The Reschedulization of Cannabis

The Rescheduling of Cannabis

For many years, marijuana has been outlawed and the laws regarding marijuana have been strictly enforced in the United States of America. Around the world, marijuana has been used not only recreationally, but also medicinally. For many Americans with certain illnesses, marijuana is their medication. The sad thing is that the United States' government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug and won't allow medical research. The Controlled Substance Act is a part of the comprehensive Drug Abuse and Prevention and Control Act of 1970. Basically, this act classifies all of America's drugs into one of five schedules, where Schedule I classifies the most restricted and most dangerous of all drugs. The Controlled Substance Act authorizes procedures for the reclassification of Schedule I drugs. I disagree and am opposed to the way this Schedule restricts marijuana so strictly, and I feel that the scheduling of marijuana should be reconsidered based on the fact that marijuana does not have the high dependency or high potential for abuse which is the basis of Schedule I drugs.

The way that our government classifies and restricts drugs in the U.S. is by using a Schedule that has five classifications of drugs. A Schedule I status is defined as a classification of drugs that are highly addictive, have a high potential for abuse, have a high dependence liability, and serve for no medical use. Drugs such as crystal meth,

Nixon 2

cocaine, heroin and cannabis are examples of Schedule I drugs. I feel that cannabis belongs no where near the Schedule I status that it is at and should be rescheduled to a less restrictive classification. By definition, Schedule I status drugs require a high potential for abuse. There has never been any kind of study that supports the idea that marijuana has a high risk of dependency or abuse. And we all know that cannabis has been used in certain states to treat illnesses such as Glaucoma, Anorexia, mood disorders, and nausea created by chemotherapy. So my question still stands, why is cannabis classified in this Schedule status? In my opinion, this petition filed by the Coalition for the Rescheduling of Cannabis, challenges our government to produce findings such as high levels of abuse or highly addictive properties in cannabis.

In Marijuana Myths Marijuana Facts, I read about controlled studies that researchers have conducted on Marijuana. "These studies demonstrate marijuana's usefulness in reducing nausea and vomiting, stimulating appetite, promoting weight gain, and diminishing intraocular pressure from Glaucoma. There is also evidence that smoked marijuana and/or THC reduce muscle spasticity from spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, and diminish tremors in multiple sclerosis patients", Lynn Zimmer and John P. Morgan (17). I also read that THC in marijuana can relieve someone of migraines, seizures, depression, insomnia, and most chronic pain. "Pharmacologists Jack Henningfield and Neal Benowitz independently ranked the dependence potential of six psychoactive drugs: caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. Both ranked caffeine and marijuana as the two least addictive. Henningfield gave the two

Nixon 3

drugs identical scores and Benowitz ranked marijuana as slightly less addicting than caffeine", Zimmer and Morgan (29).

As I read through the book Controversies in the Practice of Medicine, I came across an interesting survey. In 1990, a survey was sent to 2,430 members of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 1,035 members replied to the survey. "More than 44 % of the respondents report recommending the (illegal) use of marijuana for the control of emesis [vomiting] to at least one cancer chemotherapy patient. Almost one half (48%) would prescribe marijuana to some of their patients if it were legalÐ'...Of the respondents who expressed an opinion, a majority (54%) thought marijuana should be available by prescription," (Doblin and Kleiman 1314-1319). According to Myrna Goldstein and Mark Goldstein, most of the members who were surveyed thought that marijuana is more effective in curbing nausea and about as safe as the available prescription drugs (48).

Once upon a time in 1995, High Times Magazine filed a petition that did not focus on marijuana's medical uses, but on the fact that marijuana does not have the "high potential for abuse", which is a required factor in Schedule I or Schedule II status. High Times based their claims on a particular report written by Jon Gettman. In Gettman's report, Dopamine and the Dependence Liability of Marijuana, he stated that marijuana only has an indirect effect on a human's dopamine transmission. His suggestion was that

Marijuana's psychoactive effects are produced by a different mechanism than addictive