NURSES BACK MEDICAL MARIJUANA

It is difficult for nurses to remain silent when patients are denied
access to an effective medical treatment. That is why the Wisconsin
Nurses Association supports the medical marijuana bill authored by
Rep. Gregg Underheim (R-Oshkosh), known as AB 740.

In taking this position, we are squarely in the mainstream of the
public health community. The American Nurses Association, the
American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Public Health
Association and the American Academy of HIV Medicine are just a few
of the health care organizations that have acknowledged that
marijuana can be a valuable treatment when used under medical supervision.

A large body of evidence indicates that marijuana can relieve a
number of debilitating symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, certain
types of pain and the pressure inside the eye that robs glaucoma
patients of their sight. Moreover, it can do so with remarkable safety.

Unfortunately, the issue has become shrouded in fear and myth.
Exaggerated claims and scientific misunderstandings have tended to
overshadow facts and common sense.

For example, we are sometimes warned that marijuana is "addictive."
In fact, only a very small percentage of marijuana users ever become
dependent - a much smaller percentage than is seen with alcohol or tobacco.

Under proper medical supervision, drugs that are far more addictive
and dangerous than marijuana are used beneficially by hundreds of
thousands of patients every day. And unlike a great many drugs used
for either medical or recreational purposes, marijuana has never
caused a fatal overdose.

Contrary to claims sometimes made by opponents, marijuana can provide
relief in a number of instances where conventional drugs fail or have
unacceptable side effects. A great deal of research has shown that
marijuana relieves pain through different mechanisms than
conventional pain drugs, including opioids, and can provide relief
when these drugs fail.

Particularly encouraging results have come from recent studies
involving pain associated with multiple sclerosis well as peripheral
neuropathy, an extremely painful condition that afflicts HIV/AIDS
patients and others.

It is true that a pill is available containing THC, the component
most responsible for marijuana's "high." But research has shown that
other components of the plant - called cannabinoids - play an
important role in marijuana's therapeutic benefit and may even help
to reduce the unwanted side effects of THC.

Just as important, the pill takes one to two hours to work and is
absorbed slowly and unevenly. That is why the journal The Lancet
Neurology has called oral dosing "the least satisfactory" way to
administer cannabinoids. Patients report that the pill makes them too
"stoned" to function, while with natural marijuana they can adjust
the dose to provide relief without excessive intoxication. The
Institute of Medicine, in a 1999 report commissioned by the White
House, made the same point.

Some fear that allowing medical use of marijuana sends the wrong
message, encouraging teens to experiment with it. But
government-sponsored surveys have consistently shown that teen
marijuana use has declined, not increased, in states with medical
marijuana laws.

In reality, lying to children and teens about a drug's value and
risks sends the wrong message. Young people should be taught that all
drugs and medicines present risks and that medicine should only be
taken under a provider's supervision when the patient is sick.

There is no reason to be frightened of medical marijuana. This is a
drug with nearly 5,000 years of recorded medical use and that has
been widely used therapeutically throughout the world. It is safer
than many medicines Americans take every day.

There is simply no reason to arrest and jail patients battling
cancer, MS, AIDS or other terrible illnesses for using marijuana with
the recommendation of their health care providers.

Our Legislature should move swiftly to pass AB 740, and Gov. Jim
Doyle should sign it into law.