COMPASSION FOR CANNABISTHE MEDICAL WORLD SPEAKS OUT

Last week the British Medical Association called for "compassion and
understanding" to be shown towards people who take cannabis to relieve the
symptoms of illness. They also called for a change in the law so that
proper research can be carried out on the drug.

According to some, a change in attitude about the therapeutic use of
cannabis is long overdue. The UK Cannabis Internet Activists have a page
devoted to medical cannabis use. They claim it can alleviate a host of
symptoms ranging from those caused by chemotherapy for cancer and epilepsy
to migraine and multiple sclerosis. Queen Victoria was even prescribed it
for menstrual cramps. Each condition has its own page, complete with
patients' testimonies as to the efficacy of the treatment and references to
any relevant scientific papers.

Rob Christopher's history of the use of cannabis as a medicine is posted
here. Queen Victoria crops up again here, although she's a very recent
advocate compared with Chinese herbalists who Christopher says have been
using cannabis for 5000 years.

Whatever the legal position, some people have taken matters into their own
hands and set up cannabis buyers' clubs for people who cannot relieve their
symptoms with other treatments. Some of them have Web sites, such as
Oakland and Vancouver Island. The most famous club of all, however, is San
Francisco. It doesn't have its own page, but you can get an idea of the
controversy it created from the article here.