Pubdate: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2014 Sarasota Herald-Tribune Contact: http://www.heraldtribune.com/sendletter Website: http://www.heraldtribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398 Author: John Dockum POT STUDIES CONVINCING Your Health+Fitness edition of Oct. 7 carried a news clip from The Washington Post titled "Does medical pot work? 92 percent of patients say yes." For those who missed reading it, the following quotes may help provide authoritative evidence of the value of medical marijuana and refute claims such as TV's "There's nothing medical about this marijuana." "A 2013 survey in the New England Journal of Medicine found that nearly eight in 10 doctors approved the use of medical marijuana. Now a representative health survey of 7,525 California adults, produced by the Public Health Institute in partnership with the CDC, found that 92 percent of medical marijuana patients said (that it) alleviated symptoms of their serious medical conditions, including chronic pain, arthritis, migraine and cancer." "Our study contradicts commonly held beliefs that medical marijuana is being overused by healthy individuals," the authors write. "The most common reasons for use include medical conditions for which mainstream treatments may not exist ... or may not be effective ..." These reports helped convince me to vote "yes" for constitutional Amendment No. 2. John Dockum Sarasota - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom