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UC studies find promise in medical marijuana
As an $8.7-million state research effort comes to
an end, investigators report that cannabis can
significantly relieve neuropathic pain and reduce
muscle spasms in MS patients. More research is
urged.
By John Hoeffel
February 18, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-medical-marijuana18-2010feb18,0,1023346.story?track=rss
With an innovative but little-known state program
to study medical marijuana about to run out of
money, researchers and political supporters said
Wednesday the results show promise.
"It should take all the mystery out of whether it
works. We've got the results," said former state
Sen. John Vasconcellos, who led the effort to
create the 10-year-old Center for Medicinal
Cannabis Research.
The center has nearly spent its $8.7-million
allocation, sponsoring 14 studies at UC campuses,
including the first clinical trials of smoked
marijuana in the United States in more than two
decades.
Much of the research is still underway or under
review, but five studies have been published in
scientific journals. Four showed that cannabis
can significantly relieve neuropathic pain and
one found that vaporizers are an effective way to
use marijuana. Another study, submitted for
publication, found that marijuana can reduce
muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis patients.
Dr. Igor Grant, a neuropsychiatrist at UC San
Diego who is the center's director, called the
pain studies "pretty convincing" and urged the
federal government to pay for additional clinical
studies.
With the state stuck in a daunting budget crisis,
even the center's advocates do not expect more
support. "There is no state money at this time,
unfortunately," said state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San
Francisco).
Since the center opened in 2000, medical
marijuana use has spread rapidly in California,
driven largely by doctors' willingness to
recommend it for a wide range of ailments. But
little research has been done on its
effectiveness, in part because researchers must
win approval from federal agencies, including the
Drug Enforcement Administration.
Grant said federal officials did not try to
thwart the research, but noted that approval
typically took 18 months. "We basically did a lot
of the work for investigators in terms of jumping
through the hoops," he said.
The unusual scientific program, approved by the
Legislature in 1999, was the result of
negotiations between Vasconcellos and former
Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren. The two were vigorous
adversaries in the contentious debate over the
1996 initiative that approved the use of medical
marijuana.
Lungren, now a Republican congressman from Gold
River, argued that Californians were moving ahead
without the research needed to show whether
marijuana was useful as a medicine. "I said at
that time, if we had scientific evidence, we
ought to be guided by scientific evidence," he
said.
"I was shrewd enough to pick up on Lungren's
'Let's do research,' " Vasconcellos said. Lungren
said he was shrewd enough to accept.
Lungren said the results are helpful, but
underscore that medical marijuana should be more
tightly controlled and used only where it has
been proven effective.
The center funded a range of research, including
six studies of whether marijuana reduces
neuropathic pain, which is caused by a damaged or
abnormally functioning nervous system. A UC San
Francisco study of patients with HIV-related pain
found that 52% of those who smoked marijuana
experienced significant relief.
"I think that clearly cannabis has benefits,"
said Dr. Donald I. Abrams, a San Francisco
oncologist who led that study. "This substance
has been a medicine for 2,700 years; it only
hasn't been a medicine for 70."
Abrams doubts that the research will alter the
debate over marijuana. "Science has not been
driving this train for a long time now. I think
it's all politics," he said.
Grant was more optimistic: "We have a different
administration, and they are looking at the
science basis of many things."
He said the research shows marijuana should no
longer be classified as a Schedule I drug. "It is
not a drug without value," he said.
john.hoeffel@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times
As an $8.7-million state research effort comes to
an end, investigators report that cannabis can
significantly relieve neuropathic pain and reduce
muscle spasms in MS patients. More research is
urged.
By John Hoeffel
February 18, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-medical-marijuana18-2010feb18,0,1023346.story?track=rss
With an innovative but little-known state program
to study medical marijuana about to run out of
money, researchers and political supporters said
Wednesday the results show promise.
"It should take all the mystery out of whether it
works. We've got the results," said former state
Sen. John Vasconcellos, who led the effort to
create the 10-year-old Center for Medicinal
Cannabis Research.
The center has nearly spent its $8.7-million
allocation, sponsoring 14 studies at UC campuses,
including the first clinical trials of smoked
marijuana in the United States in more than two
decades.
Much of the research is still underway or under
review, but five studies have been published in
scientific journals. Four showed that cannabis
can significantly relieve neuropathic pain and
one found that vaporizers are an effective way to
use marijuana. Another study, submitted for
publication, found that marijuana can reduce
muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis patients.
Dr. Igor Grant, a neuropsychiatrist at UC San
Diego who is the center's director, called the
pain studies "pretty convincing" and urged the
federal government to pay for additional clinical
studies.
With the state stuck in a daunting budget crisis,
even the center's advocates do not expect more
support. "There is no state money at this time,
unfortunately," said state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San
Francisco).
Since the center opened in 2000, medical
marijuana use has spread rapidly in California,
driven largely by doctors' willingness to
recommend it for a wide range of ailments. But
little research has been done on its
effectiveness, in part because researchers must
win approval from federal agencies, including the
Drug Enforcement Administration.
Grant said federal officials did not try to
thwart the research, but noted that approval
typically took 18 months. "We basically did a lot
of the work for investigators in terms of jumping
through the hoops," he said.
The unusual scientific program, approved by the
Legislature in 1999, was the result of
negotiations between Vasconcellos and former
Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren. The two were vigorous
adversaries in the contentious debate over the
1996 initiative that approved the use of medical
marijuana.
Lungren, now a Republican congressman from Gold
River, argued that Californians were moving ahead
without the research needed to show whether
marijuana was useful as a medicine. "I said at
that time, if we had scientific evidence, we
ought to be guided by scientific evidence," he
said.
"I was shrewd enough to pick up on Lungren's
'Let's do research,' " Vasconcellos said. Lungren
said he was shrewd enough to accept.
Lungren said the results are helpful, but
underscore that medical marijuana should be more
tightly controlled and used only where it has
been proven effective.
The center funded a range of research, including
six studies of whether marijuana reduces
neuropathic pain, which is caused by a damaged or
abnormally functioning nervous system. A UC San
Francisco study of patients with HIV-related pain
found that 52% of those who smoked marijuana
experienced significant relief.
"I think that clearly cannabis has benefits,"
said Dr. Donald I. Abrams, a San Francisco
oncologist who led that study. "This substance
has been a medicine for 2,700 years; it only
hasn't been a medicine for 70."
Abrams doubts that the research will alter the
debate over marijuana. "Science has not been
driving this train for a long time now. I think
it's all politics," he said.
Grant was more optimistic: "We have a different
administration, and they are looking at the
science basis of many things."
He said the research shows marijuana should no
longer be classified as a Schedule I drug. "It is
not a drug without value," he said.
john.hoeffel@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times
