cannabisnews.com: Missouri Senator with Cancer Supports Marijuana





Missouri Senator with Cancer Supports Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on August 27, 2002 at 19:09:54 PT
By Paul Sloca, Associated Press Writer
Source: Associated Press
A state senator with lung cancer said Tuesday he supports the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes after witnessing firsthand the suffering of other cancer patients.``I think that marijuana should be legalized for health reasons and I think it works and it's a proven fact that it works,'' Democratic Sen. Ronnie DePasco of Kansas City said in an interview with The Associated Press on his first day back at the Capitol since he left on April 16 for treatment.
DePasco, who was elected to the Senate in 1992 after 16 years in the House, said he would file legislation to legalize the medical use of marijuana in Missouri.``I say, let's do it,'' said DePasco, 59, a former chain smoker who has not smoked since he found out about his cancer. He also has sponsored legislation in the past backed by the tobacco industry.There is currently a federal ban on medicinal marijuana but many cancer patients have said the drug helps them deal with the side effects of chemotherapy.Cultivating, possessing or distributing marijuana is illegal under federal and state law.Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal anti-drug laws supersede state laws allowing medicinal marijuana in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.State Sen. Roseann Bentley, R-Springfield, met with DePasco on Tuesday and said in an interview that she would have supported DePasco's legislation if she wasn't being forced out of office because of term limits.``It's been proven that it's a big help to patients,'' said Bentley, whose husband is a physician. ``I think I would support it. I know it's controversial and people fear that if you let it out for medical use it would spread. I think you can contain it.''DePasco, who has two years left in his final term, also said his cancer experience has made him more of an advocate for health care reform, something he rarely delved into during his legislative career.``I see these people when I go to chemo and they tell me about their insurance. There has to be something to help these people,'' said DePasco, whose Capitol office was once thick with smoke from lobbyists who gathered for drinks and conversation late into the evenings.Now, DePasco's office contains several signs that read: ``Thank You For Not Smoking.'' One sign is underneath DePasco's nameplate on his desk.``I'm not as active as I was before. Staying out late and things like that. You know this used to be the smoking office,'' said DePasco, who is to have his last chemotherapy treatment on Sept. 3. ``In the next two years, I'm really going to make a difference. I'm going to work hard on legislation and not worry too much about other things.''DePasco has lost his hair and is thinner as a result of his chemotherapy but says he feels fairly good. He has already undergone five, six-hour chemotherapy treatments.DePasco said he still has cancer in his lung but that the treatments have contained it. He plans to seek additional treatments in the future.Still, DePasco plans to participate in the Legislature's annual veto session that begins Sept. 11 and plans to be back on Jan. 8, when the regular legislative session beginsComplete Title: Missouri State Senator with Cancer Supports Medical Use of MarijuanaOn the Net:Missouri Senate: http://www.senate.state.mo.usSource: Associated Press Author: Paul Sloca, Associated Press WriterPublished: August 27, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Associated Press CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by Naaps on August 28, 2002 at 14:03:34 PT
Changing Tune Once Sick
The tough politicians stressing cracking down on Medicinal Marijuana do change their tune once their eyes are opened by their own suffering to the therapeutic benefits of the wonderful herb. I mused several weeks ago, that if Health Minister Anne McLellan was struck with MS, potentially she’d see her calls for extensive testing, as a stalling ruse, with patients being unduly harmed by Health Canada.While Sen. DePasco is in a position to act magnanimously, having been through a tough learning experience, the health of other lawmakers remains good. Sadly, this shortchanges some influential people from learning more about genuine compassion, and how we all share a brief existence, which needlessly is too fraught over minor concerns such as if a person has used cannabis.     
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Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on August 28, 2002 at 13:34:45 PT:
It's always the same story
Most pols are all breathing fire and beating thunder to lock you up for cannabis possession...until their little Johnny or Suzy gets nabbed by the po-leece, and then it's time to change the laws. Which they, in their twisted desire to control the lower class, created the snare that trapped their children, as well.Or, in this case, someone who probably once sneered at the idea of MMJ...is staring the Grim Reaper in the face and learns what untold tens of thousands of cancer patients know as truth, but fear to speak out about. Namely, that MMJ is indeed medicinal.I have said this before, and the statistics are proving me right. 30 years ago, the chances of having cancer were one in four. Then in the 1980's it worked it's way up to 1 in 3. Any one want to place any bets the incidence will not increase further? No? Smart move, because it will. And the most affected generation will be the Boomers...and they have first hand knowledge of the effectiveness of cannabis in quelling nausea.A ticking proximity mine is waiting to blow the antis out of the water. With the economy facing what amounts to a de facto (whisper it if you have to, but say it anyway) depression, people will not have big bucks to spend on pricey and dangerous pharmaceuticals. Many people in the US already use some form of natural analogue to those pharmaceuticals, such as herbs, and practice alternative health measures such as acupuncture. 50% of Americans do this. Fifty percent thumbing their noses at giant pharmacorps. A base of support which will grow, as that cancer rate edges closer and closer to match the number of alternative health care users.Nearly all of them...Boomers. The antis have very good reasons to be scared. Very good ones, indeed.
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Comment #5 posted by The GCW on August 27, 2002 at 21:57:07 PT
Testimony, from: News Article from Israel
"It appears marijuana will reduce the quantity of morphine-based drugs he is taking outside all proportion." 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on August 27, 2002 at 21:36:22 PT
News Article from Israel
Ministry Approves Marijuana for Terminal Patient
Source: Ha`aretz
By Haim Shadmi
Wednesday, August 28, 2002 
The Health Ministry recently gave a terminally-ill cancer patient permission to smoke marijuana to ease his suffering. The ministry's approval was rushed through the required channels because of the patient's serious condition. 
Over the past six years, the ministry has given similar permission to eight others, accepting half the requests it received. The director-general of the Health Ministry, Dr. Boaz Lev, said the permit had been expedited due to the patient's condition and the accompanying medical problems. 
Four weeks ago, the patient's attorney, Avraham Bardugo, asked the Health Ministry to allow his client to use marijuana to alleviate his suffering, in accordance with recommendations of his doctors. 
"It is quite clear the patient is exceeding the quantity of medications prescribed to him and the doctors are turning a blind eye and are continuing to supply him with the drugs in light of his condition," Bardugo wrote to Yitzhak Berlowitz, deputy director-general at the Health Ministry. "It appears marijuana will reduce the quantity of morphine-based drugs he is taking outside all proportion." Bardugo's correspondence with the Health Ministry showed the the patient as "a man on his death bed for whom every moment brings suffering and torture." 
In October 1999, a Health Ministry panel, headed by Lev, determined that treatment with marijuana would be permitted in extreme cases to alleviate suffering coming directly from a patient's illness. An advisory board at the ministry deals with each request concerning the use of marijuana, making its decision based on the recommendations of the patient's doctors and the medical records and documents it receives. 
Marijuana is used to stimulate the appetites of AIDS patients, to prevent nausea and pain in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and to ease the suffering of people with multiple sclerosis.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on August 27, 2002 at 19:56:11 PT
DePasco, 59, a former chain smoker... 
 Here is one that relates, an interesting twist, with the forces of gooood, fighting evil.Imperial Tobacco threatens CC with lawsuit ... by Bianca Sind (26 Aug, 2002) Parody of Player's packaging produces demand to pull pages. http://www.hempbc.com/articles/2491.htmlMore people are getting cancer and are effected by it... Cannabis, IS GOING TO CATCH a lot of attention. The prospect that someone in serious pain, is loosing out, having abundantly more pain, that the guy on the other side of the fence who uses cannabis, AND COPES... That is just too much for the average person to do with out... a form of jealousy...I'm from Missery... Ashcroft is a fluke of thievery.Cancer, requires that mankind rethink what the present scum leaders really are, in caging humans for using a plant. 
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Comment #2 posted by Dave in Florida on August 27, 2002 at 19:23:10 PT
Well, the question is, Senator..
Did you try it?
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Comment #1 posted by BGreen on August 27, 2002 at 19:20:03 PT
Ashcrofts' home state
He's going to love this. With 3 decisions against him in the courts, he's going to go back to attacking cannabis users, the other terrorists, which he can attack with impunity.
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