norml23 - Page 22



Page 22 Previous , Next , Original Image
Return to Index

 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




Previous , Next , Return to Index