The Science of Marijuana

Written very interestingly. The author takes a holistic approach and informs the reader well. The scientific text is dry at times but worth it. I would recommend the book as required reading for high schools.

One should start by putting things in perspective.  There are about 400,000 yearly USA deaths due to tobacco, 100,000 each to alcohol and prescription drugs and about 7600 to aspirin and other OTC painkillers. Worldwide we can expect that the figures will be about 10 million for tobacco, 2.5 million each for others and about 200,000 for aspirin and OTC painkillers.  If you calculated the lifetime risks of death or injury from using marijiana, it is probably comparable to that of driving ten km and significantly less than that of putting on a pair of skis. In addition, the young people who comprise the majority of the users are heavy risk takers, a very high percentage of whom have personality disorders.  There are about 60 million schizophrenics and the same number of manic depressives in the world.  When you add the depressives, schizotypal disorders, anorexics, alcoholics etc it is clear that perhaps a billion people have major mental problems, nearly half of all those are in the prime drug taking ages. In addition nearly all of us have periodic mood swings, medical problems and personal crises. A large percentage of the population will likely show memory deficits and other problems. Nevertheless, if any such effects appear in marijuana users they will almost certainly be ascribed to the drug.  In reality, is not clear that anyone has ever had serious permanent mental problems due to marijuana and its potential medical benefits are enormous. It has a long and remarkable history as a highly effective and safe medicine in many societies.  Nevertheless, the federal government has chosen to ignore medical advice and legal opinion and classify it as a dangerous drug with norecognized medical value and the governments of many other countries have followed along like trained dogs. On the whole this is an excellent book as Iverson has done his homework and tries to be impartial.  Nevertheless some of the biases nearly universal in scientific and government circles are still evident.  For example, on page 174 he states that the use of cannabis for mood disorders and sleep is obsolete because of the availability of Prozac, Valium and sleeping pills.  However the very well known downsides to the medical drugs(days to weeks before they act, inability of patient to titrate the dose, common major and often fatal side effects, serious and frequent bad interactions with other drugs and alcohol, often addictive, high cost, patients commonly verdose, frequent failure to be fully effective, suicides, accidental poisoning of children, mental clouding, etc.) are not mentioned. Cannabinoids in contrast act immediately, are almost nontoxic, easily titratable, have few known interactions, often produce pain reduction,should be very low cost, are usually effective, have noserious or fatal side effects, essentially nonaddictive,  overdose unlikely, almost impossible to commit suicide with, and highly unlike

First off as a pro-legalization person i must say this is not a book written by a "hippy" or Drug Prohibitionist; Leslie L. Iversen is Professor of Pharmacology at University of Oxford, he is the right person to be talking about THE SCIENCE OF MARIJUANA. This book helped me understand how Cannabis (a.k.a. Marijuana, Hemp, etc.) affects the mind based on the research & studies of the past. The book speaks of what is known about the interactions of the substance on the body & mind while not determining the effects of most of the long term health effects which are not known well enoft for Dr. Iversen to conclude. A main reason for the lack of research on Cannabis is because of, yes the U.S. government and others who would not allow any unbaised research after Pres. Nixion had the Schaffer report (which recommend full legalization of Marijuana) blew up in his face. This book gets into the technical working of Thc and is quite fascinating at times. Althought I would not reccomend it to those who can't handle a long books. So it might not be the best book to educate your teenager about the harms of drugs (even though i read it at 17). The book does leave you well informed on the medical aspects of Cannabis. I would say that this would be good to read if you want to take a stand of either side of the drug debate, cause if all the info you go by is form the anti-drug campain or NORML then you are uninformed and should shut-up if dont atleast take the time to find out the half of the whole story that surrounds Cannabis.

This is a highly readable volume that delivers a superb overview of the history, pharmacology and sociology of marijuana. Although the non-scientist may find it tough going in a few places, Iversen does an admirable job of presenting the technical issues with clarity. More importantly, the objectivity is unassailable. If you are looking for the book to tell you that marijuana smoking is perfectly safe you will be disappointed. Equally, if you seek justification of hysterical anti-drug rhetoric you will be unfulfilled. But, if you want to be educated and informed so that you can make your own judgement this is a great place to start. Highly recommended!

A superb, accessible, scientific assessment of the pharmacology. medicinal uses, health consequences, and recreational effects of the most popular illicit drug in the world. Iversen stays as objective as possible in his discussions of this highly volatile and political topic. He puts nails in the coffins of many marijuana myths, including those related to alleged chromosomal damage and dramatic increases in THC content. He offers keen historical perspectives, and depicts difficult scientific ideas with ease.