Yesterday, the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee sponsored a hearing into the benefits of medical marijuana in light of two bills recently introduced in the state legislature that would allow the herb to be prescribed.

Expert witness for the defense, as it were, was long-time medical marijuana proponent and neurologist Dr. Denis Petro, who testified that "Medical marijuana is recognized by the medical community as a safe and effective alternative when conventional therapy is inadequate in serious and life-threatening disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis, spinal cord injury, AIDS and cancer."

Most salient appeal probably goes to Nora Bertocci, R.N. and chair of the New Jersey Hospice and Palliative Care Organization: "Is it not sad enough that illness robs people of years with their loved ones? Do we need to compound that by denying patients access to a treatment that will not only alleviate their pain and nausea, but that can also stimulate their appetite, making them stronger, so that the days, weeks, or months they have left can be filled with memories and dignity? Medical marijuana is used very successfully in other states and in other countries. We should not be asking 'why should we legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes?' but rather 'why shouldn't we?' ''

Lots of personal testimony followed, including that from high-profile medical marijuana advocate and former US Marine Scott Ward. Ward went from training to run the marathon to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis to weighing 98 pounds before smoking marijuana let him be "able to eat something that didn't come out of a tube," according to his mother, also a registered nurse.

Medical marijuana is currently available in the US in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.