More marijuana research needed
The process of legalizing marijuana is a bit like driving a car down a road at night with the lights off — we’re not sure what dangers lie ahead and we’re not sure where this journey will end.
The use of marijuana is becoming more widespread, and legalization — whatever form it takes — seems inevitable. The federal government has promised to table legislation next spring that will legalize and regulate marijuana, leaving other levels of government to wrestle in the meantime with a proliferation of marijuana dispensaries.
New regulations concerning marijuana dispensaries come into effect this month in Victoria. Mayor Lisa Helps said the bylaws are intended to ensure people have access to their medicine, and not to enable recreational consumption.
Regardless of what steps municipalities take, until the federal government enacts its legislation, the issue will continue to be hazy. Ottawa’s new laws, we hope, will bring order and structure to the production, distribution and consumption of marijuana.
We hope also that Ottawa will heed the advice of a group of doctors, patients, health charities and scientists who have urged the government to study the health effects and potential therapeutic benefits of medical marijuana.
The Medical Cannabis Research Roundtable issued a report in May that calls on the government to invest $25 million over the next five years for the research. That amount is probably too modest.
“As our country embarks on a debate about the legalization of recreational marijuana, we should not lose sight of the need to invest in medical science and proper trials to better understand the impacts and effects of medical cannabis,” said roundtable chairman Dr. Jason McDougall, a professor of pharmacology and anesthesia at Dalhousie University in Halifax. “Physicians and patients are left with uncertainty about the potential therapeutic benefits of medical cannabis and particularly the potential to bring relief to those living with chronic pain.”
We’ve come a long way since Reefer Madness, a 1930s propaganda film that portrayed marijuana as a potent narcotic that instantly turns users into addicts prone to homicidal rages. We know now that alcohol is a far more dangerous drug, the misuse of which has resulted in untold misery.
We know also that someone who smokes a joint of marijuana should not be prosecuted as a criminal, any more than someone who has a beer or a cocktail.
And we know many people have found relief from pain and other health problems through the use of cannabis. Studies indicate medical marijuana might offer some relief for nerve pain, cancer-related pain or muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis.
The drug might help relieve arthritis symptoms, but Canada’s Arthritis Society wants to know for sure — it has committed at least $120,000 a year toward medical marijuana research.
As science increasingly points to evidence marijuana can help, it is also finding that it can harm, particularly the brains of young users and those prone to schizophrenia. The effects, good and bad, need to be studied and quantified.
When Europeans first became aware of tobacco, they saw it as a panacea, to the extent it was called the “holy herb” and “God’s remedy,” echoing claims we hear about marijuana today. It took several hundred years — and millions of lives cut short — to reveal tobacco’s harms.
That isn’t to say marijuana will be as harmful as tobacco, but let’s not wait that long to find out. As we drive down the road to marijuana legalization, let’s get a better understanding of where we’re going.