While many people are finding relief from terrible diseases by smoking marijuana, there are also many people who believe that legislators should allow researchers more freedom to research this drug for legal medicinal usage. To date, 12 states have declared medical marijuana legal to use. The Supreme Court recently ruled that the federal government can continue to ban the use of medical marijuana. the federal government also has, under the commerce clause, the power to prohibit interstate commerce of this drug. Personal use of marijuana may not be commerce, but if our drug laws were working correctly, they would be perfectly enforced. Even as evidence mounts concerning the benefits of marijuana as a medicine, federal officials and agencies continue to bury their heads in the sand.

Written records on medicinal marijuana stretch back over 2000 years. It was first discovered in print in the 2nd century in a Chinese book of medicine. As far back as 1611, this plant was cultivated for its fiber in Jamestown, Virginia. In the 19th century, it was used to treat such ailments as spastic conditions, labor pains, insomnia, and even helped with appetite. It is still used as a medicine in the Middle East and Asia (Roth, 2001). Although modern technology medicine does not refer back to the medical practices of ancient civilizations, this only confirms that marijuana has had a significant medical history, and claims of its medicinal use were not just pulled out of nowhere.

Montel Williams is a huge activist for legalizing medicinal marijuana since he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999. He has debilitating knee and foot pain and has tried Oxycontin and a variety of other drugs with no relief. Then a doctor suggested he smoke pot and “immediately I slept through the night.” Williams is a registered medical marijuana user in California. He began pushing for medical marijuana laws after being stopped at a Detroit airport by an Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms officer for carrying drug paraphernalia. His charges were later dropped.

Williams told a Senate panel about his chronic pain and urged New Jersey to join 11 other states that have enacted these laws. The states that have currently legalized medical marijuana are: California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Maine, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Montana, Vermont, and Rhode Island.Williams spoke at two events in Trenton; a Drug Policy Alliance-sponsored news conference and a Senate hearing. Governor Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey said that he would sign a medical marijuana bill into law. Williams said “I break the law every day and I’ll continue to break the law.”

In 2007, an article in Science Daily said that “marijuana cuts lung cancer tumor growth in half.” Researchers do not know why THC inhibits tumor growth; they say it is possible the substance activates molecules that arrest cell cycles. It may also interfere with angiogenesis and vascularization, which promotes the growth of cancer. Anju Preet, Ph.D., a researcher in the Division of Experimental Medicine says much work is needed to pave the pathway by which THC functions. “The beauty of this study is that we are showing that a substance of abuse, if used prudently, may offer a new road to therapy against lung cancer.” People hope that the federal courts and legislators will be allowed to take a closer look at the benefits, examine the evidence and conclude that we only want safe pain relief for the people who need it the most.

Your local pharmacist can be your first port of call for any healthcare matters or questions you may have. Often they are issues which aren’t considered urgent enough to see a doctor directly for, or issues which a person seeks an opinion whether a doctor should be seen or if it can be simply treated.

Secondly, there is a large range of health supplements and items out in pharmacies and other stores, and a pharmacist can provide you wish a professional opinion on a product or condition. More often that not, a pharmacist makes for a bad retailer as often they will not recommend a sale if the item is not in your best interest.

Depending on the issue, the pharmacist will refer you to your General Practitioner (GP) or if the case is more urgent, will refer you to the most appropriate medical facility or other emergency action that may be needed. Like any service, seek out a local pharmacist you trust and takes a genuine interest in your health and concerns.

Topics you can discuss with your pharmacist include your current medications prescribed by your doctor, health supplements or Over the Counter (OTC) medicines you may be taking for a cold or pain, quitting smoking, infant care, and just about anything else health related.

Certain pharmacies also provide drug-subsitution programs that can assist a person that wish to stop using a ’street’ drug. This should be initially discussed with your GP first, but there are many pharmacies that facilitate this program that can greatly improve one’s health and life in general. Best of all, when you need to see a pharmacist, no appointment is necessary and there is no charge.

The clinical trial industry faced a difficult year during 2009 as CROs and trial centres competed against a number of pharmaceutical mergers, budget restrictions and budget cancellations. Some even went out of business but there was a light in the midst of the dark tunnel with the anticipation that things would pick up later in the year as pharma companies rejuvenated ongoing R&D activities.

Opportunities arose for companies that were able to capitalise on their global presence and move swiftly into emerging markets like China and Latin America. The top 12 international trading CROs owned about 50 percent of the outsourcing market. Acquisitions happened periodically in the eClinical industry meaning more prospects for key players in that industry.

Outsourcing for Medical Devices Grows as U.S. and EU Regulations Become Stricter

It is anticipated that the global medical device outsourcing industry will be worth $26,7 billion dollars by 2014, increasing at a compound growth rate of 13.9 percent from the year 2009 to 2014. Where the regulatory services area is growing fast, CROs have seen a rising demand for a broad array of clinical services, including data management, monitoring, patient recruitment and study design.

In the past, due to regulatory ambiguity, up to 510,000 delays in the approval and financial restrictions faced by medical device companies meant that many products were first tested in Europe before marketing approval was sought in the US, saving both time and money. However, this approach may change as the new EU medical device decree comes into effect in March 2010.

European Acquisition Ends 2009 successfully

In Spite of the worldwide economic slump, 2009 began on a positive note with a number of European contact research organisations or clinical research organisations (CROs) went into mergers or acquisitions with US companies and one global CRI made a large impact in Central and Eastern Europe. Just as it started to look as though European mergers for 2009 had come to a halt, the year ended with a much hype when Synexus merged with ClinPharm.