Pubdate: Mon, 14 Mar 2005
Source: Daily Beacon, The (TN Edu)
Copyright: 2005 The Daily Beacon
Contact:  http://dailybeacon.utk.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2321
Author:  Bruce Mirken
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

POLICY PROJECT DIRECTOR POINTS OUT MEDICINAL BENEFITS OF MARIJUANA

Dear Editor:

Regarding the medical marijuana bill recently proposed in Tennessee 
discussed in "Marijuana legislation proposed" in Wednesday's Beacon, it was 
not the FDA that put marijuana into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances 
Act, labeling it as unsuitable for medical use. That was done by Congress, 
not by any medical or scientific body. The power to change this 
classification lies with either Congress or the Drug Enforcement 
Administration -- once again, not scientists or doctors.

As for claims that there is no evidence of marijuana's medical value, a 
great many medical and public health organizations have reviewed the 
evidence and come to the opposite conclusion. Organizations supporting 
legal access to marijuana for medical use include the American Public 
Health Association, American Nurses Association, American Academy of HIV 
Medicine and the state medical societies of New York, California and Rhode 
Island, among many others.

The National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, in a White 
House-commissioned report that was the product of two years worth of 
research and analysis, stated, "Nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety are 
all afflictions of wasting and all can be mitigated by marijuana."

The evidence is clear, but some prefer to ignore it.

Bruce Mirken, director of communications

Marijuana Policy Project, Washington, D.C. 
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