A Pharmacist's Review Found Cannabis Had Low Addiction Potential and Clinical Promise for Multiple Conditions
A pharmaceutical review concluded marijuana causes dependence but has little addictive power compared to cocaine, alcohol, heroin, and nicotine, and shows clinical promise for glaucoma, nausea, pain, spasticity, MS, and AIDS wasting.
Quick Facts
What This Study Found
This review from a pharmacist's perspective assessed marijuana across pharmacology, risks, and therapeutic potential.
For risks: acute intoxication featured euphoria, short-term memory loss, sensory enhancement, and impaired linear thinking. Depersonalization and panic attacks were adverse effects. Chronic high doses might cause subtle cognitive impairments of unknown duration. Marijuana was flagged as a risk factor for underlying mental illness.
For dependence: marijuana caused dependence but compared to cocaine, alcohol, heroin, and nicotine, it had "little addictive power" and produced only mild withdrawal symptoms.
For therapeutic potential: clinical promise was identified for glaucoma, nausea and vomiting, pain relief, spasticity, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS wasting syndrome.
The review concluded with a balanced position: as a recreational drug, marijuana posed dangers particularly to adolescent development; as a medical drug, it should be available for patients who do not respond to existing therapies.
Key Numbers
Six conditions with clinical promise: glaucoma, nausea/vomiting, pain, spasticity, MS, AIDS wasting. Addiction potential ranked below cocaine, alcohol, heroin, and nicotine.
How They Did This
Literature review using MEDLINE searches with multiple therapeutic and pharmacological search terms, supplemented with interviews of cannabinoid researchers.
Why This Research Matters
Coming from a pharmaceutical perspective, this review provided a notably balanced assessment at a time when most publications took strong positions either for or against medical marijuana. The comparison of marijuana's addiction potential to other substances was particularly useful for contextualizing risk.
The Bigger Picture
The comparative addiction framing, placing marijuana alongside rather than apart from legal substances, influenced subsequent policy discussions. The conditional recommendation for medical access (patients not responding to other therapies) became a common position in medical guidelines.
What This Study Doesn't Tell Us
A single-author review without systematic methodology. The characterization of cognitive impairments as "subtle" may understate effects found in subsequent research. The comparison of addiction potential is qualitative rather than quantitative.
Questions This Raises
- ?Have the six therapeutic applications been validated by subsequent controlled trials?
- ?How has the addiction potential assessment held up with modern research?
- ?Should medical access depend on failure of other treatments?
Trust & Context
- Key Stat:
- Marijuana's addictive power ranked below cocaine, alcohol, heroin, and nicotine
- Evidence Grade:
- A literature review supplemented by researcher interviews. Provides useful synthesis but without systematic methodology.
- Study Age:
- Published in 1998. Several of the therapeutic applications identified have since been studied in controlled trials with varying results.
- Original Title:
- Analysis of the medical use of marijuana and its societal implications.
- Published In:
- Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association (Washington, D.C. : 1996), 38(2), 220-7 (1998)
- Authors:
- Taylor, H G
- Database ID:
- RTHC-00075
Evidence Hierarchy
Summarizes existing research on a topic.
What do these levels mean? →Frequently Asked Questions
How addictive is marijuana compared to other drugs?
This review ranked marijuana's addictive power below cocaine, alcohol, heroin, and nicotine, noting it produces dependence but only mild withdrawal symptoms.
Should marijuana be available as medicine?
The review concluded it should be available for patients who do not adequately respond to existing therapies, while noting recreational use poses risks to adolescent development.
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Cite This Study
https://rethinkthc.com/research/RTHC-00075APA
Taylor, H G. (1998). Analysis of the medical use of marijuana and its societal implications.. Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association (Washington, D.C. : 1996), 38(2), 220-7.
MLA
Taylor, H G. "Analysis of the medical use of marijuana and its societal implications.." Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association (Washington, 1998.
RethinkTHC
RethinkTHC Research Database. "Analysis of the medical use of marijuana and its societal im..." RTHC-00075. Retrieved from https://rethinkthc.com/research/taylor-1998-analysis-of-the-medical
Access the Original Study
Study data sourced from PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
This study breakdown was produced by the RethinkTHC research team. We analyze and report published research findings without making health recommendations. All interpretations are based solely on the published abstract and study data.