NEW NORML REPORT: Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids

Colleagues,

Please take a moment today to check out NORML's new report: "Emerging
Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids: A Review of the Recent
Scientific Literature, 2000 - 2006."

This report reviews over 120+ recently published studies on the medical use
of cannabis and cannabinoids for 15 specific disease indications, and argues
that cannabinoids may moderate the progression of various life-threatening
diseases, rather than simply provide symptomatic relief.

The 34 page report (which includes more than 150 citations to source
material) is available online in both HTML and PDF formats at:

http://www.norml.org//index.cfm?Group_ID=7002.

The report will also be discussed on today's NORML podcast (with Mitch
Earleywine) at:

http://www.normlaudiostash.com.

I've included both a press release about the report, as well as an excerpt
from the report's Introduction below.

Best Regards,
Paul Armentano
Senior Policy Analyst
NORML | NORML Foundation
Washington, DC
202 | 483-5500
http://www.norml.org

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NEW REPORT SUMMARIZES THE ROLE OF CANNABIS IN MODERATING DISEASE PROGRESSION

Review Of 120+ Recent Scientific Trials Reveals That In US, Politics Trumps
Science

Washington, DC: Recently published clinical and preclinical research on the
therapeutic use of cannabis indicates that cannabinoids may curb the
progression of various life-threatening diseases - in particular, autoimmune
disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory
bowel disease, as well as neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease
and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease) - according
to a comprehensive new report published today by the NORML Foundation.

The NORML Foundation report summarizes over 120 recently published trials
assessing the therapeutic utility of cannabinoids for the treatment of
fifteen specific disease indications:

Alzheimer's Disease
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Diabetes Mellitus
Dystonia
Fibromyalgia
Gastrointestinal Disorders
Gliomas
Hepatitis C
Hypertension
Incontinence
Osteoporosis
Pruritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sleep Apnea
Tourette's Syndrome

"Despite continued political debates regarding the recreational use of
cannabis, clinical investigations of the therapeutic use of cannabinoids are
now more prevalent than at any time in history," states the report's author,
NORML Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Paul Armentano. "In some of these
cases, modern science is now affirming longtime anecdotal reports of
medicinal cannabis users. In other cases, this research is highlighting
entirely new potential clinical utilities for cannabinoids."

Whereas initial clinical investigations into the therapeutic use of cannabis
focused primarily on whether cannabinoids might provide symptomatic relief,
investigators today are exploring the potential role of cannabinoids to
inhibit the progression of several life-threatening diseases - including
cancer, Armentano says.

"Arguably, this latter trend represents far broader and more significant
applications for cannabinoid therapeutics than researchers could have
imagined some thirty or even twenty years ago," he concludes.
"Unfortunately, because of the US government's strong public policy stance
against any use of marijuana, the bulk of this modern research is taking
place outside the United States and continues to go unrecognized in North
America. Nevertheless, the emerging body of clinical and preclinical work
published over the past six years makes it clear that the US government's
stance against the therapeutic use of cannabis and cannabinoids is based on
politics, not science."

Full text of the report, "Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis &
Cannabinoids: A Review of the Recent Scientific Literature, 2000 - 2006,"
is available online in HTML and PDF formats at:
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7002.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Foundation Senior
Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500 or via e-mail at: paul [at] norml.org.

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FROM THE INTRODUCTION:

Despite continued political debates regarding the recreational use of
cannabis, clinical investigations of the therapeutic use of cannabinoids are
now more prevalent than at any time in history. A search of the PubMed
website quantifies this dramatic upturn. For example, a key word search
using the terms "cannabis, cannabinoids, THC, and marijuana" for the year
1982 yields only 231 published articles on the subject (down from the
previous decade's high of 419 articles in 1972.) However, this annual total
has been rising almost every year since then, with more than 800 journal
articles published in 2002, and nearly 700 articles published during the
first half of 2006.

While much of the renewed interest in cannabinoid therapeutics is a result
of the discovery of the endocannabinoid regulatory system, at least some of
this increased attention is due to the growing body of testimonials from
medicinal cannabis patients. Nevertheless, despite this influx of anecdotal
reports, much of the modern investigation of cannabinoids remains limited to
preclinical (animal) studies of individual cannabinoids (e.g. THC or
cannabidiol) and/or synthetic cannabinoid agonists (e.g., dronabinol or WIN
55,212-2) rather than clinical trial investigations of whole smoked
cannabis. Predictably, because of the US government's strong public policy
stance against any use of cannabis, the bulk of this modern research is
taking place outside the United States.

While the initial clinical investigations of cannabis in the 1960s and 1970s
primarily assessed the potential therapeutic use of cannabinoids to provide
symptomatic relief (e.g.,the alleviation of chemotherapy-induce nausea),
investigators today are now exploring the potential role of cannabis and
cannabinoids to moderate the progression of various life-threatening
diseases - in particular, autoimmune disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis,
rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, as well as neurological
disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
(a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease.) Investigators are also beginning to study the
anti-cancer activities of cannabinoids, as a growing number of recently
published studies indicate the ability of cannabinoids to reduce the
proliferation of specific cancer cells via apoptosis (program cell death)
and by the inhibition of angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels).
Arguably, these latter trends represent far broader and more significant
applications for cannabinoid therapeutics than researchers could have
imagined some thirty or even twenty years ago.

The following report is a comprehensive summary of the most recently
published research (2000-2006) on the therapeutic use cannabis and
cannabinoids for 15 separate clinical indications: Alzheimer's disease,
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, diabetes mellitus, dystonia,fibromyalgia,
gastrointestinal disorders, gliomas,hepatitis C, hypertension,
incontinence,osteoporosis, pruritis, rheumatoid arthritis, sleep apnea, and
Tourette's syndrome. In some of these cases, modern science is now affirming
longtime anecdotal reports of medicinal cannabis users (e.g., the use of
cannabis to alleviate GI disorders). In other cases, this research is
highlighting entirely new potential clinical utilities for cannabinoids
(e.g., the use of cannabinoids to modify the progression of diabetes.)

Readers familiar with the medical efficacy of cannabinoids will note that
modern research highlighting more established therapeutic uses for
cannabinoids, such as in the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis and chronic
pain, are not included in this report. This is not because additional
clinical investigations of cannabinoids for these established indications
are not taking place. Rather, it is because research in these areas is
already fairly well vetted in both the public and scientific arena. (e.g.,
Synthetic THC is already available by prescriptionin the US and Europe as an
anti-emetic agent and appetite stimulant; natural cannabis extracts are
available in Canada as an analgesic for MS-associated neuropathic pain.) It
is NORML's hope that the modern science supporting the potential therapeutic
use of cannabis and cannabinoids for the emerging indications addressed here
will become equally well established among both the medicinal cannabis
community and the public.

Paul Armentano
Senior Policy Analyst
NORML | NORML Foundation
Washington, DC
September 13, 2006

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