What Pot Does

What Pot Does
by James Rutenberg

No definitive scientific study
shows that marijuana eases
pain and discomfort,
and it's still not
clear which
components
of the plant
alleviate
symptoms.
According to
the anecdotal
evidence, however,
marijuana brings
appetites back
to people
with AIDS
and cancer
whose treatments
make them
so nauseous
they have a
hard time
keeping food down;
helps people with multiple sclerosis fight the loss of muscle tone; slows down the degenerative effects of glaucoma; and opens up air passages in the lungs of asthmatics.
Anecdotal evidence was enough to convince forty-eight percent of the members of the American Society of Clinical Oncology that marijuana is a drug worthy of prescription, according to a 1992 study conducted by two Harvard researchers. Forty-four percent said they had already advised patients to use it illegally.
While the government doesn't deny that marijuana has some pain-killing qualities, officials say synthetic drugs can have the same effect. But patients complain that the most commonly prescribed synthetic pot, the nausea suppressor Marinol (THC in pill form), is not nearly as effective--in part because of the way it is administered.
It's generally easier to smoke than swallow when you're nauseated. And smoking gives a patient a lot more control over the amount and speed of intake. This process, known as "autotitration," is much more difficult with pills like Marinol. As New York City marijuana activist Dana Beal describes it, "With pot, people smoke it as they need it, and put it down when they've had enough."
It's still unclear how the government would regulate use of marijuana if it came to that. No other U.S.-approved medical treatments involve a smoking cure.