Pubdate: Fri, 14 Apr 2006
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.stltoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418
Author: Michael R. Sanders
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)

MARIJUANA AND PAIN

My dad is 88 years old and has advanced cancer. He has had treatment
that would make any person very sick.

I don't know how long he has to live, but I am ashamed that I cannot
legally help him eat. He has no appetite and his pain is bad
sometimes. Marijuana can stimulate hunger, which, in his case, would
extend his life. It also can augment painkillers. It breaks my heart,
but Dad would never do anything illegal. Soon, he will lie at
Jefferson Barracks Cemetery. He was a Navy Seabee and served in and
around the Philippines and New Guinea.

If marijuana were legal for terminal and chronically ill patients, I
could extract THC and make a butter, which looks like regular butter
but is green. He would eat and have more strength, and the
pain-relieving qualities of marijuana might help the painkillers,
which make him constipated and sick.

I hope that someone will care more for people like my dad than for a
drug war that is making it more difficult for patients to get what
they need, sans politics.

Michael R. Sanders,

Crestwood
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek