Mark Sircus., AC, OMD
Natural News

There are many people, an estimated 350,000 people in the United States that are living with this painful, debilitating, and sometimes fatal disorder of the central nervous system.

Western medicine has not come up with good treatment strategies for this disease and the United States government keeps one of the safest and most helpful medicines for this population illegal. Seems they could care less and would doom this population to perpetual suffering.

An estimated 350,000 people in the United States are living with multiple sclerosis (MS), a painful, debilitating, and sometimes fatal disorder of the central nervous system, and the United States government could care less and would doom this population to more suffering than can be imagined. A long list of ugly words comes to mind when one thinks of any person, organization or institution that would keep helpful and safe medicines away from MS sufferers.

MS is the most common debilitating neurological disease of young people, often appearing between the ages of 20 and 40, and affecting more women than men. Symptoms vary considerably from person to person; however, the one most frequently noted is spasticity, which causes pain, spasms, loss of function, and difficulties in nursing care.

MS exacerbations appear to be caused by abnormal immune activity that causes inflammation and the destruction of myelin, the protective covering of nerve fibers, in the brain or spinal cord. MS most frequently presents at onset as a relapsing and remitting disorder, where symptoms come and go. Current treatment of MS is primarily based on symptoms, focusing on such problems as spasticity, pain, fatigue, bladder problems and depression.

Anecdotal reports and a small controlled study have reported that cannabis improved spasticity and, to some extent, improved tremor in MS patients. Many studies of the pharmacology of cannabis have identified effects on motor systems of the central nervous system that have the potential of affecting tremor and spasticity.

A recent carefully controlled study of the efficacy of THC in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, the animal model of MS, demonstrated significant amelioration of these two MS symptoms. Moreover, cannabis has demonstrated effects on immune function that also have the potential of reducing the autoimmune attack that is thought to be the underlying pathogenic process in MS.

MS patients report that cannabis has a startling and profound effect on muscle spasms, tremors, balance, bladder control, speech and eyesight. Many wheelchair-bound patients report that they can walk unaided when they have smoked cannabis.

A House of Lords report states that the British Multiple Sclerosis Society (consisting of some 35,000 MS-suffering patients) estimates that as many as 4% of their population already use cannabis for the relief of their symptoms despite the considerable legal risks associated with prohibition. The chairman of the committee went on to state that, “We have seen enough evidence to convince us that a doctor might legitimately want to prescribe cannabis to relieve… the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and that the criminal law ought not to stand in the way.”

Numerous case studies, surveys and double-blind studies have reported improvement in patients treated with cannabinoids for symptoms including spasticity, chronic pain, tremor, sexual dysfunction, bowel and bladder dysfunctions, vision dimness, dysfunctions of walking and balance (ataxia), and memory loss. Cannabinoids have been shown in animal models to measurably lessen MS symptoms and may also halt the progression of the disease.

A recent British survey of MS patients found that 43 percent of respondents used cannabis therapeutically. Among them, nearly three quarters said that cannabis mitigated their spasms, and more than half said it alleviated their pain. A survey published in August 2003 in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences reported that 96 percent of Canadian MS patients believe that cannabis is therapeutically useful for treating the disease. Of those who admitted using cannabis medicinally, the majority found it to be beneficial, particularly in the treatment of chronic pain, spasticity, and depression.

A U.K. study published recently in the journal Lancet looked at 630 multiple sclerosis patients after 15 weeks of orally delivered treatment. Fifty-seven percent of the patients taking a whole cannabis extract said their pain had eased compared with 50% who took capsules containing THC and 37% who were given placebo capsules.

Scientists have long been exploring the potential of cannabinoids to inhibit neurodegeneration. A 2003 study that the American MS Society calls “interesting and potentially exciting” demonstrated that cannabinoids were able to slow the disease process in mice by offering neuroprotection against EAE. After analyzing the findings, authors at London’s Institute of Neurology concluded, “In addition to symptom management, cannabis may also slow down the neurodegenerative processes that ultimately lead to chronic disability in multiple sclerosis and probably other diseases.”

Over 40 medicines are listed by the Multiple Sclerosis Society as commonly used by MS patients. Drugs commonly prescribed for muscle spasticity and tremor include Klonopin, Dantrium, Baclofen (Medtronic), Zanaflex and Valium. Klonopin (Clonazepam) and Valium (diazepam) are both benzodiazepines, central nervous system (CNS) depressants manufactured by Roche. Overdoses of these medications, especially when taken with alcohol, may lead to unconsciousness and death.

These drugs frequently cause people to become drowsy, dizzy, lightheaded, clumsy, or unsteady. Other common side effects include slurred speech, abdominal cramps or pain, blurred vision or other changes in vision, changes in sexual drive or performance, gastrointestinal changes, including constipation or diarrhea, dryness of mouth, fast or pounding heartbeat, muscle spasm, trouble with urination, and trembling.

Studies in animals have shown that clonazepam and diazepam can cause birth defects or other problems, including death of the animal fetus. Overuse of clonazepam during pregnancy may cause the baby to become dependent on it and it may pass into breast milk and cause drowsiness, slow heartbeat, shortness of breath, or troubled breathing in nursing babies. By comparison, the side effects associated with cannabis are typically mild and are classified as “low risk.” Euphoric mood changes are among the most frequent side effects.

Some doctors are exceptionally dense when it comes to using medical . Dr. Jacqueline Friedman would rather inject botulinum toxin injections instead. In 2009 the National Multiple Sclerosis Society released recommendations on marijuana as a treatment for MS, stating, “Although it is clear that cannabinoids have a potential for both management of MS symptoms such as pain and spasticity, as well as for neuroprotection, it cannot yet be recommended because … studies to date do not demonstrate a clear benefit compared to existing symptomatic therapies and… issues of side effects, systemic effects and long-term effects are not yet clear.”

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