s have access to pure, standardized marijuana. For new drug approval, the FDA requires “substantial evidence of efficiency based on adequate and well controlled clinical investigations plus evidence of the drugs limited toxicity when used in therapeutic doses.” Smoked marijuana meets this standard. For further proof, the FDA’s prior approval of oral THC is evidence of marijuana’s effectiveness in treating nausea, vomiting, and AIDS related wasting. The few studies that have directly that have compared the two forms of THC delivery show “smoked marijuana to be more effective than oral administration.” Nevertheless, the question is not whether marijuana is better than existing medication. For many medical conditions, there are numerous medications available to the patient, some work better in some patients and some that work better in others. Having the maximum number of medications available allows physicians to deliver the best possible medical care to individual patients. Politics, not medical science, has stood in the way of marijuana’s approval as a legal medication. In 1982 wrote a letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association, stating “Outdated federal prohibition of medical marijuana was corrupting the intent of state laws and depriving thousands of glaucoma and cancer patients of the medical care promised them by their state legislatures, the hysteria…. Over marijuana’s social abuse and bureaucratic interference by the federal government had prevented a factual and balanced assessment of marijuana’s us as a mendicant.” It’s about time we all started listening. ...
