MEDICAL MARIJUANA, PRO AND CON

To the Editor:

I compliment the Food and Drug Administration for its truthful report
indicating that are "no sound scientific studies" supporting the
medical use of marijuana.

I am an addiction specialist and practicing physician who has studied
marijuana for three decades and who co-directed two conferences on
marijuana, including a 1998 international conference at New York University.

At this conference, 51 papers presented failed to show that marijuana
had any practical therapeutic value. This included use in anorexic
H.I.V. patients, who continued to lose weight despite using marijuana.

Recent research shows that marijuana has detrimental effects on the
brain, lungs, heart and fertility. The THC (the main ingredient in
marijuana) content in marijuana used today is twice as strong as 30
years ago.

The false impression that there is a medical need for marijuana
confuses and misleads a poorly informed compassionate public in
believing that the medical profession is withholding helpful
medication from the sick.

Nicholas A. Pace, M.D.

New York, April 21, 2006

The writer is a clinical associate professor of medicine, New York
University Medical Center.