Melissa Etheridge says she smoked medicinal marijuana to help with the side effects of chemotherapy during her treatment for breast cancer.

The 44-year-old singer, who was diagnosed over a year ago, is now cancer-free.

"Instead of taking five or six of the prescriptions, I decided to go a natural route and smoke marijuana," Etheridge says in an interview to air Sunday on "Dateline NBC" (7 p.m. EDT).

When asked how her doctors reacted, Etheridge says, "Every single one was, `Oh, yeah. That's the best help for the effects of chemotherapy.'"

The singer said she smoked marijuana every day for her pain and symptoms and "the minute I didn't feel it, I stopped."

The use of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation is legal in California and nine other states, but is against federal law. Asked if she was concerned about federal prosecution, Etheridge replied, "No, I didn't worry. But it was worth it."

She recently released a new greatest hits album, "The Road Less Traveled," including the new song "I Run for Life," which is dedicated to the fight against breast cancer.

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the more who come forward the better

I'll never forget her at that awards show last year ( or was it 2 years ago?) bare headed and just nailing a Janis Joplin song, tore the place up, right in the midst of her chemo, now I know how she was able to pull that off....powered by weed......think they'll listen? naw, they won't listen. That's why I'm gonna quit my job and work for the FBI, I can smoke weed and still be kewl with the feds baby......