Big Pharma, not “the government,” be suppressing research into the rejuvenating properties of cannaboloids, cannabinoids, and other THC sub-compounds . . . because it can’t patent them or control them? And because cannabis-based products would compete against their own questionably-effective cancer drugs?
There’s no way to prove or disprove if that sort of conspiracy exists. Big Pharma mimics Big Tobacco in forcing employees to to sign ironclad non-disclosure agreements. Potential whisteblowers face financial devastation, not to mention substantial jail time, if they’re disgruntled enough to disclose inner-sanctum dialog about MJ, MMJ, or both.
But do I subscribe to that school of thought?
It doesn’t feel right to me.
Premlinary research indicates that the THC molecule and it’s disease-fighting sub-molecules are effective against a broad spectrum of ailments from cancer to . . . ahem . . . hammertoe. So it stands to reason that there are any number of profitable pharmaceutical lines worth developing, whether or not a patent is held. If one pharmaceutical company released a line of cannathrerapy products, they’d all follow suit.
I would be shocked if every Big Pharma player doesn’t have contingency plans A, B, and C in place, ready to unleash the nanosecond Legalization Day arrives.
But, as things stand, working on the chain gang as we are, we won’t know if cannabis can “cure” cancer, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis — to name a trio that looks promising — unless we realize MMJ has sold us a bill of goods and take appropriate action.
That means one thing only: repealing prohibition, enabling scientists to perform clinical studies.
It’s disheartening to note that curing cancer might require that monster prerequisite. What is known for certain is that desperately needed clinical studies — on humans, not mice — won’t be taking place under any MMJ system anytime soon.
Meanwhile, dispensary owners and young ladies with the natural attributes to be working at Hooters, but who are instead employed as budtenders at dispensaries — because ownership believes “patients” come in for the tits as much as the pot — will keep pretending they actually know enough about the insufficiently researched healing properties of THC to recommend specific strains for specific ailments. God bless the goddess babes, but ouch.
btw, Len Richmond’s fine DVD, What If Cannabis Cured Cancer, offers a 48-minute crash course in THC’s curative powers. It’s reviewed here.
Table of Contents:
Part 1: Dynamic MMJ laws force businesses onto the streetPart 2: MMJ limits cannatax to a fraction of what it could be
Part 3: MMJ limits job incubation to a fraction of what it could be
Part 4: MMJ limits cannabis' contribution to GDP to a fraction of what it could be
Part 5: Ironically, MMJ blocks clinical research into cannabis’ healing properties
Part 6: It's taking the tranquilizing drug of gradualism
Part 7: The foot-in-the-door theory is flawed
Part 8: Emphasizing MMJ in the present pushes true legalization back to the future
Part 9: MMJ trivializes recreational and industrial use
Part 10: Fuck the patients
[Bonus] Part 11: It keeps 45,000 pot "offenders" imprisoned
[Bonus] Part 12: It keeps the DEA in business
[Bonus] Part 13: Cities and counties can vote it out anytime
7 comments
Thomas Chong says:
Jul 25, 2011
You must remember medical marijuana has opened the door that can never be shut again so rather than oppose or criticize the the “medical approach”, embrace it. The truth is we all smoke for a medical reason whether we know it or not. Stress relief is probably the number one “medical” reason we healthy people smoke it. “It relaxes me”. ” Helps me enjoy my time off” or helps me enjoy doing boring things. Airline pilots use it for long flights. Athletes use it to wind down after a hard game or practice. Stress relief. But the most compelling argument has to be the “take it or leave it” qualities. Pot is not physically addicting. Studies have shown people who smoked for years can and have stopped cold turkey with no physical side effects. And the good news is stopping a heavy pot habit can be beneficial to ones well being. So don’t get cute and knock the medical approach and realize the number one harmful addiction in America is junk food.
This addiction is killing Americans faster than drunk drivers. Over eating leads to heart problems, diabetics, and a host of other ailments that is encouraged by our so-called American culture of television ads and sit/coms that promote unhealthy habits as a way of life rather than a way of death. Pot, hemp, cannibis was given to us by our Creator when the Universe was created.”I give thee Green Herb and it shall be for meat” Genesis 29. And it was the disgraced President Nixon who gave us the DEA criminal gang and the money draining drug laws. So lets support the medical approach toward pot and educate the masses about the many ills pot can help with instead of trying to be ultra clever with the outlaw comedian approach….tc
Lory Kohn says:
Jul 25, 2011
I could take exception to several of your points. However, you are the co-author of the immortal lines:
mama try to tell me
try to tell me how to live
but I don’t listen to her
cause my head is like a sieve
So you can write whatever you want, whenever you want to write it, and I’ll be grateful for the contribution. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Don McAdams says:
Oct 15, 2011
Len Richmond’s movie is excellent. Under your picture of the youtube video, you state that, “Schedule 1 drugs can’t be tested on humans.” This is actually not the case. NIDA has a mandate that no Schedule 1 drugs can be tested for any benefits, but tests for potential harm are ran all the time. For a host of research, I recommend, well, Len Richmond’s movie. As something just as valuable, if not more so, is this 20 minute seminar from Dr. Abrams, http://projectcbd.org/Medicine.html#CME . He has over 30 years of NIDA funded MJ research that he talks about, as well as other research being done around the world, Dr. Guzman’s work from Spain being the most ground-breaking to date, mitigating glioblastoma multiforme, or brain tumors. Then I would suggest Dr. Tashkin’s NIDA funded 30+ year study confirming no link to MJ and lung cancer – it even suggested a protective effect from the cigarette smokers. I agree with Tommy Chong and Jack Herer – all use is medical. That being said, the MMJ initiatives may have a huge flaw of not offering enough, especially in the way of research, but it was a necessary step. We would never be talking about full legalization or repealing Prohibition 2 in a serious tone today if it wasn’t for the MMJ road paved for US. And yes, certain indicas high in CBD are better for physical treatments, while sativas high in THC and THCV are better for mental treatments, so recommended strains for the ailments isn’t entirely voodoo… You do bring up a necessary reminder for US all, though – no matter if we’re doing a medical or recreational attempt, research should always be included in the wording…
Lory Kohn says:
Oct 19, 2011
I disagree with your theory that MMJ is paving the way for full legalization, as opposed to blocking it — but respect your opinion. More on this soon. btw, is cannabis effective against spam?
Don McAdams says:
Oct 25, 2011
There is some truth that if Cali would have fully legalized cannabis in ’96, we could likely have 16 legal states today instead of medical states. The growing plethora of medical research could very likely have kept cannabis in a medical box for some time, and may have slowed the repeal / legalize progress. Considering how rigid the government still is on “legalizing,” though, medical really was (and unfortunately still is for the most part) the best avenue to get some freedom. I agree that there needs to be a break from medical to legal, and that would have been nice to see happen already. I believe that its lack of harm and vast medical efficacy will create a rapid shift from medical to repeal very soon, though, and that, almost unarguably, would have never been possible had cannabis not been a hot topic already these past several years, and that would have never happened without mmj initiatives being passed by the People. Perhaps it’s not really a paved road. It’s more like a dirt trail, and we need to get on the interstate. I agree with your sentiment of abandoning the medical model now, that time has come, but it’s not as easy to say for the 34 states that have no mj allowances… Our legalization init is lagging in Ohio, and still has all the hoops to get through yet, while the medical init here has jumped through the last hoop and is now collecting the half million signatures needed to get it on the ballot for 2012. I’m still gonna support both efforts, even though I have no qualifying medical condition…
Lory Kohn says:
Oct 25, 2011
Don, thanks for providing those links and sources to the groundbreaking research that has been performed.
You seem to like to write a bit — how’s about writing an article for CC clarifying what research can and can’t be performed on Schedule One drugs in the USA, and perhaps contrasting those regulations with international regulations?
I will admit that there have been benefits that have evolved from the flirtation with MMJ. For example, it has really pushed the envelope in medibles. I’ll be at my “caregiver,” Evergreen Apothecary today, listening to customers’ tales of how medibles have been helping them with their conditions, a variation on the “treat yourself” theme …
air jordan 11 says:
May 27, 2016
I want to say – thank you for this!