AREA DOCTORS OFFER ALTERNATIVES TO POT

Although some local medical officials agree that there are benefits to
using marijuana for medical use, they also say there are better
alternatives for patients with debilitating illnesses to ease symptoms. The
federal government's stance on medical marijuana was reaffirmed yesterday
in a Supreme Court ruling that keeps individual state laws from trumping
the federal ban on marijuana.

"I am aware that it has benefits for some patients," said Claire Pace,
executive director of HospiceCare in the Berkshires. "Because it's not
legal in Massachusetts, we have other tools to offer patients." She said
arresting people who are sick for using medical marijuana is an extreme
response. Primarily, medicines are used for management of intractable
nausea and vomiting, Pace said. If people throw up repeatedly, they often
stop eating and start losing weight. "It means they could die faster," she
said. Certain medications help control and stop the vomiting. Pace said
that the doctors in individual states know their culture and the people and
have a much better understanding of their immediate community. Some
Pittsfield voters are also likely to disagree with the ruling. When voters
went to the polls in 2004, the question of whether state legislators should
vote in favor of using marijuana for medical use was raised in a nonbinding
referendum.

Almost 11,000 voters said "yes" in the 3rd Berkshire District. Slightly
more than 4,000 disagreed.

Dr. Herbert Maurer, a medical oncologist at Southwestern Vermont Medical
Center, said there are several medications that have changed things
considerably since he began practicing.

"We have enough (drugs) around so that the concept of nausea has actually
gone pretty much away for most patients with chemotherapy drugs," Maurer
said. He said that drugs like ondansetron and granisetron are 5-HT3
receptor antagonists that are used in preventing acute nausea and vomiting.
Vermont is one of 10 states that allows for the use of the drug for medical
purposes. There, patients are allowed to own one mature and two immature
marijuana plants and to possess 2 ounces at any given time. The state law
does not, however, provide a legal way for people to obtain the drug seeds.
Only patients suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV or AIDS are
eligible. There are currently 13 patients using marijuana for medical
purposes in the state.

Nancy Lynch, director of the Vermont Medical Policy Project, a group that
fought for the legalization of medical marijuana statewide, said that the
laws haven't really changed and that people know about the federal law when
they begin using the drug.

Oftentimes, she said, people see marijuana as a last resort after a trial
and error period that may have made them sick or been costly. "They're
wasting away, they have no appetite," she said. In some cases, patients
can't swallow the anti-nausea medications or keep them down, she added.
Maurer said that the majority of people have minimal to no nausea these
days. He said that Marinol, a derivative of marijuana used to stop vomiting
and nausea, is more likely to be used by the HIV/AIDS population than by
those patients undergoing chemotherapy.