LET DOCS EASE PAIN WITH POT

Philip Terzian is right to be concerned about the federal government's
zealous prosecution of physicians who treat pain ("The War on Drugs
hurts," column, Dec. 31). Unfortunately, the targeting of doctors who
prescribe OxyContin is just one facet of this misguided policy.

Another is the irrational federal war on medical marijuana. Last
April, The Lancet Neurology noted that marijuana's active components
have been shown to be effective against pain in virtually every
experimental test of pain relief that scientists have devised. Medical
organizations and journals such as the American Academy of Family
Physicians, American Nurses Association and The New England Journal of
Medicine have called for a change in federal policy.

Many physicians report that marijuana enables some chronic-pain
patients to reduce or eliminate their use of highly addictive opiate
drugs. Yet the same federal law that allows doctors to prescribe
OxyContin bars them from prescribing marijuana -- even though
marijuana has never caused a single fatal overdose.

That, simply put, is crazy.

Bruce Mirken

Washington

The writer is director of communications for the Marijuana Policy
Project.