At the recent North Island GP conference, Associate Professor Giles Newton-Howes of Otago gave us all a dose of the cannabis paradox.
All that you need to know about cannabis” was the title of his talk.
Associate Professor Newton-Howes is a strikingly tall and handsome man with a strong personal style. ‘All you need to know about cannabis’, was aimed at the thousand medical professionals attending the North Island GP Conference. It was the only talk on cannabis at the conference, and it had four points - all arguably a combination of irrelevant and wrong.
To a full house, he said:
• Kiwis use a lot of cannabis - True. With little knowledge, few harms, significant benefits.
• It’s stronger than ever - Unlike alcohol and paracetamol, it can’t kill. Educate/regulate.
• It can cause youth harm - Yes. THC is unhelpful for teenagers. CBD , CBG, CBC, could save some from psychosis, or suicidal anxiety and depression.
• There’s not enough evidence to prescribe cannabis - Incorrect. Defensible, but wrong.
This last one made my heart race and stomach turn because once again the subject of cannabis was being absolutely misrepresented to prescribers, and through them, to Kiwis.
Otago University is a centre of medical research excellence, and it has numerous researchers in cannabinoid therapeutics. (Pharmacology is, I believe, the number one globally ranked subject of both Otago and Auckland Universities). Their work in synthetics is, as far as I am aware, based on patentable synthetic cannabinoids that target your cannabinoid system.
Most medicines target your cannabinoid receptors, because they maintain normal function. In fact, about two thirds of global pharmaceutical revenues come from drugs that target your cannabinoid system. That’s $900 billion USD.
That’s why ‘medical’ cannabis is a fast growing multi billion dollar industry, and that’s why cannabis is political because if hemp was regulated like a normal food product, it would compete against big pharma, and it would demolish big pharma’s market share.
Big pharma know this because they used to grow it and sell it.
‘Control the market, control the consumer, and control cannabis’ is their mantra.
Deregulate cannabis; it’s a herbal remedy. Let’s treat it as such. Make it a food again and get it out of MoDA.
The Cannabis Paradox: where an important medicine isn’t medicine, although it’s a medicine.
The Cannabis Paradox: where an ancient and important food is a prohibited food.
Who benefits? (TADHG STOPFORD) TheHempfoundation.org.nz
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