MEDICAL MARIJUANA HELPFUL

The U.S. government claim that marijuana has no medical value is absurd on
its face. Every month, the U.S. government sends big tin cans full of 300
medicinal joints to a number of people. The reason they do that is because
some of those people went to federal court and proved to a legal certainty
that:

Marijuana is a medicine.

It is the only medicine suitable for their conditions. In addition, a
prescription drug -- Marinol -- is made from the primary active ingredient
in marijuana. If a prescription drug is made from a plant, then obviously
the plant contains the medicine and, therefore, would have medicinal value.

But, even if you don't accept the fact that marijuana has medicinal value,
there is a bigger question: Let's suppose a sick person was growing tobacco
in his backyard and rolling his own cigars because he thought it made him
feel better. We all know that tobacco has no medicinal value. In fact, it
is quite harmful and should be avoided by all people, sick or healthy.
Would anyone recommend that we should jail that sick person and take away
his property -- all in the name of protecting their health?

Even if you don't agree with the medical value of marijuana, there is no
point in punishing sick people for trying to relieve their own suffering --
even if you disagree with their choice of medicine.

CLIFFORD A. SCHAFFER,
Director DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy http://www.druglibrary.org
Canyon Country, Calif.

Your Jan. 4 editorial ["Ignorance Isn't Bliss"] rightfully calls for more
research into marijuana's potential medical benefits. The Drug Enforcement
Administration has virtually blockaded any such research for nearly two
decades; the two recently approved studies are long overdue. But research
cannot protect current medical marijuana patients from arrest.

Right now, there are people all over the country -- not just in the eight
states with medical marijuana laws -- who are using marijuana to alleviate
pain and suffering. People with cancer, glaucoma, AIDS and multiple
sclerosis have found relief through marijuana. Must these patients wait
years until exhaustive research tells them what they already know:
Marijuana is a safe-and-effective medicine for some people?

Research is important, but it is no replacement for state laws allowing the
medical use of marijuana. While we await definitive research on the
subject, which is worse for seriously ill people: marijuana or prison?

KRISSY OECHSLIN,
Assistant Director of Communications, Marijuana Policy Project, Washington