DOCTORS SHOULD PRESCRIBE MARIJUANA TO THOSE WHO NEED IT

I've been a medical journalist for 27 years.

It's made me a terrible skeptic, but for good reasons.

I've seen too many distortions of the truth in medicine.

I've seen too many colleagues sit on the fence rather than take a
stand on controversial issues.

I've seen too many fight the use of painkillers when they could ease
the agony of dying cancer patients.

Above all else, I've seen too often a complete void of common
sense.

Now I'm seeing it again, patients who need marijuana to ease their
suffering but can't obtain it. In July 2001, the federal government
legalized the use of marijuana for terminally ill patients and from
patients suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord
injury, AIDS, severe forms of arthritis and epilepsy.

Marijuana alleviates severe nausea, persistent muscle spasm and
seizures associated with these diseases. Marijuana can also be
prescribed for other diseases when conventional medication failed. My
initial reaction was, "Hallelujah." The government had finally taken a
reasonable stance.

But it didn't make the purchase of medical marijuana easy. It's not
like picking up your prescription from your local pharmacy. Patient
first must find a physician who will write a letter stating that
marijuana is needed because conventional medication has failed. They
must then write about themselves and their medical condition. They
also have to indicate if they wish to grow their own supply or obtain
it from a licensed dealer.

This information, along with 2 passport-sized photographs, must be
sent to Health Canada's Office of Cannabis Medical Access. But it
appears the government has legalized a medication it doesn't possess.
Sources tell me Health Canada is growing some in an abandoned mine
which won't be available for a year. In the mean time patients have to
get their marijuana from authorized "compassion clubs" (there are
about 20 in Canada) which also require a Doctors letter. And huge
parts of this country are without clubs. Even in good health this
would be a tough assignment. But if you're nauseated or vomiting due
to aids or chemotherapy, this process becomes a nightmare.

The first major obstacle is obtaining a doctors letter. Since first
initiating a study on this problem I've been contacted by numerous
patients who can't find a family doctor or a specialist to sign on the
dotted line. Physicians argue more research is needed to test the
safety of marijuana.

Yet a report from the Harvard Medical School says "one of marijuana's
greatest advantages is its relative safety." Critics forget our
so-called 'safe' drugs often cause drug reactions and sometimes death.

Most drugs have a list as long as your arm of possible drug reactions.
But to my knowledge, no one has ever died from an overdose of
marijuana. Tests show that the ratio of marijuana needed to overdose
to the point of intoxication is 40,000 to 1. By comparison, for
alcohol it's 5 to 1 to 10 to 1! Opponents always mention 'the slippery
slope theory,' that people will go from marijuana to a variety of
illegal drugs.

But this is a legal, political and law enforcement problem, not a
medical one. Besides, patient suffering from these diseases are seldom
'slippery slope customers.' I can understand no doctor wants his
office loaded with people seeking marijuana unjustifiably. But surely
this shouldn't be a problem. It's easy to document which patients are
receiving chemotherapy or suffer from multiple sclerosis or AIDS. Yet.
I could not find a major cancer center in Toronto or neurologist who
was prescribing marijuana. This issue reminds me of the battle I
fought in the 1980s to get heroin legalized for terminal cancer patients.

The facts of its benefits were documented. But I was fought all the
way by the Canadian Cancer Society, cancer specialists, pharmacists,
and the RCMP. There opposition was all due to political, moral and
religious reasons. Like marijuana, heroin was not considered a 'nice
drug.' Yet the British had been using it for 90 years to treat cancer
patients, women in labor, heart attacks, and burned children with
excellent results. I don't condone smoking marijuana for pleasure just
as I'm appalled to see so many people still smoking tobacco.

But I can't understand how any doctor could refuse to write a letter
for those suffering from the terrible complications of AIDS and other
diseases when marijuana can offer comfort.

And surely there should be an easier way for patients to eventually
obtain marijuana.

The best route, I believe, would be a doctor's prescription to be
filled at a pharmacy.