    |
||||||||||||||||||
| Cannabis Research A to Z | ||||||||||||||||||
| How to use this site Please choose a letter or use search Click Here |
||||||||||||||||||
Cannabis as a medical treatment for
attention deficit disorder
"Why
would anyone want to give their child an expensive pill... with
unacceptable side effects, when he or she could just go into the
backyard, pick a few leaves off a plant and make tea for him or her
instead? Cannabinoids are a very viable alternative to treating
adolescents with ADD and ADHD"
WASHINGTON -
As a California pediatrician and 49-year-old mother of two teenage
daughters, Claudia Jensen says pot might prove to be the preferred
medical treatment for attention deficit disorder - even in
adolescents.
While
some wonder whether Jensen was smoking some wacky weed herself, the
clinician for low-income patients and professor to first-year medical
students at the University of Southern California said her beliefs
are very grounded: The drug helps ease the symptomatic mood swings,
lack of focus, anxiety and irritability in people suffering from
neuropsychiatric disorders like ADD and attention
deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
"Cannabinoids
are a very viable alternative to treating adolescents with ADD and
ADHD.I have a lot of adult patients who swear by it."
Under
California state law, physicians are allowed to recommend to patients
the use of cannabis to treat illnesses, although the federal
government has maintained that any use of marijuana - medicinal or
otherwise - is illegal. The federal courts have ruled that physicians
like Jensen cannot be prosecuted for making such recommendations.
Jensen
said she regularly writes prescriptions recommending the use of
cannabis for patients -particularly those suffering pain and nausea
from chronic illnesses, such as AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and
arthritis.
She has also worked with one family of a 15-year-old - whose family had tried every drug available to help their son, who by age 13 had become a problem student diagnosed as suffering from ADHD. Under Jensen's supervision, he began cannabis treatment, settling it on in food and candy form, and he has since found equilibrium and regularly attends school.
But
not everyone is so high on the idea of pot for students with
neurological illnesses. Subcommittee Chairman Mark Souder, R-Ind.,
who invited Jensen to testify after reading about her ideas in the
newspaper, was hardly convinced by her testimony.
"I
do believe that Dr. Jensen really wants to help her patients, but I
think she is deeply misguided when she recommends cannabis to
teenagers with attention deficit disorder or hyperactivity," he
told Foxnews.com. "There is no serious scientific basis for
using marijuana to treat those conditions, and Dr. Jensen did not
even try to present one."
Dr.
Tom O'Connell, a retired chest surgeon who now works with patients
at a Bay Area clinic for patients seeking medical marijuana
recommendations, is working on it. He said cannabis not only helps
pain, but also can treat psychological disorders. He is currently
conducting a study of hundreds of his patients, whom he said he
believes have been self-medicating with pot and
other drugs for years, and he hopes to publish a paper on the subject
soon.
"My
work with cannabis patients is certainly not definitive at this
point, but it strongly suggests that the precepts upon which cannabis
prohibition have been based are completely spurious," O'Connell
said. Worse yet, he added, the prohibition has successfully kept
certain adolescents away from pot who now turn to tobacco and alcohol
instead.
Jensen,
who said she believes Souder invited her to testify to "humiliate
me and incriminate me in some way," suggested that a growing
body of evidence is being developed to back medical cannabis chiefly
for chronic pain and nausea. She said it is difficult, however, for
advocates like herself to get the funding and permission to conduct
government-recognized tests on ADD/ADHD patients.
"Unfortunately,
no pharmaceutical companies are motivated to spend the money on
research, and the United States government has a monopoly on the
available cannabis and research permits," she told Congress.
Studies done on behalf of the government, including the 1999
Institute of Medicine's "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the
Science Base," found that cannabis delivers effective THC and
other cannabinoids that serve as pain relief and nausea-control
agents. But these same studies warn against the dangers of smoking
cannabis and suggest other FDA-approved drugs are preferable.
"We
know all too well the dangerous health risks that accompany
(smoking)," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking member on
the subcommittee, who like Souder, was not impressed by Jensen's
arguments. "It flies in the face of responsible medicine to
advocate a drug that had been known to have over 300 carcinogens and
has proven to be as damaging to the lungs as cigarette smoking,"
added Jennifer Devallance, spokeswoman for the White House Office of
Drug Control Policy.
The
government points to Food and Drug Administration-approved Marinol, a
THC-derived pill that acts as a stand-in for marijuana. But many
critics say there are nasty side effects, and it is too expensive
for the average patient.
On
the other hand, Jensen and others say cannabinoids can be made into
candy form, baked into food or boiled into tea. They say that despite
the FDA blessing, giving kids amphetamines like Ritalin for
ADD and other behavioral disorders might be more dangerous.
"Ritalin
is an amphetamine - we have all of these youngsters running around on
speed," said Keith Stroup, spokesman for the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
"Although
it flies in the face of conventional wisdom, it’s nevertheless true
that cannabis is far safer and more effective than the prescription
agents currently advocated for treatment of ADD-ADHD," O'Connell
said.
Stroup
said if Souder's intention was to harangue Jensen, he was
unsuccessful in the face of her solid and articulate testimony on
April 1."It was a good day for her, and a good day for medical
marijuana in Congress," he said.
Nick
Coleman, a subcommittee spokesman, said Souder does not "try to
humiliate people.
"But
to promote medical cannabis for teenagers with ADD... he does not
feel that is a sound and scientific medical practice," Coleman
said. While the issue of treating adolescents with medical marijuana
is fairly new, the idea of using pot to treat chronically and
terminally ill patients is not. Nine states currently have laws
allowing such practices. A number of lawmakers on both sides of the
aisle have added that they want the states to decide for themselves
whether to pursue medical marijuana laws.
Among
those lawmakers are Reps. Ron Paul, R-Texas, a physician; Dana
Rohrabacher, R-Calif.; and Barney Frank, D-Mass. "(Rep. Paul)
believes there are some legitimate applications," like for pain
and nausea, said spokesman Jeff Deist. "But the real issue is
that states should decide for themselves."
What are the possible side effects of Ritalin (methylphenidate)?
Get emergency medical help if you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat.
Stop taking methylphenidate and call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects:
Less serious side effects may include:
This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Tell your doctor about any unusual or bothersome side effect. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
What is the most important information I should know about methylphenidate?
Do not use methylphenidate if you have used an MAO inhibitor such as isocarboxazid (Marplan), tranylcypromine (Parnate), phenelzine (Nardil), rasagiline (Azilect), or selegiline (Eldepryl, Emsam) within the past 14 days. Serious, life-threatening side effects can occur if you use methylphenidate before the MAO inhibitor has cleared from your body.
Do not use this medication if you are allergic to methylphenidate or if you have glaucoma, overactive thyroid, severe high blood pressure, tics or Tourette's syndrome, angina, heart failure, heart rhythm disorder, recent heart attack, a hereditary condition such as fructose intolerance, glucose-galactose malabsorption, or sucrase-isomaltase deficiency, or severe anxiety, tension, or agitation.
Methylphenidate may be habit-forming and should be used only by the person it was prescribed for. Methylphenidate should never be shared with another person, especially someone who has a history of drug abuse or addiction. Keep the medication in a secure place where others cannot get to it.
Post A Comment  This strain of cannabis helps in the treatment of ADD/ADHD 
   |
||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||
| Cannabis Research A to Z | ||||||||||||||||||
| How to use this site Please choose a letter or use search Click Here |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Made possible by Linux,
the Open Source Movement, and
the Open Content Alliance.
Special thanks to
 Hemp Houses Are Growing In South Africa
On
a few acres of land you can grow enough hemp for all your building
materials for a large house. Hempcrete is here to stay. It can also
Hemp as paint & plastic,
Hemp as fuel, Hemp paper, Hemp Oil for skin & Hair, and Hemp seeds which are drug-free and extremely nutritious. So you see, there are multiple purposes without the endorsement of the drug itself |
 Superlocker 250watt Grow Box Cabinet Closet System Product Description
66"x15"x24" 150W fully
automated grow box with everything you need to begin growing within 90
minutes of receiving the product. Grow 1-8 plants up to 3ft tall in the
8-Plant SuperPonics. Harbor 10-clones in the cloning area illumated by
a 20-Watt T-5 light. Best Airflow and Odor Filtration with included
internal circulation fans and filters. Manage your plants with an
internal net trellis.
Product Details
Features
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment