Pubdate: Thu, 15 May 2014
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2014 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Raheem F. Hosseini

MOM AND MARIJUANA

Supervisor MacGlashan's Proposed Ban Would Affect Patient Access

My mother recently discovered the joys of marijuana.

Diagnosed 18 years ago with multiple myeloma, a cancer that chews up 
bone marrow, she forsook every Western remedy directed at her by 
doctors-chemotherapy, radiation, steroids-and instead charted a 
stridently holistic path that embraced raw foods, yoga and way too many enemas.

Nearly two decades later, the jury is still out. She isn't cured, but 
she isn't dead, either. Which is itself a victory, say myeloma specialists.

It's surprising then that it took Mom this long to embrace a 
plant-based pain reliever with rumored probative benefits. That 
happened a couple months ago, when, to soothe bone aches and help her 
sleep, my brother scored some edibles from a dispensary worker. A 
mix-up led to Mom eating way too much the first time, and getting so 
stoned she scaled the fence to her backyard after locking herself 
out. But there's trial and error with prescription meds, too.

After obtaining her own medical-marijuana card and more carefully 
parsing her doses, Mom has become a sticky-icky convert, nibbling 
tiny morsels at bedtime and sharing her supply with curious relatives 
and neighbors. She even contemplated smuggling her medicine across 
the border to an integrative health clinic, but her sons convinced 
her she wouldn't do well in a Mexican prison.

She wouldn't fare well in a Sacramento County jail, either, so it's 
disappointing that Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan fronted an effort to 
outlaw the cultivation of medical marijuana in the county's 
unincorporated areas, even by patients, caregivers and regulated 
dispensaries. While a vote was scheduled after our print deadline on 
May 13, the item's inclusion on the supervisors' consent calendar 
usually means automatic approval.

Now, my mother doesn't live in the unincorporated county or grow her 
own supply yet, but make no mistake: This decision affects her and 
countless other local patients. After all, where does MacGlashan 
think the medical-marijuana products that end up in the hands of 
cancer-sufferers like my mom originate?

In her board letter, the supervisor rightly notes the environmental 
and public-safety impacts that irresponsible cultivations create, but 
that's no reason to bully through a zero-tolerance prohibition that 
will create a larger demand for cartel product and criminalize patients.

Pot opponents love to say weed makes people stupid. It's certainly 
making our politicians act dumb.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom