norml11 - Page 55

 him to make a study using, synt_hetic THC. He and colleagues ma'de such a study.
 They concluded that synthetic THC affected a signiŁ.ice:nt reduction in spasticity
 among._Itiple sclerosis p&tients, but study participants who,had a_so smoked-.
 marijuana reported consistent, ly that marijuana was more effective.
 , 46. Dr. Petro accepts marijuana as having a med_ca_ use in the
 treatment of spastici_y-in the United StateSo I-f it were legally available and
 he was engaged in an active medical practice again, he would not hesitate to
 prescribe marijuana, when appropriate, to patients afflicted with uncontro}lab]e
 spast i ci ty.
 47. Dr_ Petro presented a paper to a meeting of the American Academy
 of Neurology. The paper was accepted for presentation. After he presented it
 Dr. Petro found that many of the neuro'_ogists present at this most prestigious
 meeting were in agreement-with his acceptance of marijuana as having a medical
 use in the treatment of spasticity.
 48. Dr.-Andrew WeCI, a gene.ral medicine practitioner _n Tucson,
 Arizona, who also teaches at the University of Arizona College of Medicine,
 accepts marijuana as havi_Ig a medical use in the treatment of spasticity. In
 multiple sclerosis patients the muscles become tense and rigid because their ..
 nerve supply is interrupted. Marijuana relieves this spasticity in many
 patients, he has found. He would prescribe it to selected patients if it were
 lega_ ly available.
 49. Dr. Lester B. Collins, Ill, a neurologist, then treating about 20
 multiple sclerosis patients a years seeing two or three new ones each year,
 stated in 1983 that he had no doubt that marijuana worked symptomatically for
 some multiple sclerosis patients. He said that it does _1ot alter the course of
 - 53 -
 ........ - _._. ................. . ...... ,..._ ¸-:.¸.7 .......................... . ,..._..-_-_-...>.._<_<_.:<.:._,,.._;_..,,_,_._,:. _., .,. ,_.._.-._,_-_>_.:_>_.>:.:<-_< ......... _._,_, - • -_- - _ - -_._-.._._---_-._._<-:_ • _> .,_ -, • - _ .............. -_-_- ..................... _ ....... ................................... _ .............