medical+marijuana+-+value

Joycelyn Elders, MD wrote in a Mar. 26, 2004 editorial published in the //Providence Journal//:

//" The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS -- or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day. "//

Lester Grinspoon, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, wrote in a Mar. 1, 2007 editorial in the //Boston Globe// titled "Marijuana as Wonder Drug":

//"It is a sad commentary on the state of modern medicine -- and US drug policy -- that we still need 'proof' of something that medicine has known for 5,000 years. [...]// //Marijuana is effective at relieving nausea and vomiting, spasticity, appetite loss, certain types of pain, and other debilitating symptoms. And it is extraordinarily safe -- safer than most medicines prescribed every day. If marijuana were a new discovery rather than a well-known substance carrying cultural and political baggage, it would be hailed as a wonder drug."//

//TIME// magazine wrote in a Dec. 5, 2005 article "The Year in Medicine":

//"Research into the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of cannabis continued to bolster the case for the medicinal use of marijuana, making the 'patient pot laws' that have passed in 11 states seem less like a social movement than a legitimate medical trend."//

The Institute of Medicine wrote in a recommendation on page 179 of its Mar. 1999 report titled "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base":

//__**"RECOMMENDATION:**__ Short-term use of smoked marijuana (less than six months) for patients with debilitating symptoms (such as intractable pain or vomiting) must meet the following conditions://
 * //failure of all approved medications to provide relief has been documented,//
 * //the symptoms can reasonably be expected to be relieved by rapid-onset cannabinoid drugs,//
 * //such treatment is administered under medical supervision in a manner that allows for assessment of treatment effectiveness, and//
 * //involves an oversight strategy comparable to an institutional review board process that could provide guidance within 24 hours of a submission by a physician to provide marijuana to a patient for a specified use.”//

The Institute of Medicine concluded in its Mar. 1999 report titled "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base":

//"Until a nonsmoked rapid-onset cannabinoid drug delivery system becomes available, we acknowledge that there is no clear alternative for people suffering from chronic conditions that might be relieved by smoking marijuana, such as pain or AIDS wasting...***[in those patients who have not responded to standard approved therapy]."**//

Jerome Kassirer, MD, Editor of the //New England Journal of Medicine//, wrote about marijuana's medical value in the journal's Jan. 30, 1997 editorial:

//"I believe that a federal policy that prohibits physicians from alleviating suffering by prescribing marijuana for seriously ill patients is misguided, heavy-handed, and inhumane. Marijuana may have long-term adverse effects and its use may presage serious addictions, but neither long-term side effects nor addiction is a relevant issue in such patients.//     //It is also hypocritical to forbid physicians to prescribe marijuana while permitting them to use morphine and meperidine to relieve extreme dyspnea and pain. With both these drugs the difference between the dose that relieves symptoms and the dose that hastens death is very narrow; by contrast, there is no risk of death from smoking marijuana. To demand evidence of therapeutic efficacy is equally hypocritical. The noxious sensations that patients experience are extremely difficult to quantify in controlled experiments.//     //What really counts for a therapy with this kind of safety margin is whether a seriously ill patient feels relief as a result of the intervention, not whether a controlled trial 'proves' its efficacy."//

Miles Herkenham, PhD, Chief of the National Institute of Mental Health's Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Regulation, IRP, noted on the NIMH website, updated Jan. 25, 2002:

//"Cannabinoid receptors are also located in areas that control emesis (nucleus of the solitary tract) and pain, suggesting medical potential of marijuana."//

Francis L. Young, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrative Law Judge, stated in his Sep. 6, 1988 ruling:

//"The overwhelming preponderance of the evidence in this record establishes that marijuana has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States for nausea and vomiting resulting from chemotherapy treatments in some cancer patients. To conclude otherwise, on this record, would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious."//

Nancy Pelosi, Congressional Representative (D-CA) at the time of the quote, said in her official "Statement in Support of Hinchey Amendment to Allow the Use of Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes" to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 18, 2001:

//"Proven medicinal uses of marijuana include alleviation of some of the most debilitating symptoms of AIDS, including pain, wasting, and nausea. These benefits also improve the quality of life for patients with cancer, with MS, and other severe medical conditions."//

Lyn Nofziger, Republican political consultant, wrote the foreword to //Marijuana Rx//, in Dec. 1998:

//"Marijuana clearly has medicinal value. Thousands of seriously ill Americans have been able to determine that for themselves, albeit illegally."//

Kaiser Permanente stated in their Apr. 1997 patient newsletter:

//Medical guidelines regarding the prudent use of marijuana should be established... Unfortunately, clinical research on potential therapeutic uses for marijuana has been difficult to accomplish in the United States, despite reasonable evidence for the efficacy of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and marijuana as anti-emetic and anti-glaucoma agents and the suggestive evidence for their efficacy in the treatment of other medical conditions, including AIDS.//