[420 Girl]

At a time when researchers are plunging into the rainforest in search of new medicines, there is a growing consensus that an herb easily cultivated here may help patients struggling with cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other painful, difficult-to-manage conditions.

The herb is marijuana.

The North Carolina House Health Committee is considering a measure that, if approved, would make North Carolina the 15th state to legalize its medical use. We think state lawmakers are right to at least consider a need to expand options for health care and help alleviate patient suffering.

Medical marijuana refers to the use of the cannabis plant as a physician-recommended drug. Its use is legalized in Canada, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Israel, Finland and Portugal and in 14 U.S. states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York are also considering medical-marijuana bills.

A growing body of research confirms the medical benefits of marijuana and its active compound for treating neuropathy, which causes extremity pain. The New England Journal of Medicine has editorialized in favor of marijuana's medical use. In January, the nation's second-largest group of physicians, the American College of Physicians, weighed in, also in favor.

The other option for helping those with such illnesses is prescription painkillers. But many of today's prescribed pain medications have severe side effects and reactions. And many of today's pain medicines are strongly addictive.

The main objection to legalizing medical marijuana is that unscrupulous doctors will green light virtually anyone's use of the drug. We agree that there is potential for abuse. But as Oxycontin illustrates, that can happen with any prescription drug. So addiction should not be a reason to refuse patients medical marijuana because legal medical marijuana has not been proved to be physically addictive.

Many western states and a handful in the northeast protect patients whose doctors have decided marijuana is the best treatment option. For the most part, the laws have worked well, without the worst-case scenarios feared by opponents.

It's time for North Carolina to ensure that its sickest patients have all the treatment options they need, and if smoking marijuana will allow them some relief, we are all for it.

This is a medical issue, not a war on drugs issue.

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