cannabisnews.com: Everyday Outlaws





Everyday Outlaws
Posted by CN Staff on November 16, 2002 at 10:04:15 PT
By Jimmy Breslin
Source: Newsday 
"What do you think?" I asked her."I think I've felt better.""Can I do anything?""Nope. I'll get some pot and it'll be better."
We were on the wet street outside Memorial Sloan-Kettering where she had just had a transfusion. She is Rosemary Dunne, a relative from Connecticut, and she has been living on blood transfusions every two weeks for several years. She has a low red count and nobody knows why. That's all there is."I'm mad at myself," she said."Why?""Because I didn't bring it with me. I left it home."We were looking for a cab. It's always a delicate scuffle. The sidewalk is crowded, and most people are sick, and you never know how sick the person trying for the cab with you is."I find it so offensive to prove that something works for me. A lot of people do. And some don't. But patients who smoke pot to help nausea can find the pot helps. Put me down. All I want is a couple of puffs when I come out of here."I hate it when they use the word 'anecdotal' about this. That was what this Barry McCaffrey said when he was running the drug program in the White House. The most ridiculous man I've ever seen. He said that feeling better from pot was 'anecdotal' and didn't count for a scientific investigation. Was he saying this because drug companies don't want patients turning to pot?""He was afraid that somebody with cancer smoking pot would get addicted to it. Be a danger to society," I noted."I'm in a cancer hospital and they think I'm planning a party."Now I know where to find pot, but why should I have to go and hunt? What about all the people that don't? I do nothing illegal in my life, except this. I buy the pot illegally."I'm afraid to travel with it, so sometimes like this I don't have it. I just battle the nausea by lying in bed for five or six hours. Nothing like what that methotrexate did to me. It made me throw up 17 times between 11:30 at night and 9 in the morning. Half the time I stayed on the bathroom floor to wait for the next time or I crawled from the bed. The only thing that helped was a few puffs of pot and a few sips of Coca-Cola.""Can't they give you something upstairs?" I asked her."They gave me the latest and best prescription drugs, Compazine and Zofran and they didn't work. In fact, Compazine made me sicker; I don't know if I told you that. If I start getting queasy, I use a combination of a tiny bit of pot and a little Coca-Cola. Don't give me Pepsi or any other soda. My body only wants Coca-Cola."Some cancer patients respond to pot and are able to eat and put on weight they need. Some patients aren't like that and don't respond to pot. But how is that different from me not responding well to the prescription drugs, and they are quite expensive. I know Zofran was when it first came out."We caught a cab, and what at least was irritation came out of her."I just can't believe that there is another side to using pot for medicine. I have no respect for anybody who is against this. None. They're so full of it. Let them have the experience themselves or their wives or children and they'd be clamoring for pot."I can't listen to these people discussing it on television or in some magazine. Because I'm bored with the topic and sick of it. I'm too busy trying to stay healthy. Several serious doctors I've spoken to recommend that I smoke pot when I need it. One doctor told me that starting about a decade ago at UCLA, some doctors recommended pot and took it from patients and put it in high powered microwaves before giving it back to them so they could avoid the fungal infections from the pot."I've talked to other patients who have had success with pot and others who haven't. Some like it. Some don't. But that's the same as it is with prescription drugs. Like anything - chemotherapy, prescription drugs - some work on some people, others don't. Two people with almost the same cancer at the same stage can respond completely different to treatment. Why wouldn't patients' response to pot be the same?" Source: Newsday (NY)Author: Jimmy BreslinPublished: November 14, 2002Copyright: 2002 Newsday Inc.Contact: letters newsday.comWebsite: http://www.newsday.com/Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on November 17, 2002 at 10:48:20 PT
lookinside
Thanks. I want to keep the email I have for my family issues. I appreciate it.
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Comment #9 posted by lookinside on November 17, 2002 at 10:46:43 PT
FoM
Thanks. I guess the email addy I have is outdated. No problem.I didn't ask Jean for the one she has. I won't without your permission.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on November 17, 2002 at 10:41:22 PT
lookinside
I just looked and there isn't any email. I thought I should let you know.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on November 17, 2002 at 10:34:40 PT
lookinside
I don't get CNews email anymore because of viruses. I haven't checked my emails yet today or actually yesterday either. If it's about my father in law I sure will answer. The email I gave Jean is only a personal one not for CNews. Thanks.
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Comment #6 posted by lookinside on November 17, 2002 at 10:24:08 PT
FoM
I sent an email yesterday. Can I expect a response?Thank you.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on November 16, 2002 at 18:31:59 PT
Dan
It's ok and I wish you luck in what you do. Sometimes we have to move on to grow. I did that years ago when I left legalize.com. It's hard but for you it might be the beginning of a new adventure. It has been for me doing CNews. I look at the big picture here and do what I feel is best. It won't please everyone and no one ever can but I try. That's all I can do. I'm just one person. Mapinc and CNews are having copyright problems. Their lawyers are handling it so I don't need to worry about it. 
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Comment #4 posted by Dan B on November 16, 2002 at 18:24:56 PT:
Last Comment
First, FoM, I am sorry to hear about your father-in-law. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I know that this is a difficult time for you. So, the rest of this message is especially difficult for me to write.I understand that Cannabis News has been slapped with a lawsuit for copyright infringment, and I understand that Cannabis News has responded by imposing a list of rules that go far beyond making sure that no copyright infringement takes place on this site. I have decided that I can no longer stand by Cannabis News's decision to invoke some of these rules. I can abide the "no profanity" part in some cases, but some of these rules go too far, and I do not appreciate the zero-tolerance attitude taken. There are other places where comments can be made without inordinate restrictions; it is a shame that Cannabis News cannot be one of those sites.Now, I learn that one of my good friends has been kicked out of Cannabis News for speaking his mind, and I've had enough. So, consider this the last time you will hear from me here. I'll miss Cannabis News, but it is not what it once was, and that's a shame. It has buckled, right or wrong, to pressure from outside groups, and I for one think it is worse for it. I'm tired of wondering with each post if I have somehow stepped over the line.So long, and I wish everyone success. I'll still read what goes on here, and I'll still try to remain active in the movement, but I'll keep my comments to myself. I hate to do this, but I'm standing by my friend as much as I am standing up for the right to say what we think is best.Thanks, FoM, for giving me a place to try to make a difference. It has been a great three years. I mean no ill feelings or disrespect toward you or Richard; I just feel that right now this is the right thing for me to do.Take care, everyone.Dan B
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on November 16, 2002 at 12:00:00 PT
Dan
Don't you remember Richard's posts? I'm just following up on what was said. There are plenty of places for people to say whatever they want and others won't be offended. It's a big world wide web and not every web site is for everyone. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on November 16, 2002 at 11:54:44 PT
Dan
You have much to offer and I wish you success in whatever you are going to do. My father in law is dying and my priorities are most definitely shifting. Planning a funeral is hard work. Good Luck to you.
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Comment #1 posted by Dan B on November 16, 2002 at 11:50:44 PT:
Good Insights
I am glad to see comments by an obviously intelligent woman who happens to need cannabis to cope with the effects of cancer and its treatment. At the same time, I am saddened by the following comment:"I can't listen to these people discussing it on television or in some magazine. Because I'm bored with the topic and sick of it. I'm too busy trying to stay healthy."I know what she means, and I'm not even battling cancer. In fact, I'm not smoking or otherwise using cannabis at all. But I'm tired of hearing the same conversation over and over, especially since the prohibitionist side of the conversation is always--without exception--a matter of ignoring everything we say, then offering platitudes instead of real answers to our questions and concerns. That's because the prohibitionist agenda has nothing to do with safety concerns or promotion of the common welfare and has everything to do with bigotry and hatred.I keep getting letters back from congresspersons and senators who think the best response to reason is to ignore it. Kay Bailey Hutchison is a fascist. So is Phil Gramm, and so is that slick S.O.B. who is taking over his seat. None of them give a rat's patootie about treating human beings like human beings. It's enough to make one start to believe the way-out conspiracy theorists who think that the world is being run by reptiles who came from a planet circling the star Sirius during the time of the Egyptians and who have infiltrated every facet of human existence. I don't have to believe that, though, to believe that these people are simply inhumane humans whose greed and lust for power overshadow their every decision.I'm sick of hearing the same tired rhetoric, and I'm sick of the hatred spawned in this country at the behest of the president, no less, and all of his cronies. I wish we had more voices willing to tell it like it is--people like DdC, SWAMPIE, mayan and DANA (by the way, has anyone heard from DANA lately?), and the rest of you out there who tirelessly promote sanity in this insane world. My hat's off to you. I am ashamed to admit that the drug reform group I was supposed to start here in West Texas never got off the ground. DPFT wanted me to begin a chapter, and I have been so busy trying to make sure that I have a job next year (I have a virtual guarantee that I will not be teaching at my current place of work after next semester, and I have been sending out applications across the country like there is no tomorrow) that I have completely neglected that project. I wish I had more time to do everything I want to do, but I can't. I give what I can, and I do what I can. Beyond that . . . well, I have to be realistic.So, I say congratulations to this woman for telling it like it is. She's a brave soul, and I wish her all the best. It is sad that sometimes people have to face death before anyone will listen to their wisdom. I wish it were not so. By the way, wherever I go from here, I plan to be more active in drug policy reform--not just sending letters to newspapers and "representatives," and talking to my students about injustice whenever I get a chance.Dan B
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