Vaporizers and Medical Cannabis

Prof. Mitch Earleywine is back with ammunition against the arguments that marijuana is not medicine because of the dangers of smoking it. Read on for details about Vaporizer use, and feel free to contribute your own thoughts and experiences in our Discusion Forum.

Polls suggest as many as 80% of U.S. citizens support medical marijuana. I’d like to arm them all with information to dispute the arguments of the 20% who don’t.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy still claims that cannabis can’t be a medicine because it is smoked. They often mention the Institute of Medicine’s 1999 report Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. This report confirmed the medical utility of cannabis, but showed concern about burned material entering the body. Although studies show few respiratory troubles in cannabis users, perhaps the medicine could harm the lungs in the long term. Maybe smoking cannabis every day for twenty years could create coughing, sputum, or even lung cancer. But let’s be honest: Wouldn’t AIDS or cancer patients trade their symptoms for a little wheezing?

Fortunately, they don’t have to. Since the Institute of Medicine’s report came out, researchers developed the cannabis vaporizer. This instrument heats cannabis to a temperature that boils the effective ingredients into a fine mist but leaves the dangerous parts behind. Patients get all the benefits of medical cannabis but none of the carcinogens. What will the ONDCP and the rest of the federal government argue now?

They’ll probably assert that data don’t support vaporized cannabis as a medicine. Many folks who don’t support medical cannabis make this argument. They often phrase it in an interesting way. They make it sound as if research has been done and the cannabis just wasn’t effective. In fact, what has been done looks very promising.

Smoked cannabis can alleviate pain as effectively as established analgesics like codeine. It lowers nausea and vomiting quickly at less than half the price of other medications. Many case studies and a few controlled experiments suggest that cannabis can decrease the uncontrollable muscle spasms associated with spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis. Seizures also decrease in response to medical cannabis. It’s also non-toxic, with no cases of death by overdose. (Even aspirin can’t make that claim!)

 But much of the other research simply hasn’t been done. No one in the U.S. can get the cannabis for this work without the cooperation of government agencies. The money for these studies is also scarce. The National Institute of Health has quite the budget, but medical cannabis is not one of their priorities. Drug companies often pay for research on new medications, but they know they can’t make any cash on a plant that people can grow for free.

Why should people care? It’s obvious that any of us could fall ill tomorrow, and we’re going to want as many good treatments as we can get. But also, when it comes to healthcare, we’re all in this together. Costs are spiraling out of control. Any medication that can save patients money has the potential to save us all some money.

Finally, come on! Helping the sick is one of the most humane things we can do. Let’s spread the word on a non-toxic, inexpensive, effective treatment.