Medical Marijuana and Ulcerative Colitis

Medical marijuana...medicative mary jane......restorative reefer...curative cannabis...prescription pot...therapeutic THC...with-a-doctor's-note weed. (I could probably amuse myself thinking of this kind of play on words for hours, but since this is going to be a pretty long post as it is, I'll try to contain myself and keep it as brief as possible.)

It seems that the legalization of marijuana for recreational uses may actually happen in California, and legalization for medical uses is just around the corner in many states, including my home state of Maryland. This is, for the most part, what prompted me to write this up. Enjoy.


Part 1 - Why It's Okay for Pot to be Legal

If you want a more comprehensive, funnier version of this argument, I suggest you let Penn & Teller convince you on their Showtime program "Bullshit!" (for free here). In short, though, the so-called "War on Drugs" has failed and continues to fail and is taking millions of dollars in tax-payer money with it. As P&T point out, the "War on Drugs" was concocted by Richard Nixon to, among other reasons, distract the American public from the very real, very controversial war going on in Vietnam. P&T then show similarities between the WOD and Prohibition, which was the result of a movement spearheaded by various Protestants who felt that alcohol abuse was immoral and that, eventually, the only way to stop it was to make the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within...the United States...prohibited" (from the 18th Amendment). Of course, since a 20-30 year movement wasn't going to stop a 12,000 year old tradition of getting hammered, organized crime rings stepped in to provide alcohol illegal. Result: many innocent people died from turf wars, gang violence, and improperly made hooch. Sound familiar? Keep reading. Defenders of the current policy claim a "moral framework" which backs this "tough love" approach to drug abuse. They also claim that the program is succeeding based on their assertion that drug use has gone down. However, as Penn points out, "since 1994, marijuana use is up more than 62% among high school seniors" and cocaine and Ecstasy use is up as well. Well, then maybe we're just trying to lower the supply of "dangerous" drugs so less people have the opportunity to make the "wrong choice" by abusing drugs. Penn's got you there, too. For the same amount of money that it would cost to buy an amount of heroin in 1960 (before the WOD), you could buy 600 times that amount today. It's more available, and it's much much cheaper. But what about this "moral framework" stuff?

As many weed-puffing, beer-chugging college students have noticed, "What is the big fucking difference between marijuana and alcohol?" By any definition, alcohol is a drug and it is Americans' drug of choice. However, it is our right as Americans of legal age to get as drunk as we want, even to kill ourselves doing so, so long as we don't harm anyone else. As it should be. We should be educating people as to the dangers of alcohol abuse, but not telling them how much or whether they can drink. Similarly, there are dangers involved with drug use, but people should be educated as to these dangers instead of told they should "Just Say No", to quote Nancy Reagan. "Say no" to what? To reason? To freedom of choice?

Next we have the "gateway drug" argument, which claims that the first drug many heroin, cocaine, and crack users do is MJ. Well, as anyone can guess, that title falls to alcohol or tobacco. However, since those are legal and a part of our culture, I guess they're considered before the gateway.

Finally, let me say that marijuana is extremely safe (relative to other drugs, psychoactive and otherwise) and non-toxic. Whereas drugs like alcohol and even simple Tylenol will kill you if you take a little too much, this is virtually impossibly with THC (the main psychoactive substance in marijuana). In fact, scientists had trouble determining just how much it takes to kill a rat, monkey, etc. because it's so hard to ingest a lethal amount of THC, unless it is done intravenously. One estimate suggests that a human would have to smoke 1500 pounds of Cannabis in about 15 minutes in order receive a lethal dose of THC. Pay attention now, because this is important: In all of medical history there has NEVER been a single substantiated case of someone dying or sustaining permanent injuries as a result of marijuana overdose. (Check it here and here)

If you accept these ideas, at least as they pertain to marijuana, let's move on. Otherwise, watch the show, then feel free to comment.


Part 2 - Medical Use

First, know that much of medicine and pharmacology is aimed at alleviating symptoms, not curing diseases. With that in mind, I'll get right to the point. Marijuana has been shown to have over 250 medical applications (check out the Wikipedia page, and check their sources). This includes, but is not limited to, treatment of nausea, vomiting, PMS, lack of appetite, neurogenic pain, asthma, glaucoma, fibromyalgia, motor and vocal tics associated with Tourette's, ADHD, rheumatoid arthritis, colo-rectal cancer, Huntington's disease, sleep apnea, depression, autism, hepatitis C, leukemia, and the list just goes on and on. It has even shown to be useful in treating alcohol abuse and ulcerative colitis (more on that in just a minute). Check it out for yourself. This isn't just a small list of obscure afflictions. These are serious illness that cause pain, suffering and death every single day and for which marijuana can be used to, at least, alleviate symptoms and help patients deal with those conditions.


Part 3 - The Obstacles

At least some of the credit for the ideas in this section go to my roommate who first brought them to my attention. The major (non-cultural) obstacles to legalizing marijuana, at least for medical uses, are the interests that benefit from it being illegal. The first is the pharmaceutical industry which makes obscene amounts of money selling us pills. I feel like 95% of the drug commercials I see these days are for anti-depression medications which have a list of severe side-effects a mile long. Of course, depression is a very real problem and medication has helped many people, but the last thing the drug companies want is a single, relatively affordable, non-patentable drug to be on the market that can help treat 250+ ailments. They'd rather sell us a different pill for every problem.

The other group that benefits from the criminalization of marijuana is the current prison system. These days, many prisons are run by companies that contract with the government to hold inmates. There's money to be made (and lots of it) in keeping people locked away; the more people the better the profit. These companies would much prefer to fill their prisons with non-violent small-time users who get convicted on possession charges. Better that than a prison full of murderers and rapists, right? So, although our prison system is bursting at the seams, it's filled with people who don't deserve to be there and who are there for the wrong reason anyway.


Part 4 - My Place in All This

This is the last part, you're almost there.

As my astute readers might guess, I have a personal stake in all this as well. I'm a pretty average college student, I would say, in regards to pot and alcohol consumption. However, what brought this on was not my pursuit of a "good time". It was the realization that I've been dealing with ulcerative colitis (warning: icky) for about 10 years now. I won't go into the details in this post, but suffice to say, it is a somewhat debilitating disease that has no cure at this time, and which has effected my social, active, academic and work life in ways that I'm sure I don't even appreciate, since it's the only thing I really know. There are medications, but unfortunately I'm in a small minority of people for whom these medications actually make the disease worse rather than better. In my recent research on the matter I found testimonial after testimonial of people who have used marijuana to help them lead a more normal life, and indeed I have also experienced it firsthand, albeit illegally. This, along with the many other examples of people treating their pain and suffering and the evidence I have presented above, has convinced me that there is no moral or rational justification for the continued prohibition of marijuana for medical purposes.

If you still don't agree with me, please watch the episode of "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!", then feel free to leave a comment with your questions, concerns, evidence, and whatever else. Please, though, keep it civil. I don't want anyone's mellow to get harshed.