The following is a list of some issues and statements from some prominent people on the subject of marijuana.

"The evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence in this record."

-- Judge Francis L. Young
DEA Administrative Law Judge
Administrative ruling on Petition to Reschedule Marijuana
Sep., 1988

"The evidence is overwhelming that marijuana can relieve certain types of pain, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms caused by such illnesses as multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS -- or by the harsh drugs sometimes used to treat them. And it can do so with remarkable safety. Indeed, marijuana is less toxic than many of the drugs that physicians prescribe every day."

-- Joycelyn Elders, MD
Former US Surgeon General
Editorial, Providence Journal
Mar. 26, 2004

"There is very little evidence that smoking marijuana as a means of taking it represents a significant health risk.

Although cannabis has been smoked widely in Western countries for more than four decades, there have been no reported cases of lung cancer or emphysema attributed to marijuana.

I suspect that a day's breathing in any city with poor air quality poses more of a threat than inhaling a day's dose -- which for many ailments is just a portion of a joint -- of marijuana."

-- Lester Grinspoon, MD
Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
May 5, 2006

"Patients receiving cannabinoids [smoked marijuana and marijuana pills] had improved immune function compared with those receiving placebo. They also gained about 4 pounds more on average than those patients receiving placebo."

-- Donald Abrams, MD, et al.
"Short-Term Effects of Cannabinoids in Patients with HIV-1 Infection,"
Annals of Internal Medicine
Aug. 19, 2003

"Consumer Reports believes that, for patients with advanced AIDS and terminal cancer, the apparent benefits some derive from smoking marijuana outweigh any substantiated or even suspected risks.

In the same spirit the FDA uses to hasten the approval of cancer drugs, federal laws should be relaxed in favor of states' rights to allow physicians to administer marijuana to their patients on a caring and compassionate basis."

-- Consumer Reports
Editorial
May, 1997

"We've shown that the marijuana gateway effect is not the best explanation for the link between marijuana use and the use of harder drugs.

An alternative, simpler and more compelling explanation accounts for the pattern of drug use you see in this country, without resort to any gateway effects. While the gateway theory has enjoyed popular acceptance, scientists have always had their doubts. Our study shows that these doubts are justified.[...]

The people who are predisposed to use drugs and have the opportunity to use drugs are more likely than others to use both marijuana and harder drugs. Marijuana typically comes first because it is more available."

-- Andrew Morral, PhD
Researcher, Rand Corporation
Press release discussing his study published in the U.K. journal Addiction
Dec. 2, 2002

"While it is not possible with existing data to determine conclusively that state medical marijuana laws caused the documented declines in adolescent marijuana use, the overwhelming downward trend strongly suggests that the effect of state medical marijuana laws on teen marijuana use has been either neutral or positive, discouraging youthful experimentation with the drug."

-- Mitch Earleywine, PhD
Professor of Psychology, State University of New York
Report, "Marijuana Use by Young People:
The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Laws"
Sep., 2005

Now help Dr. Grinspoon by answering the Question: Why Do You Use Marijuana?