Includes bibliographical references, glossary and index.

"No substance on earth is as hotly debated as marijuana. Opponents claim it's dangerous, addictive, carcinogenic, and a gateway to serious drug abuse. Fans claim it as a wonder drug, treating cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, glaucoma, arthritis, migraines, PTSD, and insomnia. Patients suffering from these conditions need--and deserve--hard facts based on medical evidence, not hysteria and superstition. In Stoned, palliative care physician Dr. David Casarett sets out to do anything--including experimenting on himself--to find evidence of marijuana's medical potential. He smears mysterious marijuana paste on his legs and samples pot wine. He poses as a patient at a seedy California clinic and takes lessons from an artisanal hash maker. In conversations with researchers, doctors, and patients around the world he learns how marijuana works--and doesn't--in the real world."--Book jacket.