Students and Columbia residents meet to discuss medical marijuana
By Erin Meyers, posted 4/19/06

Missouri students and Columbia residents met Saturday, March 4, in the Arts and Sciences Building at MU to discuss the status of medical marijuana, a discussion held in part with the Missouri National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws 7th Annual State Conference held at MU. 

Andrea Brandon, a University of Illinois MD-Ph.D. student led the discussion, giving attendees historical and medical information regarding the context of medical marijuana.

According to Brandon, marijuana was legal 70 years ago, with both recreational and medical uses. Today, marijuana is listed as a schedule one drug, considered to be highly addictive with no accepted medical uses. Brandon said AIDS and cancer patients frequently use marijuana in an effort to deaden pain and increase appetite. While she acknowledges many success stories associated with the medical use of marijuana, Brandon also states that the federal government lacks interest in funding research.

“We’re not used to smoking drugs,” Brandon said.

Also joining Brandon on the panel was George McMahon, the fifth legal medical marijuana recipient in the United States. McMahon, who has received a monthly supply of marijuana from the federal government since March 1990, attests that marijuana works in a different way than other drugs. 

According to McMahon, he received marijuana as he sat in a hospital, with failing kidneys and a “fried liver,” unable to sleep. McMahon said after 15 minutes of smoking a joint of marijuana he began to recover. 

“A joint’s so much easier,” McMahon said.

Several members of the audience also voiced their concerns regarding the use of medical marijuana and the lack of input from the federal government in regards to research. 

Heather De Mian, a Columbia resident who suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a heritable connective tissue disorder, spoke in support of medical marijuana. De Mian is a user of Marinol, a drug used to treat nausea and vomiting associated with cancer patients. According to De Mian, it is difficult to swallow the medicine when already stricken with nausea. De Mian said she has found luck in smoking marijuana that has been available to her only illegally.

According to Brandon, while there are numerous successful outcomes associated with marijuana use, the federal government has set the bar high, requiring more and more evidence each time. This lack of progress has left many scientists undecided on whether marijuana can be considered useful as a medicine. 

Those who do oppose the legalization of the drug cite concern of the affects of smoking and the dependency associated with many other drugs. Yet according to Brandon, an individual would require an excessive amount of marijuana to overdose, and in contrast with other drugs, users experience a lower level of physical dependency, with very different withdrawal symptoms.

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