Medical+Marijuana+-+The+Issue

Lester Grinspoon, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, wrote in an Aug. 17, 2003 article published in the //Boston Globe//: //"Doctors and nurses have seen that for many patients, cannabis is more useful, less toxic, and less expensive than the conventional medicines prescribed for diverse syndromes and symptoms, including multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, migraine headaches, severe nausea and vomiting, convulsive disorders, the AIDS wasting syndrome, chronic pain, and many others."// Aug. 17, 2003

Kate Scannell, MD, Co-Director of the Northern California Ethics Department at Kaiser Permanente and author of //Death of the Good Doctor//, wrote in an article published in the //San Francisco Chronicle// on Feb. 16, 2003: //"From working with AIDS and cancer patients, I repeatedly saw how marijuana could ameliorate a patient's debilitating fatigue, restore appetite, diminish pain, remedy nausea, cure vomiting and curtail down-to-the-bone weight loss."// Dr. Scannell concluded by noting: //"...almost every sick and dying patient I've ever known who's tried medical marijuana experienced a kinder death."// Feb. 16, 2003

Andrew Weil, MD, Director of Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, stated in a June 6, 2002 article published in the //San Francisco Chronicle//: //"Like all medicines, marijuana has its drawbacks, particularly in smoked form. It is not a panacea. I support research into safer delivery systems such as low-temperature vaporizers or inhalers, which offer the fast action of inhaled medicine without the irritants found in smoke.// //Still, I have seen in my own studies that marijuana is less toxic than most pharmaceutical drugs in current use, and is certainly helpful for some patients, including those with wasting syndrome, chronic muscle spasticity and tractable nausea.//

//As a physician, I am frustrated that I cannot prescribe marijuana for patients who might benefit from it. At the very least I would like to be able to refer them to a safe, reliable, quality-controlled source."//  June 6, 2002

The New York AIDS Coalition's (NYAC) former Executive Director, Joe Pressley, stated during his testimony before the New York State Assembly on Dec. 13, 2002:

//"Among physicians specializing in AIDS/HIV, there is a widespread acknowledgement that marijuana represents a significant treatment component for those who have advanced-state HIV symptoms, as well as for those with symptoms caused by the multiple-drug therapies used to control HIV."//

Dec. 13, 2002