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 consistency of the reports and from the sources _- the patients
 themselves -- that these reports were genuine and deserved
 greater attention,
 8. Xt was around this time that the first reports
 began to appear in the medical llteratu:e of marijuana's use in
 a therapeutic setting, These articles were consistently favor-
 able and indicated that marijuana had an important value in
 reducing the severe emesis commonly assoclated with chemo-
 therapeutic treatments.
 9, This information quickly spread through com-
 munities of cancer patients and by mid-1976 virtually every
 young cancer patient receiving chemotherapy at the University
 of California in San Francisco, was employing marijuana, with
 great success, to control their emesis, _
 I0o In other words, marijuana's use was generally
 accepted by patients, and increasingly by their physicians, as
 a valid and legitimate form of treatment_ This was particurly
 true among younger cancer patients, and somewhat less common
 among older patients_ many of whom feared marijuana because of
 horror stories which were often unfounded or because of the
 drug's il!egality_
 ll. Xt was sad to know that older patients who might
 have gotten significant relief from marijuana were unable to
 try the drug, simply because of its inappropriate legal status.
 12. At first, it was the patients who reported that
 marijuana was successful° These reports were later confirmed
 in the medical literatures When it became apparent, based on