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Medical Marijuana: Whole Plant Better Than Isolated Components in Pain Relief, Italian Study Finds

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #544)
Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy

Scientists at the University of Milan have published a study finding that whole-plant marijuana extracts provide better relief for neuropathic pain than isolated components of the plant, like THC alone. The research is an intervention in the ongoing debate between medical marijuana supporters and herbal and alternative medicine advocates on one side and the US government, some politicians, and the pharmaceuticalized medicine industry on the other.

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"The use of a standardized extract of Cannabis sativa... evoked a total relief of thermal hyperalgesia, in an experimental model of neuropathic pain,... ameliorating the effect of single cannabinoids," the investigators reported. "Collectively, these findings strongly support the idea that the combination of cannabinoid and non-cannabinoid compounds, as present in extracts, provide significant advantages... compared with pure cannabinoids alone."

Congressional drug warriors like Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) have long argued that marijuana is not a medicine and that any medicinal compounds in the plant should be isolated or synthesized, as is the case with Marinol, which contains one of the hundreds of cannabinoids found in the plant. The DEA takes a similar approach.

But this latest research only adds to the evidence that that position is mistaken.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

David Dunn (not verified)

All the more reason people should be eating hemp foods, using hemp creams, salves and balms for overall good health.

This is also another reason why the house of hemp should not be divided into different camps, such as industrial, recreational and medical hempsters.

Evolution has provided humanity with a plant that, as nearly ideal as possible, provides for all basic needs.

There's no reason for hemp to be classified as a schedule 1 substances under the Controlled Substances Act. Congress needs to remove it from there, and place all things hemp under the Department of Agriculture where it belongs.

Neither should American universities be denied to the right to grow, research, test and market their own hemp products. How recreational hemp is controlled should be left to state governments.

Hemp is not an enumerated item in the Constitution. For Congress to claim that hemp is contained in the Commerce Clause of the Constitution (Art 1, § 8, Clause 3) is a perversion of the Constitution.

According to cannabis-smoking James Madison, the states have a residuary and inviolable sovereignty over hemp. Madison wrote in Federalist Paper 39:

the proposed government cannot be deemed a NATIONAL one; since its jurisdiction extends to certain enumerated objects only, and leaves to the several States a residuary and inviolable sovereignty over all other objects.

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.

— Thomas Jefferson

Fri, 07/25/2008 - 12:07pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

"Collectively, these findings strongly support the idea that the combination of cannabinoid and non-cannabinoid compounds, as present in extracts, provide significant advantages... compared with pure cannabinoids alone."
Marinol is a man made cannabinoid that lacks ALL of the remaining compounds. I have severe Epilepsy. This has led me to loose my drivers license, and work because of my seizure frequency. But all that changed when I started smoking marijuana. I have been seizure free for more than 6mos. My life has improved, and I havent woke up on the ground somewhere with people asking me if I am some kind of drug addict. NOR have I had someone try to "prevent you from swollowing your tongue.
For everyones info... IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SWALLOW YOUR TONGUE!!! STOP PUTTING STUFF IN EPILEPTICS MOUTHS!!! I even had a paramedic complain to me that I bit his fingers!!! DUMBASS!!! I was unconscious!!!! CHECK WRISTS AND NECKS FOR MEDICAL INFO!!!!!!!!!!

Fri, 07/25/2008 - 12:36pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

I approve of the medicinal use of marijuana, though, the way to use it is not smoking it nor taking Marinol.

Lighting anything with fire is a chemical reaction called combustion. Combustion releases the THC from the marijuana, but it also releases harmful toxins from the air such as Carbon Monoxide which destroy your lungs.

Marinol is extracted THC combined with Aspirin. It's horrible for you and it's beacuse they leave out all the other cannabinoids which allow THC to work properly.

The true and best way to use marijuana medically is when it's made into an oil. This not being the oil made from the seeds, but the oil made from the plant and buds. Hemp Seed Oil is very nutritional, but contains no cannabinoids! Hemp Oil when made properly contains a concentrated amount of cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are the medcine.

Cancer as well as many other diseases have been cured with this medicine, and the man who's behind it all is Rick Simpson. Rick Simpson made a film about this called, Run From the Cure. This 7 part video can be found at www.youtube.com/chrychek or www.phoenixtears.ca.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Cody Mckinney

Fri, 07/25/2008 - 3:14pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Cody Mckinney neglected to mention vaporization and oral ingestion, known as eating, or drinking as other safe ways to make use of our sacred plant. I'm certain the omissions were unintentional.

Randall St Jacques CFO
Windsor West/Windsor Tecumseh Marijuana Party
Windsor Ontario Canada
Website: www.marijuanaparty.ca
Email: [email protected]
Ph: 519 991 5776

Mon, 07/28/2008 - 9:33pm Permalink
Right Reverend… (not verified)

is available on the Brothers for Mercy website:

http://www.brothersformercy.org/Transcript%20Run%20from%20the%20cure.pdf

In Jesus Anointed (with marijuana) who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Sat, 07/26/2008 - 7:51pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Get real- if that were so, there should be a large cohort of cancer-free pot smokers. As with regular tobacco, smoking pot allows several toxins into the body, not the least being carbon monoxide!!

Bob Graves

Tue, 11/04/2008 - 11:44am Permalink
PainMan (not verified)

Back in the early fight for medicinal cancer in California, Group Health ran an exhaustive study in CA on the respiratory/lung health of patients who were long term high volume cannabis users but who did not use tobacco. They found no respiratory disease at all.
Since then there has been a great deal of serious research into the effects of various cannabinoids on cells, mice, humans, etc. There are a number of cannabinoids which fight cancer.

The greatest risk from smoking cannabis is the police. The second greatest is the black market. The more illegal it is in a country the worse the type of person you will have to deal with. You also have no idea what odd hormones or pesticides were used to grow the stuff that you are smoking/ingesting (and many growers use flea bombs). This is totally unnecessary for pest control. Instead use a standard neem oil mixture.

Unfortunately a new health threat has emerged over the last several years, which is the use of extremely small glass beads, which are placed by unethical cannabis providers on the buds to make them look as if they have a huge crystal level. People pay a huge amount for this deadly scam. Inhaling the combusted glass causes very serious and irreversible lung damage which can kill. Then again so can a high pesticide level.

- - - neem oil pesticide mix - - -

Neem kills almost every bad bug while leaving the good ones alone. It is non toxic to humans, and is used in soaps, and natural birth control spermicides in India. It also kills bad fungi, viri and bacteria. Remember - if you should not EAT it, do not put it onto the plants that are going into you.

To make the neem mix, take 10ml pure natural liquid soap, 10ml neem oil, and 100 ml warm water - mix these together to form an emulsion. Then take 1/2 a litre of water 2 cayenne peppers, garlic and a few whole cloves if you wish. Boil this in a stainless pot for 30 minutes. Strain out the spices and increase the volume of this spicy water to 900ml, adding it in to the first mixture.

Keep the mixture out of UV light sources, as UV destroys the effectiveness of neem oil. It is best to apply this as a spray, during the dark photo period. It controls fungus gnats very well.

Tue, 08/18/2009 - 11:40pm Permalink

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