Kickstarter

Marijuana: Medicine of the Future?

What do you imagine might be the miracle medicine of the 21st century? Will it be a new, expensive discovery by Big Pharma? Could it be a mysterious micro-organism dredged from the depths of the ocean floor? Or will it simply come from a readily available botanical that’s been with us for thousands of years? Strongly believing in the medicinal future of marijuana, we’re proposing a documentary that will dramatically change the way our country thinks about cannabis. We’ll expose you to the remarkable ground-breaking research being conducted worldwide on both marijuana and its cannabinoids. Using unbiased scientific scrutiny, we’ll dissect for you the questionable “facts” behind the federal government’s prohibition of the drug’s widespread use. And by the time we’re done, we expect you’ll agree that marijuana holds the power to be the next miracle medicine of the 21st century.

The rhetoric of the failed war on drugs has created widespread confusion and misinformation about cannabis. Although sixteen states in the U.S. have legalized the medical use of marijuana, both the public and even medical doctors are largely unaware of the research that has been done in the last ten years at top medical centers in the U.S. and Europe. Recent studies have demonstrated that the cannabinoids in marijuana not only treat symptoms, but have the potential to actually cure a wide variety of diseases such as cancer and diabetes. We'll hear firsthand what some of the best scientists and doctors in the world are saying about the medical potential of marijuana cannabinoids. Driving the film and authenticating the research will be conversations with people who have found relief from numerous medical problems including arthritis, PTSD, multiple sclerosis, sleep disorders and spinal neuropathy. 

We know that the marijuana plant contains some 100 “phytocannabinoid” molecules such as THC and CBD which are similar to a class of molecules our bodies produce called “endocannabinoids”. Both THC and CBD bind to the cannabinoid receptors in our brain and throughout our body like a key fits into a lock. Our endocannabinoid system, which humans share with even primitive organisms, affects everything in our body. It regulates our immune system and our neurotransmitters, protects our nerve cells from premature death and influences our mood, memory, appetite, sleep and movement. Scientists are currently studying the cannabinoids of marijuana in an effort to understand their individual and combined effects, and potential future health benefits.

Although this documentary is primarily about science, there is a connection between science, federal policy, and politics. One of the reasons many people and organizations are against full legalization is the popular myth that marijuana is not only a “gateway drug” leading to heroin abuse, but smoking it can cause emphysema and lung cancer. We will present research from a recent government-sponsored study that marijuana smoking doesn’t cause any decrease in lung function. We’ll highlight research from UCLA that emphatically disproves any link between marijuana smoking and lung cancer; and we’ll present an analysis by the National Academy of Sciences which refutes the “gateway theory” which the federal government uses to justify prohibition.

Historically, federal prohibition of marijuana is based on politics and not on scientific facts. President Nixon’s 1972 Shafer Commission recommended the national decriminalization of marijuana, finding that “there is little proven danger of physical or psychological harm from the experimental or intermittent use of the natural preparations of cannabis."  In 1988 the DEA's own administrative judge Francis Young recommended allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana based on its proven medical value and lack of toxicity (this is now supported by both the AMA and the American College of Physicians). And particularly interesting, despite the government's claim that marijuana has no medical value, in 2003 the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services was awarded Patent 6630507 for cannabinoids in the treatment of a wide variety of diseases such as stoke and Alzheimers disease.

Finally, our documentary will examine the irony of federal policy from a purely public health perspective. The government (until 2004) subsidized tobacco farmers, sanctions alcohol and supports prescription drugs through Medicare. Abuse of these substances kills thousand of people each year. Yet prohibition of cannabis continues even though the FDA has not been able to document a single death attributable to its use.

In a democracy we expect that the laws and policy decisions that affect our health are based on sound scientific reasoning. Our film will demonstrate that this is certainly not the case. Only when full legalization is achieved will the restrictions that impede vital cannabis and cannabinoid research be lifted, allowing marijuana to realize its full potential as the miracle medicine of the 21st century.

To quote from Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the distinguished late senator from New York, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” We hope you'll support us in making this thought-provoking, perhaps world-changing film about nature’s maligned but miraculous medicine.

Our production team includes veteran film producer, Peter Garrity (www.bouldervibeproductions.com); Emmy Award-winning director, Len Aitken (www.laproductions.com); and Academy Award-winning cinematographer, Brook Aitken (www.brookaitken.com).