STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – A study from Massachusetts General Hospital showed that medical marijuana failed to improve symptoms of pain, anxiety and depression, while increasing the risks that users would begin to develop cannabis use disorder (CUD).
It’s only one study, but it’s interesting when you consider that weed has been legalized for recreational use in many states, including New York, on the back of medical weed being approved first.
“There have been many claims about the benefits of medical marijuana for treating pain, insomnia, anxiety and depression, without sound scientific evidence to support them,” says Professor Jodi Gilman in a press release from the hospital.
The study said that there can be negative consequences to using medical marijuana, including a finding that people who used medical weed for anxiety or depression were most at risk for developing CUD.
CUD symptoms, the study notes, include the need for more weed to overcome drug tolerance and continued use despite physical or psychological problems caused by the cannabis.
So, smoke weed because you’re depressed or anxious and you may get more depressed or anxious.
Not a great prescription. And ironic as well, because the researchers found that anxiety and depression were the most common conditions that patients sought a medical weed prescription to treat.
And anybody reading this who uses or has used weed might remember those feelings of paranoia that would sometimes accompany marijuana use.
It ain’t reefer madness, but it’s not nothing.
The study, based on 269 adults who sought medical marijuana cards, also found that “the medical marijuana industry functions outside regulatory standards that apply to most fields of medicine.”
Researchers said that people were able to obtain medical marijuana cards from “cannabis doctors,” who were generally not their regular physicians, following only a cursory examination, with no alternate treatment suggestions.
Here’s the real interesting bit: The study said patients were permitted to choose their own products, decide their own dosing, and often received no professional follow-up care.
Can you even call it “medical” marijuana under those conditions?
Here’s why it matters: The legalization of recreational marijuana almost invariably follows legalization of medical marijuana.
Medical marijuana is the great normalizer. It makes weed OK in public perception. It shows that smoking weed is not just about getting high but has the potential to help people. It opens the door to the debate.
How can anyone object to a child getting relief from seizures by using marijuana? How can anyone argue if weed alleviates the symptoms of PTSD for even one soldier? Shouldn’t stage four cancer patients get pain relief any way they can find it, even from marijuana?
But what if those pain-relief properties are overstated? And even if they’re not, shouldn’t we be more aware of the possible drawbacks? We didn’t hear much about any downside during the debate over medical marijuana in New York.
It looks more and more as if legalizing weed for medicinal purposes was always just the first step in the process, although it was hardly presented that way. Recreational weed was the goal all along. Let that good tax revenue flow, even if kids below the legal age use get stoned. Even if the driver behind you is blazing.
Look, smoke all the weed you want. But lawmakers shouldn’t say that it’s good for people without at least mentioning the potential drawbacks.
Here’s another reason why all this is important: There is already a movement to legalize psychedelic drugs such as magic mushrooms for medical use. Proponents say that mushrooms will help anxiety and depression.
So we could go from medical weed to medical hallucinogens. Forget all that stuff you’ve heard about “acid casualties,” the people who fried their brains by taking too many trips.
And, hey, if psychedelics can be used for medical purposes, surely they’ll be safe for recreational use too.
Right?
Be the first to comment