Pubdate: Fri, 02 May 2008 Source: Duluth News-Tribune (MN) Copyright: 2008 Forum Communications Co. Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/u1J0CaDN Website: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/553 Author: K.K. Forss Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08.n436.a01.html and http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08.n435.a03.html A PATIENT'S VIEW OF THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL As one of the patients who would benefit from the medical marijuana bill now being considered by the state Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty, I am disheartened to see opponents of this modest, humane bill saying things that are simply false. Four years ago, I ruptured a disk in my neck, requiring multiple surgeries to essentially rebuild my neck, with at least two more surgeries coming. Some of my vertebrae have eight holes in them. I get severe muscle spasms in my neck. The pain is constant and gets so intense I almost can't describe it. I've been given an array of narcotics and other drugs, but they help only a bit and often cause severe nausea. I rarely get a decent night's sleep. I've had to quit my work as a photographer and often can't even go to church because of my condition. My medication alone costs Minnesota taxpayers about $18,000 per year. One medicine did help: Marijuana. It brought the pain down to a bearable level, helped the nausea and eased the spasms. It made my life tolerable. But I don't want to be a lawbreaker. That's not who I am. I'm a registered Republican and a born-again Christian. I don't want to make nighttime purchases from criminal drug dealers and risk jail in order to live with a little less agony. That's why it is so sad to see law enforcement representatives misleading the public about the medical marijuana bill. I want to be on their side. I don't want to be a criminal. In his April 27 column, "Marijuana is not an acceptable remedy," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom claimed that marijuana has been "rejected" by the American Medical Association and other medical organizations. He should know better. The AMA's position, adopted in 2001, specifically supports the right of physicians to freely discuss the benefits of medical marijuana with patients and urges further research. Studies since then have continued to show benefits, causing the American College of Physicians -- the second largest doctors' group in the U.S. -- to state this February that it "strongly urges protection from criminal or civil penalties for patients who use medical marijuana as permitted under state laws." The authors of a second column, published on duluthnewstribune.com only, who laced inaccurate references to marijuana as being "toxic," should read ACP's position paper. The doctors' group cited "marijuana's proven efficacy at treating certain symptoms and its relatively low toxicity" as the reason for its stand. Groups like the American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association and American Academy of HIV medicine agree. Opponents claim that there are other medications available to treat the symptoms that marijuana relieves. I wish they could walk in my shoes for just one day. I've tried those other medicines, drugs that are far more addictive and dangerous than marijuana. They don't work as well and often make me sicker. I feel like I'm caught in some sort of culture war, when I'm just trying to live in a little less pain. This isn't about politics, it's about people suffering. That's what I was taught when I was growing up: You take care of people in pain. That's what the Legislature and Gov. Pawlenty should do. K.K. Forss lives in Ely. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin