In November 1996 the residents of California approved Proposition 215, which is an initiative that makes marijuana legally available as a medicine in the United States for the first time since the 1930’s. Under the new law, patients or their primary caregivers that possess or cultivate marijuana for medicinal use are exempted from criminal prosecution. The treatment may be for “cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides …showed first 75 words of 1791 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1791 total…prevented him from receiving the marijuana he needed. The protocol was finally accepted, but only after it had been changed from an efficacy to a safety study. The California vote should persuade federal authorities to relent. But even if they do, a research program designed to study the many clinical uses of this versatile drug will take years, and meanwhile other ways must be found accommodate the needs of a rapidly growing number of patients.