MEDICAL MARIJUANA? MAYBE

Legal Medical Use in Illinois Not in Sight

New Jersey last month became the latest state to legalize the use of
marijuana by those with certain medical conditions. Although Illinois
is not one of the states that allows such use of marijuana, it may be
headed that way.

"Fourteen states allow it already," said Joliet oncologist Dr.
Lawrence Schilder with the Midwest Center for Hematology and Oncology.
"That is clearly the direction things are going."

Schilder said that several of his cancer patients have asked about
using marijuana to treat the side effects of chemotherapy, and for
every one who asks, he said, there are probably 10 who want to know
but just don't ask.

"I don't judge people," he said. "I tell them whatever you do in your
own time is none of my business. I don't discourage them. They have to
make their own decision about it."

Many patients and physicians say smoking marijuana helps cancer
patients with some of the ailments that cancer or chemotherapy can
cause, such as nausea, appetite loss, pain, peripheral neuropathy and
anxiety.

Others with multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, epilepsy, chronic pain and
HIV and AIDS use the drug to relieve their symptoms of pain, vomiting,
neuropathy, spinal cord plasticity, depression, fatigue, diarrhea and
cachexia, which is a wasting condition.

Marijuana's other pleasant side effects and lower cost are another
reason those suffering from illnesses seek it out.

Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana,
Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and
Washington have laws that offer substantial protection to medical
marijuana patients who have physicians' prescriptions.

Federal laws prohibit the use of the drug in any state. Last October,
however, the U.S. Justice Department announced it would not be the
priority of federal officials to prosecute patients with serious
illnesses or their caregivers who comply with state laws.

"Marijuana is very well suited to chemotherapy," Schilder said,
"albeit only for temporary relief."

Schilder said there are other medications that may relieve the same
symptoms that marijuana can, but it might take three of them to equal
the effects of marijuana.

There is also a prescription pill that contains one of the active
ingredients in marijuana, but many don't find its use as effective as
the natural substance, which contains more than 400 chemical components.

There are some minuses of using the drug, as well. Long-term use may
result in lung damage or chronic bronchitis. It's use may also trigger
anxiety -- the very condition many use marijuana to combat.

It has also been known to impair short-term memory, attention, motor
skills, reaction time and the ability to handle complex information,
and it may trigger an increase in heart rate or a decrease in blood
pressure.