Experts from the National Institute of Health or NIH have confirmed that marijuana is an effective, safe and inexpensive alternative for treating nausea caused by AIDS medications and cancer treatments and other like ailments as glaucoma, muscle spasms, intractable pain, epilepsy, anorexia, asthma, insomnia, depression, and other disorders
Dan Shapiro has gotten relief from marijuana. "When Dan Shapiro was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in 1987, he called a friend who had also battled cancer. His friend's advice, Shapiro says, came in a six-word package: "Cancer is grim, man, get weed."" After being in remission for nine years, Shapiro said "the marijuana helped him stay functional despite the notoriously-debilitating chemotherapy" (Sealy, "Thanks Mom"). Government experts have indicated that marijuana does relieve pain, and other disorders, but it does not cure them, therefore can not be legalized as a prescription drug. In such cases as Shapiro's, marijuana has been the building block for recovery, and it has given sick people a chance to move on without the tension and pain. Government experts have concealed some information about similar prescription drugs such as, percocet and codeine. Both are very addictive and they only relieve the pain. Medicinal marijuana has similar side effects as the often prescribed stimulants, but it is not quite as addictive. Marijuana is not so different from other frequently prescribed stimulants, in fact better in some circumstances, but its stereotypical summary has the government questioning its output. .
Despite its medical benefits, marijuana is only legal in one state for medical purposes. In 1996, voters in California approved a law that relaxes regulation on medical marijuana. The federal government cannot take action against California doctors who recommend marijuana to their patients. Marijuana has eased the pain of chemotherapy, sever muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, and other problems for patients in the state of California, and could help ease the suffering of patients in other states if legalized.