norml23 - Page 22
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criminal or otherwise violent behavior, Id. at 308-08, 311-12;
and is not an aphrodisiac, ld. at pgs. 312-16o
Major research studies on the effects of chronic marijuana
use have also been conducted in Jamaica, Greece, and Costa Rica--three
countries with a history of heavy marijuana use going back
hundreds of years. The Jamaican study, Ganja in Jamaica: A
Nedical Anthropological Study of Chronic Narijuana Use (1975), as
well as the other studies were discussed extensively in the HEW
Annual Reports° See Sixth AnnuaJ HEW Report, at pgs. 20-21;
Fifth Annual HEW Report, at pgs 7-8o In all these studies,
cannabis users were carefully matched with non-users oN such
variables as age, marital status, education, use of atcohoJ and
tobacco. The cannabis users smoked cannabis which is
substantially more potent that the marijuana commonly smoked in
the United States, and they smoked much more often than marijuana
is generally smoked in this county° Users in the three studies
had smoked cannabis for an average of seven to seventeen years°
The cannabis users and matched controls were subjected to an
extensive battery of physiological and psychological tests. No
significant differences were found between cannabis users and
non-users which could be directly attributed to cannabis use.
Finally, in considering marijua£a's low potential for abuse,
it is important to emphasize that it is virtually impossibme to
consume a Jethal dose of marijuana. The "effective doses" of a
drug is the dose which achieves the desired effect° The "lethal
dose" of a drug is the does which causes death. The "therapeutic
ratio," or ratio of safety, is the ratio of the effective doses
to the lethaJ dose. For alcohol the ratio of safety is
approximately four to ten -- if a person takes four times the
effective dose of alcohoB, the does may be lethal. For
barbiturates, the ratio of safety is approximately three to
fifty. There are no documented causes of death from marijuana
overdose anywhere in the world, but from animal studies it has
been estimated that the ratio of safety for marijuana is between
20,000 and 40,000, i.e., a person would have to consume 20,000 to
40,000 times the effective dose to consume a JethaJ does, a
virtual impossibility.
2_ Marijuana Has "Currently Accepted Medical
Uses in Treatment
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