There are many medical uses of marijuana but while it is still an illegal drug the patients trying to reap its benefits must break federal laws. Marijuana is effective in lowering the internal eye pressure associated with glaucoma and slowing the onset of blindness in these patients. It can reduce the pain of AIDS patients and stimulate the appetites of those suffering from malnutrition because of AIDS wasting syndrome. Marijuana has many other uses such as alleviating muscle spasticity, anorexia, asthma, nausea, peptic ulcers, alcoholism, depression, migraine, anxiety, inflammation, hypertension, insomnia, and many other uses for cancer patients. "Marijuana has been found useful as an anticonvulsant, a muscle relaxant in spastic disorders, as an appetite stimulant in the wasting syndrome of human immunodeficiency virus infection and is also useful for relieving phantom limb pain a

Doctors do see the medical use of marijuana and many would recommend it or have recommended it to patients. Dr. Marcus Conant says "I have seen hundreds of AIDS and cancer patients who are losing weight derive almost immediate relief from smoking marijuana, even after other weight-gain treatments - such as hormone treatments or feeding tubes - have failed."(2) Dr. John Morgan of CUNY Medical School says: "There is no rule that says drugs must be the best at what it does to warrant approval. If it is effective in even a small number of cases, it deserves serious attention as a therapeutic product."(13) Forty eight percent of cancer specialists said they would prescribe marijuana to some of their patients if it were legal. Of all cancer specialists forty four percent said that they have recommended the illegal use of marijuana to patients for control of nausea and vomiting. If these doctors recognize the medical ability of marijuana and some have even recommended it or would recommend it to patients if it were legal then it should be legalized because who knows what is best for patients than their doctors.

2. Conant, Marcus. (1997, February 3). This Is Smart Medicine. Newsweek, 26.

16. Leo, John. (1996, October 28). The Voters Go to Pot. U.S. News & World Report.

13. Hecht, Brian. (1991, July 15). Out of Joint: The Case for Medicinal Marijuana. The New Republic. p.7-10.

Marinol is a synthetic form of the main ingredient in marijuana, THC. The Federal Government recognized the medical use of THC because:

3. Morganthau, Tom. (1997, February 3). The War Over Weed. Newsweek, 20-22.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Federal Government, James Canter, Warning Network, Bill Clinton, Wide Web, Journal Medicine, Federal Law, THC Marinol, World Report, Donald Scott's, proposition 215, wide web, nov 1997, online world wide, world wide web, federal government, online world, world wide, smoking marijuana, medical marijuana, marijuana medical, legalization marijuana, 22 nov 1997, 29 nov 1997, proposition 215 online,
Approximate Word count = 3859
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)