Fine, a journalist for liberal public policies, stated that, "Many chemotherapy patients found that smoking marijuana not only relieved their nausea and vomiting better than any of the legally available medications, but also enhanced the appetite and relieved anxiety.""(Fine, 1997, p.60). Marijuana is also known to fight the wasting syndrome associated with the AIDS virus. Arguments against marijuana having any medicinal values only exist because there have been no government-supported studies done to show them.
The current legal standing on the subject only makes everything more difficult. States may pass initiatives legalizing the medical use of marijuana and protecting the physicians who prescribe it. However, federal law lists marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, and patients with a prescription can still be prosecuted under federal law regardless of state laws. Such initiatives have already been passed in California and Arizona, and such arrests have been occurring ever since, often with the DEA seizing everything, and either dropping the charges, or in some cases implying no charges at all. Marc Schuckit, a professor at the University of California School of Medicine, stated in a newsletter that "the 1970 Uniform Controlled Substances Act listed marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, indicating a substance with a high potential for abuse, lacking acceptable medical indications, and considered unsafe even for use under medical supervision.""(Schuckit, 1996, p.53). This law is over thirty years old, and with new medical technologies developed it should definitely be re-evaluated after proper research has been done. Remember, this was written by congress, not by doctors or scientists.
.
Marijuana 4.
So, what's stopping the legalization of medicinal marijuana? There are plenty of reasons for this, aside from federal laws and the current scheduling of the drug. Some argue that it is due to the governments' lengthy and successful prohibition of marijuana.