Marijuana Initiative

Hall, W. and Degenhardt, L. (2003) Medical marijuana initiatives are they justified How successful are they likely to be CNS Drugs. 17 689-697. 

In 1997 the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), General Barry McCaffrey, faced a big public relations problem. Even though McCaffrey, several former presidents, and many others lobbied against medical marijuana initiatives in California and Arizona, the citizens of those states voted to legalize medical marijuana. McCaffrey stuck to his conviction that marijuana was not medicine and vowed that the federal government would prosecute patients and doctors who broke federal marijuana laws. 

ONDCP has devoted significant resources to discouraging marijuana use, especially among young people. In Chapter 2, the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Initiative begun in 1998 was described, which was primarily designed to reduce youth use of marijuana. In 2002, ONDCP began a Marijuana Initiative. The... 

ONDCP has also opposed medical marijuana initiatives. In a March 24, 2003, Press Release regarding proposed legislation in Maryland, Drug Czar Walters said, Research has not demonstrated that smoked marijuana is safe and effective medicine. Legalizing smoked marijuana under the guise of medicine is scientifically irresponsible and contradictory to our high standards for approval of medications. In a June 6, 2005, Press Release issued after a Supreme Court decision on medical marijuana, Walters stated ... 

Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2005. White House Office of National Drug Control Policy National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, Marijuana Initiative, http //www.mediacampaign.org/marijuana/marijuana.html. 

Psychosocial and environmental factors play a major role in the development and recovery from opioid dependence however, a detailed discussion is beyond the scope of this chapter. In general, the use of such drugs as marijuana and alcohol precedes the use of opioids (Clayton and Voss 1981 Kandel and Faust 1975). Although one cannot predict definitively which users will proceed to opioid use, those who do generally have low self-esteem, disrupted families, and/or difficult relationships with their parents. The increased availability of opioids in inner cities of major urban centers contributes to initiation of use and relapse. It is particularly difficult to avoid use and relapse in areas with high unemployment, poor school systems, and high crime rates, because living in such an area may contribute to the very affects opioid use temporarily reheves. 

Marijuana produces a distinctive behavioral syndrome that is easily distinguished from that of most other drugs. The most prominent feature is the initial period of euphoria, or high, which has been described as a sense of well-being and happiness. Euphoria is frequently followed by a period of drowsiness or sedation. Perception of time is altered, along with distortions in both hearing and vision. However, illusions and hallucinations occur infrequently. The subjective effects also include dissociation of ideas. 

MAPS has sponsored efforts to initiate FDA-approved clinical trials, is studying the use of vaporizers to heat marijuana but not bum it, and is seeking pemiission to start a medical marijuana production facility. 

In 1996, California voters enacted a ballot proposition called the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. This initiative exempted from California anti-marijuana laws a patient or his or her primary caregiver who cultivates or possesses marijuana for medical purposes, providing such use had been recommended by a physician. 

Randall, Blanchard, IV. Medical Use of Marijuana Policy and Regulatory Issues. Washington, D.C. Congressional Research Service, 2002. Describes the development of the medical marijuana issue and summarizes and analyzes policy issues. Government regulatory decisions, congressional proposals, and state ballot initiatives are also discussed. 

Koch, Kathy. Medical Marijuana. CQ Researcher, August 20, 1999, pp. 705-728. Covers the medical marijuana movement, state initiatives, and the question of legality of cannabis buyers clubs. 

Cannabinoids Hashish Marijuana Psychoactive drugs with mixed (stimulant and depressant] activity Smoked possible oral ingestion Initial response euphoria, excitement, increased perception later response relaxation, stupor, dreamlike state Endocrine changes (decreased testosterone in males] and changes in respiratory function similar to chronic ... 

The concept of d-SoCs comes to us in commonsense form, as well as in terms of my initial research interests, from people s experiences of radically altered states of consciousness-states like drunkenness, dreaming, marijuana intoxication, certain meditative states. These represent such radical shifts in the patterning, the system properties of consciousness, that most people experiencing them are forced to notice that the state of their consciousness is quite different, even... 

In its National Drug Threat Assessment 2002, the National Drug Intelligence Center reported that adolescents tend to initially experiment with four substances alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, and marijuana. 

The OPPS, initiated in 197 8, is examining the effects of cannabis and tobacco use in low-risk, white, predominantly middle-class families from pregnancy to young adulthood. The OPPS study suggests that in utero exposure to marijuana affects performance in tasks related to problem-solving situations, which require visual integration and analytical skills as well as sustained attention (Fried, 2002 Smith et al., 2006). 

The MHPCD, initiated in 1982, is focusing upon the consequences of prenatal use of marijuana, alcohol, and cocaine. The subjects in this high-risk cohort are of low socioeconomic status and just over half are African American. Alterations in growth, cognitive development, temperament, and emotionality have been reported in offspring up to the age of 10 (Goldschmidt et al., 2000). 

As discussed above, marijuana contains four constituents (viz,I-IV) similar in structure and chemical properties whereas the metabolites are more polar and in the case of V and VI, more acidic than I. Thus it seemed plausible that I-IV could be separated from V and VI in plasma based upon pH adjustment and solvent extraction properties. Compounds I-IV were found to be extractable at ambient pH of 7.4 using petroleum ether whereas V and VI could be extracted at pH 4.1 using 99 1, benzene isopropanol. Once the initial plasma separation was effected a chromatographic separation was feasible using normal phase conditions for I-IV and reverse phase conditions for V and VI. Each technique is detailed in the following sections. 

A very substantial majority (68%) of these users reported that marijuana disdncdy enhanced their sexuality. Even more interesting, 50% of the women and 39% of the men revealed that it actually excited their initial interest, sharpened their sexual desire—again, only when smoked with a desirable sexual partner. If smoked with someone deemed distasteful, they said, marijuana accentuates the feeling of distaste. Sex actually became repugnant. "It s not like alcohol, which often numbs a person to the unpleasant aspects of his partner," Dr. Goode commented. 

---