Home Search Sitemap Contact Bookmark

Free Dissertations - Health Dissertations

219). O'shaughnessy's Research Led Further Investigation By Dr. R. M'meens ...

219). O'Shaughnessy's research led further investigation by Dr. R. M'Meens for tetanus, neuralgia, the arrest of uterine hemorrhage, as an analgesic during labor, in dysmenorrhoea, convulsions, the pain of rheumatism, asthma, postpartum psychoses, gonorrhea, and chronic bronchitis (Grinspoon, 1971, p. 219). Dr. M'Meens studies and reports resulted in cannabis being assigned (M'Meens, 1860, pp. 94-95):
"a place among the so called hypnotic medicines next to opium; its effects are less intense, and the secretions are not so much suppressed by it. Digestion is not disturbed; the appetite rather increased; . . . The whole effect of hemp being less violent, and producing a more natural sleep, without interfering with the actions of the internal organs, it is certainly often preferable to opium, although it is not equal to that drug in strength and reliability."
M'Meens also found that cannabis had use as a sedative among other medicinal purposes (Grinspoon, 1971, p. 220). Dr. Hare in 1887 noted that the use of cannabis quieting restlessness and anxiety, and by turning the mind of the patient to other channels. . . . Under these circumstances, the patient, whose most painful symptom has been mental trepidation, may become more happy or even hilarious (Hare, 1887, p. 225-226). However, the Tax Act of 1937 completed its medical demise, and it was removed from the U.S. Pharmacopoeia and National Formulary in 1941 (Grinspoon, 1971, p. 218).
Modern day medical findings see its proponents suggesting the legalisation of marijuana in terms of its medicinal uses (Earlywine, 2002, p. 167). Naturally, the preceding views have sparked a number of debates. It has been found that Smoked cannabis clearly helps some problems and may cost less than other medications, and that Synthetic cannabinoids can also alleviate symptoms of many disorders (Earlywine, 2002, p. 167). G.T. Stockings, a medical researcher, administered a synthetic cannabis preparation to fifty depressive patients, and thirty-six showed definitive improvement (Stockings, 1947, pp. 918-922). Mikuriya (1969, p. 904) in reviewing the medical evidence as well as literature listed the potential and possible therapeutic uses of cannabis:
analgesic and hypnotic,
as an appetite stimulant,
antiepileptic, antispasmodic,
as an aid in the prevention as well as interruption of migraines and tic douloureux,
as an antidepressant as well as tranquilizer,
as a psychotherapeutic aid,
antiasthmatic,
in the acceleration of childbirth (oxytoxic),
as a topical anesthetic,
in certain uses as an agent that facilitates patient withdrawal from additions to opiates and alcohol, and
as an antibiotic
The current position of organized medicine in the United States is that cannabis has been condemned as medically worthless, and even dangerous (Grinspoon, 1971, p. 226).


Thanks