SAN DIEGO -- The debate over whether medicinal marijuana can provide pain relief could be settled by local researchers.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA Should It Be Legal? Vote Post Your View LEGALIZATION ADVOCATES NORML American Medical Marijuana Association Marijuana Policy Project GOVERNMENT SOURCES U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration DEA: Medical Marijuana Myths National Institute on Drug Abuse

University of California, San Diego, scientists are seeing if cannibis can ease the pain of cancer patients.

Some people in pain are finding relief by smoking marijuana. They believe it works.

Researchers at UCSD's "Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research" want to know if the marijuana can really ease pain.

"There is a large amount of research ongoing right now at UCSD to answer these questions," said Dr. Mark Wallace, UCSD pain researcher.

Pain specialist Wallace believes this forbidden plant can provide pain relief.

Wallace recruited healthy volunteers, including college students, to see if cannibis had any effect on pain.

Study participants were given cannabis and then injected under the skin with a derivative of hot chili pepper.

"The results suggest that there is a theraputic window of the cannibis. If you don't get enough of it, you don't get pain relief. If you get too much of it, you actually increase their pain," said Wallace.

The study Wallace was involved with helped researchers determine a safe and effective dose of cannibis for pain relief.

More research is planned that could one day make this illegal drug a legitimate medicine.

"I think we need to keep working to demonstrate the medicinal use of cannabis by good, quality research and then get it in the hands of a pharmacist," said Wallace.

Cancer patients are now being enrolled in a new study using cannabis.

For more information on these studies, call 619-543-5024.