Well, it's a two edged sword. I've seen what medical marijuana can do to help AIDS patients, so I think it should be legal for those who need it. I'm not sure how teaching pot growers how to grow the best grade for medical patients is working. Do they have to be certified to do this? Can you be sure it's for only medical patients? I do not believe marijuana should be legal for mass consumption.

When I was director of nursing at a facility in CA we were getting ready for a pt that had marijuana as one of his meds. We weren't quite sure how that was going to happen. How do you count it? Could people take some without anyone knowing it. Then the fact of having staff take the pt out to smoke their med...would we have a run on voluteers to help the pt. The pt ended up not coming to us, but there were so many things to think about. I do believe it is therapeutic I think we should just loosen up a bit. I guess it could be an up and coming pt care issue, keeping people comfortable, helping deal with medical issues.

I have cared for AIDS patients who had poor appetites and a lot of pain. The ones who were smoking illegal marijuana did better than those who weren't. I believe that marijuana should be considered a control substance just like any narcotic. It is easy for legislatures to make laws when they are not the ones suffering. Furthermore, they are probably using other drug of choices which are just as bad; this includes alcohol and prescription meds.

The AAFP even came out in support of medical marijuana last month.

Don't we have enough prescription pain meds that are more effective, without having to use marijuana? If the Medical Association believes in this as another tx.,for pain, then I agree with the above response that it should then be regulated as such and only if it can be in a "pill" form and not smoked. Smoked drugs again gives the wrong message that "its healthy and okay to "smoke." Our society is already messed-up because of too many street drugs! Studies have shown this is a "gateway" drug, and makes it that much easier for non-medical users to percieve this drug as "okay" and more inclined to experiment with other street drugs. REP

As a Registered Nurse, I have seen numerous patients suffer in SEVERE PAIN from MANY different conditions and illnesses. Some of these include, but are not limited to the following:

Cancer
Multiple Sclerosis
AIDS
ALS
Arthritis - severe

I've witnessed the suffering these poor people go through, and the drugs they take to alleviate their pain. ALL these drugs have a multitude of side effects, some of which are as bad as the condition itself.

I've also had my own tremendous amount of pain, from different injuries and severe dysmenorhea - period cramps. The pain was so SEVERE, that I would hallucinate from the pain, and lose 10 POUNDS IN ONE DAY!
I would take the pain medications the M.D. would prescribe, and find some relief, and some side effects.

One day, a friend suggested I try a puff of his marijuana. I was extremely unsure, but I was also suffering from ANOTHER HORRIBLE period. I took 2 PUFFS, and a half hour later, I felt COMPLETE RELIEF.

With my knowledge as a patient and as a nurse, I am 100% FOR the MEDICINAL USE OF MARIJUANA. Therefore, I think it would be great to LEGALIZE the MEDICAL production of this plant to alleviate the suffering of so many thousands of patients.

R.N., BSN. - Patient Advocate

It's greed you know. The pharmaceutical companies don't want to admit it works because they can't make money off of if. The government doesn't want to endorse it because they took a stand against it. Most of the prescribed medications have side effects that cause other ailments.

Amazing...something that works and yet everyone thinks it's taboo. How many people die each year from drunk driving or alcohol poisoning? How many families live with alcoholics? I know myself, I smoke cigarettes...nicotine, a drug I can't quit...I have to but I am addicted.

So why then, if something works for these people, a plant that can help them through their pain, is it not legal? Ridiculous to be honest but then again, it's the green thing and we aren't talking about the environment. Money and power to control. When will people start thinking about a human life first before their wallet?

I knew a boy in high school who hd to take Matinol for his cancer... the chemotherapy was so bad that he would throw it up. Smoking made him feel much better than the prescription did and gave him comfort before he died.

It's not the place of the government to protect people from themselves, and it's not the place of the pharmaceutical and insurance companies to deny sick people a helpful medicine. It makes me really angry.