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When someone suggested I try marijuana, I was skeptical — but desperate. To my amazement, it worked when these other legal drugs failed. Three puffs and within minutes the excruciating pain in my legs subsided. I had my first restful sleep in months.

I am not alone. A new study from the University of California, published Feb. 13 in the highly regarded medical Journal Neurology, leaves no doubt about that. You see, people with MS suffer from a particular type of pain called neuropathic pain — pain caused by damage to the nerves.

It's common in MS, but also in many other illnesses, including diabetes and HIV/AIDS. It's typically a burning or stabbing sensation, and conventional pain drugs don't help much, whatever the specific illness.

The new study, conducted by Dr. Donald Abrams, looked at neuropathic pain in HIV/AIDS patients. About one-third of people with HIV eventually suffer this kind of pain, and there are no FDA-approved treatments. For some, it gets so bad that they can't walk.

This was what is known as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the "gold standard" of medical research. And marijuana worked. The very first marijuana cigarette reduced the pain by an average of 72 percent, without serious side effects.

What makes this even more impressive is that U.S. researchers studying marijuana are required to use marijuana supplied by the federal government — marijuana that is famous for being weak and of poor quality.

So there is every reason to believe that studies such as this one underestimate the potential relief that high-quality marijuana could provide.

Medical marijuana has allowed me to live a productive, fruitful life despite having multiple sclerosis.

Many thousands of others all over this country — less well-known than me but whose stories are just as real — have experienced the same thing.

Here's what's shocking: The U.S. government knows marijuana works as a medicine.

Our government actually provides medical marijuana each month to five patients in a program that started about 25 years ago but was closed to new patients in 1992.

One of the patients in that program, Florida stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld, was a guest on my show two years ago.

But 38 states — including Minnesota — still subject patients with illnesses such as MS, cancer or HIV/AIDS to arrest and jail for using medical marijuana, even if their doctor has recommended it.

Here in Minnesota, a bipartisan group of legislators has introduced a bill to protect patients like me from arrest and jail for using medical marijuana when it's recommended by a doctor.

Similar laws are working well in 11 states right now, with a 12th about to take effect in New Mexico. ...

The Legislature should pass the medical marijuana bill without delay. Sick people shouldn't be treated as criminals.

This is the opinion of Montel Williams and submitted on behalf of the Marijuana Policy Project.

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