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Drugs-Chile: Debate on Medicinal Marijuana Won't Go Away

Posted on: Wednesday, 30 March 2005, 21:00 CST

SANTIAGO, Mar. 29, 2005 (IPS/GIN) -- A court decision to drop all criminal charges against a man living with HIV/AIDS who was growing cannabis at home for therapeutic reasons has reopened the debate over medicinal marijuana in Chile.

Rafael Antonio D.J., 41, spent 53 days in prison in 2001 after being falsely accused of selling marijuana to schoolchildren. In fact, the marijuana in his possession was exclusively for his own personal use, as a means of counteracting the unpleasant side effects caused by the HIV/AIDS medications he was taking.

The Santiago Court of Appeals finally acquitted Rafael Antonio after a long legal battle, in which he and his attending physician, Juan Ballesteros, were able to demonstrate that they had attempted to import Marinol (dronabinol) -- a synthetic version of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana -- but that its entry was blocked by the country's customs authorities.

In a related case, Maria Luisa Velasco, 71, the ex-wife of former Christian Democrat senator and government minister Juan Hamilton, was arrested in February for growing 40 marijuana plants in the backyard of her home in Las Condes, one of Santiago's most elite neighbourhoods.

Velasco, who was dubbed "granny" by the local press, said she had been smoking marijuana for 30 years to alleviate the pain caused by arthritis and rheumatism. She has been released on bail while awaiting trial -- one in which the precedent set by Rafael Antonio's acquittal will undoubtedly have an influence.

In an interview with IPS, Dr. Pedro Naveillan, president of the Chilean Mental Health Institute, said that "the Court of Appeals decision in the case of the AIDS patient should be the rule. If a doctor prescribes cannabinoids (chemicals found in Cannabis sativa or marijuana) as treatment for pain or other symptoms, then a patient should have the right to consume them."

Naveillan, one of Chile's most outspoken supporters of the legalisation of marijuana consumption, added that the authorities should also authorise the import of medications that contain or synthesise the active ingredients found in Cannabis sativa, although this would make treatment more costly.

"What is needed is authorisation for growing marijuana for personal use as a form of medical treatment. Smoking marijuana has the same effects as these medications," he added.

But Naveillan's views conflict sharply with those of psychiatrist Mariano Montenegro, head of the treatment division at the National Council for Drug Control (CONACE), a government agency, and Ivan Saavedra, president of the Chilean College of Pharmaceutical Chemists.

According to Montenegro, "The use of marijuana cigarettes as a replacement for medication is not authorised anywhere in the world. In Canada, Holland, and some states in the United States, marijuana is prescribed in the form of medications or infusions, once other treatments have not had the desired effect," he told IPS.

"Marijuana has over 400 psychoactive ingredients, and only one of them, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), is synthesised for the production of medications used to treat chronic pain caused by some diseases, to increase the appetite of cancer and AIDS patients, and to alleviate the nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy," said Montenegro.

If patients smoke marijuana, he continued, they consume all of its ingredients, many of which affect the central nervous system and alter mental functions. "A very precise dose of THC is needed for medical applications," he stressed.

Montenegro's views, however, do not appear to be shared by the authorities in Canada, the Netherlands or the ten U.S. states he mentions -- all of which actually authorise the smoking of cannabis for treatment purposes, with a doctor's prescription. The government of Canada even produces marijuana for medical use.

Meanwhile, according to Saavedra, "The excessive and prolonged consumption of marijuana leads to a loss of concentration, reduced memory capacity, motor coordination problems, erectile dysfunction in men, anxiety and paranoia. It also affects blood flow to the brain, which explains the cognitive deficiencies observed in marijuana users."

In a commentary published by the local newspaper El Mercurio, the pharmaceutical chemist acknowledged the positive effects of marijuana in the treatment of migraine headaches, insomnia, chronic pain, muscle spasms and spasticity (caused by multiple sclerosis, for example), intestinal inflammation and the nausea associated with chemotherapy.

He added, however, that it has not been recognised as an "indispensable" medication in modern medicine.

"I believe it would be incorrect for Chile to approve the use of cannabinoids and their sale in pharmacies," Saavadra concluded.

Rodrigo Pascal, coordinator of Vivopositivo, a support and advocacy organization for people living with HIV/AIDS, also weighed in on the debate. "It has been proven that marijuana not only alleviates the pain and side effects of other medications, but is also extremely helpful for people in the advanced stages of AIDS, because it boosts the appetite," he said.

Alvaro Bardon, a neoliberal economist and director of the Public Policy Institute of Finis Terrae University, a private institution, told IPS that the ruling in Rafael Antonio's case was "the most reasonable decision."

Naveillan cited studies from Oxford University indicating that marijuana is not addictive, and that in addition to the medical applications already mentioned, it has also proved effective in the treatment of glaucoma.

He added that Cannabis sativa in itself does not cause mental illness, although it can exacerbate the symptoms of previously existing disorders of this kind.

He also emphatically refuted the "escalation theory" which holds that smoking marijuana can lead to the use of stronger illegal drugs, like cocaine or heroin.

In actual fact, he maintained, it is the repressive policies followed under the prohibitionist approach to drugs that foster the development of criminal trafficking rings, which encourage users -- especially the young -- to experiment with different narcotics.

CONACE's Montenegro, on the other hand, insists that "marijuana is not a harmless drug." Of the 12,000 Chileans who entered public health system drug rehabilitation programs in 2003, 5,700 were "problem users" of Cannabis sativa, he reported.

Bardon, however, believes that the consumption of marijuana and other drugs should be "legalised and open, because this is the only way of effectively dealing with drug addiction and preventing the emergence of criminal trafficking rings fostered by prohibitionist policies. I don't know of a single country that has achieved results with the prohibitionist approach," he said.

"The police and the entire state apparatus, instead of devoting themselves to fighting crime, waste their time on anti-drug operations," the economist said.

The prohibitionist stance, he added, merely results in the spread of corruption, an increase in crime, and deaths caused by poor quality drugs, as well as more people in prison, largely "mothers from marginalised neighbourhoods and young people."

Source: Global Information Network

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