MEDICAL
QUOTES
"BEST DOCTORS IN AMERICA," written by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors
Steven Naifeh and Gregor W. Smith and a team of pollsters and interviewers,
compiled a list of 3,850 doctors nationwide of the physicians that doctors
would send their loved ones to. Included in that list were Dr. Emil J.
Bardana, Dr. William M. Bennett, Dr. John McAnuity, Dr. William Thomas
Shults, Dr. E. Michael Van Buskirk, who, concerned about the fallacy and
dangers of using smoked marijuana to treat disease, have provided the following
comments.
MULTIPLE
SCLEROSIS
-
"In the
absence of well designed, controlled clinical Studies, (of marijuana and
THC) no conclusion of benefits can be made for MS."
Stephen
C. Reingold, Ph.D.Vice President, Research and Medical Programs, National
Multiple Sclerosis Society; January 7, 1993
-
"While
early studies indicated that THC seemed to reduce extensor spasm in MS
patients, follow-up reports have not confirmed this benefit. A more recent
report has indicated that smoking marijuana impairs motor performance in
MS patients" National Medical Advisory Board, National
Multiple Sclerosis Society, Position Statement 1992
-
" I am
sorry to see anyone deluded by the false promise of relief from MS or its
symptoms by marijuana." Kenneth P. Johnson, MD,
Director of the Maryland Center for MS. Letter dated December 28, 1992
CANCER
AND AIDS
-
"In general,
patients with a damaged immune system are best served by not smoking anything
.... many other readily available FDA approved pharmaceutical products
are more efficacious and lack the above mentioned detrimental effects of
marijuana inhalation." David N. Gilbert, MD, Professor
of Medicine; Director, E.A. Chiles Research Institute; Director, Infectious
Diseases Research, Providence Medical Center; November 5, 1992
-
"Therefore,
not only would I be unwilling to prescribe marijuana (smoked) in patients
undergoing chemotherapy, I would attempt to dissuade such a patient from
utilizing it and to persuade them to use Marinol instead." Grover
C. Bagby, Jr., MD, Professor of Medicine and Molecular and Medical Genetics;
Head, Divisions of Hematology & Medical Oncology, OHSU October 2, 1991
CARDIOLOGY
-
"Those
who promote its use have not shown a particularly reassured approach to
evaluating the value of marijuana ... All of us would very much like to
help those who suffer, who are sick, who are in pain, who are bothered
by chronic nausea and vomiting. Any substantial clue that this approach
would help them would be reason for all of us to adopt its use in a moment.
I wait for the clue." John H. McAnulty, MD, Professor
of Medicine; Division of Cardiology, OHSU June 30, 1992
ALLERGY
AND IMMUNOLOGY
-
"There
is good scientific evidence that the consumption of a few marijuana cigarettes
has the potential to cause the same degree of epithelial damage and bronchitis
as a larger number of tobacco cigarettes ... It has also been demonstrated
that the combined use of marijuana and tobacco may be more harmful than
the use of either substance alone." Emil J. Bardana,
Jr., MD; Professor of Medicine; Head, Division of Allergy and Clinical
Immunology; Vice Chairman, Department of Medicine, OHSU; March 16, 1992
GLAUCOMA
-
" If any
of the standard methods of treating elevations of intraocular pressure
had side effects similar to those induced by therapeutic levels of marijuana
they would never be allowed to see the light of day by the FDA ... In short,
I can see no compelling reason whatsoever for the use of marijuana by patients
with glaucoma and believe that to propose such a use works a cruel hoax
on the public and especially those with a chronic ocular disease for which
many other better treatments are currently available." William
T. Shults, MD; Neuro Ophthalmologist, Devers Eye Institute; March 17, 1992
-
"The recommendation
to use marijuana is exactly analogous to the recommendation to ingest alcohol
and maintain a state of drunkenness to treat glaucoma ... there are still
some pockets of work attempting to develop cannabinoids that would diminish
intraocular pressure without the psychotropic effect, but those working
in that area have NO difficulty obtaining these compounds through legitimate
agencies." E. Michael Van Buskirk, MD; Director
of Glaucoma Service; Chairman, Dept. of Ophthalmology, Devers Eye Institute;
January 16, 1992
-
"All the
'old' arguments apply to marijuana, i.e., lack of standardization, the
multiplicity of ingredients that vary with habitat, non-uniformity of response,
unacceptable side effects (even in young, healthy volunteers, that would
not necessarily be as mild in an older, glaucomatous population), requirements
for continuous smoking on a daily basis for life that is counter to the
smoking cessation efforts of many (and certainly against the maintenance
of overall general health), and the absence of evidence of longer term
(or even short-term) beneficial effects of marijuana on visual field."
Kenneth Green, Ph.D., D.Sc., Regent's Professor of
Ophthalmology; Professor of Physiology; Director of Ophthalmic Research,
Department of Ophthalmology; October 28, 1991
-
"The problem
is that the side effects of it (smoked marijuana) are such that patients
on an effective dosage to control their intraocular pressure would not
be able to work around machinery, would have difficulty in any fine hand-eye
coordination, and a significant number would be dysfunctional in the work
place." F. T. Fraunfelder, MD, Professor and Chairman,
School of Medicine; Casey Eye Institute, OHSU; September 16, 1991
PULMONARY
-
"Furthermore,
I would maintain that its use (smoked marijuana) is contraindicated because
marijuana smoke is extremely irritating to the airways and may add additional
pulmonary problems in these very susceptible individuals. (She is speaking
of AIDS patients). Marijuana smoke is even more irritating to the airways
than tobacco smoke and leads to sever inflammation, mucus secretion and
bronchitis." A. Sonia Buist, MD, Professor of Medicine
Head, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, OHSU September 10, 1991
Compiled
by Sandra S. Bennett,
President,
Drug Watch International
Northwest
Center for Health & Safety
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