vol2 - Page 18

 3
 : _ .:t.;. _!;)1"actice:'_:i'l_i"_,_-_ ;l'i_,i_l)'fi:_:!- tm"mth_s. Such patl _ had noi:::-;slli_Ir,_tl<.ma'tn_ijma_a
 _¢reati anal ly, _
 ..... 9;,.,=-This successful _me of _rlj_ana has givem many cancer chemotherapy
 pa¢ients a much more positive outlook om their overall treatment, once they were
 relieved of the debilitating, exhausl_ing and extremely unpleasant nausea and )
 vomiting previously resulting from their chemotherapy treatment,
 lOo In about December 1977 the previously underground patient practice
 of using marijuana to control amesis burst into the public media in New Mexico
 when a young cancer patient, LyNn Pearson, began publicly to discuss his _se of
 marijuana. Mr. Pearson besought the New Mexico legislature to pass legislation
 .. making marljuana available legally to seriously .ill patients _hom it might help,
 As a result,_ professionals in the public health sector in Ne_'Mexico more
 closely examined how marijuana might be made legally available to assist in
 meeting what non openly appeared to be a widely recognized patient need,
 llo _n many cases doctors have found that_ in addition to suppressing
 nausea and vomiting, smoking marijuana is a highly sv¢cessfvl appetite stimulant:
 The importance of appetite stimulation in cancer therapy cannot be overstated°
 Patients receiving chemotherapy ofte_ lose tremendous _ounts of weight. They
 endanger their lives because they lose interest in food and in eating, The
 resulting sharp reduction in weight may well affect their prognosis_ Marijuana
 smoking induces some patients to eat, The benefits are obvious, doctors have
 found, There is no significant loss o? _eight. Some patients will gain _eight°