VERBATIM

DEFENDING MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA

An excerpt from a commentary by Joycelyn Elders, former U.S. surgeon
general, on Rhode Island legislation that would allow medical use of
marijuana. It appeared March 26 in the Providence Journal.

Foes of the medical-marijuana bill keep raising objections. So let's
look at their arguments... .

"There is no evidence that marijuana is a medicine." The truth: The
medical literature on marijuana goes back 5,000 years. In a 1999 study
commissioned by the White House, the Institute of Medicine reported
that "nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety... all can be mitigated
by marijuana." In its April 2003 issue, the British medical journal
The Lancet reported that marijuana relieves pain in virtually every
test that scientists use to measure pain relief.

"The medical community doesn't support this; just a bunch of drug
legalizers do." The truth: Numerous medical and public-health
organizations support legal access to medical marijuana. National
groups include the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American
Public Health Association and the American Nurses Association... .

"Marijuana is too dangerous to be medicine; it's bad for the immune
system, endangering AIDS and cancer patients." The truth: Unlike many
of the drugs we prescribe every day, marijuana has never been proven
to cause a fatal overdose. Research on AIDS patients has debunked the
claim of harm to the immune system: In a study at San Francisco
General Hospital, AIDS patients using medical marijuana gained
immune-system cells and kept their virus under control as well as
patients who received a placebo. They also gained more needed weight... .

"Medical-marijuana laws send the wrong message to kids, encouraging
teen marijuana use." The truth: That fear, raised in 1996, when
California passed the first effective medical-marijuana law, has not
come true. According to the official California Student Survey, teen
marijuana use in California rose steadily from 1990 to 1996, but began
falling immediately after the medical-marijuana law was passed. Among
ninth graders, marijuana use in the last six months fell by more than
40 percent from 1995-96 to 2001-02 (the most recent available figures).

It is simply wrong for the sick and suffering to be casualties in the
war on drugs. Let's get rid of the myths and institute sound
public-health policy.