TO HELP CANCER PATIENTS

To the Editor:

Re "Medical Marijuana and Free Speech" (editorial, Sept.
20):

There is medical use of cannabinoids, the active ingredient in
marijuana, available to patients in pill form that has been approved
by the Food and Drug Administration. But that's not good enough for
those cancer patients who cannot keep a pill down long enough for the
drug to take effect.

That's why this year the American Cancer Society took a bold step in
financing research to determine whether a marijuana patch could be
used as another, more effective method of delivering the proven
benefits of marijuana to patients who suffer nausea, vomiting and
other side effects caused by chemotherapy. To battle against the
medical use of marijuana is to fight the tide of scientific research
itself.

PAUL M. HYMAN, M.D.

Bay Shore, N.Y., Sept. 20, 2000