I currently treat at least 20 patients for whom I believe marijuana is medically appropriate in responding to treatment-induced nausea or for appetite stimulation. In my medical judgment, in some cases medical marijuana may be the only effective medicine.

Two of my patients, Hal Margolin and Dorothy Gibbs, have benefited tremendously from [medical cannabis]. Both suffer from chronic pain. Ms. Gibbs, who is 93 years old and who had not previously tried marijuana until joining WAMM, has found marijuana to be a highly effective analgesic for treating acute and chronic pain associated with post-polio syndrome and complications arising there from [including arthritis].

Ms. Gibbs turned to marijuana only after trying a wide range of conventional prescription pharmaceuticals and therapies prescribed by me, but to little or no avail. These treatments, including powerful and highly addictive opioid analgesics, either did not work, gradually lost their efficacy, or caused such debilitating side effects (particularly nausea and dizziness) that Ms. Gibbs found intolerable.

Ms. Gibbs is a good example of a patient who experiences episodic acute pain for which Marinol is too slow-acting and who, when stricken with acute pain, often requires the faster analgesic and antiemetic effects produced by smoked marijuana. I have been pleasantly surprised at the degree to which marijuana has afforded Ms. Gibbs relief from the agony that she suffered.

Dr. Leff has been an advisor on national drug control policy and public health to the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter. He has worked with the Department of Defense and State Department developing drug abuse programs in foreign countries and for U.S. military troops, and has consulted with local law enforcement officials on drug treatment. He served as Director of Health Services for Contra Costa County, California and has held teaching positions on the medical school faculties of the University of Cincinnati and the University of California.

All rights reserved. Copyright pending 2008.