MORE FROM THE GREY LADY ON MEDICAL CANNABIS

On 19 January we heard more from the New York Times on medical cannabis in an article on p. A14 by Gardiner Harris, who notes that "despite the Obama administration's tacit support of more liberal state medical marijuana laws, the federal government discourages research into the medical uses of smoked marijuana." The objective opening line then degenerates into an assertion that "there is no good scientific evidence that legalizing marijuana's use provides any benefits over current therapies."

Harris notes the quagmire and delays into such research, such as that of Professor Lyle E. Craker of the University of Missouri, who has been trying to get permission from the feds for almost nine years to grow a supply of cannabis for research, but to no avail. He also mentions that studies have shown convincingly that marijuana can relieve nausea and improve appetite among cancer patients; but he does not delve into the thousands of records of positive performance of cannabis in medicine. I know now lengthy the list is, as I compiled one and had to stop from exhaustion! The few references in Hemp for Victory alone would go a long way to change Harris' tone, but the NYT is not noted for in-depth research. Harris, speaking of a cannabis derived drug Marinol, goes on to state: "Although a few small-scale studies done decades ago suggest that smoked marijuana may prove effective whenb Marinol does not, no conclusive research has confirmed this finding."

No conclusive research. Thousands of years of experience down the drain because one NYT hack cannot be bothered to read...

The article does, however, conclusively show that "federal authorities have repeatedly failed to act on marijuana research requests in a timely manner or have denied them, according to a 2007 ruling by an administrative law judge at the Drug Enforcement Agency." Quoted in the piece is Shirley Simpson of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), who tells the NYT: "We generally do not fund research focused on the potential beneficial medical effects of marijuana."

Perhaps that is because if they did they would have to admit the truth; and that would be a blow to many drug companies; of which more to come, including indside information on the Pfizer research protocols on their latest athritis drug that has been causing severe damage to lab rats, now undergoing clinical trials in New Haven on humans...