NOT JUST BLOWING SMOKE ON MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

CHAPEL HILL - At a recent news conference, Gov. Beverly Perdue
rejected the use of marijuana for medical purposes. "I don't see any
way I would support medical marijuana," she said. "Right now, every
child I look at who's had a problem getting off pot -- I worry about
that." As a researcher of illicit drugs, I strongly disagree.

Perdue is right that we should not initiate a policy that would cause
young people to get hooked on pot, but evidence suggests this is not
a problem. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, the
investigative arm of Congress, was told by law enforcement that the
medical marijuana programs in Alaska, California, Hawaii and Oregon
had not been taken advantage of by adolescents.

There is overwhelming scientific evidence that marijuana reduces
pain, nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite associated with AIDS and
cancer, and that it lessens uncontrollable body movements resulting
from multiple sclerosis. As a result of these findings, numerous
organizations have endorsed medical access to marijuana, including
the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Public Health
Association, the New England Journal of Medicine and our National
Academy of Sciences. The Academy's Institute of Medicine reported
that "there are some limited circumstances in which we recommend
smoking marijuana for medical uses." Their report stated that
marijuana has "potential therapeutic value" for "pain relief, control
of nausea, vomiting and appetite stimulation." The Institute also
pointed out that the issue of drug abuse is normally not considered
for the medical use of drugs and "should not be a factor in
evaluating the therapeutic potential of marijuana."

There is a legal alternative to medical marijuana, namely, dronabinol
(brand name Marinol). The medication is a synthetic version of THC,
the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Dronabinol also decreases
nausea and increases appetite, but many chemotherapy patients prefer
smoked marijuana for several reasons: * Many patients who find
dronabinol ineffective obtain relief with marijuana, * Swallowing
pills is difficult and sometimes impossible for patients who are
nauseated and vomiting.

* Dronabinol acts more slowly than marijuana.

* Marijuana contains a component, cannabidiol, which has anti-anxiety
effects which patients find helpful. This ingredient is not found in
dronabinol.

* Adjusting the dose is easier when puffing than when taking pills.

* Dronabinol is much more expensive than marijuana.

In a survey conducted by the Kennedy School of Government, 75 percent
of the oncologists who responded considered marijuana superior to
dronabinol at preventing nausea and vomiting, and 48 percent said
they would prescribe marijuana if it were legal. In a study published
in the New York State Journal of Medicine, 29 percent of the cancer
patients said that their nausea and vomiting were not relieved by
dronabinol, but they did get relief from marijuana.

Relieving nausea and vomiting is of crucial importance to patients
undergoing radiation or chemotherapy. Listen to Harvard Medical
School professors Lester Grinspoon and James Bakalar: "Retching (dry
heaves) may last for hours or even days after each treatment,
followed by days and even weeks of nausea. Patients may break bones
or rupture the esophagus while vomiting. Furthermore, many patients
eat almost nothing because they cannot stand the sight or smell of
food. As they lose weight and strength, they find it more and more
difficult to sustain the will to live." There are innumerable
testimonies from people who have cancer, AIDS and other diseases who
have been helped by marijuana, when conventional treatments have been
ineffective. One patient afflicted with lung and testicular cancer
said that marijuana "has been far more beneficial to me than other
medications they have recommended to me, including powerful narcotics
like morphine, Demerol and codeine."

A heavy majority of the public favors legalizing medical marijuana.
In a 2002 Times/CNN poll 80 percent of Americans believed that people
should be allowed to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if
their doctor prescribes it.

Given strong public support and the overwhelming endorsement of the
scientific community, don't we deserve a more thoughtful statement
from the governor than the dismissive "I don't see any way I would
support medical marijuana."