Pubdate: Sun, 03 Oct 2010
Source: Times, The (Gainesville, GA)
Copyright: 2010 Jonathan Jones
Contact:  http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2701
Author: Jonathan Jones

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL USE TO EASE SUFFERING

There are many pharmaceutical drugs in this world that are used to
alleviate pain or slow down diseases, but at a cost. Pharmaceutical
drugs come at a high price, and they are not without their flaws. For
all the side effects of one pill, you have to take another for those
side effects and then another for those side effects. You then end up
with a drawer full of prescription drugs and a very light wallet.

But what if there was one drug you could take once a day that has mild
side effects, a cheaper cost, better pain relief and no pills needed.
There already is one - it is called marijuana.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association,
marijuana has been used on people with Alzheimer's disease, HIV/AIDS,
arthritis, cancer, epilepsy and many more, and have received
much-needed pain relief. Marijuana actually slowed the effects of
Alzheimer's and, in two cases, put a rare, terminal cancer in
remission for "decades beyond conventional expectations."

No deaths have ever been recorded that were related to marijuana.
Pharmaceutical drugs that are in a group called NSAIDS have caused
over 7,600 deaths in 70,000 hospitals annually. Drugs like diclofenac,
diflunisal, etodolac and naproxen fall into this group.

The people that were killed were most likely seeking pain relief, but
couldn't find any without overdosing on the pain medication. Now if
they could have used a vaporizer to get the oil vapors of marijuana,
they would have had instantaneous pain relief without having to take
10 pills.

There is, however, a drug called marinol. It has one of the 400
chemicals found in marijuana, Delta-9-THC, which is supposed to
prevent chemotherapy patients from suffering nausea. The side effects
of this pill include nausea and vomiting.

Marijuana is a much safer and less toxic way to treat cancers of the
brain and breast, leukemia, melanoma, phaeochromocytoma and a few
others better than chemotherapy. It is also a better alternative than
drugs for people that have epilepsy. Standard drugs for epilepsy were
reported to have poor results on patients even when they used some of
the drugs in combination. If people are willing to put their lives at
risk for pain relief, shouldn't they have a stronger and safer option?

The U. S. government should legalize the use of marijuana for medical
use only and provide the best vaporizers at a discount to people with
terminal or chronic illnesses. Why should these people have to suffer
all the way to the end of their lives? They didn't choose to have an
illness, it was thrust upon them. So why not help?

Jonathan Jones  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D