Cannabis can make scars disappear, reverse Alzheimer’s disease and even cure cancer – that is, if you believe some of the wilder health claims made by US firms in states where medical marijuana has been legalised.
Unfortunately, such assertions aren’t based on a shred of good evidence. Not only are consumers being ripped off, but sometimes their health is being endangered. Little wonder that the US cannabis industry is sometimes dubbed a Wild-West operation.
Although marijuana is best known as a recreational drug that gets you high, the plant has a long history of therapeutic use. Modern researchers have found some supporting evidence for a range of benefits that include relieving pain, muscle spasms, nausea, epilepsy and aiding sleep.
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Changing attitudes
It’s hard to know the exact nature and scale of the effects because there are few large-scale, good quality trials. This is partly because research has long been stymied by the plant’s classification as an illegal drug. It can take researchers years to get past the red tape and official disapproval.
In the meantime, thanks to changing public attitudes, there has been a spreading decriminalisation of cannabis in various forms, including in Spain, Portugal, Uruguay and Canada. More significantly, 29 US states and Washington DC now allow medical use.
Some see this shift as a humane and progressive step, but in the more market-led US it has also caused an explosion of firms marketing cannabis products on the basis of health claims unsupported by evidence. One of the most egregious is that it can cure cancer. Last week the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had to send .
Cannabis has sometimes been given to cancer patients, because its anti-nausea effect can be helpful after chemotherapy, and it can boost appetite – which probably explains why pot smokers are prone to the munchies. But there is no good evidence it shrinks tumours. Alarmingly, some cancer patients are even rejecting chemotherapy in favour of cannabis products.
Weeding out the fakes
As well as false advertising, the market also suffers from lack of quality control. Over two-thirds of US medical cannabis products sold online have either a , it was revealed this week.
“Some had almost nothing in there,” says of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who did the investigation. Depending on the buyer’s reason for taking cannabis, the consequences of such bogus remedies would range from inconvenient to dangerous. For instance, someone trying to suppress their epilepsy could have an unexpected seizure.
Part of the problem is that in the US, medical cannabis is in a legal limbo. Although it is approved at state level, it is banned under federal law, and so the FDA cannot regulate cannabis-based products as it does pharmaceuticals and other remedies. The recent warning letters are welcome, but the agency cannot inspect manufacturing facilities or check cannabidiol levels.
“Of all the things that are called a medicine, no drug is less regulated than marijuana,” says of Stanford University, California. “We have given it all the privileges of being called a medicine with none of the responsibilities.” As cannabis becomes increasingly legalised, vendors must stop acting like street-corner dope dealers, and grow up.
