A 3 year-old Utah boy, diagnosed with leukemia and told by doctors that he had mere days to live, is now alive and well not because he continued his chemotherapy, but because he obtained cannabis oil treatment instead.
The family, fed up with the fact that the only treatment doctors could recommend was chemotherapy–even after little Landon Riddle kept vomiting dozens of times daily and refused to eat after two months of chemo–looked into cannabis oil treatment. After reading up about it online and researching the details, they traveled to Colorado where such a treatment is legal, to help Landon.
“His whole chest was full of leukemia tumors which is why he couldn’t breathe,” says his mother, Sierra. “They started him on chemo, but told us that he probably wasn’t going to make it. We discussed all of our concerns with his medical team in Utah and watched Landon continue to suffer and wither away as the piled on drug after drug.” But rather than give in to a death sentence and play into Big Pharma’s only recommendation, Landon began cannabis oil treatments. The results have been incredible.
Within just days of the treatment, Landon showed signs of improvement. Instead of withering away, his appetite surged and his vomiting lessened. He rebounded, and as explained on a CNN video, is still cancer-free even months later.
THE SAD THREAT TO TAKE A SICK CHILD AWAY FROM HIS FAMILY
Still, serious issues loom over the family, including their concern that Landon might be taken out of their custody. The video, which can be viewed in this article here, explains that the family was initially given an ultimatum: continue years of chemo and steroid treatments or refuse it, and potentially have Landon removed from their care. A lawyer willing to take on the case stepped in, expressing his thoughts that there is nothing detrimental about the family’s intentions.
And so the cannabis treatment continued, although it should be noted the chemotherapy didn’t entirely cease. He still receives treatments, but just once monthly as opposed to the more frequent doses. Sierra is desperately trying to find an oncologist who will allow cannabis treatments only, but has yet to find one willing to do so.
We all know why. If the medical profession were to get on board with cannabis oil treatments and other natural methods of curing the sick, billions of Big Pharma dollars go down the drain. It would be a huge industry shake-up where pharma jobs would go by the wayside, money lost, and credentials questioned. So medical experts, for the most part, tip-toe around the issue, saying–at best–that it should be used as a complementary approach to more accepted traditional treatment methods such as chemotherapy.
BIG ORGANIZATIONS AGAINST CANNABIS TREATMENTS DESPITE GROWING EVIDENCE THAT IT HEALS PEOPLE
In a statement issued to CNN by the American Cancer Society regarding Landon Riddle’s story, the avoid-cannabis-for-improved-health mentality is blatantly obvious. They stated in the same aforementioned video that “there is no available scientific evidence from controlled studies in humans that cannabinoids can cure or treat cancer.” That, despite the fact that Dr. Julie Holland, editor of “The Pot Book,” says, “It turns out, it actually fights the cancer itself.” That, despite the fact that numerous findings have emerged showing that cannabis compounds kill cancer cells in mice and in humans. That, despite Landon’s amazing recovery.
Landon’s story isn’t the first time cannabis oil has been eyed as helping those with serious conditions heal. For example, Natural News recently reported on the story of 33-year-old David Hibbitt, a U.K. resident who was diagnosed with bowel cancer and given 18 months to live. However, he took therapeutic doses of cannabis oil to the tune of a very affordable $75 monthly and guess what? He eliminated his cancer.
What’s it going to take for the mainstream medical world to fight more for human health rather than Big Pharma greed? It’s time for the blinders to come off and the money-hungry mind sets to end.
For centuries, hemp has been an extremely valuable crop. The fiber from the outer layers of its stalk was used for all kinds of textiles, papers, ropes, and other versatile products. It was such an important resource in colonial America that farmers were required to grow it and faced a fine if they did not. In many ways, America was built on hemp.
In the early 20th century, hemp became recognized as a valuable source for far more than just its fiber content. It was discovered that many other parts of the plant -- especially the cellulose -- could be used for fuel, building materials, medicines, etc.
Industrial applications of the plant proved so useful and numerous, Popular Mechanics published an article about hemp titled “The New Billion Dollar Crop.” Even Henry Ford was an early champion of hemp’s industrial value, going so far as to build a car that incorporated hemp materials.
Were Industrialists Threatened by Hemp Enough to Make It Illegal?
Wealthy industrialists must have realized that hemp threatened to replace some of their most profitable industries, including wood pulp paper, cotton, petroleum, and chemicals. Is it just a “conspiracy theory” that those powerful men took steps to have hemp outlawed?
The possibility that hemp sparked the total prohibition of cannabis is presented in a thesis by Pepperdine University’s professor John C. Lucien:
"From 1935 on, the Bureau actively re-wrote the history of hemp by demonizing cannabis -- triggered by monopolistic greed and economic insecurity of a few financially threatened industries."
The "Bureau" that he referred to was the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), which operated under the U.S. Treasury Department. At that time, the Secretary of the Treasury was Andrew Mellon, a very powerful industrialist with interests in companies like DuPont, General Motors, and various oil interests. Mellon was well known to influence legislation in favor of big business.
Mellon appointed Henry Anslinger (his niece’s husband) to head the FBN, and Anslinger wasted no time putting the bite on hemp. Soon after, the Bureau drafted the Marihuana Tax Act, which would place all cannabis under the control of Treasury Department regulations to limit and ultimately prohibit its cultivation and production.
All the News That's Fit to Create
The cast of powerful anti-cannabis personalities was further accompanied by none other than William Randolph Hearst, perhaps the most powerful newsman of all time. Under the guidance of Henry Anslinger, mass media and propaganda were used to propel the anti-cannabis message from the state level to a national movement. Cannabis was demonized to the public when the FBN linked it to violent anti-social behavior of lower socio-economic groups.
Hearst provided support to the campaign by running anti-cannabis ads and articles in his many media outlets, including 20 daily newspapers and 11 Sunday papers in 13 cities. Is it just a coincidence that Hearst’s fortune was threatened by hemp production because he owned many of the forests used for wood pulp paper production?
The Passage of the Marihuana Tax Act
The FBN took full advantage of the “reefer madness” misinformation campaign, using it to get the Marihuana Tax Act passed. Following passage of the Act, it was nearly impossible to succeed in the hemp industry because of the bureaucratic, legal, and monetary barriers it imposed.
After the Act’s passing, a representative of the American Medical Association named W.C. Woodward stated that there was no empirical evidence backing the FBN’s claims that cannabis was addictive or connected to violent behavior. He pointed out that all the evidence on which lawmakers and others relied did not come from medical sources, but instead from newspaper articles. By then, however, the “reefer madness” stigma had taken hold of the national psyche.
Whether you’re a conspiracy theorist or not, you have to admit it is highly coincidental that the “reefer madness” of psychoactive cannabis was used to prohibit non-psychoactive industrial hemp as well. Could it be that the threat of hemp’s newfound industrial value prompted powerful men to use “reefer madness” as a way to get hemp outlawed? Was it the value of industrial hemp that sparked cannabis prohibition?
Today, the conversation about cannabis in all its forms is finally achieving a more enlightened level. In the process, medical and recreational marijuana are no longer being demonized and, in many cases, are being valued. In the process, industrial hemp is also back in the news as a valuable crop for American farmers.
Although legislation has been passed such that American farmers in some states can grow, research, and market industrial hemp, federal laws still impede the process. Not until hemp is declassified from the Controlled Substances Act can the full potential of the plant and the influences it will have on modern industry be realized.
By most standards Matt and Paige Figi were living the American dream. They met at Colorado State University, where they shared a love of the outdoors. After getting married, the couple bought a house and planned to travel the world.
They did travel, but their plans changed when their first child was born in 2004.
Max was 2 when they decided to have another child. The couple got the surprise of their lives when an ultrasound revealed not one but two babies. Charlotte and Chase were born October 18, 2006.
"They were born at 40 weeks. ... Charlotte weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces," Paige said. "They were healthy. Everything was normal."
Seizures and hospital stays begin
The twins were 3 months old when the Figis' lives changed forever.
Charlotte had just had a bath, and Matt was putting on her diaper.
"She was laying on her back on the floor," he said, "and her eyes just started flickering."
The seizure lasted about 30 minutes. Her parents rushed her to the hospital.
"They weren't calling it epilepsy," Paige said. "We just thought it was one random seizure. They did a million-dollar work-up -- the MRI, EEG, spinal tap -- they did the whole work-up and found nothing. And sent us home."
A week later, Charlotte had another seizure. This one was longer, and it was only the beginning. Over the next few months, Charlotte -- affectionately called Charlie -- had frequent seizures lasting two to four hours, and she was hospitalized repeatedly.
Doctors were stumped. Her blood tests were normal. Her scans were all normal.
"They said it's probably going to go away," Paige recalled. "It is unusual in that it's so severe, but it's probably something she'll grow out of."
But she didn't grow out of it. The seizures continued. The hospital stays got longer. One of the doctors treating Charlotte thought there were three possible diagnoses.
The worse-case scenario? Dravet Syndrome, also known as myoclonic epilepsy of infancy or SMEI.
Dravet Syndrome is a rare, severe form of intractable epilepsy. Intractable means the seizures are not controlled by medication. The first seizures with Dravet Syndrome usually start before the age of 1. In the second year, other seizures take hold: myoclonus, or involuntary, muscle spasms and status epilepticus, seizures that last more than 30 minutes or come in clusters, one after the other.
At that time, the Figis said, Charlotte was still developing normally, talking and walking the same day as her twin. But the seizures continued to get worse. The medications were also taking a toll. She was on seven drugs -- some of them heavy-duty, addictive ones such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines. They'd work for a while, but the seizures always came back with a vengeance.
"At 2, she really started to decline cognitively," Paige said. "Whether it was the medicines or the seizures, it was happening, it was obvious. And she was slipping away."
When Charlotte was 2½, the Figis decided to take her to Children's Hospital Colorado. A neurologist tested her for the SCN1A gene mutation, which is common in 80% of Dravet Syndrome cases. After two months, the test came back positive.
"I remember to this day it was a relief," Paige said. "Even though it was the worst-case scenario, I felt relief just to know."
Matt, a Green Beret, decided to leave the military.
"Every mission, every training I was going to do I was called home because she was in the pediatric ICU again or in the hospital again."
They were quickly running out of options. They considered a drug from France. Doctors suggested an experimental anti-seizure drug being used on dogs.
Paige took her daughter to Chicago to see a Dravet specialist, who put the child on a ketogenic diet frequently used to treat epilepsy that's high in fat and low in carbohydrates. The special diet forces the body to make extra ketones, natural chemicals that suppress seizures. It's mainly recommended for epileptic patients who don't respond to treatment.
The diet helped control Charlotte's seizures but had a lot of side effects. She suffered from bone loss. Her immune system plummeted. And new behavioral problems started popping up.
"At one point she was outside eating pine cones and stuff, all kinds of different things," Matt said. "As a parent you have to say, let's take a step back and look at this. Is this truly beneficial treatment because of these other things?"
Two years into the diet, the seizures came back.
The end of the rope
In November 2000, Colorado voters approved Amendment 20, which required the state to set up a medical marijuana registry program.
There are eight medical conditions for which patients can use cannabis -- cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, muscle spasms, seizures, severe pain, severe nausea and cachexia or dramatic weight loss and muscle atrophy.
The average patient in the program is 42 years old. There are 39 patients under the age of 18.
Paige had consistently voted against marijuana use. That was before Dravet Syndrome entered their lives.
Matt, now a military contractor spending six months a year overseas, used his spare time scouring the Internet looking for anything that would help his little girl.
He found a video online of a California boy whose Dravet was being successfully treated with cannabis. The strain was low in tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the compound in marijuana that's psychoactive. It was also high in cannabidiol, or CBD, which has medicinal properties but no psychoactivity. Scientists think the CBD quiets the excessive electrical and chemical activity in the brain that causes seizures. It had worked in this boy; his parents saw a major reduction in the boy's seizures.
By then Charlotte had lost the ability to walk, talk and eat.
She was having 300 grand mal seizures a week.
Her heart had stopped a number of times. When it happened at home, Paige did cardiopulmonary resuscitation until an ambulance arrived. When it happened in the hospital, where they'd already signed a do-not-resuscitate order, they said their goodbyes. Doctors had even suggested putting Charlotte in a medically induced coma to give her small, battered body a rest.
She was 5 when the Figis learned there was nothing more the hospital could do.
That's when Paige decided to try medical marijuana. But finding two doctors to sign off on a medical marijuana card for Charlotte was no easy feat. She was the youngest patient in the state ever to apply.
Scientists don't fully understand the long-term effects early marijuana use may have on children. Studies that show negative effects, such as diminished lung function or increased risk of a heart attack, are primarily done on adult marijuana smokers. But Charlotte wouldn't be smoking the stuff.
Childhood is also a delicate time in brain development. Preliminary research shows that early onset marijuana smokers are slower at tasks, have lower IQs later in life, have a higher risk of stroke and increased incidence of psychotic disorders, leaving some scientists concerned.
"Everyone said no, no, no, no, no, and I kept calling and calling," Paige said.
She finally reached Dr. Margaret Gedde, who agree to meet with the family.
"(Charlotte's) been close to death so many times, she's had so much brain damage from seizure activity and likely the pharmaceutical medication," Gedde said. "When you put the potential risks of the cannabis in context like that, it's a very easy decision."
The second doctor to sign on was Alan Shackelford, a Harvard-trained physician who had a number of medical marijuana patients in his care. He wasn't familiar with Dravet and because of Charlotte's age had serious reservations.
"(But) they had exhausted all of her treatment options," Shackelford said. "There really weren't any steps they could take beyond what they had done. Everything had been tried -- except cannabis."
Paige found a Denver dispensary that had a small amount of a type of marijuana called R4, said to be low in THC and high in CBD. She paid about $800 for 2 ounces -- all that was available -- and had a friend extract the oil.
She had the oil tested at a lab and started Charlotte out on a small dose.
"We were pioneering the whole thing; we were guinea pigging Charlotte," Paige said. "This is a federally illegal substance. I was terrified to be honest with you."
But the results were stunning.
"When she didn't have those three, four seizures that first hour, that was the first sign," Paige recalled. "And I thought well, 'Let's go another hour, this has got to be a fluke.' "
The seizures stopped for another hour. And for the following seven days.
Paige said she couldn't believe it. Neither could Matt. But their supply was running out.
Charlotte's Web
Paige soon heard about the Stanley brothers, one of the state's largest marijuana growers and dispensary owners. These six brothers were crossbreeding a strain of marijuana also high in CBD and low in THC, but they didn't know what to do with it. No one wanted it; they couldn't sell it.
Still, even they had reservations when they heard about Charlotte's age. But once they met her, they were on board.
"The biggest misconception about treating a child like little Charlotte is most people think that we're getting her high, most people think she's getting stoned," Josh Stanley said, stressing his plant's low THC levels. "Charlotte is the most precious little girl in the world to me. I will do anything for her."
The brothers started the Realm of Caring Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides cannabis to adults and children suffering from a host of diseases, including epilepsy, cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's, who cannot afford this treatment.
People have called them the Robin Hoods of marijuana. Josh Stanley said it's their calling. They use the money they make from medical marijuana patients and get donations from sponsors who believe in their cause. They only ask patients such as the Figis to donate what they can.
"We give (cannabis) away for next to free," Stanley said. "The state won't allow us to actually give it away, so we give it away for pennies really."
Charlotte gets a dose of the cannabis oil twice a day in her food.
Gedde found three to four milligrams of oil per pound of the girl's body weight stopped the seizures.
Today, Charlotte, 6, is thriving. Her seizures only happen two to three times per month, almost solely in her sleep. Not only is she walking, she can ride her bicycle. She feeds herself and is talking more and more each day.
"I literally see Charlotte's brain making connections that haven't been made in years," Matt said. "My thought now is, why were we the ones that had to go out and find this cure? This natural cure? How come a doctor didn't know about this? How come they didn't make me aware of this?"
The marijuana strain Charlotte and now 41 other patients use to ease painful symptoms of diseases such as epilepsy and cancer has been named after the little girl who is getting her life back one day at a time.
It's called Charlotte's Web.
"I didn't hear her laugh for six months," Paige said. "I didn't hear her voice at all, just her crying. I can't imagine that I would be watching her making these gains that she's making, doing the things that she's doing (without the medical marijuana). I don't take it for granted. Every day is a blessing."
Matt added, "I want to scream it from the rooftops. I want other people, other parents, to know that this is a viable option."
Several United States veterans have formed a coalition called Weed for Warriors with a goal to shed light on and fight for veterans’ right to choose cannabis over prescription pills. Many veterans have come forward to support the use of cannabis to treat symptoms of several conditions commonly suffered by those who have served in the military, including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), pain, anxiety, and depression.
Amid those in the crowd at the Southwest Cannabis Expo in downtown Phoenix last week were representatives of the Weed for Warriors Project, including 27 year old Jose Martinez. Martinez, a United States veteran, lost both of his legs and his right arm in an explosion after stepping on an IED while serving in Afghanistan two years ago.
Once back in the United States, Martinez suffered extreme pain from his injuries, and found himself facing a serious addiction to pain pills prescribed to manage the pain. Martinez explained,
“Being on pills I hated the world. My struggle with opiates, I tried to commit suicide every day. I took so many pills I thought I’d never wake up again.”
Veteran Jose Martinez, who lost three limbs in Afghanistan, found relief to his pain with medical marijuana. (Shanna Hogan)
Putting an end to those dark days, Martinez found relief with cannabis, and he believes other veterans should have the same opportunity.
“We went and fought for our country. We just want to be free to medicate the way that we choose to.”
Now Martinez, along with Kevin Richardson, another veteran who battles symptoms of PTSD, is working with the Weed for Warriors Project in hopes of getting the use of cannabis legalized for veterans in every state. Richardson told the Phoenix New Times that he became addicted to the painkillers he was over prescribed by VA doctors, and as a result he almost lost his marriage.
Martinez and Richardson met at a cannabis expo in 2014 and have been working to achieve their goal of nationwide cannabis for veterans through the Weed for Warriors Project ever since. The group collects cannabis donations and distributes it to veterans who are not otherwise able to afford it.
While legislation addressing the use of medical cannabis for veterans in the United States has previously been introduced to the federal government, nothing has ever been approved by lawmakers. The Weed for Warriors project plans to make a powerful statement in Washington D.C., aiming to grab the attention of those who have vetoed such legislation in the past, by pouring a larges quantities of pain pills collected from veterans onto the lawn of the White House.
“We want to make a political statement,”
Richardson says.
“It’s going to represent over-medication of our veterans.”
The Weed for Warriors Project is not the first to address to issue of VA physicians over prescribing opiod painkillers to veterans. United States Marine, Mike Whiter, used powerful photographs of military men and women (like the one below) to express the need for veterans to have alternative treatment options, outside of pharmaceuticals.
As the push for cannabis therapy to treat PTSD continues, the Weed for Warriors Project will be right at the front of the line pushing for change. You can donate to the Weed for Warriors Project through their website by clicking here.
The question of whether alcohol or marijuana is worse for health is being debated once again, this time, sparked by comments that President Barack Obama made in a recent interview with The New Yorker magazine.
"As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life," Obama said during the interview. "I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol."
But how apt is the comparison between these substances? While both are intoxicants used recreationally, their legality, patterns of use and long-term effects on the body make the two drugs difficult to compare.
Both alcohol consumption and pot smoking can take a toll on the body, showing both short- and long-term health effects, though alcohol has been linked to some 88,000 deaths per year, according to the CDC, while for a number of reasons those associated with marijuana use are harder to come by. And research into marijuana's health effects is still in its infancy, compared with the rigorous studies looking at alcohol and human health.
Short-term health consequences
Drinking too much alcohol can quickly kill a person. The inability to metabolize alcohol as quickly as it is consumed can lead to a buildup of alcohol in the brain that shuts down areas necessary for survival, such as those involved with heartbeat and respiration.
"You can die binge-drinking five minutes after you've been exposed to alcohol. That isn't going to happen with marijuana," said Ruben Baler, a health scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "The impact of marijuana use is much subtler."
(Of course, subtle effects don't equate with no danger, as is the case with smoking cigarettes, which is linked with 440,000 deaths per year in the U.S.)
Marijuana affects the cardiovascular system, increasing heart rate and blood pressure, but a person can't fatally overdose on pot like they can with alcohol, Baler said.
Alcohol is more likely than marijuana to interact with other drugs. The way that alcohol is metabolized, or broken down, in the body, is common to many drugs that are taken for a variety of conditions, said Gary Murray, acting director of the Division of Metabolism and Health Effects at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
This means that for people taking drugs or medications while drinking, the alcohol can increase or decrease levels of the active drug in the body.
"Those things can make it very hit and miss, whether you're getting an active dose of a medication," Murray said.
Still, both drugs can affect health in indirect ways, too.
Because marijuana can impair coordination and balance, there is the risk of hurting oneself, particularly if someone drives or chooses to have unprotected sex while their inhibitions are lowered, Baler said. These are two areas where people using marijuana could hurt themselves for the short and long term.
Long-term health consequences
The long-term effects of drinking heavily are well known. "Excess alcohol is going to lead to very severe consequences, and chronic excess alcohol is the most likely to lead to a lot of threatening issues," Murray said.
Drinking can lead to alcoholic liver disease, which can progress to fibrosis of the liver, which in turn can potentially lead to liver cancer, Murray said.
"I emphasize 'can' – it's not even clear to the best scientists what are the triggers that allow that progression to happen," he said, noting that why some people have a higher risk than others of developing liver disease from drinking is not understood medically or biochemically.
Unlike alcohol, Baler said, the effects of chronic marijuana use are not as well established. Animal studies have indicated some possible impact on reproduction. Additionally, there is evidence marijuana can worsen psychiatric issues for people who are predisposed to them, or bring them on at a younger age. Finally, Baler said, because the drug is typically smoked, it can bring on bronchitis, coughing and chronic inflammation of the air passages.
But while early studies showed some evidence linking marijuana to lung cancer, subsequent studies have debunked that association. Baler said it's unclear why marijuana smoke does not have the same result as tobacco smoke on the lungs, but perhaps some beneficial compounds in the marijuana smoke cancel out the ill effects, or perhaps the other health habits of marijuana smokers are different from those of cigarette smokers.
But cigarette smoking plays a complicated role in studying the impact of marijuana smoke, Baler said. Marijuana smokers tend to smoke much less than cigarette smokers, as some may smoke one joint a few times a week.
"It's a very tough epidemiological nut to break," Baler said.
Additionally, researchers looking to study long-term marijuana use have had difficulty in finding people who regularly smoke marijuana but don’t also smoke tobacco cigarettes. And the illegality of marijuana has also limited research in this field.
For marijuana, much of the concern is with young people who use the drug, because the drug interferes with the development of the brain while it is still maturing, Baler said.
Smoking marijuana interferes with connections being made in the brain "at a time when the brain should be at a clear state of mind, and accumulating, memory and data and good experiences that should be laying out the foundation for the future," Baler said.
"How much you're impaired depends on the person, and how much you smoke," Baler said. Because some people are stoned a lot of the time, while others may use marijuana only on weekends, the health effects become difficult to generalize.
"You're cumulatively impairing your cognitive function. What's going to be the ultimate result, nobody can say."
Benefits
There is no known medical use for consumed alcohol, but there are health benefits observed in moderate drinkers, including lower rates of cardiovascular disease and possibly fewer colds, Murray said.
"We always counsel people to avoid drinking to excess, but moderate drinking is not something that's very dangerous," he said.
As for marijuana, whose legalization for medical uses has been a matter of strong public policy debate for years, there is ample evidence that beneficial compounds can be found in the plant.
"Researchers are working around the clock to try to identify the ingredients in marijuana that have potential," to benefit human health, Baler said.
Once such chemicals are in a pure form, and researchers understand their effects on the body, then they could be put in clinical trials for use in cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, glaucoma and other diseases, he said.
"There are segments of the population that want to bypass the entire process, grabbing this nugget of truth … and claiming smoking marijuana can be good for your health and have medical uses," Baler said.
Although for palliative care, he said, "that would be a different realm of medicine," in which the goal is to drug a person so they do not feel pain.
The year 2014 has brought with it the first legal sales of marijuana to people who aren't using the drug for medical reasons in the United States since the 1930s, as voters in Colorado and Washington state brought about this policy change.
Public health researchers have said studying rates of injuries, accidents, mental illness and teen use in the wake of the new laws will lead to a better understanding of marijuana's public health effects.
