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 their legitimate medical needs_ to legally obtain marijuana by
 prescription from a practicing physicians
 31° The one drug which actually improves my condi-
 tion, reduces my painful spasms, and improves my posture and
 gait is illegal° The prohibition against marijuana has not
 stopped the drug's social use. The laws against _arijuana only
 seem to prevent doctors from legally prescribing the drug to
 patients for use within a supervised routine of medical care.
 This forces patients away from their doctors and into an
 unregulated market® This hinders the treatment of patients
 with a crippling_ potentially deadly disease like MSo
 32. Not only is marijuana therapeutically effective_
 but, based on my own experience, marijuana _ is far safer than
 the prescription drugs that I have been given to treat MS.
 Certainly if I can smoke marijuana over a period of ten years
 without encountering even a single adverse reaction the drug
 must be considered to be "safe". Using marijuana under the
 care and with the help and guidance of a trained physicians
 however_ would provide that extra margin of safety and security
 that patients need_
 33. Recently I approached my doctor and asked him if
 he would be willing to file an Investigational New Drug (M_ND_)
 request with the Food and Drug Administration ["FDA") to allow
 me to legally smoke marijuana while unde_ his care° He told me