We hope this one-year campaign will gather the necessary 76,000 signatures to put it on the ballot. The measure would protect doctors in prescribing cannabis as treatment for certain medical conditions, protect the patient who has a prescription from prosecution and protect the person who supplies the product to someone with a valid prescription. Marijuana products, in various forms, are reported to help people suffering from a variety of illnesses, including glaucoma, Tourette's syndrome, cancer, AIDS wasting syndrome, multiple sclerosis and other ailments. Voters in seven states and the District of Columbia have approved medical use of cannabis. And a variety of professional medical associations, including the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association, have voiced support for allowing doctors to prescribe cannabis.
Opponents say it's an effort to legalize marijuana.
Committee vice chairman Ben Valdez Jr. disagrees. The message we should be sending to children is that cannabis is a medicine and like all medicines, it should be treated with respect and not abused. Larsen said his own research convinced him that the substance could relieve suffering. He studied tetrahydrocannabis with aspirin for arthritis patients. They didn't have the serious stomach ailments others get without the THC, he said.