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High anxieties : What the WHO doesn't want you to know about cannabis
New Scientist ^

Posted on 07/02/2002 8:56:30 AM PDT by WindMinstrel

Health officials in Geneva have suppressed the publication of a politically sensitive analysis that confirms what ageing hippies have known for decades: cannabis is safer than alcohol or tobacco.

According to a document leaked to New Scientist, the analysis concludes not only that the amount of dope smoked worldwide does less harm to public health than drink and cigarettes, but that the same is likely to hold true even if people consumed dope on the same scale as these legal substances.

The comparison was due to appear in a report on the harmful effects of cannabis published last December by the WHO. But it was ditched at the last minute following a long and intense dispute between WHO officials, the cannabis experts who drafted the report and a group of external advisers.

s As the WHO's first report on cannabis for 15 years, the document had been eagerly awaited by doctors and specialists in drug abuse. The official explanation for excluding the comparison of dope with legal substances is that "the reliability and public health significance of such comparisons are doubtful". However, insiders say the comparison was scientifically sound and that the WHO caved in to political pressure. It is understood that advisers from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse and the UN International Drug Control Programme warned the WHO that it would play into the hands of groups campaigning to legalise marijuana.

One member of the expert panel which drafted the report, says: "In the eyes of some, any such comparison is tantamount to an argument for marijuana legalisation." Another member, Billy Martin of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, says that some WHO officials "went nuts" when they saw the draft report.

The leaked version of the excluded section states that the reason for making the comparisons was "not to promote one drug over another but rather to minimise the double standards that have operated in appraising the health effects of cannabis". Nevertheless, in most of the comparisons it makes between cannabis and alcohol, the illegal drug comes out better--or at least on a par--with the legal one.

The report concludes, for example, that "in developed societies cannabis appears to play little role in injuries caused by violence, as does alcohol". It also says that while the evidence for fetal alcohol syndrome is "good", the evidence that cannabis can harm fetal development is "far from conclusive".

Cannabis also fared better in five out of seven comparisons of long-term damage to health. For example, the report says that while heavy consumption of either drug can lead to dependence, only alcohol produces a "well defined withdrawal syndrome". And while heavy drinking leads to cirrhosis, severe brain injury and a much increased risk of accidents and suicide, the report concludes that there is only "suggestive evidence that chronic cannabis use may produce subtle defects in cognitive functioning".

Two comparisons were more equivocal. The report says that both heavy drinking and marijuana smoking can produce symptoms of psychosis in susceptible people. And, it says, there is evidence that chronic cannabis smoking "may be a contributory cause of cancers of the aerodigestive tract".


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: cannabis; health; pot; un; who; wod; wodlist
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1 posted on 07/02/2002 8:56:30 AM PDT by WindMinstrel
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To: *Wod_list
I like the WHO about as much as I like the UN, my ex-wife, and taxes. Feh
2 posted on 07/02/2002 8:57:38 AM PDT by WindMinstrel
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To: WindMinstrel
With the death of their bassist, John Entwistle last week, I think we should leave the Who alone for awhile :-)
3 posted on 07/02/2002 8:59:01 AM PDT by krb
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To: WindMinstrel
Wow damn I didn't think anyone hated anything more than their ex wife.
4 posted on 07/02/2002 8:59:30 AM PDT by weikel
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To: krb
Damn. Beat me to it. :^)
5 posted on 07/02/2002 9:00:30 AM PDT by guitfiddlist
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To: WindMinstrel
Cigarettes are far deadlier than marijauna. And no one has ever died of an overdose of marijuana, nor have I heard any cases of people driving under the influence of it

The logic of marijuana being illegal escapes me.

6 posted on 07/02/2002 9:02:37 AM PDT by A Ruckus of Dogs
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To: WindMinstrel
"Drugs are bad, MMMkay?" -- Mr. Mackey from South Park

As long as Marijuana can be used a political wedge to scare old folks, it will remain the "boogey man". Nothing scarier than the image of the stoned, axe wielding rapist from US Government propaganda films of the 40s and 50s that were pumped into our "seasoned citizens" back then.

If you folks want marijuana to be legal, you are going to have to wait until the current generation of old folks become ex-social security recipients.

7 posted on 07/02/2002 9:02:44 AM PDT by toupsie
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To: WindMinstrel
The comparison was due to appear in a report on the harmful effects of cannabis published last December by the WHO. But it was ditched at the last minute...

..when they lost their train of thought.

8 posted on 07/02/2002 9:03:49 AM PDT by guitfiddlist
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To: guitfiddlist
Lol, well said!

Seriously, though, the WHO is pretty predictable the way they bury reports that don't agree with their agenda. They've played similar games with their findings on second-hand smoking. Ah, well, what can we expect of a huge international bureaucracy?
9 posted on 07/02/2002 9:07:56 AM PDT by WindMinstrel
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To: WindMinstrel
"In the eyes of some, any such comparison is tantamount to an argument for marijuana legalisation."

Can't have facts and logic impede our little witch trials now can we?

10 posted on 07/02/2002 9:08:08 AM PDT by Dakmar
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To: All
As long as marijuana is illegal, it is a perfect tool to continue violating your civil rights thru drug testing...random searches and wiretaps.

The whole game plan is control, they're doin it w/ cigarettes too. How many folks fail a drug test from cocaine or heroin...not too many since those substances don't accumulate in the waste areas like cannabis does.....

Control....invasion of privacy..but...."It's for the Children!"

11 posted on 07/02/2002 9:11:34 AM PDT by kevin
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To: WindMinstrel
The wrong drug is legal.

When I allow my 48 man crew off the boat for a night in town here in the Aleutians, I'd rather see them come back six hours later stoned than drunk.

The drunks are loud, obstinate, belligerent and violent. They exhibit disgraceful behavior, even for sailors.

The buzz kings are passive and quiet. Their worst behavior is leaving unwashed ice cream dishes in the sink. They agree to what I, authority, tell them to do and cause no problems. They are ready to work the next morning whereas the boozers are hung over and barely manageable.

I've seen it thousands of times. The wrong drug is legal.

Mr. Atomic Vomit

12 posted on 07/02/2002 9:22:20 AM PDT by Atomic Vomit
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To: WindMinstrel
bttt
13 posted on 07/02/2002 9:47:27 AM PDT by gcruse
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To: kevin
Elements of our government make a fortune on the supply side of this, and their banker and broker friends make a nice cut cleaning it to make it look honest. Legalization is hopeless unless they get caught, and since they control the investigation, it's not going to happen.
We don't have a War on Drugs, we have a War on Unapproved Suppliers.
14 posted on 07/02/2002 9:55:17 AM PDT by steve50
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To: WindMinstrel

15 posted on 07/02/2002 9:56:33 AM PDT by Jaxter
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To: WindMinstrel
I thought this was going to be about dope causing Pete to go deaf or something.
16 posted on 07/02/2002 9:58:33 AM PDT by Britton J Wingfield
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To: A Ruckus of Dogs
I have witnessed cases of people driving under the influence of marijuana. Those should be dealt with as DUI, though. No need to penalize people who sit safely at home getting baked.
17 posted on 07/02/2002 10:01:56 AM PDT by Britton J Wingfield
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To: Atomic Vomit
Heard a similar report from an artillery officer in Vietnam. The drunken soldier is useless. The stoned soldier is still functional to a degree, can still do some things.
18 posted on 07/02/2002 10:07:15 AM PDT by RightWhale
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To: toupsie
It's the potheads own fault that pot is still illegal. Most of them don't vote. Jeez, there's supposed to be like what 20 million potheads in the US? The ones that do vote appear to vote for the same parties that want to imprison them. You would think they would at least vote Libertarian or the Constitution party. The LP wants to outright legalize all drugs and the CP views it as a States Rights issue and wants the federal government out of it (except for drug interdiction along our borders)

Of course they would probably not win any offices, but I believe it would scare the heck out of the mainstream parties and cause them to rethink their views.

I would think that 20 million voters would be a rather large voting block. Especially when you consider the number of friends and family who may vote the same way.

So what do potheads do? They just kick back, smoke their weed and let life pass them by, hoping they don't get caught and then whining about the injustice of it when they do.

I'm against the WOD for Constitutional reasons. However, if potheads won't even stand up and fight for themselves, then I have a hard time feeling sorry for them.

RLTW!!

Semper Suo

19 posted on 07/02/2002 10:08:46 AM PDT by bat-boy
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To: WindMinstrel
"cannabis is safer than alcohol or tobacco."

This may be true as long as:

1. Is not doing anything while 'high' which requires good reflexes or a clear mind,

2. Is not an habitual smoker, and

3. Lives where it is legal to use pot.

20 posted on 07/02/2002 10:14:10 AM PDT by MEGoody
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