Supporters of medical marijuana are celebrating the findings of a new state-funded study that finds the drug is an effective painkiller. Capital Public Radio's Steve Shadley reports...

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The study was done by the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC-San Diego and paid for by the state. 

Two-hundred people participated in five different test groups. 

Some of the marijuana experiments focused on cancer pain relief and muscle spasms related to Multiple Sclerosis.  

Each experiment found that marijuana is as good as or better than traditional pain-relieving drugs. 

San Francisco Democratic State Senator Mark Leno says he's pleased that the study found that Cannabis can also help people with HIV and Aids...  

Leno:  "This study confirms all of the anecdotal evidence that those of this who have been in the midst of this epidemic for many decades now how lives have been saved and pain has been eased as a result of medical marijuana..."

 

California voters approved medical marijuana in 1996. 

Thirteen other states have similar laws. 

Researchers say their report focuses only on medical pot and is not meant to boost efforts to make marijuana legal for recreational use in California.