Thousands of medical users attest to the effectiveness of marijuana in relieving many different symptoms, yet the White House Office of Drug Control Policy has called the medical marijuana movement "a cruel hoax". What are the facts? What does science tell us about this controversial herbal medicine?

Among the oldest and most widely used herbal remedies, the marijuana plant, known as cannabis to scientists, has suffered vilification in our nation's efforts to curb illicit drug use. Modern research sheds new light on the widely publicized reports that marijuana is good medicine.

Opinions about pot are especially diverse. Users have created their own language and subculture based on the illegality of their experiences. Anti-drug zealots demonize the plant as if it were the "weed with roots in hell." Caught in the crossfire of this cultural explosion are thousands of otherwise law abiding Americans whose lives depend on the use of an illegal drug.

Political pressure to prove that marijuana is harmful has been heated. As a result, we know more about the effects of cannabis than we know about the many legal drugs that are now commonly prescribed. In the words of Harvard Medical School Professor Lester Grinspoon, M.D., "The years of effort devoted to showing that marijuana is exceedingly dangerous have proved the opposite."
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine, America's most revered medical authority, vindicated the recent US movement for legal access to this natural medication.

The American public is now learning the truth in a quick reference guide to the scientific research on this fascinating public health issue.

Read a review of The New Prescription - Marijuana as Medicine by Vivian McPeak, Director of Seattle Hempfest

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