By Alan Shackelford, M.D.
Angela O. was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and has undergone a lumpectomy and radiation therapy. She has also been treated with a variety of different medications, including Taxol, a plant-derived medication that is used to prevent the spread of breast cancer cells. Mary B. was also diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and underwent a radical mastectomy followed by chemotherapy that caused such severe nausea that she was unable to eat until she was provided a different plant-derived medication that stopped her nausea completely within minutes of using it. There is little difference in the effectiveness of either of their medications, but a world of difference in their status. Taxol can be prescribed by any doctor, while Mary’s medication—an extract of the cannabis plant—is considered by the federal government to have “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States,” and has been classified as a Schedule I drug by the DEA since 1970—along with LSD, heroin and psilocybin mushrooms.
Yet, in October, 2003, patent number 6,630,507 was issued to the Department of Health and Human Services by the U.S. Patent Office for the use of cannabis compounds as neuroprotectants that could treat or possibly even prevent Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and HIV-related dementia, and limit damage to the nervous system from trauma and strokes.
In yet another twist, after years of supporting the Schedule I classification, the American College of Physicians—the second-largest physician’s organization in the United States with 129,000 members—acknowledged in 2008 the medical benefits of cannabis and called on the DEA to remove cannabis from its current status to allow research and clinical studies. In late 2009, the largest physician group in the U.S., the American Medical Association (AMA), took a very similar position, reversing a long-held opinion.
How is it, then, that cannabis can be considered to have “no currently accepted medical use” on one hand, but might prevent Alzheimer’s disease on the other? The answer is as complex and convoluted as any mystery novel, with twists, turns and surprises and a cast of heroes, villains and innocent bystanders caught up in the action.
In coming issues we will explore the long history of how people have used cannabis as a medicine, the kinds of illnesses it can treat and the medical research that supports its use, potential side effects and conditions for which cannabis might not be the most appropriate treatment as well as future research.
Alan Shackelford, M.D., graduated from the University of Heidelberg School of Medicine and trained at major teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School in internal medicine, nutritional medicine and hyperalimentation, and behavioral medicine. He is principle physician for Intermedical Consulting, LLC and Amarimed of Colorado, LLC and can be contacted at Amarimed.com.
