Issue date: 12/13/07 Section: Editorial/Opinion

Usually when I get into this discussion, people think I'm just another college stoner who wants to legalize marijuana so I can have cheap access to pot without the potential legal consequences. That's not the case.

Evidence suggests that marijuana has medicinal benefits and is safer than some prescription drugs and even some substances available to the general public. That being the case, people should have access to prescribed medicinal marijuana.

Marijuana use in the United States began in the medical world. Starting in the mid-1800s up until the beginning of the 20th century, Western medical literature actually recommends and advocates for the use of marijuana cigarettes to help treat certain ailments, specifically nausea associated with some disorders. It wasn't until the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, which severely restricted physicians' ability to prescribe the drug, did marijuana leave American pharmacies.

The American Medical Association protested at the time because the act limited medicinal options for patients.

Later, in 1972, the Nixon-appointed National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse announced that there was a lack of sound evidence for the prohibition of the drug. Despite the findings in the 70s, marijuana is still prohibited. Why are fewer restrictions placed on more harmful substances, such as tobacco and alcohol? With no conclusive evidence that the drug has reason to be banned, is a patient's access to the drug still restricted?

Traditionally, medicinal marijuana has been suggested to help treat nausea, especially for people going through cancer treatments such as chemotherapy. It has also been suggested for people with gastrointestinal disorders who experience severe nausea. Marijuana does, in fact, relieve nausea and could be used to relieve suffering for many patients.

Some recent studies also suggest marijuana could not just be used as a pain-relieving drug, but that it also has the potential to delay the progression of some diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel syndrome and perhaps even Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease.

It is now believed that marijuana is actually safer than people once thought. Some studies suggest heavy use of marijuana produces significantly less damage on the lungs of the smoker and the lungs of others than equal use of tobacco cigarettes. Interestingly enough, the government requires cigarette companies to place surgeon general warnings on packages and advertisements, and the government even restricts how tobacco companies can advertise. But with all the evidence clearly linking tobacco cigarettes to cancers, there is no restriction on how much tobacco can be consumed. If a harmful substance like tobacco is not limited, why is something with clear medicinal benefits prohibited?

Continued...

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