Pubdate: Thu, 09 Jul 2015
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2015 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n371/a06.html
Author: Barry R. Waisglass
Page: A10

MARIJUANA MEDICINE

Re Medical Marijuana Is A Charade (July 7): Medicine is a substance 
used in treating disease, and that has applied to cannabis for 
thousands of years. Many hundreds of scholarly articles attest to 
what Margaret Wente herself says: Cannabis "is beneficial for many."

I agree that "the hype has far outrun the evidence." Much of the 
hyperbole comes from the recreational user, the promise of 
legalization, and commercialization, rather than from the medical 
profession. Doctors are apprehensive, cautious about cannabis as 
medicine, and want more evidence.

But many of us, eager to relieve our patients' suffering, are 
prescribing this to reduce harm, to help limit the use of narcotics 
and other more risky medications.

Ms. Wente writes that "marijuana shouldn't need to prove itself as 
medicine to be legal." It is legal now, as a medicine, if recommended 
by a doctor.

Should this venerable herb become legal without a prescription, 
patients will still look to their doctors for information about 
choosing cannabis strains and how to use it responsibly.

Barry R. Waisglass, MD, medical director, Canadian Cannabis Clinics
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom