[420 Girl]

As a physician, I want to urge New York's legislators to get off the dime and pass medical marijuana legislation as soon as they come back into session.

No fewer than 33 clinical trials in the United States have confirmed that marijuana can be a safe and effective medicine for patients suffering from certain conditions, including the nausea and vomiting caused by cancer chemotherapy and the excruciating nerve pain often associated with HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis. There is no doubt that in a substantial number of such patients who do not respond to conventional treatment, relief of symptoms is obtained by the use of marijuana.

Medical marijuana is protected by laws that are working well in 13 states containing one quarter of the U.S. population. New Yorkers should not be threatened with arrest and jail simply for using a medicine recommended by their doctor.

The writer is professor emeritus of psychiatry, New York Medical College.

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