TIME TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA FOR PAIN

With the FDA announcement that the over-the-counter painkiller
naproxen may also be linked to a higher risk of heart attack or
stroke, Americans seem to be running out of FDA-approved pain
medications. There are other medications available.

Marijuana, or cannabis, has unique anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory,
anti-spasmodic and pain relieving properties superior to many commonly
used arthritis medications.

While FDA-approved drugs are only tested on fairly small groups,
cannabis has already been tested on many millions of people over at
least 15,000 years of human use. Today, it remains one of the most
widely used substances worldwide.

Legal access is inevitable. Further delay for any reason only prolongs
people's suffering and hurts families. Ending this prohibition should
be an urgent matter when lawmakers return to the Capitol in January.

Gary Storck

Madison