MARIJUANA LEGITIMATE FOR MEDICINAL BENEFITS

In a move that must have crushed aging hippies, Alaska and Oregon on
Tuesday defeated measures to legalize marijuana.

In Montana, however, voters approved its use for medicinal purposes -- a
result that reaffirmed the widespread belief in the scientific community
that marijuana, and marijuana-like drugs, may be able to treat a wide range
of diseases.

Researchers once drew snickers from friends who suspected they wanted to
get high on drugs, not science. Those days are gone.

"Cannabinoids have a lot of pharmaceutical potential," Daniele Piomelli, a
neuroscientist at the University of California, told reporters during a
Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego.

Cannabinoids are the chemicals that give marijuana users a high.

Scientists believe marijuana may be used to help treat diseases such as
epilepsy and multiple sclerosis, in addition to mental illnesses such as
schizophrenia. It also helps reduce nausea in cancer patients undergoing
chemotherapy.

Nine states permit marijuana for medical use under some circumstances,
while other states are considering similar measures.

Marijuana is still regarded as a "gateway drug" by many law enforcement
officials, a drug that could lead to the use of other illegal narcotics,
especially among the younger generation.

If the legislation were intended to legalize the drug for everyone, a
measure that would be applauded by those aging hippies, it would be wrong.

But these laws represent bold efforts to address medical problems, efforts
that could, one day, result in cures for diseases that now seem incurable.

While a broad segment of society considers the drug taboo, its medicinal
use, under controlled circumstances, should not be shunned.