Science Cannabis

184 THE SCIENCE OF MARIJUANAproved to be a serious problem, even though many terminally ill patientsreceive very large doses of morphine. To quote from the authoritativeTextbook of Pain:The fear of causing psychological dependence is still a potent cause ofunder-prescription and under-use of strong opioid analgesics. Publisheddata indicate that this fear in unfounded and unnecessary. Among nearly12000 hospital patients who received strong opioids, there were only fourreasonably well-documented cases of addiction in patients who had nohistory of drug abuse (Porter and Jick, 1980). The dependence was consideredmajor in only one instance, which suggests that the medical use ofstrong opioids rarely leads to addiction.(Twycross, 1994)Cannabis in PregnancyThere have been warnings that cannabis might cause birth defects eversince the 1960s, and they continue today:Some scientific studies have found that babies born to marijuana userswere shorter, weighed less, and had smaller head sizes than those born tomothers who did not use the drug. Smaller babies are more likely to develophealth problems. Other scientists have found effects of marijuanathat resemble the features of fetal alcohol syndrome. There are also researchfindings that show nervous system problems in children of motherswho smoked marijuana.Researchers are not certain whether a newborn baby's health problems,if they are caused by marijuana, will continue as the child grows.(Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know, NationalInstitute on Drug Abuse, 1997 —http://www.nida.nih.gov/MarjBroch)A number of studies in animals have shown that THC can causespontaneous abortions, low birth weight, and physical deformities — butthese were only seen after treatment with extremely high doses of THC(50-150 times higher than human doses), and only in rodents and not inmonkeys. In chimpanzees, the ape that most closely resembles humans,