OTHER ANTI-NAUSEA MEDICINES AREN'T A SUBSTITUTE FOR MARIJUANA

This comment is in regard to the article "Putting Fences Around
Marijuana Use" (Jan. 31).

As someone who is in frequent contact with people suffering from
sarcomas (rare, aggressive cancers), I would like to point out that
most of the quoted physicians' objections to medicinal marijuana use
center on it's ingestion as a smoked product. Perhaps providers of
medicinal marijuana should be required to supply edible marijuana
products that do not incur these risks.

In regards to pharmaceuticals designed to reduce nausea, many of
those have side effects that cause patients real distress. Changing
anti-nausea medications in the midst of a nausea-causing event, such
as chemotherapy, is a difficult process. It puts patients, their
families and caregivers into crisis mode until, by trial and error, a
solution is found.

Testing the efficacy of marijuana use is a quick process and if it
works, it should be allowed to continue for that patient, legally.
This is humane use. It isn't helpful to nitpick what it can and can't
be used for at this point, whether for cancer treatment or relief of
neurological symptoms, the research just isn't there. If regulated
clinics are allowed to operate, statistics can be generated.

I have no problem with the proposed regulations. Maryland isn't
California, and I like the fact that the issue is being discussed in
a thoughtful manner and appropriate controls considered. I am tired
of seeing people in need being pushed into unsafe situations to
access a simple product many clinicians don't want to talk about,
much less prescribe.

Elizabeth Goldstein-Rice, Columbia