Conrad - Hemp for health: the medicinal and nutritional uses of Cannabis sativa

T o the patients, practitioners, and nonviolent medical marijuana prisoners of the Drug War; to those who worked on or voted for Proposition 215; to the cannabis buyers clubs; to my wonderful wife, Mikki Norris; to my friends and family, and all who provided me with information and support to do this work; to my fellow researchers; to my mother, Betty Conrad; and to my father, Robert Conrad, who on his deathbed with cancer asked me to help others learn about and have access to medical marijuana when they need it.

Acknowledgments

S pecial thanks to Michael and Michelle Aldrich, Americans for Medical Rights, Maria Bruce, Business Alliance for Commerce in Hemp, Californians for Medical Rights, Cannabis Action Network, Bhagwan Dash, Rick Doblin, Drug Policy Foundation, Don and Jennifer Duncan, Family Council on Drug Awareness, Tom Flowers, Lester Grinspoon, Hash-Marijuana-Hemp Museum, Hemp Flax, Hemp Industries Association, Human Rights 95, Rowan Jacobsen, Keith, Ellen Komp, Steve Kubby, Ed Kunkel, Richard Lee, Marianne, Marijuana Policy Project, Raphael Mechoulam, Tod Mikuriya, Carol Miller, MontyPat, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, Elvy Musikka, Ethan Nadelmann, Mikki Norris, Lynn and Judy Osburn, Candi Penn, Dennis Peron, Robert Randall, Brownie Mary Rathbun, Virginia Resner, Richard Rose, Eric Skidmore, Eric Sterling, Jeffrey Stonehill, Pet Sutton, Kirk Warren, Don Wirtshafter, Caroljo Woodnymph, Kevin Zeese, and George Zimmer.

Contents

Chapter 1:

Chapter 2:

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:

Chapter 5:

Chapter 6:

Chapter 7:

Chapter 8:

Chapter 9:

Chapter 10:

Chapter 11:

Chapter 12:

Chapter 13:

Chapter 14:

Appendix A:

Appendix B:

Appendix C:

Appendix D:

Appendix E:

A Note to the Reader

T his book contains information concerning the healing properties of the plant Cannabis sativa L., also known as true hemp or marijuana. It is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment, and is only meant to inform the reader of available research regarding the many applications of this fascinating plant. Cannabis is used to treat symptoms, but is not a direct cure for most of the serious maladies described herein. It is a valuable adjunct for treatment and as part of a long-term health maintenance program.

No medicine is perfectly safe for every person in every situation. No medicine works equally well every time. Dosages and potential side effects vary according to body weight, metabolism, and a wide variety of other circumstances. Healing Arts Press urges extreme caution and careful monitoring of your reactions to any medicine you ingest. While self-medication with resinous cannabis is unlikely to have any serious negative consequences, always consult with a qualified health-care professional before using this or any other treatment for symptoms that may require full diagnosis and medical attention.

Although readily available, cannabis is illegal in most places throughout the world. The worst dangers of medical marijuana come from this illegal standing. Patients risk arrest, imprisonment, and loss of home, family, and dignity at the hands of law enforcement.

Introduction

W hat plant has been more studied, yet remains more mysterious, than the useful herb Cannabis sativa? There is a vast wealth of research, information, and conjecture available, along with a few overblown claims and outright falsehoods. An objective evaluation of cannabis was recently stated by the prestigious scientific journal, the Lancet: The smoking of cannabis, even long term, is not harmful to health.... Sooner or later politicians will have to stop running scared and address the evidence: cannabis per se is not a hazard to society, but driving it further underground may well be.

Large pharmaceutical companies have developed medicines with cannabis extracts, and even today some will admit that its use as medicine would doubtless be common if not for legal barriers. Eli Lilly makes a synthetic copy of a major active compound produced by cannabis, and even the Merck pharmaceutical company has recognized that The chief opposition to the drug rests on a moral and political, and not a toxicological foundation.

The Journal of the American Medical Association recently ran a commentary stating, We are not asking readers for immediate agreement with our affirmation that marihuana is medically useful, but we hope they will do more to encourage open and legal exploration of its potential. The ostensible indifference of physicians should no longer be used as a justification for keeping this medicine in the shadows. This book hopes to shine some light into some of those shadows by discussing the medical merit and therapeutic applications of cannabis hemp. This herb works as a natural medicine in a variety of ways that are all supported by both personal case histories and clinical scientific data.

People have used hemp in myriad forms. Its value is renowned. As measured by the amount of paper it has yielded over the millennia of commerce, or by the amount of paper used to tally its great contributions to history, it is hard to surpass the humble hemp plant. Hemp is a farm crop that has played a prominent role in 10,000 years of human industry and enterprise. Hemp has been familiar throughout history for its lush foliage crowded along riverbanks and its enormous production of fiber and oil in the fields of Eurasia, as one great civilization after another rose and fell. Each and every year, farmers and herbalists counted on the pattern of changing seasons to grow enough hemp for them to survive into the next era. Hemp was a part of the natural cycle of renewal and restoration.

Medical marijuana has demonstrably improved the lives of many people in varied and sometimes unlikely ways. Only for the past sixty years or so has there been a protracted campaign to suppress the facts about cannabis and deprive people of access to the hemp plant. Research has been stymied by government interference. Today, with thousands of new, legal medical users and millions of regular social consumers, people need a general reference manual to consult. Hemp for Health is intended to be such a book.

In the following pages, I discuss the direct applications of cannabis in the healing arts, as practiced in the allopathic, herbal, homeopathic, and ayurvedic disciplines. When all these applications are taken into account, it becomes abundantly clear that there is a place for hemp drugs in the modern medical formulary. Hemp for Health is intended to be a helpful handbook for patient and health-care provider; a users guide, as it were, to safe and effective self-medication using one of our most ancient and respected herbs. I urge caution in the use of cannabis, as with any other medicine. Please remember that any effects produced, positive or negative, will only be temporary. If any significant problems occur, simply discontinue the use of cannabis and seek further medical advice. You and your personal physician are best equipped to determine which therapies work best.