F.D.A. misses Medical Benefit From Marijuana

[DdC]

"Another weapon I discovered early
was the power of the printed word to sway souls to me.
The newspaper was soon my gun, my flag- a thing with a soul
that could mirror my own." ... Adolph Hitler

F.D.A. Dismisses Medical Benefit From Marijuana By Gardiner Harris
Source: New York Times April 20, 2006 Washington, DC
The Food and Drug Administration declared Thursday that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by top government scientists. Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said Thursday's statement resulted from a combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research agencies that concluded "smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment."

The Food and Drug Administration, a subsidiary of Monsanto, declared Thursday that Johnson and Johnson Band-Aid brand bandaids were found to restrict blood flow in a majority of patients tested. Film at eleven...

Drugwar Lies Linked to Schizophrenia

[Hedons]

Funny that the FDA would release this report on 4/20.

"The Food and Drug Administration statement directly contradicts a 1999 review by the Institute of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious scientific advisory agency. That review found marijuana to be "moderately well suited for particular conditions, such as chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and AIDS wasting."


-Hedons

[DdC]

[DdC]

1968 UK ROYAL COMMISSION, THE WOOTTON REPORT
"Having reviewed all the material available to us we find ourselves in agreement with the conclusion reached by the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission appointed by the Government of India (1893-94) and the New York Mayor's Committee (1944 - LaGuardia)that the long-term consumption of cannabis in moderate doses has no harmful effects" "the long-asserted dangers of cannabis are exaggerated and that the related law is socially damaging, if not unworkable"

Anti-pot propaganda 14 Mar, 2005
US feds are addicted to making up fake anti-pot news.

D.E.A.th Deceptions

PDFA - Slickly Packaged Lies.



Did You Know?
There are more smokers in China than there are people in the United States.

The Tobacco Toll
Find out what tobacco has done to your state!

Imagine if a new, consumable product was introduced that contained arsenic, formaldehyde and ammonia, and it was marketed to our children, but federal law wouldn't let the government do anything about it. Unfortunately, such a product already exists - cigarettes. And unfortunately, the second part of the story is also true - under current law, the federal government cannot take action to reduce or eliminate the dangerous chemicals in cigarettes or any other tobacco product, or restrict their marketing and sale to kids.

Now Imagine if the oldest, consumable product was re-introduced that didn't contain arsenic, formaldehyde and ammonia, and it wasn't marketed to our children, but federal law wouldn't let the citizens do anything about getting it to the people. Unfortunately, such a prohibition already exists - cannabis. Yet it's smoke without the added chemicals is compared by the DEA to cigarettes as a "scientific" fact, FDAvid Copperfield?

U.S. statistics of the 1970s indicated that you will live eight to 24 years longer if you substitute daily cannabis use for daily tobacco and alcohol use. New research is outlawed, of course.
http://www.jackherer.com/chapter07.html

Marijuana Less Cancerous Than Tobacco By Steve Mitchell
Source: United Press International October 17, 2005 Washington, D.C.*
Marijuana is less carcinogenic than tobacco smoke and may even have some anti-cancer properties, new research suggests. Robert Melamede, chair of biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder, reviewed studies of the illicit drug and published his findings in the Oct. 17 issue of Harm Reduction Journal.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21199.shtml

Pot Smoke: Less Carcinogenic Than Tobacco? By Jennifer Warner
Source: WebMD October 17, 2005 Washington, D.C. *
Although tobacco smoke and marijuana smoke are chemically very similar, a new report argues that their cancer-causing effects may be very different. Both tobacco and cannabis smoke contain the same cancer-causing compounds (carcinogens). Depending on what part of the plant is smoked, marijuana can contain more of these harmful ingredients.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21200.shtml

The Lancet, vol 352, number 9140, November 14 1998
"We.. say that on the medical evidence available, moderate indulgence in cannabis has little ill-effect on health, and that decisions to ban or legalise cannabis should be based on other considerations."

Deaths in the United States in a typical year are as follows:

* Tobacco kills about 400,000
* Alcohol kills about 80,000
* Workplace accidents kill 60,000
* Automobiles kill 40,000
* Cocaine kills about 2,500
* Heroin kills about 2,000
* Aspirin kills about 2,000
* Marijuana kills 0

There has never been a recorded death due to marijuana at any time in US history.
All illegal drugs combined kill under 20,000 per year, or a small percent of the number killed by alcohol and tobacco. Tobacco kills more people each year than all of the people killed by all of the illegal drugs in the last one hundred years



Monsanto employees and government regulatory agencies
employees are the same people!

Subject: Revolving Door - Updated list - FYI
Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 10:43:59 -0600
From: Peter Khaled pkhaled@earthlink.ne t

David W. Beier . . .former head of Government Affairs for
Genentech, Inc., . . .now chief domestic policy advisor to Al
Gore, Vice President of the United States.

Linda J. Fisher . . .former Assistant Administrator of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency's Office of
Pollution Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, . . .then
became Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for
Monsanto Corporation and now (2001) is Deputy Director
of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Michael A. Friedman, M.D. . . former acting commissioner of
the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Department of Health and Human Services . . .now senior
vice-president for clinical affairs at G. D. Searle & Co., a
pharmaceutical division of Monsanto Corporation.

L. Val Giddings . . . former biotechnology regulator and
(biosafety) negotiator at the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA/APHIS), . . .now Vice President for Food &
Agriculture of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).

Marcia Hale . . . former assistant to the President of the
United States and director for intergovernmental affairs, . .
.now Director of International Government Affairs for Monsanto
Corporation.

Michael (Mickey) Kantor. . . former Secretary of the United
States Department of Commerce and former Trade
Representative of the United States, . . .now member of the
board of directors of Monsanto Corporation.

Josh King . . . former director of production for White House
events, . . . now director of global communication in the
Washington, D.C. office of Monsanto Corporation.

Terry Medley . . . former administrator of the Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the United States
Department of Agriculture, former chair and vice-chair of the
United States Department of Agriculture Biotechnology Council,
former member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
food advisory committee, . . . and now Director of Regulatory
and External Affairs of Dupont Corporation's Agricultural
Enterprise.

Margaret Miller . . . former chemical laboratory supervisor for
Monsanto, . . .now Deputy Director of Human Food Safety and
Consultative Services, New Animal Drug Evaluation Office,
Center for Veterinary Medicine in the United States Food and
Drug Administration (FDA).*

Michael Phillips . . . recently with the National Academy of
Science Board on Agriculture . . . now head of regulatory affairs
for the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

William D. Ruckelshaus . . . former chief administrator of the
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), . .
.now (and for the past 12 years) a member of the board of
directors of Monsanto Corporation.

Michael Taylor . . . former legal advisor to the United States
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s Bureau of Medical
Devices and Bureau of Foods, later executive assistant to the
Commissioner of the FDA, . . . still later a partner at the law
firm of King & Spaulding where he supervised a nine-lawyer
group whose clients included Monsanto Agricultural Company, .
. . still later Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the United
States Food and Drug Administration, . . . and later with the
law firm of King & Spaulding. . . . now head of the
Washington, D.C. office of Monsanto Corporation.*

Lidia Watrud . . . former microbial biotechnology researcher at
Monsanto Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri, . . .now with the
United States Environmental Protection Agency Environmental
Effects Laboratory, Western Ecology Division.

Jack Watson. . .former chief of staff to the President of the
United States, Jimmy Carter, . . .now a staff lawyer with
Monsanto Corporation in Washington, D.C.

Clayton K. Yeutter . . . former Secretary of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, former U.S. Trade Representative
(who led the U.S. team in negotiating the U.S. Canada Free
Trade Agreement and helped launch the Uruguay Round of the
GATT negotiations), now a member of the board of directors of
Mycogen Corporation, whose majority owner is Dow
AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical
Company.

Larry Zeph . . . former biologist in the Office of Prevention,
Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, . . . now Regulatory Science Manager at
Pioneer Hi-Bred International.

*Margaret Miller, Michael Taylor, and Suzanne Sechen (an FDA
"primary reviewer for all rbST and other dairy drug production applications"
) were the subjects of a U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation in
1994 for their role in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of
Posilac, Monsanto Corporation's formulation of recombinant bovine growth
hormone (rbST or rBGH). The GAO Office found "no conflicting financial
interests with respect to the drug's approval" and only "one minor deviation from
now superseded FDA regulations". (Quotations are from the 1994 GAO
report).

[DdC]

Mansonto, Cliarance & Conflicts of Ignorance...*

Monsanto's Cliarence

Testimony of Professor Lester Grinspoon, M.D.
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, before the
Crime Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee,
U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., October 1, 1997
"Cannabis is remarkably safe. Although not harmless, it is surely less toxic than most of the conventional medicines it could replace if it were legally available. Despite its use by millions of people over thousands of years, cannabis has never caused an overdose death."

Monsanto and G.W. Bush Administration

Mon$anto'$ WoD on Ditchweed
Often, authorities said, it is used as "cut" or added to higher grade marijuana to increase the yield.



Bush & Monsanto: Today's Pelican Brief
In the 2000 election, Monsanto donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in PAC money and soft money to political candidates. The man receiving the second highest total dollars from Monsanto was Larry Combest (R-TX). He got $2000. Combest is the powerful Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

Who got the most from Monsanto? The winner of the Monsanto sweepstakes with $10,000 was John Ashcroft (R-MO). Ashcroft will be George Bush's Attorney General.

Follow the Monsanto connection to George Bush's presidency. This brief will be more convincing than Grisham's Pelican Brief.

FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT
Monsanto's lawyer was appointed to the Supreme Court by George Bush, Sr. The deciding swing voter gave the election to George, Jr. That justice: Clarence Thomas, Esq.

SECOND
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, was president of Searle Pharmaceuticals, purchased by Monsanto.

THIRD
Ann Veneman, Secretary of Agriculture, was on the board of directors of Calgene Pharmaceuticals, purchased by Monsanto.

FOURTH
Tommy Thompson, Secretary of Health, was a supporter of Monsanto in Wisconsin. He received $50,000 from biotech firms is his election run, and used state funds to set up a $317 million biotech zone in Wisconsin. continued... http://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Lbushmonsanto.htm

Bushit Rumcheney Cocktail:Fascist Nationalism and MKULTRA



Revolving Doors: Monsanto and the Regulators

"...somebody has to take governments' place,
and business seems to me to be a logical entity to do it."
- David Rockefeller - Newsweek International, Feb 1 1999.



Aspartame... the BAD news!

Article courtesy of: Mark Gold mgold@tiac.net
(researcher for twenty years on such subjects)

Equal, Nutrasweet, Equal Measure, Spoonful, Canderal (E951)

Aspartame was not approved until 1981, in dry foods. For over eight years the Food and Drug Administration refused to approve it because of the seizures and brain tumors this drug produced in lab animals. The FDA continued to refuse to approve it until President Reagan took office (a friend of Searle) and fired the FDA Commissioner who wouldn't approve it. Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes was appointed as commissioner. Even then there was so much opposition to approval that a Board of Inquiry was set up. The Board said: "Do not approve aspartame". Dr. Hayes OVERRULED his own Board of Inquiry.

Shortly after Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., approved the use of aspartame in carbonated beverages, he left for a position with G.D. Searle's Public Relations firm.

Long-Term Damage. It appears to cause slow, silent damage in those unfortunate enough to not have immediate reactions and a reason to avoid it. It may take one year, five years, 10 years, or 40 years, but it seems to cause some reversible and some irreversible changes in health over long-term use.

METHANOL (AKA WOOD ALCOHOL/POISON) (10% OF ASPARTAME) Methanol/wood alcohol is a deadly poison. People may recall that methanol was the poison that has caused some "skid row" alcoholics to end up blind or dead. Methanol is gradually released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounter the enzyme chymotrypsin.

The absorption of methanol into the body is sped up considerably when free methanol is ingested. Free methanol is created from aspartame when it is heated to above 86 Fahrenheit (30 Centigrade). This would occur when aspartame-containing product is improperly stored or when it is heated (e.g., as part of a "food" product such as Jello).

[DdC]

BIODECEPTION: How the Food and Drug Administration is Misrepresenting the Facts About Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods and Violating the Laws Meant to Regulate Them

How It Happened That We Don't Regulate Biotech by professor Donella Meadows. A revealing article about scientists systematicaly hiding the truth and lying about important discoveries of hazards due to genetic engineering. This paved the way for approval of genetic engineering without any demands on stringent safety evaluation.

Monsanto Company and/or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Covered Up Results of Human Safety Study
New information from Canadian government researchers indicates that the Monsanto Company and/or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration covered up the results of a primary human safety study which found that rats exposed to rBGH experienced negative health effects: findings which should have led to long term human health studies before rBGH was approved.

Ethical Investing
Monsanto - World's Most Unethical and Harmful Investment

Health and Planet Destroying Products
Aspartame (NutraSweet)
Formaldehyde Poisoning, Health Destruction, & Lawsuits
Genetically-Engineered "Frankenfoods"
rBGH (Posilac) -- Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer
Monsanto Terminator Technology -- Worldwide Famine & Starvation
Toxic Carpeting -- Neurological & Immunological Damage for Children, & Adults

Dr J. H. Jaffe, The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics.
L.Goodman and A Gillman, 3rd edn. 1965.
"There are no long lasting ill-effects from the acute use of marijuana and no fatalities have ever been recorded ... there seems to be growing agreement within the medical community, at least, that marijuana does not directly cause criminal behaviour, juvenile delinquency, sexual excitement, or addiction.


But we can stop Monsanto from playing with their milk.

Monsanto Chemical Corporation is playing a dangerous game with our children's milk.

About seven years ago, Monsanto (creators of Agent Orange), started selling their synthetic growth hormone -- rBGH -- to our nation's farmers. This hormone stimulates cows to overproduce milk

Now, an alarming percentage of our milk comes from cows injected with this genetically-engineered hormone.

Seven years after rBGH's debut, we know for certain rBGH is bad for cows and bad for the small farm economy.

And, quite possibly, very bad for humans.

Panama Canal Zone Report, 1925: "There is no evidence...
that any deleterious influence on the individual using [cannabis]"

Monsanto Labeled the "Worst Global Terrorist" at Asia Conference for Food Safety

Hijacking Food!
By Suria Prakash and Jennifer Mourin

Genetic Engineering -
corporate tool for food security erosion and enslavement of farmers.

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific's Safe Food Campaign 1998 was launched at the Asia Pacific People's Assembly in Kuala Lumpur by a panel of scientists, health, environmental and consumer activists. The theme of the Campaign, "Say NO! to Genetic Engineering in agriculture and food production", aimed to debunk corporate propaganda that genetic engineering was the panacea for all our food needs into the next century. There is ever increasing evidence that this technology has more problems than solutions for us all.

Poison Inc. Pesticides v Hemp

"Give me control over a nation's currency and I care not who makes its laws."
[Baron M.A. Rothschild (1744 - 1812)]

Former chain smoker, current obese alchoholic xDrugczar Bill Bennett binge gambler.
$8 million in loses over 10 years.

John J. DiIulio, Jr. and His Change of Heart on (Superpredator Kids on Pot!)

US: New Bush Office Seeks Closer Ties to Church Groups

Bush Religion Initiative headed by CIA Think Tank
John J. DiIulio Jr. and Stephen Goldsmith. Both men are senior fellows of the CIA's Manhattan Institute and are colleagues of Charles Murray, author of the classic text of scientific racism, The Bell Curve. Most of Bush's advisors are also associated with the Bell Curve. As just one of many examples, Murray was a consultant on Tommy Thompsons' Wisconsin Welfare Reform program, which Bush will make the national model

Researchers at the University of California (UCLA) School of Medicine have announced the results of an 8 - year study into the effects of long-term cannabis smoking on the lungs. In Volume 155 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Dr. D.P. Tashkin reported: "Findings from the present long-term, follow-up study of heavy, habitual marijuana smokers argue against the concept that continuing heavy use of marijuana is a significant risk factor for the development of chronic lung disease"...

Neither the continuing nor the intermittent marijuana smokers exhibited any significantly different rates of decline in [lung function] as compared with those individuals who never smoked marijuana.

Researchers added: "No differences were noted between even quite heavy marijuana smoking and non-smoking of marijuana."

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there's a twilight where everything remains seemingly unchanged, and it is in such twilight that we must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.
-- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

D.E.A. Confirms Grounds To Remove Cannabis from Sch#1

Police officials lied to toughen laws...

U.S. GOVT. COVERS UP MARIJUANA CANCER CURE!
Last year, Spanish scientists found evidence that marijuana can (destroy) tumors in rats. But that came as (no surprise) to US. health (officials), (who quickly (deep sixed) the report). (Drug-war-obsessed federal officials) (have known) about the (cancer-beating) properties of (pot) for (more than 25 years) and have kept it a (secret) from (the public)!

Cannabis Shrinks Tumors: Government Knew in 74

Maybe John Walters, unbeknown to us, has medical expertise beyond that of the world's leading physicians and researchers. Or maybe he's lying in a desperate attempt to save a collapsing policy.

Drug Czar Manipulating Data in a Report to Congress

Marijuana Drug Czar Distorts Report

The Food and Drug Administration, more than ever a subsidiary of Monsanto, declared Thursday that Heaths' dead monkey tests proved conclusively that suffocating primates with Ganja smoke was close enough to overdose, for Ronnie to prove brain damage is caused by the heathern devil weed, and then reject the non-profitable attempts at decriminalizing. Especially after the abrupt end of the cold war profits detanting the commies. Shalalagans sat on the I.O.M. so Congress had nothing to give to the Supremes, so they simply followed the last Science they could find and Just Said NO to the patients. Then TommyTommy sat on it a while. So far it hasn't been used in any court trials. The foreign labs tests aren't as good, even though many of the labs in the US are owned by foreign investors. Souyder pushed this for the factory farm chemical korpses. Next more draconian punishment based on this latest "Poof" of sooty smoke from the drugwar chickenhawk idiots. DdC

Drugwar Lies Linked to Schizophrenia

"It also gives us a very special, secret pleasure to see how unaware
the people around us are of what is really happening to them." ... Adolf Hitler

A Lie College Students Might Want To Tell

Wallstreet's Spontaneous Abortionists

[DdC]

Morality is always the product of terror; its chains and strait-waistcoats are fashioned by those who dare not trust others, because they dare not trust themselves, to walk in liberty.
-- Aldous Huxley

F.D.A. Misses Medical Benefit From Marijuana



Prescription drug abuse rises in 2001

More die in Florida from prescription drug overdoses than illegal drugs, such as heroin.

State officials create prescription drug abuse task force
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- State officials on Friday announced the creation of a prescription drug fraud task force, which will meet monthly and monitor attempts to curb the rapidly growing problem...



"The FDA says there's no -- zilch, zero, nada -- shred of medicinal value to the evil weed marijuana. This is going to be a setback to the long-haired, maggot-infested, dope-smoking crowd." Rush Limbaugh

Still sounds like a raving lunatic junkie to me...



FDA's Report Illuminates Wide Divide on Marijuana By Kate Zernike*
Source: New York Times* April 21, 2006 USA
A Food and Drug Administration statement on Thursday denying any medical benefits of marijuana reinforced the divide between federal officials and the states that have approved the drug's use to ease some medical conditions. "It's consistent with the long-held federal view on this medicine, and that is that marijuana is the equivalent of heroin and cocaine," said Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for California's attorney general, Bill Lockyer. "California voters disagree."
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21758.shtml



Sen. Joseph McCarthy: Unrepentant Junkie
Different researchers have found support for the proposition that McCarthy regularly used morphine, refused to quit and was eventually given an unlimited supply of the drug by the head of the federal government's drug war. A good discussion of the evidence is presented in John C. McWilliams' biography of Harry J. Anslinger, Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1930-1962.



Conservative Addiction Good! Liberal Addiction Illegal!

TOMMY CHONG: Whatcha in for, man?
RUSH LIMBAUGH: Dealing in drugs and being an addict.
I bought synthetic opiate painkillers illegally and became addicted to them.
CHONG: Really? Rush Limbaugh an addict? Wow!
LIMBAUGH: What are you in for?
CHONG: Selling glass.
LIMBAUGH: Grass?
CHONG: No, glass. With an 'l.'



Money Laundering Charges Eyed Against Limbaugh
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh may have violated state money-laundering laws in the way he handled the money he used to buy the prescription drugs to which he was addicted, law enforcement officials in Florida and New York told ABCNEWS.

A conviction on such charges in Florida would be a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison. Limbaugh returned to the airwaves this week after five weeks of rehabilitation for his admitted addiction to prescription painkillers.

Conservative Addiction Good, Liberal Addiction Bad!

Cannabis News: Rush Limbaugh
Prosecutors Decline Rush Limbaugh's Plea Offer
Rush Limbaugh Attacks ABC News Investigation
Rush Limbaugh Completes Rehab, Returns To Air
Rush Limbaugh Statement on Pain Medication
Rush Limbaugh in Pill Probe



Warrants: Limbaugh Was 'Doctor Shopping'
Limbaugh May Be Off Drugs But Is On High Horse
Limbaugh Back on Air, Tells What He Learned
Limbaugh's Return Draws Praise and Ire

Attorney Accuses Prosecutor of Political Motives



Limbaugh Signs On Again, Sharing Life's Lessons
Limbaugh Back on Air After Drug Treatment
Limbaugh's Return To The Microphone
Limbaugh Is Back on the Air, Fans & Foes All Ears

Congress Targets 'Drugged Driving'
Except GOPerverted Junkie DJ's Scoring Hillbilly Heroin



D.E.A.th Deceptions
Officially GOPerverted

Jim McDonough: Prescription pills killing us

But instead of busting Rushbaugh lets just spread fungus on pot!



FLA: Introduced /Fusarium/ plan
Marijuana-Eating Fungus Seen as Potent Weapon, but at What Cost

Killer Fungus Touted to Eradicate State Pot Crop! By Julie Hauserman
Source: St. Petersburg Times July 17, 1999

Florida Drug Czar Wants To Use Fungus On Marijuana Crops.
Scientists Fear It Could Attack Other Plants.
Would-Be Hemp Farmers In Other States Should Sue To Stop This Biological Warfare.

Bush Backs a Promotion for Florida's Drug Czar



Fair Deal for Noelle Bush
Noelle Bush Needs Help, As All Addicts Do

Jeb Bush Urged To Reconsider Drug Law View
JEB BUSH CAUGHT IN ILLEGAL DRUG COVER-UP SCANDAL

[DdC]

Editorial: The Politics of Pot
Source: New York Times April 22, 2006 USA

The Bush administration's habit of politicizing its scientific agencies was on display again this week when the Food and Drug Administration, for no compelling reason, unexpectedly issued a brief, poorly documented statement disputing the therapeutic value of marijuana. The statement was described as a response to numerous inquiries from Capitol Hill, but its likely intent was to buttress a crackdown on people who smoke marijuana for medical purposes and to counteract state efforts to legalize the practice.

F.D.A. Dismisses Medical Benefit From Marijuana (April 21, 2006) Ordinarily, when the F.D.A. addresses a thorny issue, it convenes a panel of experts who wade through the latest evidence and then render an opinion as to whether a substance is safe and effective to use. This time the agency simply issued a skimpy one-page statement asserting that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana.

That assertion is based on an evaluation by federal agencies in 2001 that justified the government's decision to tightly regulate marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act. But it appears to flout the spirit of a 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine, a unit of the National Academy of Sciences.

The institute was appropriately cautious in its endorsement of marijuana. It said the active ingredients of marijuana appeared useful for treating pain, nausea and the severe weight loss associated with AIDS. It warned that these potential benefits were undermined by inhaling smoke that is more toxic than tobacco smoke. So marijuana smoking should be limited, it said, to those who are terminally ill or don't respond to other therapies.

Yet the F.D.A. statement, which was drafted with the help of other federal agencies that focus on drug abuse, does not allow even that much leeway. It argues that state laws permitting the smoking of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation are inconsistent with ensuring that all medications undergo rigorous scrutiny in the drug approval process.

That seems disingenuous. The government is actively discouraging relevant research, according to scientists quoted by Gardiner Harris in yesterday's Times. It's obviously easier and safer to issue a brief, dismissive statement than to back research that might undermine the administration's inflexible opposition to the medical use of marijuana.

Contact letters@nytimes.com * Website



Cannabis in Costa Rica:
A Study of Chronic Marijuana Use; Institute of Human Issues.
"Users in our matched-pair sample smoked marijuana in addition to as many tobacco cigarettes as did their matched non-using pairs. Yet their small airways were, if anything, a bit healthier than their matches. We must tentatively conclude either that marijuana has no harmful effect on such passages or that it actually offers some slight protection against harmful effects of tobacco smoke"

Institute of Medicine Report


FARMaceuticals

SYNTHETIC THC - Marinol

At the 10th International Conference on Drug Policy, 1996, USA John P Morgan MD, Professor of Pharmacology, City University of New York Medical School, said of Marinol, the synthetic THC marketed in the States,

"In a recent study, the scientists gave patients 20 mg of Marinol by mouth to see if it increased their appetite. Not only could they not detect much appetite-increasing effect, but they learned the interesting fact that, in one-third of people who take Marinol by mouth, you have no blood levels at all.

The drug is so poorly bio-available it's surprising that it got onto the market. There may well be some reason to believe that there are individuals in our government who are interested in getting Marinol on the market to diminish the pressure for marijuana smokers."

[DdC]

The FDA's Reefer Madness By Barbara Quirk
Source: Capital Times April 25, 2006 Wisconsin*
Ah, marijuana. The "wicked weed" of the '60s is in the news again. This time, despite previous studies showing otherwise, the Food and Drug Administration said this past week that it does not support the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The FDA stated it had "concluded that no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use."
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21779.shtml

Follow The Drug War Money By Paul Campos
Source: Rocky Mountain News April 25, 2006 USA *
This is the story of two drugs. The first, dexfenfluramine, was the active ingredient in the weight loss drug Redux. Although it was available in the U.S. and Canada for only about 18 months, it killed hundreds of people, and severely injured thousands more. The second is marijuana. Over the past several decades, tens of millions of people across North America have used this drug regularly. It has, as far as anybody knows, killed no one.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21778.shtml

Potheads and Sudafed By John Tierney
Source: New York Times April 25, 2006 USA *
Police officers in the 1960's were fond of bumper stickers reading: "The next time you get mugged, call a hippie." Doctors today could use a variation: "The next time you're in pain, call a narc." Washington's latest prescription for patients in pain is the statement issued last week by the Food and Drug Administration on the supposed evils of medical marijuana. The F.D.A. is being lambasted, rightly, by scientists for ignoring some evidence that marijuana can help severely ill patients.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21777.shtml

Press Release from The Drug Policy Alliance
Politics Trumps Science in FDA's Medical Marijuana Statement
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
The Food and Drug Administration released an advisory last week claiming that marijuana has no medicinal value, ignoring a substantial body of scientific evidence to the contrary. This announcement contradicts a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine, the scientific arm of the National Academy of Science, which said that marijuana has medical potential and should be tested in clinical trials. This report was issued by a panel of independent scientists and doctors who reviewed the body of scientific knowledge on the subject. The FDA statement, on the other hand, did not refer to any new science to support its claim.
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/042506fda.cfm

Why the FDA is irrelevant
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/2006/04/23.html#a1536
First, it's important to note (as major media outlets have already) that the recent controversial FDA comments were politically motivated, were wrong, and ignored scientific evidence.

More on the FDA
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/2006/04/22.html#a1535
New York Times editorial today
The Bush administration's habit of politicizing its scientific agencies was on display again this week when the Food and Drug Administration, for no compelling reason, unexpectedly issued a brief, poorly documented statement disputing the therapeutic value of marijuana.

FDA moves even further away from science and toward politics
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/2006/04/21.html#a1534
Under pressure from drug warriors, the FDA, released a statement opposing the use of medical marijuana. After a series of false statements claiming that "no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use,

All Smoke By Sydney Spiesel
Source: Slate April 24, 2006 USA*
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration reported that it had definitively established that marijuana has no medical use or value. Definitively? Established? I don't think so. The FDA's announcement begins by acknowledging the claim that smoked marijuana may be beneficial for some conditions. Then the agency points out that among drugs with a potential for abuse, marijuana is lumped in with the most dangerous drugs, the ones that have no potential medical benefits and the highest likelihood of misuse.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21776.shtml

Medical Marijuana is Nothing To Huff & Puff About By Sebastian Meyer
Source: The Oracle April 24, 2006 Florida *
Since President Richard Nixon declared an "all-out offensive" to curb the use of illegal drugs in the United States, the War on Drugs has mostly failed. Even though drug busts seem to be getting bigger each year, few today would agree that drug use is "America's public enemy No. 1," a statement Nixon made in 1971. However, vilification of even the most harmless drugs, including marijuana, was quite effective and has lead to marijuana also being withheld from medical uses that would benefit patients. It also has made an objective debate about legalization almost impossible.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21775.shtml

MMJ Advocates Slam ‘Politicized’ FDA Report By Michelle Chen
Source: NewStandard April 24, 2006 New York *
Clashing with drug-policy reform groups and a growing body of scientific research, the federal government has stepped up its effort to invalidate marijuana as medicine. The Food and Drug Administration issued a statement last Thursday asserting that smoked marijuana has no proven medical benefits. The assessment sparked criticism from both the scientific community and activists pushing for changes in drug laws, who say it exposes the White House’s effort to spin science in order to push its agenda of criminalizing drug use.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21774.shtml

Editorial FDA Loses Credibility With Jab at Medical Pot
Source: Star-Bulletin April 24, 2006 Hawaii
As the regulatory agency assigned to protect Americans against health risks, the Food and Drug Administration relies on scientific proof to maintain its credibility. That credibility took a dive last week when the FDA -- citing no studies whatsoever -- announced that "no sound scientific studies" support the medical use of marijuana.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21772.shtml

Editorial: FDA's Credibility Goes Up In Smoke *
Source: Delaware Online April 24, 2006 Delaware
The credibility of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is dead. Accusations of political influence to sway science and medicine have dogged agencies during the Bush administration. On Thursday, when the FDA declared that smoked marijuana "has no accepted or proven medical use," it undercut its own authority because the conclusion came from a combined review with federal drug enforcement, regulatory and science agencies.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21771.shtml

Commentary: Government Must Legalize Marijuana
Source: Daily Campus April 24, 2006 Connecticut*
This declaration, "Marijuana should be legalized in the United States," has long been a contentious issue. Social values, health concerns, economics and politics are all at work in the debate over legalizing marijuana.
The war on drugs has been a misguided and unfair attempt at regulating illicit drug use. During this campaign, which costs an estimated $35 billion a year, according to the Washington Post, marijuana was lumped into the same category as such hard drugs as cocaine and heroin and labeled as equally dangerous and addictive.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21769.shtml

Editorial: Marijuana Research? Don't Hold Your Breath
Source: Republican April 24, 2006 Massachusetts*
The United States Food and Drug Administration relies on the nation's top scientists and medical experts to determine whether a drug is safe or harmful. Sometimes, the decision is the result of studies done at public universities, such as the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. On other occasions, it is based on a review by the government's own top scientists. That's mostly how it works.
Read More... http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread21768.shtml

MEDICAL MARIJUANA: FDA REJECTING MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE DRAWS SCIENTIFIC CRITICISM
In direct contradiction to the federally-commissioned 1999 Institute of Medicine report, the FDA Thursday issued a statement claiming that "no sound scientific studies" support the medical use of marijuana.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/432/fda.shtml

[DdC]

US DE: FDA's Credibility Goes Up in Smoke by Mixing Pot and Politics

US CA: See No Evil
(Source:Los Angeles Daily News) 24 Apr 2006 California

Regulators at the Food and Drug Administration last week decreed that there were no sound scientific studies supporting the use of medical marijuana.*

But in its zeal to quash the legalization of medical marijuana, the FDA ignored a 1999 Institute of Medicine study that found pot eases pain and suffering for seriously ill people.*

And if there aren't any medical studies large enough to satisfy the FDA, there's a very good reason: The federal government won't allow any serious inquiry into the medical benefits of marijuana.*

Apparently, to concede some benefit of marijuana to terminally chronically ill patients is to encourage widespread reefer madness among the masses.*

If the FDA wants to stand its ground on marijuana, that's one thing.* But regulators shouldn't deceive the public by implying its decision is based on scientific fact.*

US NY: Congressional Investigators Are Critical Of FDA's

[DdC]

FDA Denies Medical Value of Marijuana *
Source: Monitor View April 30, 2006 Texas*
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for reasons that are far from clear, chose to enter the debate over medical marijuana with a thoroughly unscientific — one might even say anti-scientific — blanket denial that marijuana has any medical value at all. Specifically, the grandiosely titled “Inter-Agency Advisory Regarding Claims That Smoked Marijuana Is a Medicine” referenced a “past examination” that “concluded that no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use.”
Read More... cannabisnews.com/news/thread21794

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