Faces at rally reveal tragic truth of medical marijuana patients

Sacramento Bee ^ | 22 September 2002 | Diana Griego Erwin

[JediGirl]

Tess Williams of Elk Grove wept when she saw her sister holding a sign in the crowd of protesters standing outside Santa Cruz's City Hall last week.

"It just is so unlike her," Williams said. Her sister, a soccer mom, PTA secretary "and always the more quiet and elegant of us two," isn't the sign-waving type.

[chance33_98]

you could almost see the flies buzzing around them.

I hope those weren't the endangered flies I posted about earlier! Can you imagine the implications...

[KarlInOhio]

It can be controlled like any other controlled substance and prescribed like any other drug.

It's pretty simple: pot is illegal because it is bad and it is bad because it is illegal. If that circle is broken at any point, the whole thing will come apart. This is similar to way that the governement says that no tests have proven that marijuana is medically useful, but will not give permission to use it in any tests to prove it's usefulness.

If marijuana can be used medically, next thing you know some doctors will want to use cocaine and opiates at medicines.< /sarcasm>

[A_perfect_lady]

You know, I watched someone die of cancer recently. They had her on a morphine drip and she assured us she was in no pain as long as she was conscious and able to speak. Even as she slipped farther away, she seemed comfortable. Increasingly weak and distant, but comfortable.

[chance33_98]

My guess would be that to pass any test it would need to be in a non-smokeable form.

They sure hate us smokers. Smoking helps me control my psychosis, that urge I have to strangle the hell out of liberals. It's medicine to me :)

[capt. norm]

"If anyone can recommend to me a source that provides a cogent, logical position, I would appreciate it. By your logic, they ought to restore Phen-fen to the market as well. "

Very wrong. Marijuana has never killed anybody regardless of the doseage. Phen-fen has killed. Do you see the difference?

Check the hospitals and ask how many marijuana overdoses, injuries, or deaths have been caused by marijuana. There is not a drug on the market that can match its safety record, and there are millions who test it every day.

[SouthernFreebird]

Where's the 'dignity', in spending your final days in a dope haze?

I'd say alot of us spent our youth in a daze. If ever anyone needed to be in a daze it would be those in pain from dying. If smoking weed gives them relief and some giggles along the way then whats it to you or me?

[chance33_98]

I too have sadly seen a few people of late go that way. We will all die of something but if the liberals get their way it will only be of what they allow :) I don't know how our ancestors survived without someone telling them they could not smoke, eat bad food, or carry a gun because it might come to life and kill someone.

But your point is well taken. Both people in the last two years I knew used morphine - but I think choice is a good idea too. If I was dying I would tell the government to kiss my a$$. Oh wait, I tell them that anyway ;)

[chance33_98]

Marijuana has never killed anybody regardless of the doseage

Would it make a difference if it had?

[Lokibob]

I have Glaucoma. Pot has been proven as an effective treatment for glaucoma.

Today, I put 3 different drops in my eyes 3 times a day. It is like putting a drop of salt water in my eyes. But it is better than the alternative, going blind.

I do not use pot because it is against the law. That is the sole reason. I feel that an effective treatment is being denied me. And something that is a hell of a lot easier to do.

I'm not whining about myself. My drops are working and I expect to see for the rest of my life. I'm not sure, if offered pot by my doc, I would accept, since the drops are controlling my glaucoma. If I wanted to, I would buy it on the street, but I choose not to become a part of the drug culture.

That having been said, I really feel sorry for the cancer patients who also are denied the treatments. Chemotherapy sucks, so I have been told. Radiation therapy sucks, so I have been told. Both therapys make you sick to your stomach. You can't eat for days. Smoking pot gives you the munchies (I remember that much from the 60's), and if for that reason alone, I say give them their pot and some relief.

The fakers, the stoners, the people who have "BACK PAIN" need to be (pun intended) weeded out, but the truely sick need the treatments.

[capt. norm]

"Marijuana has never killed anybody regardless of the doseage Would it make a difference if it had? "

It would, in the context of my response to his post. (pot vs. Phen-fen) It was not a global statement.

I guess you must be trying to start trying to start a different discussion?

[07055]

I wouldn't have a problem with prescribed marijuana---treated as any other drug with restricted access to people who actually needed it (based on clinical studies, not hearsay). I'm sure the active ingredient could be extracted and put in pills. I don't know why this is not done if the benefits are as great as many people say they are.

But prescription drugs are generally not made available through "clubs" or in "coffeeshops" and I see a good part of the medical marijuana movement as nothing more than a method to avoid existing laws.

If you have the votes to make marijuana legal, go for it.

[chance33_98]

The fakers, the stoners, the people who have "BACK PAIN" need to be (pun intended) weeded out, but the truely sick need the treatments.

Barring making it legal the best way to weed them out would be only to let those who are dying use it - and perhaps they will reach a compromise very similar to that (not saying they should, but knowing how things work I can see it happening).

Just to clarify my position, as I try to do on threads like this, I have never smoked pot and probably never will - but the WOD has gotten insanely out of hand. I don't pretend to know the solution to all these problems, but I do know I have opinions on them - so please refrain from flaming if you disagree (seems to be the trend on these type of threads). It IS possible to have an intelligent discussion with calling people names, ya freaks. (PS - that last paragraph was not directed to Lokibob! Just an addendum)

[chance33_98]

I guess you must be trying to start trying to start a different discussion?

No just pointing out that Marijuana probably has killed someone and would it really make the point any less valid. The two substances affect you completely differently - one the heart the other the mind.

[evad]

By your logic, they ought to restore Phen-fen to the market as well.

Could you expand on your thoughts a little?

[AndyJackson]

CINO - I like that, and the term will be even more useful around here than the ubiquitous "RINO."

[Lokibob]

Yes, chance, the fakers, the stoners and hippies ARE the problem.  Actually, thinking about it, the doctors that cater to the fakers, the stoners and the back pain people ARE the problem.  If they would quit prescribing pot for them, and prescribe for the really needy, it  would not be an issue.

 

The pot law is all encompassing in this country.  Hemp can not be grown because it is in the pot family.  there fore, there is no hemp ropes or hemp clothes in the U.S..  Isn't that paranoia  on the part of the justice department?

[evad]

Please define "medical purposes."

I would leave that up to the medical community and legitimate medical research...but, certainly glaucoma and cancer research look promising.

[chance33_98]

Isn't that paranoia on the part of the justice department?

Indeed it is. The question though is, why?

[evad]

CINO..

Mee too..
But I like it as Conservative In Name Only

[capt. norm]

There is an even more absurd extension. Hemp oil is banned in this country (happened fairly recently) because it inteferes with drug testing for marijuana.

A regulation is written to protect the highly profitable drug testing labs so they don't have to come up with a better test.