Pubdate: Fri, 19 Apr 2013
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2013 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Author: John Morgan
Note: Guest columnist John Morgan is an Orlando lawyer and chairman 
of United for Care, a statewide group seeking the legalization of 
marijuana for medical uses.
Page: A14

LET PATIENTS LIGHT UP TO EASE PAIN, IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE

Those who claim there always are legal alternatives to medical 
marijuana are not dealing from personal experience.

Twenty years ago, my dad suffered from esophageal cancer and 
emphysema. The nausea from his treatment was severe and the list of 
medications prescribed for it ineffective.

And so, out of desperation, one day he tried marijuana. And it 
provided him blessed relief.

 From that day on, family members were forced to break the law and 
risk arrest to ease the suffering of a dying loved one. Not only did 
marijuana increase his quality of life, it probably extended his life.

There is one thing I can guarantee you: Those people opposing medical 
marijuana would have done the same thing for a relative in the 
condition of my father.

We used to laugh about "munchies." But to someone dying from wasting 
syndrome, munchies takes on a whole new meaning.

Those who claim there always are legal alternatives to medical 
marijuana are not dealing from personal experience. Neither are they 
looking at the research.

Almost 20 years ago, in a letter to the New England Journal of 
Medicine, two researchers from the Harvard Medical School wrote the 
following: "Evidence of the therapeutic value and limited toxicity of 
marijuana in the treatment of various symptoms and syndromes is 
rapidly accumulating. Patients with glaucoma, migraine, epilepsy, 
multiple sclerosis, paraplegia, quadriplegia, the AIDS wasting 
syndrome, or nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy for cancer have 
risked severe penalties to acquire cannabis, because they find it 
more useful than legally available medicines."

Little has changed because of opposition from the pharmaceutical 
industry threatened by a cheap, plentiful alternative to its 
expensive concoctions; by law enforcement agencies vested in a silly 
diversion from the real war on drugs; and by politicians and 
organizations that believe "Reefer Madness" was a PBS documentary.

Opponents are worried about marijuana while every day we dispense 
deadly narcotics out of pill mills, creating what the U.S. Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention calls an epidemic of addiction and 
abuse, killing far more people than heroin, crystal meth and cocaine 
combined. No one has ever died from a marijuana overdose. Opponents 
of legalizing medical marijuana claim it would send a mixed message 
to kids. I submit to you we already are sending one humdinger of a 
mixed message: Medical marijuana foes say it would be abused if made 
legally available. First of all, that is not the fault of people who 
legitimately need it. And second, if we applied that same criterion 
to all medications, about the only things left on the drugstore 
shelves would be ibuprofen and ice packs.

How about we just demand the government regulators and the 
professional medical boards do their jobs? We have doctors peddling 
more dope than drug cartels and walking away with wrist slaps.

We are told that marijuana is not a medicine. But isn't it 
interesting that when a pharmaceutical company synthesizes the active 
ingredient into a pill, calls it Marinol, and charges hundreds of 
dollars for it - then it magically becomes one?

The hypocrisy is stunning. You can get medical marijuana all right, 
if you pay the Big Pharma gatekeeper.

There are well-intentioned people who have spent years trying to get 
Florida legislators to see reason on this issue. I'm not talking 
about groups like NORML that have lobbied for years to legalize 
marijuana, but real people experiencing real suffering. They were 
turned down once again last month in Tallahassee.

One lawmaker said anyone who requires medical marijuana can move to a 
state that allows it. Just pack up the wheelchair. Wave goodbye to 
the family. And off you go.

That kind of ignorance and callousness is why we must appeal this 
case to the public in a 2014 referendum.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom