Eric, I agree with you entirely. Opposition to cannabis is based upon fear, ignorance and a political agenda. Medically, it is ridiculous. Marijuana has been used medicinally for 5,000 years and over the past few decades there is hard, scientific evidence as to it's many potential benefits not only for pain and chemo induced appetite control, but use in other areas. This is not the same thing as "getting high". These idiot politicians can't grasp the difference. They are under the preposterous notion that people with these awful illnesses are justifying "getting high", as if that is the intended goal of therapy, when in fact even if they are getting wrecked on cannabis, the effect achieved is for specific medical indication(s).
And....the smoked form is perceived by most patients as more beneficial than Marinol (the oral capsule formulation, which, btw only contains THC). Patients who use Marinol don't like it, due to the psychomimetic effects which predominate. Smoked cannabis contains compounds aside from delta-9 THC, like cannabidinols, and other cannibinoids, which might be the reason they are getting more therapeutic effect from smoked cannabis.
I wonder if any of these "politicians" know that there are cannabinoid receptors in their brains (what remains of their brains), and that there are endogenous cannabinoid like substances in the human body, called anandamides, the biology and chemistry of which are quite complex, but fortunately just beginning to be better understood.
