In
the course of attending various workshops and meeting and corresponding with
men in various stages of prostate cancer, those whose condition hurts my heart,
are the men with chronic pain from advanced forms of the disease. For some of
them, hope is already spent, and what remains is the pain. A number of them
have turned to tetrahydrocannabinol, medicinal cannabis, as a palliative and
effective way to cope with their suffering.
Proper name, delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, THC is a psychoactive
compound extracted from the resin of Cannabis sativa (marihuana, hashish). The
isomer THC is considered the most active element, producing characteristic mood
and perceptual changes associated with this compound. In recent years, the use
of medical cannabis for the relief of pain has become an accepted practice,
especially in those states where the possession of cannabis has been
decriminalized.
In patients seeking pain relief, the compound is not employed for
entertainment of adventure. If you can demonstrate a need, and with your
doctor’s prescription, you can obtain THC for medicinal use, almost always
specified as relief of chronic pain.
The stories I have heard from men who have benefitted from
ingestion of THC are very encouraging. “I am pain free for the first time in
two years,” one man told me. Another reported, “The constant nausea has
subsided, I am able to get to sleep again.”
A number of these men are aware that they are dying. And prior
to getting medical marijuana nothing else had helped. One must ask: Should
these dying men be deprived of an effective palliative because it is known to
be “habit forming” or might lead to the use of “stronger drugs?” Not one of
those I have spoken with has sought relief or pleasure from “stronger drugs.”
They do not have the time or the will to form habits.
Public
support for medical marijuana has increased. As of this writing, more than 20
U.S. states plus the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis in some form,
and recreational use of marijuana is legal in Colorado and Washington state.
Medical conditions such as cancer, Parkinson’s disease and HIV are commonly treated
with medicinal marijuana. And yet many physicians are still reluctant to
recommend it, because federally cannabis remains illegal.
The
situation is very different in the nation of Israel, where medical marijuana
has been legal since the early 1990s. In the past decade, Israeli scientists have
developed a strain of marijuana without THC. Apparently the Israeli government
funds the research on medical marijuana, which today benefits some 18,000 or
more Israeli patients and is grown on eight farms for a state-run medical
cannabis distribution center.
The irony of the U.S. position on cannabis as a
palliative was summed up in an e-mail I received from a man whose prostate
cancer had advanced to his bones. “I’m dying and in constant pain,” he wrote
“and they’re protecting me from addiction?” Perhaps in the future the
controversial aspects of medical marijuana can be resolved by producing a
“pleasure free” medical marijuana specifically for pain alleviation. In the
meantime, the medical community needs be bolder in recommending such an
effective agent that is now readily available to most.
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