They also prescribe a wide variety of narcotics, stimulants, and sedatives that people have been known to use for nonmedical reasons. The House resolution does not dispute marijuana's effectiveness at relieving nausea and restoring appetite in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy or suffering from AIDS wasting syndrome.
Many patients disagree.
Patients often prefer marijuana even to synthetic THC capsules because it's easier to absorb, it takes effect more quickly, the dose can be calibrated more readily, and the psychoactive effects are less disturbing. Marijuana's relative advantages as an antiemetic nevertheless remain controversial. The Clinton administration, by contrast, officially favors gathering more data. McCaffrey and Shalala say marijuana's legal status should be determined by the government's experts. There are other reasons to doubt that science is the administration's main concern.