MAKING A CASE FOR MARIJUANA USE IN RELIEVING PAIN

People suffering from the ravages of chemotherapy, glaucoma, HIV,
multiple sclerosis, epilepsy or terminal illnesses sometime turn to
marijuana - as a last hope for relief. Yet, under current law, these
patients are subject to arrest, criminal prosecution and
incarceration. Even their doctors can find themselves under fire from
prosecutors should they promote the medicinal benefits of pot.

It just doesn't make sense.

Some studies have found that a component of marijuana may help fight
lung cancer, while others suggest that the cannabis compound could
help patients with brain, prostate and skin cancers. For the gravely
ill, taking a few whiffs of pot hardly makes for a party. Withholding
any substance that could have lifesaving properties for them seems
markedly criminal.

New Jersey residents understand this. Public polls have consistently
shown that about 80 percent of Garden State residents - maybe you,
your family, friends or neighbors - support access to medical
marijuana when it is legally prescribed. These polls include a 2002
Eagleton survey (82 percent), a 2002 Time/CNN poll (80 percent) and a
2004 AARP sampling (79 percent).

The Trenton-based Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey, founded
in 2003, supports safe and lawful access to prescription pot for
patients under a physician's supervision. Their mission is to protect
New Jersey patients from needless suffering, as well as preventing
them from being jailed merely for following substantiated medical advice.

Doctors routinely prescribe risky narcotics, proven to be more
addictive and dangerous than pot. Although it is estimated that common
aspirin causes more than 1,000 deaths each year, there has never been
a single documented marijuana-related death. Alcohol abuse causes more
deaths than all illegal drugs, and prescription drug overdoses are
second only to fatal motor-vehicle crashes.

Legalizing pot would put an effective, nontoxic drug on the market
that could be taxed, regulated, and obtained more cheaply than most
prescription drugs.

This issue will soon be considered again in New Jersey. Gov. Corzine,
as he promised before his own near-fatal accident, is expected to
endorse Senate Bill 88, which would remove state penalties for the
possession, use and cultivation of a small amount of marijuana when it
is recommended by a doctor.

In 2005, Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D., Union) introduced Senate Bill 88
and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D., Mercer) introduced Assembly Bill
933, together known as the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical
Marijuana Act. They would bring state law into line with modern
clinical research and the personal accounts of marijuana-using patients.

A 1999 study by the Institute of Medicine, a Washington-based,
government-funded institution, spotlighted the superior uses of
medicine marijuana. If public polls and medical and scientific studies
all come to the same conclusion, why can't government?

Let us hope that Gov. Corzine, who unfortunately has become very
familiar with severe pain and suffering, is ready to sign Senate Bill
88.