Scientists and medical experts from around the world recently gathered at a conference to learn more about marijuana’s various medicinal properties. It is the belief of the attendees that chemical compounds found in marijuana promise to ease the symptoms of glaucoma, the wasting syndrome associated with AIDS, spastic disorders, the nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy, arthritis — and most dramatically — severe brain injury. While both NORML and a variety of scientific researchers have endorsed cannabis’ therapeutic properties for several years, the possibility that marijuana may have medical utility in the treatment of head trauma is a relatively new concept.
Esther Shohami, a senior lecturer in the department of pharmacology at Hebrew University in Israel, stated that animal and other tests of a synthetic compound called Dexanabinol seem to reduce the impact of brain trauma, such as that suffered in car accidents. Shohami said that less paralysis and memory damage occurs if patients are administered the cannabinoid compound. The patient’s improvement is “not marginal. It’s significant,” she asserted.
Conference speakers also addressed the effectiveness of Marinol — a THC-based synthetic drug occasionally prescribed for easing nausea in cancer patients. Many researchers noted that whole cannabis could be more effective than Marinol because there exists many medicinal properties in cannabis other than THC.
Two members of NORML’s Board of Directors, Dr. John P. Morgan of CUNY Medical School and Dr. Lynn Zimmer of Queens College in New York attended the symposium.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre of NORML @ (202) 483-5500.