Pubdate: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 Source: Asbury Park Press (NJ) Copyright: 2002 Asbury Park Press Contact: http://www.app.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/26 Author: Jim Miller TEST MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL USE When two opposite views are held, it's usually something not easily proven either way. If it were, the people that were right would prove their point and tell the others to clear out. Seriously ill patients who say marijuana is good medicine for them have wanted the testing that would prove them right for many years. Such testing has not been allowed. Politicians who say that medical marijuana is a hoax have curiously never called for clinical testing that would prove that marijuana is not as effective as medicine. Why would they spend decades saying marijuana is not effective medicine when they could have called for clinical testing that would prove their point? Logic would say that they know they would end up proving the patients' claims instead. This should be settled once and for all by doing the tests that would prove or disprove marijuana's medical efficacy. Dying citizens deserve no less, whether people are afraid of the truth about medical marijuana or not. The fact that it has gone on this long should be considered a national embarrassment. At least we can look forward to the results of the tests being done in England. Patients with multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis there will find relief from their symptoms with a sublingual cannabis spray that will be available to them by prescription in about a year and a half. When did Americans become so afraid of the truth about anything that we would have to look to another country for the answer? Jim Miller DOVER TOWNSHIP - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom