Pubdate: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 Date: 07/26/2000 Source: Exponent, The (IN) Author: Juno Farnsworth Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1023/a03.html Wednesday's editorial on medicinal use of marijuana was obviously poorly researched, if it was researched at all. The author argued that a recreational drug should not be put to medical use when there are other drugs that work just as well. I agree. But sometimes there is no other drug as good. This is why we use opiates as painkillers. But the most important medical use of marijuana is not to dull pain, as the author seemed to think; it is to combat nausea and stimulate the appetite. Sure, there are other drugs that do that, but none of them have had such a profound effect on chemotherapy patients as marijuana. None of them have actually allowed AIDS patients to gain back much needed weight but marijuana has. It does have valid medical use, and it's about time someone in the government decided to allow it. Juno Farnsworth, Freshman, School of Consumer and Family Sciences