In 1999, a study from the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, reported that marijuana may be effective in treating pain, nausea, and other conditions, and receommended further human clinical trials. More recently, however, the US Food and Drug Administration declared that "no sound scientific studies supported medical use of marijuana for treatment in the United States, and no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use."

Proponents of the use of marijuana for medical purposes disagree, claiming that this is a largely political move on the part of the FDA. According to Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project,

"There is abundant evidence that marijuana can help cancer patients, multiple sclerosis patients and AIDS patients. There is no scientific doubt that marijuana relieves nausea, vomiting, certain kinds of pain and other symptoms that don't respond well to conventional drugs, and does it more safely than other drugs.

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About the author: Ruth Schaffer is a Microbiologist by training and currently authors the Allergy and Biotechnology weblogs for Creative Weblogging, and a Asian travel weblog for b5media.. She is a mother to a bi-racial, bilingual, precocious 3-yr old.