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Vice Blog

WEED DEALINGS - MEET DR. ABRAMS

When you believe in something, time stands still in a lot of ways. It’s easy to become consumed when you’re passionate. The downside to this kind of commitment and passion is the loss of objectivity and perspective. For those involved in the cannabis movement, this kind of commitment is necessary. In a struggle where truth and justice have been replaced by deception and manipulation, you have to let go of reality in order to persist. But, as I’ve been saying, this same commitment—and the lack of perspective that it necessitates—can eventually become a detriment. Luckily, with new blood comes new perspective. This week I want to tell you about someone who is very important to the cannabis movement/industry, in spite of the fact that he doesn’t use cannabis, sell it, grow it, or facilitate its sale or production in any capacity. Dr. Donald Abrams is an Oncologist based in San Francisco who has done a great deal in proving cannabis’ medicinal effects through clinical research. Dr. Abrams is interfacing with the industry in a different way. He is an “outsider” bringing a fresh perspective that serves to reinforce the validity of this movement.

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Dr. Abrams got his start with cannabis in the early 1990s. As the assistant director of the AIDS program at San Francisco General Hospital, Dr. Abrams entered the world of cannabis in a manner as unpredictable as possible. Before it was commonly accepted that cannabis is a medicine, Dr. Abrams fought to conduct early clinical trials that showed the benefits of cannabis to AIDS patients with wasting syndrome. Wasting syndrome is the name used to summarize the body’s slow and painful decline into a state where it cannot absorb nutrients. Being that Dr. Abrams was assistant director of an AIDS program in San Francisco, he was in a unique position. His patients who suffered from wasting syndrome were self-medicating with cannabis. At the time Northern California was by far the most cannabis-friendly place in the country. There was no other place that could have facilitated Dr. Abrams’ studies.

Before he could even begin doing research, however, there was an incredibly arduous back and forth within government bureaucracy that lasted for five years. Dr. Abrams was told that cannabis couldn’t possibly work because it’s toxic. The misinformation campaigns of Anslinger and Nixon persisted, and as Dr. Abrams tried to conduct studies to test the values of cannabis for AIDS patients with wasting syndrome (at a time when no other medications were available to combat the symptoms) he was told that no government agency would support his studies. How could they? How could an institution perpetuating myths possibly allow a doctor to conduct a study that might contradict those myths?

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Dr. Abrams was persistent. Many of his proposed studies were turned down, when he needed the DEA's approval he was ignored, and he was generally treated like he wasn’t attempting to do useful work. But Dr. Abrams kept his cool and persisted. He’s not even a cannabis user, he’s just a doctor with a righteous perspective. After five years of trying and failing to get approval he had an epiphany. Instead of proposing to test the beneficial results of cannabis itself, Dr. Abrams came up with the idea to test the way that cannabis interacts with protease inhibitors. Protease inhibitors were a new class of drugs that strengthened the body’s immune response against HIV. Because protease inhibitors were new, and so many HIV patients who were prescribed them were also self-medicating with cannabis, it was important to determine how the two interacted. The study would be conducted under the premise of examining the potential negative effects of mixing cannabis and protease inhibitors, meanwhile they would also be documenting how the cannabis affected patients’ symptoms.

Dr. Abrams went on to conduct several more tests, and has created a growing body of work that supports the medicinal use of cannabis. His work, while not immediately apparent to the average person involved in the industry/movement, is immensely important. His work has accomplished what no amount of activism can. He was able to move from within the institution to call attention to its inconsistencies on behalf of AIDS patients. It was unconstitutional for the government to prevent AIDS patients from using cannabis. Dr. Abrams recognized this and truly lived up to the American Ideal.

I feel like this throwback to the classic American archetype—the little guy who wins against the big guy—seems to emerge quite often in the cannabis industry/movement. It’s funny, because the bad guy is our own government. Maybe I’m just too much of a Duchamp enthusiast, but I see immense irony in this. Our contemporary “Real American Heroes” are fighting the American Institution. Over the past 20 years, this struggle against the institution has become the business of many people. Time was, only “hippie liberals” cared about cannabis, now its legalization is the charge of a growing number of citizens with a wide variety of identities. Concerns are being articulated in ways that more people can identify with. Anybody who has suffered from cancer could have benefited from cannabis, and most people know a friend or loved one who has had cancer. The whole idea of “bringing legitimacy” is happening in tandem with the less obvious diversification of the population of concerned individuals. Cannabis is quickly becoming an issue with relevance well beyond the world of cannabis. Having people like Dr. Donald Abrams to look to greatly helps in making this everyone’s issue.

ZACH G. MOLDOF