Cannabis helps epileptics, eases pain, MD tells court
Drug also aids cancer patients, trial hears

Canvas got its name from cannabis, former U.S. President George Washington
ran a hemp farm and Queen Victoria smoked marijuana for her migraine
headaches.

So why can't Terry Parker, a chronic epileptic, use the plant to help him
fight his debilitating seizures?

That's what Parker's lawyer, Aaron Harnett, is arguing before Judge Patrick
Sheppard at an ongoing trial in provincial court.

Parker, 42, who takes 1,000 milligrams of various drugs daily for his
painful epilepsy, was arrested at his Triller Ave. apartment on July 18 of
last year and charged with cultivating marijuana and possessing it for the
purpose of trafficking.

Two courts have accepted his marijuana use as medically necessary,
decisions rendered in connection with his 1987 acquittal on charges of
simple possession.

However, there was no ruling made allowing Parker to keep taking marijuana
for medical reasons and he was once again arrested, Harnett said.

Harnett is arguing that the crown should be stopped from prosecuting Parker
or, alternatively, that the laws restricting Parker from possessing and
producing the drug should be struck down as unconstitutional.

Dr. John Paul Morgan, a professor of pharmacology at City University of New
York Medical School, testified yesterday that none of the drugs prescribed
to epileptics is as safe or probably as effective as marijuana.

Although there is a synthetic drug on the market that contains the Delta9
THC found in marijuana, it does not work for all epileptics, the doctor said.

There can be disruptive side effects from the ingested drug, it is
expensive and it can cause anxiety, Morgan said.

He told the court that earlier this century marijuana was legal and was a
very lucrative cash crop in the U.S. in the form of hemp.

It was used to calm tension, suppress nausea and vomiting, increase the
appetite, reduce the pain of migraines, control seizures and alleviate
glaucoma, court heard.

But in the 1930s, there was concern about the recreational use of the drug
because it was cheaper than alcohol. The American Medical Association asked
that it not be made illegal as a medicine but Congress banned it in 1937,
Morgan testified.

There has been renewed interest in its calming properties since the
outbreak of HIV. Tests have indicated that cancer chemotherapy patients
have benefited from marijuana's antinauseous qualities, he said.

He testified it was much more effective to smoke the marijuana plant than
to ingest the synthetic.

Fear over marijuana loomed again during the 1960s and 1970s when its use
increased dramatically among young people, he testified.

Morgan said the conservativethinking population pushed to have it
criminalized and then repeated distorted stories of its dangers in hopes of
getting people to stop.

He said there is no scientific study to show that marijuana will kill or
cause emphysema, memory loss, lung cancer or lead to the use of other
stronger drugs.

Lynn Zimmer, an associate professor of sociology at Queens College in New
York, said the question of legalizing marijuana for health reasons was put
to ballot in California and passed by 60 per cent of voters.

This means that those with a medical need for the plant in that state can
grow enough for their own use and use it.

Zimmer said studies have shown there is no difference between the marijuana
user and the nonuser in terms of willingness and ability to perform tasks,
putting to rest the rumour that marijuana smokers are lazy.