A Cancer Survivor’s Case for Cannabis
Since the 1930s, marijuana has been portrayed as a drug that leads people to behave irrationally — and criminally. The same year Franklin Delano Roosevelt was re-elected for a second term, a movie named “Reefer Madness” was released. Characters who use cannabis become suicidal, and commit murder and rape. Alcohol, tobacco, and prescription opioids have all been proven harmful and addictive, yet remain legal and popular. Many Americans vehemently oppose the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana on precisely the same ground. The double-standard is a product of propaganda, not public safety. While society is slowly becoming more educated on this versatile plant, the war against it remains rooted in falsehoods and fear. But the truth remains: cannabis should be legal in America, and there is compelling evidence to support it.
My own study of this issue has taken me on an intellectual and introspective journey. What I knew to be the work of Presidents Nixon and Reagan (and Nancy), and what I remember being taught as a kid through programs like D.A.R.E. and Saved by the Bell’s “There’s No Hope With Dope” episodes were just perpetuated parables, rather than points of fact. What many fail to realize — myself included — is most of the controversy surrounding marijuana and the original “War on Drugs” can be traced back to the year 1930, to a single man, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger.
During his tenure at the FBN — which would eventually become the modern day DEA — Anslinger falsely claimed that a young man named Victor Licata was under the influence of marijuana when he brutally murdered his family with an axe in October of 1933. There was no evidence Licata had ever used marijuana before, but he did have a history of mental illness. The press failed to report this second fact, however. Subsequently, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, aided by fictitious tales like Victor’s, passed with ease and successfully criminalized the production, distribution and consumption of marijuana.
Licata’s story, among others, was the subject of intense research and study by British author Johann Hari. In Hari’s critically acclaimed book, Chasing the Scream, he describes Harry Anslinger as one of the founding fathers of the War on Drugs, a carved face on the symbolic Mount Rushmore of the American drug war. Chasing the Scream offers a harrowing chronology of young Harry’s life that starts when he witnesses the crazy behavior of a neighbor’s wife under the influence of drugs. His perception of drug use evolves into an ill-conceived disgust for jazz culture and music icon Billie Holiday, who despite her unprecedented vocal ability was also a notorious addict. Through his pursuits to prosecute Holiday and other drug addicts, Harry ends up creating a monster of a movement predicated on racism and misinformation.
The propaganda spewed by Anslinger and the press demonized marijuana and the people who used it. This demonization persisted through the 1950s and 1960s and was amplified during the Nixon administration. In an article published by Harper’s Magazine in 1994, journalist Dan Baum interviewed former Nixon staffer and Watergate co-conspirator John Ehrlichman. Ehrlichman stated that the war on drugs “was a political tool to fight blacks and hippies.” He touted, “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.” I’ve never engaged in recreational drug use, including marijuana, and it’s not difficult to understand why people are opposed to drugs of any kind: it can destroy the user, their family, and anyone around them.
After more than five years of opioid dependency caused by post-cancer chronic pain, I experienced an amalgam of problems. At the height of my addiction I remember taking up to ten Vicodin per day — along with other pain/anti-inflammatory meds, each pill prescribed by and dispensed from a pain management physician and taken as directed. When I tried to stop taking the medication, I had bouts of withdrawal that felt similar to or worse than side effects from chemotherapy — nausea, cold sweats, and loss of appetite, just to name a few. Month after month I was prescribed the narcotics without an offering of an alternative treatment like acupuncture, nerve blocks, or other holistic remedies.
Although other states had shown positive results from legalization, medicinal marijuana was and continues to be illegal in Texas. Back then, pharmaceutical and insurance companies made it easy to secure seemingly endless refills of my pain medication with little out-of-pocket costs, whereas other options for pain relief — like acupuncture — were not covered because they were considered purely “exploratory.” Misery loves company — as the saw goes — and I was not alone.
My dependence on opioids reached its peak in 2007. That’s when I was admitted into a detoxification center — what most people refer to as “rehab.” The height of my addicted state coincided with a study performed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality that saw opioid-related emergency room visits double between 2005 and 2014. Featured in an article by Newser, the study highlighted that in its final year a reported 3,500 hospital visits per day were related to opioid abuse. Another study performed by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that the total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse in the United States was $78.5 billion annually as of 2013, a statistic that has worsened since then.
This number combined costs relating to healthcare, lack of productivity, treatment for addiction, and crime. The same study shows that in 2015 roughly two million people suffered from addiction and substance abuse related to narcotic pain relievers. Fortunately, I was not part of that statistic as I’d overcome my own dependency in 2008, but it took more than just a long weekend away to find that relief. I spent more than a month in a detox center ridding my body of addictive toxins. Once I entered treatment, I encountered dozens of other patients who were drug addicts or alcoholics. I realized my withdrawal symptoms from the opiates were relatively easy to endure compared to that of a heroin addict or a binge drinker. But regardless of a person’s “drug of choice” — a term widely used in addiction centers to label ALL drugs as addictive — none of them were being treated for cannabis addiction.
Over one hundred people inhabited the healing center during my month-long stay and not a single “marijuana addict” resided there during that time. None were found half-dead in their apartment with a joint in their hand; none were rushed to the emergency room to have their stomach pumped after eating a cannabis brownie; none were arrested and sent to mandatory treatment following a fatal car accident with another vehicle while they were high; none had beaten their husband or wife after smoking too much.
The majority of the other patients smoked cigarettes, and many talked about their plans to drink alcohol when they finished treatment. “Drinking and smoking would not be legal if they were truly harmful,” was the popular justification.
It seemed contrary to logic that alcohol — also known as a “drug” in addiction recovery centers and once a substance of prohibition on its own — is not only legal for anyone 21 years of age to purchase, but it is legal despite decades of life-altering tragedies and health complications from DWI-related deaths and alcohol-related domestic abuse to kidney failure and liver disease. The same paradox applies to cigarettes; they’re known to be highly addictive and, used properly and consistently, greatly increase the risk of cancer — yet they too remain legal for purchase and use. But even with all the risks and complications associated with alcohol and tobacco, some experts argue that marijuana is just as, if not more, dangerous as its legal counterparts.
A quick search through the archives of WebMD — the online medical encyclopedia — reveals a plethora of marijuana and cannabis-related articles and studies that label the plant as highly addictive and damaging to IQ levels in adults. A featured post reviewed by WebMD’s Chief Medical Director, Dr. Michael W. Smith, states that marijuana contains many of the toxins found in cigarettes such as formaldehyde, cyanide, and ammonia. The article also claims that cannabis promotes cross-sensitization making it a “gateway drug” in which the active ingredient, Tetrahydrocannabinol — or THC, effectively primes the brain for an enhanced response to other drugs. It’s no wonder that smoking the “devil’s lettuce” has garnered such a bad reputation with such harmful side effects.
Marijuana’s ability to increase cross-sensitization places it in the same category of two other proven gateway drugs in which you may be familiar: alcohol and tobacco.
WebMD — a resource that employs physicians to contribute proven medical data and undergoes routine audits for accurate information — offers no shortage of evidence that alcohol and tobacco are highly addictive, toxic, and deadly. So in addition to promoting cross-sensitization, using alcohol and tobacco can be fatal. Symptoms of alcohol overdose include seizures, uncontrollable vomiting, irregular breathing, and death if not treated quickly. Side effects from smoking cigarettes include lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease, all of which can cause death. What are the known symptoms of marijuana overdose? WebMD staffer Stephanie Watson tells us that in the event of a marijuana overdose, the user “may experience sudden anxiety or paranoia.” All of the factors relating to alcohol and tobacco use are verified by decades of study and accepted by thousands of doctors. But a contributing physician for WebMD — Dr. Matthew J. Smith — does not offer a convincing portrayal that cannabis is harmful. “We’re learning new things everyday,” he says. “Before we can really understand the effects of marijuana, further research is needed,” he adds.
There is an obvious detrimental effect that legal drugs — alcohol, cigarettes, and prescription medication — have had on American citizens. The perfidious nature of the War on Drugs has allowed addictive, harmful substances to effectively line the pockets of politicians and lobbyists — despite a decline in recent years, an estimated $20 million is spent annually by big tobacco — while destroying the lives of millions — literally, 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) — through their questionable tactics and unregulated sale and consumption.
All of this occurs while a natural plant that has shown seemingly limitless uses to combat disease and discomfort, and generate revenue, cannot shake the stigma of being dangerous? How is it that drugs like tobacco and alcohol can remain untouched in our country’s legal system after they have been proven to take the lives of American citizens daily? As is the case for many controversies in the history of our young nation, to fully understand this quandary one must follow the money.
The tobacco and alcohol industries generated over $5 billion in tax revenue in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017 alone, so it comes as no surprise that lobbying for booze and cigarettes is a lucrative space. Recent opposition of cannabis legalization by Texas governor Greg Abbott and other elected officials is misguided, but it has also served as a catalyst for my own vocal support of at least studying the effects of marijuana. Quick research has shown that the economic impact of legalized cannabis has been a positive one in states that allow it. After Colorado legalized the use of marijuana in 2014, the state boasted over $700 million in cannabis sales, contributing to almost $80 million in tax revenues and fees. That statistic pales in comparison to 2016, when $1.3 billion in marijuana sales yielded over $200 million in tax revenue.
Financial benefits aside, I will admit that I’m not familiar enough to weigh in on medicinal benefits of marijuana and perhaps that may discredit my opinion on supporting it. But I do have firsthand experience in narcotic dependency. I have seen what alcohol and other drugs can do to ruin and sometimes end the lives of others. These commonalities — the addictive nature of alcohol and tobacco, revenue generation, and unopposed legal status — may not lay a strong enough foundation for why marijuana should also be legal, and introducing the obvious economic benefits still might not be enough to sway the uninformed. But there’s more to marijuana than money and misinformation.
Shortly after my return to “normalcy” post cancer and addiction, I began investigating alternative methods of treatment for chronic pain in hopes of using my experience to prevent other cancer patients and survivors from enduring years of opioid abuse. I discovered successful stories of recovery in California, where pain management doctors were prescribing medicinal cannabis for discomfort and where palliative care physicians used it for end-of-life patients. I also met a family who’s son, Jimmy, was battling cancer; they lived in California.
Before the end of his physical life here on earth, Jimmy struggled with pain and post-treatment side effects, all of which were unaffected by narcotic pain medications. In some cases, his prescribed medications exacerbated his symptoms. Before eventually succumbing to the disease in 2014, Jimmy found comfort in the last year of his life from a natural plant that has almost a century of bad reputation to shed. His father Dan explained that marijuana contains cannabinoids that helped Jimmy stave off seizures, and the active THC helped Jimmy through discomfort caused by his treatment in a way no modern medication was able.
Another possible benefit for Jimmy could have been the use of marijuana to attack the cancer itself. Research has shown that marijuana contains a chemical that prevents cancer cells from spreading in a lab setting and could effectively help others like Jimmy fight the disease. In fact, the NIH says that not only is there zero evidence showing that smoking marijuana causes cancer in the lungs as much as smoking cigarettes — a claim propagated by cannabis opponents — but it might actually prevent it. Studies on animals and cell culture suggest THC and cannabidiol (CBD) have antitumor effects, according to the American Cancer Society.
A separate study performed by the California Pacific Medical Center in 2007 showed that CBD stops cancer by turning off the Id-1 gene. This, along with more than twenty other marijuana benefits are featured in an online post by Business Insider. Groundbreaking discoveries in medicine are just one aspect of the benefits cannabis legalization would bring, if only elected leaders would allow it to happen.
I recently started using CBD to ease the lingering effects of chronic pain in my reconstructed jaw. It works. It’s incredibly effective. But I don’t need it. There are others that do. CBD is life changing for patients diagnosed with intractable epilepsy.
As it stands, Texas law allows licensed CBD dispensaries to prescribe low-THC, high CBD medicines to intractable epilepsy patients if they have consulted with and been diagnosed by at least two physicians that are board-certified in Neurology or Epileptology. Furthermore, these patients must show that their disease has been unresponsive to medicines approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). So the already small percentage of intractable epileptic patients in Texas (roughly 130,000 people) must jump through seemingly insurmountable hoops to get the only substance — derived from a naturally occurring chemical in a naturally grown plant — that provides proven relief from debilitating seizures; a chemical that, according to agreeing scientists and chemists, does not elicit euphoric or addictive side effects but has been proven to relieve nausea, inflammation, pain, effects of concussion, insomnia, and more.
Another challenge at the federal level is CBD’s classification as a Schedule 1 substance by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which places this non-lethal, non-addictive “drug” in the same category as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. An imminent change in the law notwithstanding, our goal should be to “de-stigmatize” CBD as a harmful substance to allow its medicinal qualities to pervade our culture.
Whether he knew it or not, Harry Anslinger was the commanding general in a war that he himself created. Hari’s Chasing the Scream introduces us to another soldier in America’s drug war, Chino. The child of a young, black prostitute and a corrupt white cop in New York City, Chino is a product of more than eight decades of Anslinger’s mission to criminalize drugs and drug users. Chino’s father was in the process of arresting his mother for crack possession when he decided to rape her. No charges stuck, and Chino would grow up with a mother who was a victim in every sense of the word: a victim of drug addiction, rape, and a corrupt legal system. Chino first smelled the stench of America’s prison system at age 13 and would experience years of slinging crack and the stinging of cuffs until age 21 when he had enough. He was determined to free himself from the addictive stranglehold of crack and heroin and fully understood the toxicity that would persist if he didn’t. But there was one thing that calmed his nerves, anxiety, and the haunted memories of a broken childhood: marijuana. Upon leaving New York’s Riker’s Island prison for the final time, Chino found a job as an intern for a local community group that helped prisoners rejoin society. But emerging on the other side of a violent life left him burning with questions, similar to my own.
Laws exist for protection, including protection from ourselves. But human beings create laws, and humans are fallible. Harry Anslinger’s skewed perception of marijuana and those who used it — stemming from innate racial ideology and fear — helped create laws that effectively placed the drug industry into the hands of those who live outside the law. Like Prohibition, violent crime began the moment the FBN began enforcing prohibition on marijuana. Organized criminal elements thrived once Anslinger’s message proliferated into law enforcement communities. In his book, Hari paints a picture of early 20th century America, where upstanding citizens could buy pure morphine at the local drugstore for a few bucks. Right or wrong, life seemed stable. What happened then changed the trajectory of the United States, stigmatizing cannabis and directly affecting the lives of millions including Chino, Jimmy, Billie Holiday, and yours truly.
More often than not, decisions involving the lives of others are based on morals. Each day we wake up and live based on what we think is right or wrong. More than a century ago a young boy named Harry decided he would fight a war that did not exist. Now America is caught in a battle that is perpetuated by drug cartels and punctuated by yearly increases in violent crime, addiction, and death.
My case for cannabis is this: the use of this natural plant delivers positive benefits for cancer survivors dealing with chronic pain, helps palliative care patients find comfort towards end of life, and provides a calming remedy for people that deal with anxiety and stress. States where cannabis is legal have seen a boost in their economy and a drop in violent crime rates, as well as an added industry that provides jobs. That is what is right. What is wrong is not attempting to ease the pain of millions due to lack of reason and a war rooted in racism.
As a four-time cancer survivor and someone who has both studied and endured the harmful side effects of pharmaceutical drugs and toxic treatments like chemotherapy and radiation, I have a strong desire to dispel falsehoods surrounding cannabis and push to truly investigate this plant’s potentially positive impact on American lives.
I will not engage in conjecture of the cure-all benefits of cannabis or automatically assume that it will effect positive change in the medical or economic landscape immediately, if at all. But I hope that one day in the near future we can live in a nation that focuses on natural alternatives to help heal, comfort, and contribute economically to an already prosperous society. I realize that ensuring the safety and prosperity of that society will need to be upheld through thorough investigation and comprehensive research of cannabis. Some drugs should be banned. Some substances should remain stigmatized. And I have no objections to a “war” on drugs.
I just want to ensure we are waging the right one.
References:
· “Reefer Madness” Louis Gasnier, Director. Distributor Unknown, 1936. Film.
· Adams, Cydney. “The man behind the marijuana ban for all the wrong reasons.” CBS News, CBS Interactive. November 17, 2016. www.cbsnews.com/news/harry-anslinger-the-man-behind-the-marijuana-ban/ Date accessed — June 10, 2017.
· Hari, Johann. Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs. New York, Bloomsbury, 2016.
· LoBianco, Tom (Harpers Magazine reference) — “Report: Nixon’s war on drugs targeted black people.” CNN, Cable News Network, March 24, 2016. www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/
· Rosenblatt, Josh. “One New Stat Shows Extent of Opioid Problem.” Newser, June 21, 2017, www.newser.com/story/244556/opioid-related-er-visits-nearly-doubled-in-10-years.html?utm_source=8at8&utm_medium=email&utm_content=1636336419291899603&utm_campaign=20170621 Date accessed — June 28, 2017. (AHRQ Link — https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb224-Patient-Characteristics-Opioid-Hospital-Stays-ED-Visits-by-State.pdf)
· National Institute on Drug Abuse. “How Much Does Opioid Treatment Cost?” NIDA, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/medications-to-treat-opioid-addiction/how-much-does-opioid-treatment-cost Date accessed — June 27, 2017.
· “How Does Marijuana Affect You?” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/marijuana-use-and-its-effects#2 Date accessed — June 24, 2017.
· Watson, Stephanie. “Is Marijuana Safe?” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/is-marijuana-safe-web#3 Date accessed — June 24, 2017.
· Financial Report “Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.” Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, www.ttb.gov/index.shtml Date accessed — June 23, 2017.
· Ingraham, Christopher. “Colorado’s legal weed market: $700 million in sales last year, $1 billion by 2016.” The Washington Post, WP Company, February 12 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/12/colorados-legal-weed-market-700-million-in-sales-last-year-1-billion-by-2016/?utm_term=.b3cc5e521009. Date accessed — June 15, 2017
· Lung Cancer — National Institute on Drug Abuse. “What are marijuana’s effects on lung health?” NIDA, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/marijuana/what-are-marijuanas-effects-lung-health Date accessed — June 27, 2017.
· “Marijuana and Cancer.” American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/complementary-and-alternative-medicine/marijuana-and-cancer.html Date accessed June 22, 2017.
· Cc. “Recent Research on Cannabinoids.” California Pacific Medical Center, www.cpmc.org/professionals/research/programs/science/cannabidiolarticles.html Date accessed — June 27, 2017.
· Loria, Kevin and Welsh, Jennifer. “23 Health Benefits Of Marijuana.” Business Insider, Business Insider, April 20, 2014, www.businessinsider.com/health-benefits-of-medical-marijuana-2014-4/#it-can-be-used-to-treat-glaucoma-1 Date accessed — June 15, 2017.
