vol2 - Page 126

 do. We lost interest in the Michigan state program. I think
 it has become virtually useless to the dc_tors and patients
 that i set out to help.
 -96. Xt has been seven years since Michigan enacted a law
 to make marijuana legally available to patients with glaucoma
 and cancer. .I still work occasionally at the doctor Is office
 and for the last five years have also worked in a local
 hospital's cancer ward. Doctors are still telling violently
 ill patients to smoke marijuana to relieve their nausea and
 vomiting and the patients are still getting marijuana off the
 streets° People who work closely with cancer patients know
 patients are smoking marijuana.
 97o Marijuana is being used medically, but not legally.
 X know many doctors who quietly support marijuanaSs medical
 use. Yet, I do not know one doctor who is actively participat-
 ing in the Michigan Marijuana Therapeutic Research Program. In
 fact, I have yet to meet a single Michigan cancer patient who
 ever obtained marijuana legally, through a doctor°
 98. Despite its problems, it appears that Michigan fared
 better than most states in dealing with marijuana's inappro=
 priate Schedule _ classification. The do(_tors in Michigan who
 did participate in the limited programs that were developed
 reported great success° _t is my understanding that nearly BOO
 cancer patients in Michigan received marijuana during their
 chemotherapy treatments_ Marijuana successfully =educed nausea
 and vomiting for the vast majority of these patients. Equally
 slgnificant_ there were almost no adverse effects reported.
 23 -
 • • o
 .......... [ .................