LETTER OF THE WEEK

RESEARCH IS CLEAR ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

By David Lang

As a family practitioner with more than 20 years of experience, I
have treated numerous patients who have told me that marijuana was
effective in combating their symptoms. This has been particularly
true of patients suffering from peripheral neuropathy, an
excruciatingly painful condition for which there is currently no
FDA-approved treatment.

Now a top-notch study, published in last month's issue of the
peer-reviewed journal Neurology, has come to the exact same
conclusion that my patients have been telling me for years: Medical
marijuana is an effective treatment for this kind of pain.

So I had to shake my head when I heard that Dakota County Attorney
James Backstrom testified that there are "no scientific studies"
supporting marijuana's effectiveness. In addition to this very
recent article, supportive studies have appeared in respected
journals like the American Journal of Surgery, the British Journal of
Cancer and Molecular Pharmacology, among many others.

If Backstrom feels that his training is sufficient to debate with the
researchers, doctors and patients who have firsthand knowledge of
medical marijuana's benefits, that's his prerogative. But to claim
that "no scientific studies" demonstrate those benefits is demonstrably false.

DR. DAVID LANG

BURNSVILLE

Pubdate - Thu, 22 Mar 2007

Source - Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)

Referenced - http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n272/a07.html