Thursday 9 March 2017

Sam Contakos | Truth that marijuana is dangerous can no longer be denied



What has long been known empirically has now been confirmed scientifically. Although evident for centuries, the adverse effects of marijuana use have been ignored and often denied by the cognoscente of “weed.”

Its classification as a hallucinogenic and a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substance Act of 1970 and the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 has been ignored.

So, too, has been the vast scientific literature concerning its effect upon the immune system as well as the amotivational syndrome and its detrimental effects upon youth.

A recent study by Jodi Gilman, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and Hans Brieter, from Massachusetts General Hospital, using the most modern equipment to image brain function made some amazing discoveries.

There were significant differences in many parts of the brain between users and non-users. Brain regions related to decision-making, motivation, and emotional processing in users at the time their brains were still developing. The differences in the nucleus accumbems and amygdala were significant and noteworthy.

Marijuana use in the young creates a hole in the psyche. Whether this can be reversed by abstinence or age has yet to be determined.

In 1951, Congressman Hale Boggs of Louisiana sponsored the Boggs Act, setting significant mandatory sentencing for drug users. First offenders caught with cocaine, heroin (opiates) or marijuana would receive 2 to 5 years; second offenders 5 to 10 years; third offenders, 10 to 20 years.

The Narcotic Control Act of 1956 stiffened the mandatory sentences: 2 to 10 years for first time drug possession; 5 to 10 years for a second offense with no parole; and 10 to 40 years for a third with no parole.

For pushers: first offense, 5 to 20 years, no parole, and thereafter 10 to 40 years without parole.

Dealers caught selling heroin to minors could face the death penalty.

Unfortunately, many presidents have not had the courage to enforce federal law.

Addicts must realize the dangers to the unborn or newborn infant. Dr. Peter A. Fried, professor of psychology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, did extensive research on the effects of marijuana on the human fetus (1978-1983). His findings included exaggerated tremors, vision problems, startle reflexes, premature births and increased tremors in arms, legs and lower jaws
As for the states that allow legal marijuana usage, not all is as wonderful as reported. Consider:
• Most marijuana sold in dispensaries as medicine is the same quality and carries the same health risks as that sold on the street. (NIDA December 2014)
• Medical marijuana states are at the top of the list in terms of use, drug addiction and abuse among 12 to 17 year olds.
• Marijuana negatively affects motivation, memory and learning. (NIDA March 2014)
• Students with an average grade of D or less were four times as likely to have used marijuana in the past year than those who had A averages. (SAMHSA July 2002)
• One in six teens who try marijuana become addicted. (NIDA March 2014)
• The Colorado Post reported that, in 2009, medical marijuana card holders rose from 1,000 to over 108,000.
• The American Medical Association, in 2013, reaffirmed that cannabis is a dangerous drug and as such is a public health concern, and the sale of cannabis should not be legalized.

Recently GW Pharmaceutical, a British company, has been “focused on developing and commercializing novel therapeutics from its proprietary cannabinoid product platform.” But it also agreed that further testing was needed.

Bial, centered in Portugal, had a cannabinoid tested in Rennes, France, by Biotrial, a French drug evaluation company. Initial human studies resulted in at least one death and several subjects with irreversible brain damage.

Biotrial reported that animal studies had not raised any red flags. But it lied.

The newspaper Le Figaro learned that a “number” of dogs had died and others had suffered neurological damage in a preclinical trial. The manufacturer, Bial, has refused to reveal details of the preclinical trials on dogs before it was tested on people by Biotrial.

Dominique Martin, head of the National Drug Safety Agency, told Le Figaro, “(We) have given all the information we can, but there is an issue of industrial property. The term industrial property has been used by GW and other pharmaceutical companies to hide unknown effects.

Dr. Neil Capretto, medical director of Gateway Rehabilitation in Aliquippa, Beaver County, stated, “The FDA medication-approved process is a very rigorous process that helps ensure effectiveness, standardization of dosage and administration, and safety.

Declaring marijuana a medication without due processes is, in my opinion, to practice a poor and unsafe standard of medicine.”

One hopes that President Donald Trump has the courage to enforce the law and protect our youth, thus protecting the nation. We must not succumb to the tears and false claims of parents who are addicted and wish to pass on their sins to their children.

I sympathize with Trump who has inherited an ineffective national security that has allowed fentanyl to enter the country freely from China.

May God forgive all and bless the generations to come.

Sam Contakos of Johnstown is a retired businessman and former practicing physician.

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