MediCann's Challenge to the Media

Online, March 14, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The standard "kneejerk" media take on medical cannabis is to tie it to illegal recreational use. This does a disservice to hundreds of thousands of people who could benefit from this much maligned and misunderstood medicine. Since 2004 when MediCann first began treating patients with medical cannabis, our network of physicians operating out of 21 clinics in California has successfully treated more than 200,000 people.

While we fully realize some people wish to obtain a medical cannabis card for recreational purposes, our company does its best to screen them out. What we see everyday are hundreds of people for whom traditional pharmaceutical treatment does not work---powerful drugs that often have serious, debilitating side effects. For many of these people, medical cannabis is a god-send.

We have documented cases of people from all walks of life, young and as old as 99 years, who have finally found some relief to their suffering through medical cannabis. Because of its status as an illegal drug throughout most of the last century, an unfortunately small amount of research has been done to verify the beneficial effects of medical cannabis. However, this is slowly changing. The tens of thousands of first-hand reports from patients themselves is powerful evidence that cannabis has serious therapeutic value.

The scientific research that does exist is nearly unanimous in showing positive beneficial effects with cannabis therapy. In 1974 the U.S. government conducted a study showing that cannabis was a promising treatment for cancer. Yet with the hundreds of millions of dollars devoted to cancer research, none has gone toward investigating this further.

Likewise, there is data that suggests cannabis may reduce inflammation and could possibly be used to treat auto-immune disorders like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis. An Israeli study of cannabinoids indicates it could be useful in treating physical and mental symptoms of post-traumatic disorder.

The use of medical cannabis is relatively benign compared with the alternatives. Every year it's estimated that nearly 100,000 people die from prescription drug misuse. Nearly every week it seems another drug is recalled for causing more harm than the problem it's meant to treat. Yet there are no recorded deaths from the use of medical cannabis.

Even recreational use of cannabis compares favorably to our country's favorite way to get high---alcoholic beverages. Alcohol abuse is the contributing factor in the majority of auto accidents, claiming more than a quarter million lives in the past decade alone. Alcohol use is also indicated in most homicides and domestic abuse cases.

There is no correlative evidence of cannabis contributing to violent behavior. While we caution against driving while under the therapeutic effects of cannabis, the degree of impairment is not even close to that of alcohol. And recent research shows that long-term use of cannabis does not significantly impair cognitive ability.

As a physician, I've seen the devastating effects of prescription drug and alcohol abuse. Conversely, I've also witnessed the benefits of medical cannabis---relieving chronic pain, enabling cancer patients to avoid nausea, calming veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Medical cannabis is here to stay---because it works. I challenge the media, as well as others, to set aside their ingrained prejudices and be open to accepting cannabis as a legitimate therapeutic medicine. And I challenge the government to allow qualified researchers the opportunity to validate the medicinal benefits of cannabis---and discover more medical uses for this extraordinary natural healer.

Yours in health,
Jean Talleyrand, MD
Founder of MediCann