Medical marijuana reduces pain Re: “Facts on medical marijuana are stubborn things, too,” Oct. 24
Author Joseph Summerill is correct to assert that “facts … are stubborn things.” So stubborn, in fact, that he chooses to ignore them completely.
Summerill alleges, “The undisputable facts, however, are that there are no sound scientific data supporting the medical value of marijuana.” The website PubMed Central, the U.S. government repository for peer-reviewed scientific research, disagrees. In fact, a simple word search on PubMed using the keyword “marijuana” reveals more than 2,100 published papers in peer-reviewed journals just this year alone.
Of course, not every one of these papers pertain to the substance’s therapeutic potential. But many do.
For example, the results of a series of randomized, placebo-controlled Food and Drug Administration-approved clinical trials performed by regional branches of the University of California demonstrated that inhaled cannabis holds therapeutic value that is comparable to or better than conventional medications, particularly in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and neuropathic pain. These findings were publicly presented to the California legislature, and also appear online here: http://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu/images/pdfs/CMCR_REPORT_FEB17.pdf. Further, the UC findings paralleled those previously reported by no less than the American Medical Association’s Council on Science and Public Health, which declared, “Results of short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis.”
Those are the facts, Mr. Summerill. It’s time to stop denying them.
Paul Armentano
Washington
D.C. schools need curriculum reform
Former D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s attempt to both motivate and measure good teaching was doomed to fail from the start because the one-size-fits-all send-em-all-to college K-12 curriculum does not address the real needs of the 50 percent of students that are learning-challenged. These students do not need courses in Shakespeare, advanced algebra or cellular biology. They need instead the basics of reading and writing, basic financial skills, communication skills, social skills, job skills and a large assortment of apprentice programs from which to learn a vocation. They also need a good program of physical fitness and sports.
Back in the early 1970s W. Edward Deming discovered that most automobile reliability problems are “designed in” and not the fault of the workers building the cars. Detroit didn’t listen, Japan did. The result — Japan instituted continuous quality improvement and all but wiped out the American automobile industry. The problems of our school system are very similar — they are designed in and not the fault of incompetent teachers. That is something Rhee never understood — nor does the teaching guild. Not until there is curriculum reform will our schools do well for all of the students.
Richard C. Kreutzberg
Bethesda
Obama administration should be watched
Re: “Energy Department rewrote the law to aid Solyndra,” Oct. 21
The Solyndra scandal clearly demonstrates that the Obama administration can carry out its radical, anti-taxpayer policies in the open with little resistance from a feckless Republican leadership and, more importantly, with the assistance of a complicit media that fails in its job to inform the American public.
Michelle Dufay
McLean
