Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 Source: Providence Journal, The (RI) Copyright: 2004 The Providence Journal Company Contact: http://www.projo.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352 Author: Bruce Mirken Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n2012/a07.html Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) LET DOCS EASE PAIN WITH POT Philip Terzian is right to be concerned about the federal government's zealous prosecution of physicians who treat pain ("The War on Drugs hurts," column, Dec. 31). Unfortunately, the targeting of doctors who prescribe OxyContin is just one facet of this misguided policy. Another is the irrational federal war on medical marijuana. Last April, The Lancet Neurology noted that marijuana's active components have been shown to be effective against pain in virtually every experimental test of pain relief that scientists have devised. Medical organizations and journals such as the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Nurses Association and The New England Journal of Medicine have called for a change in federal policy. Many physicians report that marijuana enables some chronic-pain patients to reduce or eliminate their use of highly addictive opiate drugs. Yet the same federal law that allows doctors to prescribe OxyContin bars them from prescribing marijuana -- even though marijuana has never caused a single fatal overdose. That, simply put, is crazy. Bruce Mirken Washington The writer is director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin