norml23 - Page 24

 Marijuana was also widely used as a medicine in this country
 from the mid-1880's to 1937o Beginning in the 1 940's, over a
 hundred articles appeared in the medicare journals describing
 potential medicai uses for marijuana, and marijuana was
 prescribed in this country for a wide variety of uses, including
 its use as a pain reliever, in the treatment of migraine
 headaches, and in the treatment of addictions. At the beginning
 of the Civil War, marijuana was the most often used anesthetic on
 the battlefieldo Grinspoon, Marijuana Reconsidered, supra, at
 pgs. 13-14, 218-28; Secretary of HEW, Marijuana and Health, Fifth
 Annual Report, supra, at pgs_ 117_I99.
 Passage of the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937, 50 St:ato 551, ch.
 553 (1937), eliminated the therapeutic use of marijuana in the
 United States° The Act, while nominally allowing the medical use
 of marijuana required a registration tax and compJex record
 keeping procedures which were so problematic and cumbersome that
 physicians were compeJled to prescribe other drugs in its place.
 See U.S. Pharmacopeia in 1941; Grinspoon, supra, :at pg. Z42.
 Over the past decade, there has been a resurgence in the
 therapeutic use of marijuana in the United States, particularly
 for gtaucoma and cancer chemotherapy. Miliions of Americans
 suffer from glaucoma, a serious illness characterized by
 increasing pressure in the eye, which can result in total
 btindnesso Although there is not known cure for glaucoma,
 marijuana has been found in a number of studies to be an
 effective agent in reducing the pressure in the eye, and
 providing relief where other medicals have been ineffective.
 Secretary of HEW Fifth Annual Report, supra, at pgs. 120-121;
 Eighth Annual Report, supra, at pgso 28-31; United States v.
 Randall, 104 WashoL Rep. 2249 (D.C. Superior Ct. "1976)
 (dismissing marijuana cultivation charges because of medical
 necessity).
 Marijuana has a_so been proven to be an effective and useful
 medicine for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation
 therapy. These forms of therapy are extreme{y painful, and are
 characterized by Foss of body hair, often extreme depression, and
 prolonged nausea and vomiting. Marijuana has been found to be
 effective in reducing or eliminating the nausea and vomiting
 experienced by many of these cancer patients. Secretary of HEW,
 Eighth Annuam Report, supra, at pgs. 28-29°