countries, the U.S.A in 1941 and Britain in 1932.104 Over the past 25 years there has been renewed interest in Medical Marijuana and today claims exist for marijuana in the treatment of over 70 conditions. 5.11. Increasingly, the general public has embraced cannabis/ marijuana as a “miracle herb”. Much of this has to do with public interest documentaries in popular media accessible to the public in ways that scientific journals are not. CNN’s influential series with research over several years on cannabis/ marijuana produced by a popular medical doctor who is a recent convert to cannabis/ marijuana, was referenced on several occasions in the Consultations.105 5.12. The issues relating to the medicinal properties of marijuana and to the physiological impact of the substance are not without controversy. Nonetheless, it is evident that many countries have already changed their policy in regards to Medical Marijuana in the light of scientific data and perhaps, partly driven by public opinion. In the USA (2015), 58% of respondents and Jamaica (2014), 51% of respondents had supported legal use of legal Marijuana as Medicine. Today there is an increase in products available on the market and in the number of persons using Medical Marijuana and support for it has increased, now 88.4% in Jamaica. 5.13. Several persons in the public national Consultations shared their personal experiences on the positive impacts of marijuana on pain, asthma, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, cancer, glaucoma and cerebral palsy. There was also a view that the side- effects of marijuana were far less Several persons in the public severe than some prescriptive drugs and alcohol, as well as an national Consultations shared their acknowledgement of its use for meditation, relaxation therapy personal experiences on the and stress relief. Many persons gave accounts that cannabis/ positive impacts of marijuana on marijuana helped them to heal when traditional drugs did not pain, asthma, epilepsy, multiple work. The Commission also received numerous testimonies to sclerosis, cancer, glaucoma and this online.
cerebral palsy.
5.14. Some of these treatments, the Commission was told in Belize, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda, were treatments by local, ‘homeopathic’ practitioners. Several alternative health practitioners also attended the Consultations and Focus Groups and spoke openly about their use of cannabis/ marijuana products for healing, giving detailed accounts of their treatment data to test cannabis/ marijuana. Many expressed their desires to be able to access cannabis/ marijuana medicinal products legally. Perhaps the most poignant of these was a group of wheelchair bound citizens of Barbados, many of them elderly and female, who came as a group to the national Consultations and implored the Commission to persuade the authorities to allow them access to cannabis/ marijuana for medicinal purposes to ease their pain and suffering. 5.15. Significantly, some persons gave accounts of their treatment overseas by doctors who prescribed cannabis/ marijuana for them legally because of new laws in the US and Canada. They labelled themselves “medical refugees” and implored the Commission to permit access to cannabis/ marijuana in CARICOM countries. Faced with the increasing first-hand knowledge of persons being treated and being healed by cannabis/ marijuana, it is difficult for CARICOM to maintain the position in its laws that cannabis/ marijuana is merely a ‘dangerous drug’ with no medicinal value. Consequently, the current legal classification appears obsolete and idiosyncratic.
Increasing Scientific Support for Medical Marijuana
5.16. The now overwhelming evidence on the medicinal properties of cannabis/ marijuana is summarised below. The science is emerging as more relaxed legal regimes allow for further scientific inquires and new discoveries (or rejections) of its beneficial effects are occurring at a fast pace, exploding, or at least challenging, many of the negative myths previously associated with cannabis. Its status as a prohibited substance previously frustrated attempts to carry out scientific research on it. However, as this paradigm has shifted, more conclusive evidence is emerging and is expected to improve quickly, particularly as many governments, including Canada, the US, Israel and others, are now funding this research. 104 105
Robson, 2001; Manzanares, Julian & Carrascosa, 2006. Dr. S. Gupta: CNN, ‘Charlotte’s Web’; ‘Weed 3, The Marijuana Revolution’.
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