Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 12:34:17 -0400 From: Gettman_J@mediasoft.net (Jon Gettman) To: drctalk@drcnet.org Subject: Marijuana and Dopamine [snip snip] Miles Herkenham is the chief of neuroanatomy at NIMH. He has read my two HT articles, and the only correction he offered is the minor point that Prozac is not a benzodiazipine, which the article mistakenly mentions due to an editing error. Otherwise, my HT articles are accurate representations of available research. The article below is from the May issue of High Times, and includes a comment by Dr. Gardner on my petition. (And one from Herbert Kleber) Dr. Gardner is a very highly regarded researcher. His work has great internal validity, that is, he is a very good scientist. The question is whether his findings on an in-bred strain of rats is externally valid to human subjects, and the fact that the findings are not replicated in other rat strains calls this external validity into question. While Dr. Gardner feels that his research is relevant, he agrees that marijuana does not have sufficient abuse potential for schedule I. Citations for all this are, of course, available at Marijuana, Science, and Public Policy. http://www.norml.org/MSPP.shtml Jon P.S. I'm working on a Hemp, Science, and Public Policy web site and hope to have it on the web sometime this September. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- [HIGH TIMES] [Image] [MAGAZINE RACK] [MAY 96 VOL. 249] [HIGHWITNESS NEWS] PETITION FILED TO FORCE MARIJUANA RESCHEDULING BY STEVE WISHNIA Can a petition to the DEA "effectively end marijuana prohibition in the United States"? Jon Gettman thinks so. He's trying to have the federal government remove the herb from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, the legal category for drugs deemed both dangerous and medically useless. In a 273-page petition filed on July 10, the former NORML national director argues that new research on marijuana's effects on the brain invalidates the Schedule I classification, which is reserved for drugs (such as heroin) with "a high potential for abuse," "no currently accepted medical use" and "a lack of accepted safety" under medical supervision. Gettman would like to see cannabis moved to Schedule III (Tylenol with codeine), IV (Valium and other tranquilizers) or V (over-the-counter medications). Removing cannabis from Schedule I wouldn't legalize it. But, says Gettman, "they're going to have a much more difficult time legitimizing harsh penalties" for its use. His petition cites recent research indicating that marijuana affects different parts of the brain than addicting drugs like heroin and cocaine ("Marijuana and the Brain, Part II: The Tolerance Factor," Jul. '95 HT). The key, he argues, is that marijuana "does not induce self-administration in animal subjects." Therefore, its "dependence liability" is "significantly lower than well-known drugs of abuse which do induce self-administration in animals, such as heroin, cocaine and amphetamines." Cocaine, used in nasal surgery, is in Schedule II. "We look at this as an important first step in getting the federal government to realize it has misclassified cannabis," says Allan St. Pierre of NORML. "It's going to give them fits. He's loaded it up with so many footnotes." A DEA spokesperson said she couldn't comment on the petition because it's being reviewed. If the agency finds Gettman's claims potentially valid, by law it must be sent to the Department of Health and Human Services. If HHS scientists then decide to reclassify marijuana, their decision is binding on the DEA, according to Simone Monafebian, an attorney working with Michael Kennedy, Gettman's (and HIGH TIMES') lawyer. "On purely scientific grounds, I don't know why marijuana was placed in Schedule I," says Eliot Gardner, head of the behavior and pharmacology lab at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, and a marijuana researcher. "In North America, it's not a major public-health problem. Anyone who thinks it is is loony-tunes." However, he disputes some of Gettman's claims. While "no one has convincingly gotten animals to self-administer marijuana," Gardner says, pot does stimulate dopamine production. His research found that Lewis rats injected with THC showed effects on the brain's "reward system" (linked to pleasure and addiction) similar to those of opiates and stimulants. Those results may only apply to that strain of rats, though: In both Gardner's and other experiments, THC didn't affect the brain reward system of different breeds. Gettman cites a 1992 paper by Miles Herkenham of the National Institute of Mental Health that said marijuana's effects on dopamine were most likely indirect, unlike those of cocaine and morphine. Dr. Herbert Kleber, the former second-in-command to Bill Bennett at the Drug Czar's office, agrees that marijuana's abuse potential is "nowhere near heroin or cocaine," but adds, "I think it's substantial." Kleber, who now heads the drug-abuse research unit at Columbia University Medical School, says scheduling is strictly a medical issue, and insists that "the scientific evidence is simply not there" to reclassify it. Public Health Service spokesperson Rayford Kytle said he couldn't officially comment on the petition because it hasn't yet arrived at HHS, but finds its backdoor approach to legalization dubious. "I don't see what's the point until he has the votes in Congress," he said. "When Dr. [Joycelyn] Elders even suggested it, she got roasted all over the place." It'll be a long time before the petition gets any results; NORML's lawsuit to block the initial Schedule I classification on medical grounds spent over 20 years in the courts before being dismissed in 1994. "The DEA will employ every dilatory tactic they can," says St. Pierre. Treaties banning marijuana are another potential roadblock to changing its status. Gettman says he's prepared to go to court if he has to. He's optimistic about the long-term prospects. "The science is inescapable," he says. "They can take a long time and avoid it, but ultimately they'll have to confront it." [End] This URL: http://www.pdxnorml.org/brain_addendum_Gettman_96a.txt