By  Neil Seeman and Philip Seeman

Trends in California usually knock on Canada's door a few years later. In 1996, California voters approved the use of marijuana for seriously ill patients upon written recommendation by a physician. Should marijuana be approved in Canada for medical use? We say no.

The inhalation of marijuana smoke has been proposed for several illnesses, but most often for nausea and vomiting
during cancer chemotherapy, or in AIDS. The nausea associated with these conditions is now treated with low
doses of Haldol, Stemetil or Gravol. Even more effective are the newer (albeit expensive) medications, Kytril and Zofran.

What is the best treatment for the nausea which is so often an extra cross to bear for patients receiving chemotherapy or dying of AIDS? It is essential to stop the nausea and vomiting so that patients may gain strength to withstand illness and take medications with meals.

Compared to these currently used medications, smokeable marijuana is highly overrated; it is not consistently effective because the inhaled dose is difficult to control, and, therefore, not medically useful. In fact, the active ingredient in marijuana (THC or  tetrahydrocannabinol) is already available by prescription in Canada and the U.S. as Cesamet and Marinol. Excess doses of oral or suppository forms of these drugs do make patients drowsy and dizzy with blurred vision. Yet despite the occasional dramatic example of how smokeable marijuana stops nausea, there is simply no evidence among any analyzed cohort of patients that marijuana bestows an advantage over the current medications.

Now that hospitals have finally been made smoke-free, the idea of inviting marijuana smoke on to cancer or AIDS wards should make hospital workers gasp. Marijuana cigarettes - which contain some 400 known chemicals and possibly many
more unknown chemicals whose effects are potentially dangerous - have at least 50 per cent more tar than tobacco cigarettes. Moreover, marijuana smoke usually irritates the bronchi, causing bronchitis and pre-cancerous lung pathology, all not helpful to patients who are getting along reasonably well.

 From a medical viewpoint, there is no over-all benefit to be gained by legalizing marijuana and having it readily available. To be approved by the Health Protection Branch in Ottawa, marijuana must be safe and effective. Smokeable marijuana is not pure, and the inhaled doses are impossible to regulate, so that any results are unpredictable - both the sought-after results (relief of nausea or pain) and unwanted effects (mental confusion and lung irritation).

Marijuana is not particularly safe. Its public health hazards far outweigh any potential salutary benefits. In addition to pre-cancerous bronchitis, the long-term hazards of marijuana include confusion, brain damage, highway deaths, work accidents, spousal abuse and neglect, increased risk of genetic abnormalities, and a high potential for addiction.

Would legalization of medicinal marijuana result in increased usage? Probably. One piece of evidence is a Council on Drug Abuse survey, which asked Canadian teenagers if they would use more if marijuana were accorded legal or
quasi-legal status; 30 per cent of respondents said they would. If this were the case, increased use of marijuana would lead to more use-related accidents and medical complications.

There is no evidence that marijuana offers benefits over current medications. Even if such evidence did exist, it should be evaluated not by speculation, hearsay or by arguments purporting to champion civil ``liberties,'' but by the same rigourous scientific standards to which we subject all new drugs and medications.
 

Neil Seeman is a lawyer currently studying health policy at
the Harvard School of
Public Health. Philip Seeman is professor of pharmacology
and psychiatry and the
Max and Anne Tanenbaum Chair of Neuroscience at the
University of Toronto.

By Dana Larsen

The time has come to end the war on marijuana.

There are about 2 million marijuana users in Canada, and well over 200 million of us worldwide. We are ordinary people from all walks of life. We are your friends and family, your teachers, your students, your leaders and your citizens.

Medical experts and scientific studies agree that marijuana users are decent people who are no different from other members of society. Despite this, billions of dollars are spent every year in a worldwide attempt to eradicate marijuana and viciously persecute its users.

Each year about 100,000 Canadians are arrested for a marijuana offence. More than 30,000 of them are found guilty, and about 6,000 of them are sentenced to jail. This pointless and wasteful system has branded more than 600,000 Canadians with the life-long stigma of a criminal record, simply for possessing marijuana.

Right now hundreds of thousands of people are in prison for marijuana offences around the world. In many cases violent criminals were released to make room for these peaceful gardeners and pot smokers.

This government prohibition is a scourge that creates violence, tears apart families, ruins lives, corrupts law enforcement, overflows the justice system, destabilizes governments and brutalizes society.

Despite decades of propaganda, most Canadians accept marijuana users as decent, law-abiding citizens. Polls consistently show that Canadians want marijuana removed from criminal law. A recent Angus Reid poll revealed that an astounding 83 per cent want marijuana available for medical use.

Numerous scientific studies have verified the efficacy of marijuana in the treatment of glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, muscle spasticity and nausea. Their results have been confirmed and have appeared in prestigious, peer-reviewed publications like the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Annals of Internal Medicine, and many others.

Many Canadian physicians and their patients report that marijuana provides relief from ailments including chronic pain, insomnia, seizures and depression. Some medical marijuana users like epileptic Terry Parker and London MS sufferer Lynn Williams have gone public with their use and faced arrest to fight for their right to use this medicinal herb.

Marijuana is also good medicine even for those who do not suffer from a serious medical condition. Choosing to relax with marijuana instead of alcohol is a responsible decision, since, unlike alcohol, marijuana is non-toxic and relatively harmless.

Canadian marijuana prohibition originated in anti-Chinese racism. In the early 1920s Maclean's ran a series of articles by Emily Murphy, which were compiled into a book called The Black Candle.

The book was very popular and almost solely responsible for marijuana prohibition in Canada. At one point Emily Murphy explains whom she blames for the marijuana peril:

 ``An addict who died this year in British Columbia told how he was frequently jeered at as a `white man accounted for.' The Chinese peddlers taunted him with their superiority at being able to sell the dope without using it, and by telling him how the yellow race would rule the world.

``Some of the Negroes coming into Canada - and they are no fiddle-faddle fellows either, have similar ideas, and one of their greatest writers has boasted how ultimately they will control the white man.''

The criminal prohibition is an anachronism from the 1920s that is no longer appropriate for our society. The continued persecution of marijuana smokers is harmful and destructive to Canadian society.

Most Canadians agree that marijuana is a valuable herbal medicine which should not be exterminated. It's time to end Canada's war on marijuana and cannabis culture.

Dana Larsen is editor of Cannabis Canada,
Canada's National Magazine of Marijuana and Hemp