Waiting to Exhale: Medical Marijuana and Its Uncertain Future

Abstract

Therapeutic use of marijuana is a political, medical and moral issue that has provoked controversy throughout this century. On one side of the debate is the governments desire to prevent drug abuse and to make certain that medical therapies are scientifically sound and do not raise false hopes. On the other side are the interests of desperately ill patients who long for relief and desire autonomous decision-making over their own well-being. Caught in the middle are loved ones of the seriously ill, physicians, and the general public, who wish to be law abiding, yet who remain convinced and confused about the medical uses of marijuana.