As a physician responsible for the care and treatment of those who live in horrible pain, I believe that these patients need, above all else, the broadest possible range of therapeutic options and as full and accurate information as possible regarding those options as they relate to the individual patient. In recent years, I have noted that the public and the government have become increasingly aware of these needs, and one hopes that measures have been taken to promote adequate pain care for the seriously ill and injured. Several states, including California, have adopted laws and/or guidelines for the prescribing of controlled substances, which seem to permit physicians to treat pain patients without fear of sanction or interference from state authorities.

Insofar as The Compassionate Use Act passed in 1996 expressly provides that "chronic pain" is a condition for which physicians are authorized to recommend marijuana without threat or fear of punishment, the Act appears to be an additional assurance for physicians like myself that we can rely upon a full range of treatment modalities to care for patients in pain. The IOM Report provides still further support for doctors insofar as it recognizes the potential medical benefits of marijuana .…

Marijuana has a place in any pain physician's armamentarium.

Dr. Brody is Chief of the Pain Consultation Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. He is a peer reviewer for the Western Journal of Medicine, Journal of General Internal Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, and the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics. Florida Governor's Red Ribbon Panel on AIDS Florida Medical Association Whitman-Walker Clinic Wisconsin Nurses Association

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