Pubdate: Thu, 28 Mar 2013
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2013 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n134/a10.html

MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS QUALITY-OF-LIFE DECISION

Thank you for making the case for medical marijuana in your 
thoughtful March 23 editorial, "Medical marijuana, for compassion's sake."

Medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug. If a doctor 
recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy and 
it helps them feel better, then it's working.

In the end, medical marijuana is a quality-of-life decision best left 
to patients and their doctors. Drug warriors, waging war against 
non-corporate drugs, contend that organic marijuana is not an 
effective health intervention.

Their prescribed intervention for medical-marijuana patients is 
handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This heavy-handed 
approach suggests that drug warriors should not be dictating health 
care decisions.

It's long past time to let doctors decide what is right for their 
patients. Sick patients should not be jailed for daring to seek 
relief from marijuana.

Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.
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