It is clear from available studies and rapidly accumulating anecdotal evidence that marijuana is therapeutic in the treatment of a number of serious ailments and is less toxic and costly than many conventional medicines for which it may be substituted.1 Most recently, a federally commissioned report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) determined that, "Marijuana's active components are potentially effective in treating pain, nausea, the anorexia of AIDS wasting, and other symptoms" including multiple sclerosis.2 In some cases, marijuana appears more effective than the commercially available drugs it replaces.3

    The best established medical use of smoked marijuana is as an anti-nauseant for cancer chemotherapy. During the 1980s, researchers in six different state-sponsored clinical studies involving nearly 1,000 patients determined smoked marijuana to be an effective anti-emetic.4 For many of these patients, smoked marijuan

    House Bill 912 is not a mandate from Washington and would not require any state to change its current laws. It is a states' rights bill that acknowledges the will of the American people and would allow states to determine for themselves whether marijuana should be legal for medicinal use. It is a common-sense solution to a complex issue and would provide a great deal of relief from suffering for a large number of people. NORML implores Congress to support this compassionate proposal to protect the ten of thousands of Americans who currently use marijuana as a medicine and the millions who would benefit from its legal access. Many seriously ill patients find marijuana the most effective way to relieve their pain and suffering and federal marijuana prohibition must not, in good conscience, continue to deny them that medication.

5. "Annual Report: Evaluation of Marijuana and Tetrahydrocannabinol in Treatment of Nausea and/or Vomiting Associated with Cancer Therapy Unresponsive to Conventional Anti-Emetic Therapy: Efficacy and Toxicity," Board of Pharmacy, State of Tennessee; "The Lynn Pierson Therapeutic Research Program: A Report on Progress to Date," Behavioral Health Services Division, Health and Environment Department, State of New Mexico; "Seventeenth Annual Report of the Research Advisory Panel," prepared for the Governor and Legislature by the California Research Advisory Panel; Vincent Vinciguerra, et al., "Inhalation marijuana as an antiemetic for cancer chemotherapy," New York State Journal of Medicine, (1988): 525-527.

16. National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, 4.9.

    An earlier 1982 report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) suggested that marijuana reduces intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients suffering from glaucoma, the leading cause of blindness in the United States.12 A follow up 1994 report by the Australian federal government determined that, "There is reasonable evidence for the potential efficacy of THC in the treatment of glaucoma, especially in cases which have proved resistant to existing anti-glaucoma agents," and recommended the drug's use under medically supervised conditions.13

    Between 1978 and 1996, legislatures in 34 states and the District of Columbia passed laws recognizing marijuana's therapeutic value.21 Twenty-three of these laws remain in effect today.22 Most recently, voters in Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington overwhelmingly adopted initiatives exempting patients who use marijuana under a physician's supervision from state criminal penalties.23 These states joined voters in Arizona and California who passed similar initiatives recognizing marijuana's medical value in 1996. These laws do not legalize marijuana or alter criminal penalties regarding the possession or cultivation of marijuana for recreational use. Nor do they establish a legal supply for patients to obtain the drug. They merely provide a narrow exemption from prosecution for defined patients who use marijuana with their doctor's recommendation.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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