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4A – Daily News – Monday, May 10, 2010 Vitality & health CHICAGO (MCT) — In about a dozen states, you can smoke a joint if you have cancer or HIV and meet certain conditions, like having a doctor's note. In California, you can light up if you have just about anything _ headaches, anxiety, epilepsy — and a physician's okay. Illinois could join these states as legislators consider a bill that would allow patients to use marijuana as medicine so long as they have one of 14 conditions and illnesses, from cancer to Crohn's Disease. But interviews with sci- entists and physicians and a review of medical literature reveal scant evidence that marijuana is a safe and effective treatment for most of those 14. A handful of uses in the Latino Outreach receives award Latino Outreach of Tehama County, which serves Tehama, Glenn, Butte and Colusa counties, received a $10,000 award from Sierra Health Foundation in part- nership with The California Endowment. The award is part of more than $76,000 in awards to eight minority-led nonprofit organizations in Northern California to support organizational capacity building and leadership development activities. The eight non- profits serve a total of 10 counties. bill — like pain suffered by people with HIV and cancer — are supported by some solid scientific evidence. But none meet the stan- dards, such as multiple, large, well-designed clinical trials, required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administra- tion in approving new drugs. Applebee’s is racing up Purple! We are raising money for Breast Cancer Awareness by donating 15% of our sales to “RELAY FOR LIFE” from 5pm to 9pm on Wednesday May 12th Come in and be a part of our fundraiser. "What defines a medi- cine? And how do we bring medicines to market?" said Dr. Eric A. Voth, chairman of the Institute on Global Drug Policy. "And we do not bring them through the legislative vote process and say: Here we deem this as medicine." 220 Antelope Blvd. (530) 527-6164 We look forward to seeing you! And yet the momentum across the U.S. leans toward legalizing medical marijua- na, with bills being weighed from Pennsylvania to Ohio. On Tuesday, the District of Columbia Council passed a measure that legalizes med- ical cannabis. Advocates are also championing a change in federal law. In the world of medicine, there's nothing quite like pot. It's a medicine sold with names like Haze ($160 an ounce at one California dispensary) and Grand Daddy Purple ($300 an ounce) and descriptions like "get lifted and be happy," a stigmatized plant with ther- apeutic promise that few want to study because it remains illegal on the feder- al level and a drug that rais- es concerns because you have to smoke it. "We need more science and we need to treat it like a medicine," said Allan Young, a professor of psy- chiatry at the University of British Columbia who is St. Elizabeth Community Hospital A member of CHW Celebrating National Hospital Week Ask about our Open Fit Technology Discreet and Comfortable Red Bluff Community Center 1500 So. Jackson Thank you to our medical staff, employees, volunteers and donors. Their dedication and hard work continually exceeds our patient’s expectations each and every time. 2550 Sister Mary Columba Drive Red Bluff, CA 96080 530.529.8000 redbluff.mercy.org Wed., May 12, 2010 10:00 am - 3:00 pm 1-800-488-9906 Appointments CALL Limited conducting a trial examin- ing the effect of chemicals in marijuana on bipolar dis- order. Advocates say they are only trying to decriminalize use of the plant by sick peo- ple who have failed to gain relief from pharmaceutical drugs. Under the Illinois bill, patients with permis- sion from the state and a physician would be able to possess two ounces of dried marijuana or grow a small number of plants. "These sick people are looking for compassion," said Dan Linn, executive director of the Illinois Cannabis Patients Associa- tion. "And if treatment includes cannabis, in Illi- nois, should we consider these people criminals?" Illinois rep. Lou Lang, a sponsor of the Illinois bill, said: "We have to think of this as a product, not a drug. Not as a menace. Nobody has ever died from an over- dose of marijuana." But there is reason to worry that marijuana could actually prove harmful for patients with some of the conditions it is supposed to treat. Take glaucoma, a dis- ease listed in the Illinois bill and often cited by advocates because marijuana can lower the pressure inside the eye. Increased eye pressure is a common feature of glaucoma, and can lead to damage of the optic nerve and blindness. "They think that even if this unconventional therapy doesn't work that it can't possibly hurt their disease," said ophthalmologist Dr. James Tsai, chairman of the Department of Ophthalmol- fitness Medical marijuana: Pot of gold or pipe dream? MCT photo Mike Bruce, of Livonia, Mich., smokes medical marijuana at the Green Leaf, April 29. Bruce says it has cut his use of other prescription medications down by half. ogy and Visual Science at Yale University School of Medicine and chairman of the medical advisory board at The Glaucoma Founda- tion. "However, studies sug- gest that it might be in fact damaging to do so." Marijuana only lowers pressure for several hours, requiring patients to contin- uously medicate day and night, glaucoma experts said. Failing to do so can lead to a rebound spike in eye pressure, which can be damaging. Marijuana also can lower blood pressure, which can damage the optic nerve. In February, the Journal of Glaucoma ran an editori- al warning against using pot to treat glaucoma. Epilepsy is another dis- ease commonly cited by advocates as treatable because marijuana is sus- pected to have anti-seizure properties. But ask epilepsy experts and they will tell another story. "Statistically, there is no evidence that it is effective when used as a therapeutic agent and, besides, it has more side effects than other anti-seizure medications available," said neurologist Dr. Stephan Schuele, med- ical director of the North- western University Com- prehensive Epilepsy Center. There are serious con- cerns, said neurologist Dr. Alan Ettinger, Epilepsy Director of Neurological Surgery P.C. in Rockville Center, N.Y., and a member of the executive board of The National Epilepsy Foundation. First, he said, withdrawal among chronic users with epilepsy can cause severe exacerbations of the seizures. And, he said, some indi- viduals with epilepsy are struggling with depression, sleepiness and cognitive dif- ficulties to begin with. Mar- ijuana can compound these problems, he said. Like glaucoma and epilepsy, research is mixed when it comes to another commonly cited medical use of marijuana _ spastici- ty in people with multiple sclerosis, according to experts in the field. One trial in Europe found that objective mea- sures showed cannabis did not affect spasticity, even though patients thought it did, said neurologist Dr. Carlo Pozzilli, director of the Multiple Sclerosis Cen- ter in Rome, Italy, who has conducted research on cannabis and multiple scle- rosis. It did, however, affect pain. Professional Personal Convenient • Premium Digital Hearing Aids for every budget • FREE hearing evaluations • Service/Repair, all makes and models • Batteries & accessories • Preferred provider for most insurance plans: Including PERS, Carpenters, Blue Cross/ Blue Shield, etc. • Low monthly payment plan available • Trial Period/ Satisfaction Guaranteed Performed for proper amplification selection only. "This is the gap between what the patients say and what the doctor sees in terms of objectivity," Pozzilli said. "This is the big problem of cannabis as a therapeutic." Advocates say marijua- na can be a safe and effec- tive alternative to FDA- approved pharmaceuticals, which can come with their own addiction problems and side effects. Mike Gra- ham, a 47-year-old former restaurant manager from Manteno, Ill., said his degenerative disk disease left him bedridden with hor- rible nerve pain. "It is like getting hit by a baseball bat every time my heart beats," he said. "Boom. Boom. Boom. It doesn't stop." The painkillers he was taking, including a mor- phine pump, failed to man- age the pain but caused nau- sea and vomiting, he said. A hospice nurse suggested he try pot. He says it worked. Now he takes several puffs every three hours. "There is no euphoric feeling, but I can have a semblance of a life," said Graham, co- director of Illinois Safe Access. People long have sought out pot's positive effects, intriguing researchers. Could cannabinoids, which affect areas of the brain that control movement, help people with multiple sclero- sis control spasticity? Could the chemicals, which affect areas of the brain associated with stress, help veterans suffering from post-trau- matic stress disorder? In 1999, the Institute of Medicine released a report citing the promise of cannabinoids, recommend- ing short-term use of mari- juana for debilitating condi- tions like intractable pain or vomiting if, among other conditions, all other treat- ments have failed. The report mostly calls for more research on uses of cannabis. But since that report, relatively little work has been done.