MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGALIZED

MADISON -- Regarding your Dec. 26 article, "Hospitals must now treat pain:"
For the tens of millions of Americans suffering from acute and chronic
pain, the new standards are a welcome development.

However, pain relief can be elusive. Last October, news articles reported a
survey by the group, Partners Against Pain, found that 78 percent of
patients surveyed find their over-the-counter and prescription painkillers
so ineffective they are willing to try new treatments.

The medicinal use of marijuana offers patients another tool in fighting
pain. In fact, many patients report that marijuana allows them to reduce or
eliminate consumption of opiate painkillers, meaning they can moderate the
side effects of these addictive medications and function better with an
enhanced quality of life.

While the voters of eight states have now legalized access to marijuana for
treating pain and other medical conditions, the federal government is
effectively withholding medicine from the sick and dying by cruelly
continuing to prohibit medical use under federal law.

If reducing the pain and suffering of patients is truly a goal, then
federal authorities should immediately legalize access to this therapeutic
option by rescheduling it so physicians can prescribe it.

Gary Storck