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1. Name: Gabriel Nahas, M.D., Ph.D.  
2. Title: Professor Emeritus, Columbia University
3. Medical Marijuana
Position:		 Con to the question Should smoked marijuana be a medical option now?
4. Reasoning:

"The debate over using marihuana as medicine has been distorted by a basic confusion: the implicit assumption that smoking marihuana is a better therapy than the ingestion of its active therapeutic agent THC or a more effective one than approved medications. This assumption is wrong. THC (also known as Marinol) is an approved remedy that may be prescribed by physicians for nausea and AIDS wasting syndrome. It is safer than marihuana smoke. " (3/30/97)

5. Credibility
Ranking:		  Key Experts
Physicians [We believe physicians are the "key experts" in the medical marijuana debate because the issue is thought by many to be ultimately based on the medical value and risks of marijuana, and Physicians, with their training and clinical work, should (at least in theory) have the best knowledge of marijuana's medical value and risks.].

6. Involvement:
  • Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology and Medicine, Columbia University
  • Author, Marihuana and Medicine - 1999
  • Author, Keep Off the Grass: A Scientific Enquiry
  • Author, Marihuana, Deceptive Weed
  • Author, Cannabis Physiopathology Epidemiology Detection
  • Author, A Manual on Drug Dependence - 1992
7. Education: None listed
8. Relevant Affiliations/Honors: None
9. Contact Info:
Phone: None listed Fax: None listed
E-Mail:   None listed
Web Site: None listed
10. Other: None listed
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