Generic Kytril

MARIJUANA: THE KILLER WEED
Mrs. Garnet Brennan, fifty-eight-year-old principal of a grade school in Nicasio, California, was recently fired by her school board after a thirty-year record of devoted and excellent teaching to her students. This action was taken because of her sworn affidavit that she had smoked marijuana almost daily for the past eighteen years, apparently with no harmful effects (the affidavit was one of hundreds collected for the defense of another Marin County resident, charged with the sale of marijuana).
Not only did the lady state the drug had not harmed her but she added that marijuana had helped her become a more effective teacher (she denied ever having turned on during school hours).
This story was front page news for several days and shocked those who had associated marijuana use only with musicians, hippies and, occasionally, ballet dancers. Mrs. Brennan may be a hippie at heart but she is also a homeowner in Forest Knolls, a semi-rural Marin County suburb where many residents still use the horse as a means of transportation. She has always been considered a model citizen and teacher by her friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
Mrs. Brennan was fired because she admitted to having broken the law enacted to protect you and me from the alleged harmful effects of marijuana. Ideally, laws are based on reason and the most complete information available bearing on the issue at hand. With this in mind, I would like to present some medical facts pertaining to marijuana.
According to the most widely used pharmacology reference work, Goodman and Gilman's Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, Third Edition:
"There are no lasting ill effects from the acute use of marijuana and no fatalities have ever been recorded."
Not that bad reactions to marijuana are completely unknown. Emotionally unstable individuals may freak out after using the drug even in small quantities. Diabetics may be more vulnerable to insulin reactions. Rarely are there allergic reactions to marijuana. But in normal people there are no known harmful medical effects resulting from its use (and the first recorded medical reference to marijuana was in the herbal of the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung more than 4,600 years ago).
What about its behavioral effects? Many law enforcement officials claim marijuana use leads to violent acts of crime. But according to Goodman and Gilman, "violent or aggressive behavior, however, is infrequent." Could the same be said of alcohol?
It has also been claimed that long term use of marijuana causes permanent (and presumably undesirable) changes in the personality. A physician from Greece (that land of free thought) was invited to the U.S.A. recently to give his views of chronic marijuana use. Typical of his statements was one in which he claimed he could spot a chronic user two blocks away by his walk. Imagine then Mrs. Brennan using her newfound and unwelcome leisure time to vacation in Athens. While strolling through Constitution Square she is seized by the Greek police who have spotted the characteristic marijuana walk. Back to reality.
"The influence of marijuana on intellectual functions and on emotional reactions and general personality structure was studied by Halpern (1944) who concluded that basic personality structure is not changed and that thoughts or emotions totally alien to the individual are not aroused by the drug." (Goodman and Gilman again.)
The lack of evidence showing marijuana to be harmful or addicting may have a tendency to cause impairment of judgment in some who have a large stake in maintaining the present laws. I recently appeared on a radio program with an attorney and a narcotics agent to discuss the marijuana issue. This agent, who directs operations over a large area of California, said, "If I had a seventeen-year-old daughter, I'd rather see her on heroin than marijuana."
Grasping at straws aptly describes the most recent argument advanced by marijuanaphobes. They admit that marijuana is not physically harmful or addicting but say that its use leads to "psychological dependence." One develops "psychological dependence" toward many things—art, music, automobiles, vacations, friends, etc. To quote Goodman and Gilman for the last time, "An overwhelming preoccupation with the continued use of marijuana is an extreme rarity."
Medical Letter is a periodical noted for its objective judgment of drugs. Its September 22, 1967, issue dealt, in part, with marijuana:
"There is no evidence that it has any physiological or emotional effects which directly lead to more serious drug abuse, but its use may facilitate contact with persons or groups using more dangerous drugs." Which is another way of saying that millions of Americans who use marijuana must obtain the drug from dealers who very well may be handling and promoting truly dangerous drugs. The present marijuana laws have not only created a whole new "criminal" class of otherwise productive citizens, but they encourage disrespect for all laws.
Mrs. Brennan confessed to a drug habit more serious than her use of marijuana in her now-famous affidavit. She said she could hardly wait until breaks between classes so that she could smoke a cigarette or two. Cigarettes are addictive, cause lung cancer and emphysema, and contribute to the development of heart disease and peptic ulcers. I hope Mrs. Brennan can someday kick this vicious habit.
*67\182\2*
General Health

• The expiry date is mentioned on each blister. It is different for different batches. The shelf life is 2 years from the date of manufacture and would differ from batch to batch depending on when they were manufactured.
• Read the product information leaflet provided with the product before using it.

   

Information that this website contains are general information only and are not intended as a replacement for advise and recommendations made by your medical practitioner. We do not make any warranty or represent the accuracy of information supplied herein. We reserve the right to omit portions, correct errors or withdraw an entire page on this website as we see fit without prior notice. Information about a certain drug, its uses, recommended dosages and side effects do not serve as a substitute to a prescription or information relayed to you by a licensed medical practitioner. These materials are just a general overview about the product. Likewise, we do not endorse use of any drug found on this site. Use of this site is at your sole risk. We disclaim responsibility for reliance you place upon the information that we posted on this site. Always seek medical advice from a professional healthcare and discuss thoroughly your intention of using any of the medicine that is offered in this website.