Should Medical Marijuana be Federally Legalized?

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Oh dear, is this the best that opponents can do? Voth sets up a series of straw man arguments while simply avoiding the real evidence of marijuana's medical value -- evidence that has accumulated despite draconian government restrictions that have kept the flow of controlled clinical trials to a tiny trickle. To cite two obvious examples:

1) Nausea, vomiting and appetite loss: Voth acknowledges that marijuana has been shown to alleviate these symptoms, which are common side effects of treatments for a variety of illnesses, including cancer, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. Observational studies have now documented that patients using marijuana to alleviate these treatment side effects are three-times more likely to stay on life-saving treatment -- and thus, to survive. In one major hepatitis C study, marijuana use was associated with a 330% improvement in treatment success. For examples, see evidence below.

2) Pain: Voth's claim that cannabinoids (the active components in marijuana) are "no more effective than currently available medicine" is medically meaningless, as it's well established that currently available pain treatments are ineffective for millions of patients, particularly those experiencing neuropathic pain -- pain caused by nerve damage, commonly seen in diabetes, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and other conditions. As noted in the April 2005 Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, "Currently available analgesic drugs have limited efficacy, particularly for neuropathic pain." And a controlled clinical trial found that smoked marijuana provided significant relief for neuropathic pain in HIV/AIDS patients, an indication for which there are no FDA-approved treatments. For examples, see evidence below.