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US CA: PUB LTE: Ignoring The Data

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URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1855/a06.html
Newshawk: Jane Marcus
Votes: 1
Pubdate: Fri, 18 Nov 2005
Source: Jewish News Weekly (CA)
Contact:
Copyright: 2005 San Francisco Jewish Community Publications Inc.
Website: http://www.jewishsf.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3121
Author: Bruce Mirken
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1786/a01.html

IGNORING THE DATA

Bravo to Joe Eskenazi for his thorough Nov.  11 j.  examination of the medical marijuana issue, "Marijuana: Just what the doctor ordered?"

Sadly, the U.S.  government continues to ignore the growing mass of data supporting marijuana's safety and efficacy as a medicine, simply because that data doesn't fit with the prevailing ideology.

The Institute of Medicine, in a 1999 report commissioned by the White House, found that "nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety are all afflictions of wasting and all can be mitigated by marijuana" - with side effects within the range that is normally tolerated for other medicines.  Since then, much more data - including landmark studies involving HIV/AIDS patients conducted at San Francisco General Hospital - have only bolstered this conclusion.

It's time for medical marijuana policies on the national level that are based on science, not ideology and superstition.  And it's time for California's congressional delegation to take the lead in calling for compassion and sanity.

Bruce Mirken

Washington, D.C.

director of communications, Marijuana Policy Project


MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

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