Marijuana for AIDS Sufferers
A Drug-War Victim
A Letter to the New York Times, December 5, 1994
To the Editor:
For many years, patients and their doctors have been
unsuccessfully petitioning the Government to allow the medical
availability of marijuana. Thousands of people suffering from
AIDS, glaucoma, cancer, muscle spasms and pain, among other
conditions, have found marijuana useful, and it is generally
acknowledged to be less toxic than msny prescription drugs used
for the same purposes.
Unfortunately, it seems that we have decided to give the war on
drugs precedence over medical needs. Medical marijuana users
have a justified fear that their medicine will be taken away and
they will be jailed. Many users have already been charged and
convicted despite both their serious illnesses and the testimony
of physicians that their patients were taking marijuana for
medical purposes. The Government takes the official position
that the scientific evidence is insufficient to prove marijuana's
medical usefulness, while apparently doing its best to prevent
the research that could provide such evidence.
Dr, Donald Abrams of the University of California at San
Francisco is seeking approval to study marijuana-smoking as a way
of stimulating appetite in patients suffering from the AIDS
wasting syndrome. Thousands of AIDS patients already use
marijuana Illegally for this condition and report good results.
For two and a half years the Government has been putting
bureaucratic obstacles in Dr. Abrams's way.
On Friday, Dec. 9, Dr. Philip Lee, Assistant Secretary of Health,
will convene yet another meeting to diseuss the issue of smoking
marijuana to stimulate appetite in AIDS patients. Let's hope that
concern for the health of suffering people will finally prevail
over drug-war ideology.
LESTER GRINSPOON, M.D.
JAMES B. BAKALAR
RICK DOBLIN
Boston, Nov. 30, 1994
Dr. Grinspoon and Mr Bakalar are on the faculty of Harvard
Medical School; Mr. Doblin is a graduate student at Harvard's
John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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