Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington adopted similar laws, and Colorado and Nevada joined them in the November election. This is probably marijuana's best-known medical use. While the drug almost certainly helps ease nausea, there is no research showing how it stacks up against highly effective anti-nausea drugs developed over the past 15 years. Marijuana clearly improves appetite. However, the drug has not been adequately tested in people who are unintentionally losing weight, such as those with AIDS or cancer.
Many victims say it helps, and some animal research backs up the idea.
Researchers especially want to test it on AIDS patients with peripheral neuropathy, numbness and pain in the feet that afflicts between 20 percent and 30 percent with the disease. Animal studies suggest marijuana may be a mild to moderate painkiller, and many with AIDS are already using it, since there is no other good treatment. One of the first questions to answer is whether objectively testing marijuana as a medicine is even practical. At the San Mateo County Health Center, Dr. Dennis Israelski will tackle this by enrolling 60 AIDS patients who already use marijuana for painful neuropathy. If not, larger, more elaborate studies of marijuana may be hard to accomplish.