Development & Aid, Environment, Tierramerica

Marijuana's Virtues Cast in Doubt

SANTIAGO, Jan 20 2003 (IPS) - “Weed” might relieve pain, control nausea and reduce stress, but in Latin America, only a handful of scientists and politicians advocate legalising marijuana for medical use.

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Marijuana is maintaining a presence in industrialised countries for therapeutic, or medical, use. But in Latin America it continues to be a banned substance and is demonised as the precursor to “hard drugs”. Only a few scientists and politicians in the region favour legalising it for medical use.

In Mexico and Brazil, lawmakers are preparing bills to legalise Cannabis sativa (the scientific name for marijuana) for medical treatment, while the Colombian government is planning a referendum to revoke the authorisation for personal consumption that has been in place since the 1970s.

Research conducted largely in Europe and North America shows that marijuana is effective in controlling the nausea and pain that often accompanies treatments for cancer and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).

The active chemical agent of the plant is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which can be ingested by smoking marijuana leaves or by taking prepared capsules. It is also used in treating glaucoma and to alleviate the pain associated with arthritis and multiple sclerosis, as well as serving as a tranquilliser and stress reliever.

The capsules are currently manufactured in the United States under the label Marinol.

The supposed merits of marijuana have been known for centuries. In 1545, King Philip II of Spain ordered Cannabis, or 'cáñamo' (hemp), to be planted throughout the empire. He was excited about the plant's medical properties and its uses in the production of paper, rope and crude clothing for the poor, who did not have access to fabrics made of cotton or linen.

In Brazil, legislative deputy Fernando Gabeira, of the ruling Workers Party (PT), plans to present a bill this year that would authorise marijuana for therapeutic ends.

Meanwhile, Mexican lawmaker Elías Moreno, of the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), has a similar bill ready. Although he announced the draft of the law last September, it has yet to be tabled.

Furthermore, the new leftist party 'Mexico Posible', which will participate in elections for the first time in the legislative balloting in July, announced that its political platform includes the decriminalisation of the trafficking and consumption of marijuana.

The aim, says the party, is to undercut the powerful drug trafficking rings, which benefit from the ban on the drug because illegality pushes prices up.

Marijuana was utilised in Colombia until the mid-twentieth century by the poorer strata of the population to relieve pain from rheumatism and arthritis. It was common to take a bottle of alcohol to the local police station to add confiscated marijuana and make a medicinal paste.

Following the legalisation of personal use of the drug, the custom of smoking marijuana for analgesic purposes began to spread, but this “alternative medical practice” occurs in Colombia without scientific or institutional controls.

The lack of laws about medical use of marijuana is common in Latin America, while anti-drugs regulations place high priority on fighting trafficking and consumption throughout the region, inspired by the U.S. doctrine of “zero tolerance”, and effectively halting debate on the topic.

Canada is the only country in the Americas where marijuana consumption is legal and is authorised for medical use, as it is in some U.S. states, despite the federal ban upheld by the Supreme Court in that country, psychiatrist Pedro Naveillán, president of the Chilean Institute of Mental Health, told Tierramérica.

Naveillán advocates legalising marijuana, due to its merits as a medication and because it reportedly does not cause addiction, as it has been found that most consumers of the drug quit after three or four years.

The factors leading to drug consumption and to official repression are social and cultural, says Naveillán, and addiction tends only to occur in individuals who are predisposed to substance dependence, he adds.

But an Argentine colleague, Oscar Ramírez, of the Gradiva Foundation, does not agree. He concedes that Cannabis sativa has sedative and calming properties, but says they are weaker than those of other drugs, and warns of “the precursor role that marijuana can play in relation to the use of other drugs.”

He is backed by Miguel Angel Astariz, doctor and director of the Argentine Edusalud Foundation: “Marijuana, in addition to altering behaviour and being harmful to health, is a drug that, like alcohol, serves as a precursor to the consumption of other more dangerous substances.”

In Peru, the ban on marijuana does not distinguish between its “recreational” and medical uses. Peruvian physicians Edmundo Hernández and Carlos San Martín acknowledged in a conversation with Tierramérica that the drug can alleviate the discomfort associated with chemotherapy among cancer patients, but they argue that there are several legal substances that produce similar effects.

Ophthalmologist Moisés Lu, director of the Peruvian Vision Institute, admits that marijuana has been proven effective in treating glaucoma, but stressed that “there are other eye medications on the market that are very effective, safe and easy to use.”

In Venezuela, since the enactment of the 1993 law on narcotics and psychoactive drugs, there have not been any formal requests to use marijuana for medical purposes, reports pharmacist Carmen Zambrano, head of the related department at the Directorate of Drugs and Cosmetics of the Venezuelan Ministry of Health.

Ranging from indifference to demonisation, the debate continues in Latin America about the medical use of marijuana. For now, there is consensus on only one point of the issue: it will be many years before consumption of Cannabis sativa is legalised in the region.

 
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