On November 5, 1996, Californians voiced their honest opinion. Californians voted yes on a very controversial proposition - proposition 215. This law allows doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients with diseases that have severe symptoms. For example, cancer patients that undergo chemo-therapy and suffer from severe nausea and aching can benefit from smoking marijuana. Marijuana helps these patients get through these very painful symptoms by numbing the body and soothing the stomach. It also improves the appetites of AIDS patients and increases their weight and chance of survival. Marijuana also helps MS patients with bladder control and tremors. The use of marijuana for medical purposes is not a new issue. The Marijuana Tax Act made the cultivation or possession of marijuana illegal in 1937, but it only has been a heated issue since the 1960's. In 1970, Congress passed the Controlled Substance Act, which placed all illicit drugs into 5 categories. Marijuana was placed under the category of "Schedule 1," because Congress decided that it has no medical use and a high potential for abuse of the "drug." But in 1970, Congress hardly new the potential benefits of marijuana for medical purposes because chemo-therapy wasn't even an issue back then, just as NORML pointed out in their petition to change the scheduling in 1972.
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