SECRETS REVEALED | Federal Government Supplies Marijuana | Government-Supplied Marijuana Program EXPOSED Each month Irvin Rosenfeld goes to his pharmacy and …
Each month Irvin Rosenfeld goes to his pharmacy and picks up a special
prescription, supplied to him by the U.S. government: a canister containing
roughly 10 ounces of marijuana in pre-rolled cigarettes.
Rosenfeld, a Boca Raton, Florida stockbroker, suffers from a rare illness
called multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis, a painful genetic
disease that causes tumors to grow at the ends of his long bones, causing
unbelievable pain. He is also one of four surviving patients receiving
government-supplied medical marijuana, in a program that was closed to new
applicants by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.
That program marks its 30th anniversary May 10. That’s right, our
government has been supplying medical marijuana to a small number of
patients — the program peaked at 34 approved participants in 1991 — for
three full decades.
This may seem puzzling. After all, hasn’t White House Drug Czar John
Walters called medical marijuana “snake oil,” a “con,” a “farce,” and even
compared it to “medicinal crack”? Surely if our government really thinks
marijuana is useless and dangerous, it wouldn’t supply it to sick people?
A better question might be: Why is our government working so hard to avoid
learning that marijuana can be a safe and effective medicine?
The federal medical marijuana program, begun on May 10, 1978 as part of the
settlement to a lawsuit filed by glaucoma patient Robert Randall, is
officially a research program. Randall, Rosenfeld and the other
participants were required to sign a consent document specifically
referring to it as a “study.”
But there has been no study of these patients, at least not by the
government. While shipping literally hundreds of pounds of marijuana to
these patients over the course of 30 years, the federal government never
lifted a finger to find out whether it was helping or hurting.
In frustration, a handful of the patients worked with researchers a few
years ago to organize and fund a study of four of the eight still alive in
2001 (the others were either too ill to participate or chose to remain
anonymous). Each was subjected to an exhaustive battery of medical tests,
including immunological and endocrine assays, MRI scans of the brain,
pulmonary function tests, neuropsychological tests and more.
The study, published in 2002, found, “Results demonstrate clinical
effectiveness [of marijuana] in these patients in treating glaucoma,
chronic musculoskeletal pain, spasm and nausea, and spasticity of multiple
sclerosis. All 4 patients are stable with respect to their chronic
conditions, and are taking many fewer standard pharmaceuticals than
previously.” The only meaningful side effect noted was “mild changes in
pulmonary function” in two of the patients — not surprising, given that
investigators found the government’s marijuana to be a “crude, low-grade
product.”
In testimony before the Illinois state legislature two years ago, Rosenfeld
called himself “living proof that [marijuana] works well. I’m also living
proof that the government doesn’t want to know how well it works. If they
want to do research, all they have to do is contact me.”
Federal officials claim they have no bias against medical marijuana
research. The government has indeed allowed a handful of small pilot
studies to proceed, and the ones published so far have consistently found
marijuana to be safe and effective at relieving symptoms such as pain and
appetite loss.
Typically in science, successful pilot studies lead to larger, more
advanced trials. And there is a group of researchers at the University of
Massachusetts who want to do just that: grow specially selected strains of
marijuana for studies in treating specific conditions, designed to develop
marijuana as an FDA-approved prescription drug.
The government is blocking them.
Instead of learning from the private study of the federal medical marijuana
patients and the handful of other medical marijuana trials it has
permitted, federal officials have chosen to bury their heads in the sand,
repeating, “Marijuana is not a medicine,” as if saying so would make it
true.
The hypocrisy and dishonesty continue, and patients — except for those
four lucky survivors — continue to suffer.
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Each month Irvin Rosenfeld goes to his pharmacy and picks up a special
prescription, supplied to him by the U.S. government: a canister containing
roughly 10 ounces of marijuana in pre-rolled cigarettes.
Rosenfeld, a Boca Raton, Florida stockbroker, suffers from a rare illness
called multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis, a painful genetic
disease that causes tumors to grow at the ends of his long bones, causing
unbelievable pain. He is also one of four surviving patients receiving
government-supplied medical marijuana, in a program that was closed to new
applicants by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.
That program marks its 30th anniversary May 10. That’s right, our
government has been supplying medical marijuana to a small number of
patients — the program peaked at 34 approved participants in 1991 — for
three full decades.
This may seem puzzling. After all, hasn’t White House Drug Czar John
Walters called medical marijuana “snake oil,” a “con,” a “farce,” and even
compared it to “medicinal crack”? Surely if our government really thinks
marijuana is useless and dangerous, it wouldn’t supply it to sick people?
A better question might be: Why is our government working so hard to avoid
learning that marijuana can be a safe and effective medicine?
The federal medical marijuana program, begun on May 10, 1978 as part of the
settlement to a lawsuit filed by glaucoma patient Robert Randall, is
officially a research program. Randall, Rosenfeld and the other
participants were required to sign a consent document specifically
referring to it as a “study.”
But there has been no study of these patients, at least not by the
government. While shipping literally hundreds of pounds of marijuana to
these patients over the course of 30 years, the federal government never
lifted a finger to find out whether it was helping or hurting.
In frustration, a handful of the patients worked with researchers a few
years ago to organize and fund a study of four of the eight still alive in
2001 (the others were either too ill to participate or chose to remain
anonymous). Each was subjected to an exhaustive battery of medical tests,
including immunological and endocrine assays, MRI scans of the brain,
pulmonary function tests, neuropsychological tests and more.
The study, published in 2002, found, “Results demonstrate clinical
effectiveness [of marijuana] in these patients in treating glaucoma,
chronic musculoskeletal pain, spasm and nausea, and spasticity of multiple
sclerosis. All 4 patients are stable with respect to their chronic
conditions, and are taking many fewer standard pharmaceuticals than
previously.” The only meaningful side effect noted was “mild changes in
pulmonary function” in two of the patients — not surprising, given that
investigators found the government’s marijuana to be a “crude, low-grade
product.”
In testimony before the Illinois state legislature two years ago, Rosenfeld
called himself “living proof that [marijuana] works well. I’m also living
proof that the government doesn’t want to know how well it works. If they
want to do research, all they have to do is contact me.”
Federal officials claim they have no bias against medical marijuana
research. The government has indeed allowed a handful of small pilot
studies to proceed, and the ones published so far have consistently found
marijuana to be safe and effective at relieving symptoms such as pain and
appetite loss.
Typically in science, successful pilot studies lead to larger, more
advanced trials. And there is a group of researchers at the University of
Massachusetts who want to do just that: grow specially selected strains of
marijuana for studies in treating specific conditions, designed to develop
marijuana as an FDA-approved prescription drug.
The government is blocking them.
Instead of learning from the private study of the federal medical marijuana
patients and the handful of other medical marijuana trials it has
permitted, federal officials have chosen to bury their heads in the sand,
repeating, “Marijuana is not a medicine,” as if saying so would make it
true.
The hypocrisy and dishonesty continue, and patients — except for those
four lucky survivors — continue to suffer.