From: [d--p--n] at [ziggys.cts.com] (Rex Kahler)  619/262-6384
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: USA Today Pro-Medical MJ
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 94 14:16:59 PST

(from the tuesday, jan. 11 1994 'usa today' editorial page) :

        Lift The Ban On Using Marijuana For Medicine

     Our View : Marijuana has medicinal value and shouldn't 
   be kept from patients who would benefit from its use.

     Alcohol poses a greater public danger. Tobacco is 
   more deadly. Yet marijuana, with medical benefits 
   beyond rational dispute, is the substance we outlaw.
     So let's hear it: Three big cheers for the Public
   Health Service, which has announced a review of the
   government's ban on the medicinal use of marijuana.
     Regardless of what an uncompromising minority may
   claim, marijuana has indisputable medical value. 
   Many case studies, as well as research conducted 
   under the auspices of the Food and Drug Administra-
   tion, show that it can:

     * Mitigate chemotherapy-related side effects in 
   cancer and AIDS patients.
     * Reduce ocular pressure, thus helping prevent 
   glaucoma-related blindness.
     * Control muscle spasms suffered by those with
   multiple sclerosis.

     Especially for chemotherapy patients, marijuana 
   offers great value. Increased appetite and reduced 
   nausea can help them persevere against great discom-
   fort.
     Marijuana is not a perfect drug -- side effects can
   include respiratory problems. But what drug is perfect?
   Marijuana is safer than many of those used to fight 
   cancer. By some measures, it is even safer than aspirin.
   Certainly, it is less dangerous than cocaine, which 
   _can_ be prescribed.
     If cocaine, why not marijuana? Mostly because the drug
   and pharmaceutical network can't evaluate it objectively.
   Drug manufacturers see only small profits; the FDA sees
   only policy headaches; and the Drug Enforcement Admini-
   stration sees only a breach in the total prohibition
   against the nation's most commonly abused illegal sub-
   stance.
     
     To which the correct response is: Get over it. Public
   support for marijuana's medicinal use runs as high as 80%.
   Thirty-five states would permit it if the feds would ease
   up. Many doctors support its use, even if it must be done 
   illegally. How long will Washington remain in the irrele-
   vant past?
     Marijuana isn't some wild, killer drug. Used as medicine, 
   it's just a beneficial herb with a extra-bad rap. Can the 
   Public Health Service begin to change that irrational reefer 
   madness? If not, that will be a continuing reefer sadness.

   -------------------end article---------------------------------


back beneath the waves
                        D o l p h i n R e x
/s\