Sequoiacrone
June 29th, 2008, 01:34 PM
Marijuana and Impairment
By Richard Bayer, MD
http://www.ccrmg.org/journal/05aut/impair.jpg
Does cannabis alone, inhaled eight or more hours before activities such as driving a vehicle or working with machinery, cause significant mental or motor impairment that might increase risk to self or others? This is the question that Oregon legislators should have considered during the session just ended.
Instead, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill that would allow employers to fire —without evidence of impairment— workers who register with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program and who use marijuana as medicine. Fortunately, the house bill failed in a Democrat-controlled Senate committee after heated testimony, but this may be a temporary reprieve as this legislation will probably be introduced again in the next round.
The scientific evidence
Cannabis has been used to relieve pain for centuries throughout the world, including the US, prior to the enactment of the Cannabis Tax Act of 1937.1 Cannabinoids are a category of substances with cannabis-like properties and include the natural cannabis plant, synthetic cannabinoids, and internal (endogenous) hormones that mimic cannabis.
Case reports of the benefit of smoked cannabis to relieve pain are published.2 The major psychoactive cannabinoid, THC, is as effective as codeine for relieving pain. Researchers wrote, “This trial has demonstrated an analgesic [anti-pain] effect of THC in patients with cancer pain.”3 Experiments with monkeys and rats show unequivocal science for the analgesic effect of cannabinoids in laboratory animals.4 Endogenous cannabinoids are important in pain control.5 GW Pharmaceuticals has performed randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials showing Sativex, a cannabis extract administered under the tongue, markedly improves pain and muscle spasm.6 Canada recently approved Sativex for treating pain with applications pending in the US and other countries.7 The International Association for Cannabis as Medicine (IACM) lists dozens of clinical studies including studies on pain.8 Perhaps the best summary is from the prestigious Institute of Medicine, “In conclusion, the available evidence from animal and human studies indicates that cannabinoids can have a substantial analgesic effect.”9
The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act passed in 1998 states, “The people of
(for the complete article....)
http://www.ccrmg.org/journal/05aut/impair.html
By Richard Bayer, MD
http://www.ccrmg.org/journal/05aut/impair.jpg
Does cannabis alone, inhaled eight or more hours before activities such as driving a vehicle or working with machinery, cause significant mental or motor impairment that might increase risk to self or others? This is the question that Oregon legislators should have considered during the session just ended.
Instead, the Republican-controlled House passed a bill that would allow employers to fire —without evidence of impairment— workers who register with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program and who use marijuana as medicine. Fortunately, the house bill failed in a Democrat-controlled Senate committee after heated testimony, but this may be a temporary reprieve as this legislation will probably be introduced again in the next round.
The scientific evidence
Cannabis has been used to relieve pain for centuries throughout the world, including the US, prior to the enactment of the Cannabis Tax Act of 1937.1 Cannabinoids are a category of substances with cannabis-like properties and include the natural cannabis plant, synthetic cannabinoids, and internal (endogenous) hormones that mimic cannabis.
Case reports of the benefit of smoked cannabis to relieve pain are published.2 The major psychoactive cannabinoid, THC, is as effective as codeine for relieving pain. Researchers wrote, “This trial has demonstrated an analgesic [anti-pain] effect of THC in patients with cancer pain.”3 Experiments with monkeys and rats show unequivocal science for the analgesic effect of cannabinoids in laboratory animals.4 Endogenous cannabinoids are important in pain control.5 GW Pharmaceuticals has performed randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials showing Sativex, a cannabis extract administered under the tongue, markedly improves pain and muscle spasm.6 Canada recently approved Sativex for treating pain with applications pending in the US and other countries.7 The International Association for Cannabis as Medicine (IACM) lists dozens of clinical studies including studies on pain.8 Perhaps the best summary is from the prestigious Institute of Medicine, “In conclusion, the available evidence from animal and human studies indicates that cannabinoids can have a substantial analgesic effect.”9
The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act passed in 1998 states, “The people of
(for the complete article....)
http://www.ccrmg.org/journal/05aut/impair.html