Medical Pot
In the 1990s, many doctors in the West started to see pain in a different light-that more than a symptom, it could be a debilitating disease in itself. This is a far cry from how pain was regarded by the Stoics before the time of Christ or by the self-mutilating saints of the Middle Ages. It remains a controversial proposition-with people relating it to matters other than the medical-and other mini-debates have spun off from this basic premise.
The medical use of marijuana, for instance. Certain quarters have asserted that marijuana-that lowliest of banned substances, that which users of heavier drugs sneer at-may actually have some medical use. Others of course think otherwise. So does marijuana, pot, doobie, reefer, doobage, duBois, "stuff," actually have a place in medical practice?
We asked a few doctors.
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Dr. Severino
Tanbonliong, general orthopedics and hand surgery
I believe that all these pain killers, especially the potent ones are being used primarily to treat (terminal or end-stage) cancer in the States for the relief of the pain of the patient are palliative in
nature-hindi total cure. If you can make the patient comfortable, why not? [But] why take marijuana when you have morphine. Balewala ang marijuana, you take morphine and its derivative…
All drugs are basically good if they are used in the right way.
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Dr. Leo Daniel
Caro, hand and microvascular surgery
I can neither confirm nor deny. I think it's a controversial issue. There are a lot of issues that have to be clarified first regarding this. By the same token, some drugs are really dangerous and we give them, di ba? Anesthetics and things like that... So before we can answer that question we need to discuss more about the restrictions on [using marijuana in treating pain].
For me, it's not that easy to answer. But we give morphine to terminal patients.
Dr. Nelia Salvacion, OB-gynecology
No. In obstetrics and gynecology we don't need to resort to that.
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Dr. Virgilio Castro, OB-gynecology
No, [but we don't really encounter it in our practice.] Basically all we encounter in obstetrics and gynecology are those pregnant women hooked to smoking or [who do] pot. Usually what we see is that they have smaller babies. Barely preterm pa lang gusto nang lumabas.
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Dr. Ruth Gutierrez, OB-gynecology
No. In the field of obstetrics and gynecology, wala naman kaming mga pasyente na sasabihing [afflicted] by chronic pain, except siguro some gynecological cases. But still-[we don't] need to resort to marijuana. Marami naman tayong potent analgesics that can help our patients, but not marijuana. It is addicting, at the same time. Lalo na tayo
[sa Pilipinas], it might land on the wrong hands, and they will use it for drug dependency and not for the relief of pain.
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