Why is it assumed that to gain relief from marijuana it has to be smoked? Yes with smoking tobacco or any other herb, including mary jane, your risks for cancer is increased. Look at the amount of tar left by both. You can use it in food (fat souluable.. butter..brownies )as a tincture, in tea, and my favorite in a vaporizer. The vaporizer actually goes into the lungs with just a mist. The effects are increased "ten fold". I still gain benefit from smoking it, but vaporizers is really where I need to make use. There is NO discoloration in your sputum (like smoking). It releases more of the cannaboids, thus filling the receptors. I noticed a big difference in breathing and I use less morphine because of it. I do believe now that marijuana can YES provide relief and even cure asthma. I was not too sure until mine went away just by making the switch. Easier on the lungs and hits the receptors for asthma. I hope people will take the time to understand the drug and what it can do. Ignorance is not bliss.

NICELY said Swooper420. I was gonna chime in with my 2 cents but there is no way I could articulate my point as well as you already did ,THANK YOU. I could only add that I was reading on the NORML site about a study done in Wellington , New Zealand proving quite the opposite even among HEAVY users who claim using as much as 22,000 marijuana cigarettes in a lifetime . There was NO correlation between smoking cannabis and neck / head cancer. PEACE

I must dispute the statement: "Posted by JasonD on Mar 06, 2008 08:47 PM EST I hear the arguments but let's not forget that it has been proven that there is a direct link between smoking marijuana and incidence of head and neck cancer. Yes other "legal" drugs can cause illnesses and cancer as well but is that a reason to legalize one more?" I would be very interested in the source for this assertion regarding Cannabis and the incident of cancers. I have done research, in over 25,000 articles at the Shaffer library, DRCNet, and other sites, and have found NO peer-reviewed studies making such a claim. Rather, I did find scientific, peer-reviewed studies going back as far as 1975 which show Cannabis actually has ANTI-CANCER properties and can be an effective adjunct to more conservative types of treatments for cancer. Aside from this, there are claims that smoking Cannabis is 20 times worse than smoking cigarettes... if they were true, then there would be literally thousands of non-tobacco using cannabis-smoking lung cancers. There aren't, period. I am fortunate enough to live in Oregon, where we have a 10 year old Medical Marijuana Program. This is one of the most successful programs in the world. We have over 16,000 patients registered with the State, over 2500 physicians are participating by signing their part of the patient's application, and the program is not only self-sustaining (no tax revenues are spent to operate the program) but the program has actually put almost a million dollars of surplus fees collected into the Health Department to pay for OTHER programs! In spite of all the 'sky is falling' rhetoric by law enforcement and prohibitionists in general, instead of rampant abuses of the program, only a handful of patients have been found to be out of compliance with the law. In fact, the incident of patients or their caregivers abusing the program is less than 1%. I DARE anyone to show me a program where there is 99.9% compliance. Also, according to some of the latest information I have been able to find, illegal use of cannabis by minors has actually decreased since the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program went into effect. Proponents (especially those who are also patients) are generally quite protective of our privilege to grow, possess, and use cannabis for medical purposes, and would do nothing to jeopardize this hard-won privilege. I salute Michigan's right to vote on the subject of legalizing medical cannabis. For far too long the prohibitionists have lied to us and made patiently false claims about the harms of cannabis. Let the truth come out: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care." Thus spoke DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young, in a 1988 decision suppressed by the US Government. I urge you all to go to http://www.medmjscience.org/Pages/reports/jyp4.html and actually read the decision as handed down by Judge Young. Page 4, at the bottom, is where you will find his conclusions and recommended decision. Unfortunately, the decision was ignored then, as have all efforts since to have cannabis rescheduled and again recognized as a natural, therapeutic, herb. As far as the government saying that Cannabis has no medical value ~ why then does the government send up to 7 pounds of medical cannabis to each of (now only) 8 Americans? There was once a program, the Investigational New Drug Program, INDP, that was going to study the effects of medical cannabis on a wide variety of illnesses. Unfortunately it was shut down due to political rather than medical reasons, allowing no new patients but continuing to supply the existing patients already in the program. Since the Federal Government has not been able to drop the empty rhetoric and scare tactics which keep thousands of people from finding relief from many illnesses, it is up to the people of each State to, as is allowed by the US Constitution, perform a social experiment by legalizing the medical use of cannabis. Michigan should legalize a medical cannabis (marijuana) program. Good luck to you, I wish you success! You will find that a good program will be a good thing for many of your citizens.

I hear the arguments but let's not forget that it has been proven that there is a direct link between smoking marijuana and incidence of head and neck cancer. Yes other "legal" drugs can cause illnesses and cancer as well but is that a reason to legalize one more?

I am a strong supporter of allowing cannabis sativa to be reclassified by "OUR" government from a schedule I drug to at least a schedule II drug and better yet they could go as far as schedule V. This isn't saying you believe in or approve of medical cannabis it just allows reasearchable cannabis to be grown by QUALIFIED SCIENTISTS for REAL/UNBIASED findings. I believe that Pharmacuetical companies pay MILLIONS of $$$$ a year to keep CANNABIS illegal because it is the PUREST most NATURAL almost HARMLESS PLANT/MEDICINE known to man. You can find CANNABIS in MANY olde time medicines until it was deemed illegal in 1937 for Purely PREJUDICIAL reasons (not because it was harmful and addictive like the "REEFER MADNESS" prohibitionists would have you believe.CANNABIS was made illegal by the 1936 Marihuana Tax Act and then by the 1937 the first DRUG CZAR John Anslinger was in charge with the DEA in tow to jail Mexican Immigrants and Black Jazz Musicians.70 years later "THEY are still clinging to thier "REEFER MADNESS" arguements and MISINFORMATION campaigns. I say STOP THE MADNESS and allow our SICK and DIEING and their DOCTORS to decide what works for them and if that is that DREADED ,EVIL , DEVIL's WEED then SO BE IT ... Pharmacuetical Poison kills hundreds of thousands a year as well as Tobbaco and Alcohol and a myriad of other LEGAL means but yet you continue to PERSICUTE and PROSECUTE hundreds of thousands a years for using a PLANT that in THOUSANDS of years of DOCUMENTED proof has directly killed ZERO. Thats right NADDA , NIL , ZIPP... but yet the WAR goes on. LETS let "OUR" elected officials the way that 12 STATES have that the WILL of the people have decided and voted and yet the WAR goes on... PEACE

The medical benefits of cannabis therapy are being recognized by doctors and their organizations. The research is deep. I am a 60 year old male with multiple spinal and bone diseases which are not treatable by surgery. I am also allergic to narcotics. The conditions I have are chronic and painful; at times very crippling. I find that cannabis greatly relieves my pain and tension and helps me to get the rest I need. I am an OMMP patient in Oregon. This program allows me to grow enough MMJ to help myself and three other patients. I see how it helps them have fewer seizers and other problems when they have quality medicine. We also give our surplus to other OMMP patients for no consideration when we have surplus. It is not about getting high - it is getting by with a better quality life. If I were not registered with the OMMP, by law I would be a criminal and subject to state law. My choice would be to suffer more pain or criminally obtain marijuana from black market sources. I can grow my medicine very cheaply. I know what was used on it, it is safe. But marijuana is sold illegally for high prices and quality and safety is a guess. Sick and old people should not have to make such choices. I am still looked at as a criminal by federal police. All this because cannabis has been lied about and said to be dangerous - it is nontoxic. I believe there are no known fatal overdoses.

My grandfather first gave me cannabis as medicine when I was a boy. I was suffering from the debilitating headaches that run in my family, and he could not stand to see me in pain. He's gone now, but I still use cannabis to combat my pain and spasms. My doctors are 100% in favor of my continued cannabis use. They agree that it has markedly reduced my need for more dangerous narcotic drugs, and the medicinal value is obvious to him. Let's be frank here. If I just wanted to get high, I could get all the narcotics I could possibly take for free, through my insurance. But I'd rather not go through life as a zombie. I prefer being able to speak without drooling or slurring my words. THAT'S the real reason I use cannabis.

I was 25 years old when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. 7 years of conventional and experimental medical treatment left me in ruins. I had to take 25-35 pills a day. My stomach was ruined. I was nauseous all the time, and in constant pain. My weight dropped to 92 pounds. I saw my doctor every month for a stack of prescriptions and to have him coordinate with the Department Heads of my medical teams. I spent hours every month at the pharmacy. I had to spend hours at the ER 10 times a year, fighting for my life. In 1999 I joined the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP). Within 1 year I was off all drug except 2 hormone replacements. I now see my doctor once a year to renew my OMMP card and check the progress of my cancer. I haven't been to the ER in 8 years. And my weight is up to 120 pounds! You would never guess by looking at me that I have cancer.