LETTER
Medicinal Uses of Marijuana
Janet D. Lapey, MD
15 December 1997 | Volume 127 Issue 12 | Pages 1134-1135
TO THE EDITOR:
The well-documented review of medicinal potential of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and marijuana by Voth and Schwartz [1] is timely because the well-funded drug legalization lobby, which includes physicians, is actively trying to duplicate the California and Arizona marijuana initiatives in many other states. Voth and Schwartz's surveys show that only a small percentage of oncologists would recommend marijuana as medicine. Moreover, no evidence suggests that even this small number of physicians have the necessary information on which to base their opinion. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of drugs as medicine is based on well-controlled scientific studies, not on surveys, polls, anecdotes, or popular vote. Furthermore, with the current heavy advertising of prescription drugs on television and radio and in the print media, physicians are under unprecedented pressure to prescribe drugs that their patients demand. Indeed, it was the multimillion-dollar television blitz fraudulently advertising marijuana as medicine that deceived the voters in California and Arizona. It is not compassionate for physicians to recommend an unsafe, unproven substance that may worsen their patients' condition, especially when better, safer drugs are available.
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Author and Article Information
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Concerned Citizens for Drug Safety; Hanover, MA 02339
1. Voth EA, Schwartz RH. Medicinal applications of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and marijuana. Ann Intern Med. 1997; 126:791-8.
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