Notes

The legalization of marijuana increases availability of the drug and acceptability of its use. This is bad for public health and safety not only because marijuana use increases the risk of heroin use."

Additionally, there is no scientific evidence that long-term use of medicinal marijuana is either effective or safe for the treatment of chronic pain

"There is no scientific evidence that the effect of marijuana in diminishing pain is related to any specifically identified analgesic effect.

Marijuana smoke, like tobacco smoke, is an irritant to the throat and lungs and can cause a heavy cough during use. It also contains toxic gases and particles that can damage the lungs. Marijuana smoking is associated with large airway inflammation, increased airway resistance, and lung hyperinflation, and regular marijuana smokers report more symptoms of chronic bronchitis than nonsmokers.

With regard to pain alone, marijuana could greatly reduce the demand for narcotics and simultaneously decrease the number of accidental painkiller overdoses, which are the greatest cause of preventable death in this country... Marijuana is a medicine, that should be studied and treated like any other medicine."