The Other Side: Time for feds to reschedule marijuana

By Kelvin Wade

 

Kelvin Wade: The Other Side

I was driving near my house a couple of weeks ago and saw a billboard advertising one of Sacramento’s many marijuana dispensaries. It still blows my mind that the weed I used to surreptitiously purchase in an Armijo bathroom decades ago can be bought by anyone 21 and older walking into one of the various weed stores. (Of course, not in Fairfield. Sorry.)

Despite my championing of medical and recreational marijuana, and despite my dalliances with the plant in my youth, I’ve never been a pothead. Anyone who knows me knows I prefer whiskey if I’m looking to relax. And while I supported Proposition 215, the 1996 Compassionate Use Act that legalized medical marijuana in California, I had no illusions about who the bulk of users would be.

I often wrote that the malady most medical marijuana users were trying to battle was sobriety.

But having been exposed to many people who use marijuana for a variety to illnesses and reading some of the tentative studies, America’s favorite Schedule l drug seems to have quite a few curative properties.

In a study published this week in the American Journal of Psychiatry cannabidiol, or CBD, a chemical derived from cannabis, has shown to be helpful in the treatment of heroin addiction. CBD reduced cravings for heroin and calmed anxiety for up to seven days after use. Using one illicit drug to help corral the addiction of another seems almost too good to be true. But it’s not the only study that shows this promise.

Having been someone treated with various opioids like morphine for years, I’ve recently began using cannabis for chronic pain and the results have been positive.

But I could write column after column filled with anecdotal stories. What we need, and the researchers behind the latest study say they need, is for marijuana to be rescheduled so it can be studied in depth.

Research on tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, CBD and other cannabinoids is hampered by the fact that the federal government still classifies marijuana in the same schedule as heroin. It doesn’t take a scientist to realize that these two drugs, their effects and addiction rate are nothing alike and marijuana retains its demonized status as a carryover from the reefer madness days. Researchers need that change to study them thoroughly.

It was a failure of President Barack Obama not to reschedule marijuana, believing he didn’t have the authority to order the Food and Drug Administration to reclassify the drug. It was more lack of political cover than political ability. Fortunately in this case, we have a president who could be the one to take that step. Telling Donald Trump that he could do something that Obama failed to do should be all the incentive he needs.

We need facts involving marijuana and chemicals derived from cannabis. We need to know what therapeutic properties it has and we also need to know the hazards. Too many pot advocates dismiss any negative properties but the science is the science and we need all the facts.

Right now many companies are pushing CBD oils and creams and making all sorts of claims about its curative powers that have not been tested or substantiated. There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence out there but what we need is peer-reviewed scientific studies so we can weed out (pun intended) the quacks looking to make a fast buck on people’s ignorance. We need those results so sick people aren’t sold false hope.

The World Health Organization has called for this change internationally and the United Nations is also tackling this issue. Why don’t we lead the way?

This isn’t a partisan political issue. Marijuana is used therapeutically and recreationally by a wide swath of Americans. Putting pressure on our representatives to reschedule and study marijuana will hopefully – eventually – lead to federal decriminalization of a much-maligned substance. Peace.