Posted on July 22, 2021 View all news
Every Brain Matters Takes Action and we need your help!
Now on our site, you will find well-researched professional letters addressing the science behind the many harms of marijuana, to send to your legislators, doctors, business associates, city council, or anyone you think needs to read them. These are all peer-reviewed, free, and approved by a team of doctors and researchers.
These letters have been compiled for our EBM Advocacy team by medical and research professionals, and now are available for your use! They are part of an ongoing project to educate Congress led by EBM Advocacy members and cover a wide variety of topics:
June 2021
Dear :
I am writing to you today as I am very concerned for American families and communities regarding the widespread marketing and legalization of marijuana and the drug expansion culture.
I am contacting you with peer-reviewed science and data because we have been impacted negatively by the rampant marijuana proliferation in our communities. My goal is to provide policymakers with data and research to support your efforts in advancing legislation that promotes public health and safety for all Americans. I feel the attached articles could be helpful to you as you continue to pass informed legislation on marijuana and other drugs.
The marijuana lobby is aggressive in promoting an agenda that would increase access and availability of high potency, addictive products. Like Big Tobacco, they are not concerned with the science or societal impacts, only profits. You may have been told that marijuana is harmless and even safe. This could not be further from the truth. The science of marijuana harms is not debatable.
It is popular belief that marijuana is medicine; however, anecdotal claims and unscientific reports are not sufficient evidence to further legalize/promote marijuana use. All FDA-approved pharmaceuticals have undergone scientific rigors, some of which began over a century ago.
There have been FDA-approved marijuana-related products since 1985 (dronabinol = THC, Marinol®, generic versions) and 2018 (cannabidiol = CBD, Epidiolex®). These products have undergone the scientific rigors of medical research unlike the marijuana and current “retail CBD” products — which are not regulated by the FDA — that are sold in many states to an uninformed public.
The goal of this email, and future emails, is to provide you with peer-reviewed scientific evidence about the many hazards of marijuana. To date, there exist over 36,200 articles on marijuana research on the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine (.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=marijuana).
Attached please find in this month two related peer-reviewed scientific articles on the topic of cannabis not being appropriate for non-cancer pain:
Campbell G, et al. Effect of cannabis use in people with chronic non-cancer pain prescribed opioids: findings from a 4-year prospective cohort study. Lancet Public Health 2018;3:e341-50.
https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2468-2667%2818%2930110-5
Boland EG, et al. Cannabinoids for adult cancer-related pain: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Support Palliat Care 2020;10:14-24.
https://www.spcare.bmj.com/content/bmjspcare/10/1/14.full.pdf
Here are three important facts from these articles for your consideration.
- Participants who used cannabis had a greater pain severity score and greater generalized anxiety disorder scores when compared to those who did not use cannabis.
- There was no evidence that cannabis use reduces prescribed opioid use or increased rates of opioid discontinuation.
- Studies with a low risk of bias showed that for adults with advanced cancer, the addition of cannabinoids to opioids did not reduce cancer pain compared with placebo and cannabinoids are associated with adverse effects including hallucinations, nausea and vomiting, confusion, drowsiness, dizziness, diarrhea, and euphoria.
Thank you for reading my letter and the accompanying peer-reviewed scientific articles. If you can help us find any peer-reviewed, scientific articles that show that cannabis is effective for non-cancer or cancer pain, decreases anxiety, directly decreases opiate drug use with a lower incidence of adverse effects – please send them to me. Simply reply to this email.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this very serious issue.
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