cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Mix-Up





Medical Marijuana Mix-Up
Posted by CN Staff on April 30, 2008 at 09:31:05 PT
Opinion
Source: Daily Targum 
Washington -- In a quintessential exercise in bureaucratic hypocrisy, the University of Washington Medical Center decided Thursday to deny a liver transplant to Timothy Garon, a 56-year old musician suffering from hepatitis C, because he was found to have used medically prescribed marijuana to ease his abdominal pains. While this case reflects the general absurdity of government-sponsored anti-marijuana regulations, it is also a sad story about the incohesiveness that has long been prevalent in the medical community. The United Network for Organ Sharing, the office responsible for overseeing the national organ transplant system, does not have its own criteria for acceptable transplant candidates, but instead leaves it up to the individual hospitals to decide who will be eligible to receive a transplant.
The reasoning for denying transplants for medical marijuana patients is inherently problematic in its rhetoric. Dr. Robert Sade, the director of the Institute of Human Values in Health Care at the Medical University of South Carolina, told the following to the Associated Press: "Marijuana, unlike alcohol, has no direct effect on the liver. It is however a concern … in that it's a potential indicator of an addictive personality." However, this justification is undermined by the fact that 13 states have opted to embrace a medicalized marijuana program, in which the substances are legally available under state law to patients with a doctor's prescription. Maybe this logic is just old fashioned, but following a doctor's prescribed advice hardly seems like evidence of an addictive personality. Do patients with a morphine prescription have to go through this?Though doctors agree that smoking marijuana is out of the question after an organ transplant, as the drugs used to acclimate a patient's body to their new organ can sometimes cause a fatal infection if mixed with common molds found growing on marijuana or tobacco plants, there is no evidence to suggest that smoking marijuana before the transplant surgery would carry any negative side effects. Dale Gieringer, the coordinator of the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, had the following to say to the Associated Press: "Everyone agrees that marijuana is the least habit-forming of the recreational drugs, including alcohol. And unlike a lot of prescription medications, it's nontoxic to the liver." If what he says is true, it is ludicrously unethical for hospitals to deny transplants to users of legitimately prescribed medical marijuana.Source: Daily Targum (Rutgers, NJ Edu)Published: April 30, 2008Copyright: 2008 Daily TargumContact: oped dailytargum.comWebsite: http://www.dailytargum.com/Related Article & Web Site:California NORMLhttp://www.canorml.org/Marijuana Patients Face Transplant Hurdleshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread23872.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on April 30, 2008 at 12:45:20 PT
I Got It
It's a mushroom. He doesn't have any food restriction that I know of either.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on April 30, 2008 at 12:40:52 PT
One More Thing
Our friend who had a liver transplant still smokes cigarettes and he hasn't said that he shouldn't smoke. 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on April 30, 2008 at 12:37:50 PT
ripit 
It's ok but I don't know what you said that was wrong or anything. I don't know what portabellas are though.
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Comment #3 posted by ripit on April 30, 2008 at 12:02:25 PT:
i'm sorry
i must apoligize to you all for my last post.stupid ppl just piss me off sometimes.
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Comment #2 posted by ripit on April 30, 2008 at 11:50:11 PT:
true enuff
 fire destroys molds.can a transplant recipeint eat blue cheese? what about yeast?how about fungi? dare they eat portabellas? 
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 30, 2008 at 10:10:54 PT
A Question
Common molds can be found in our homes too. I agree it is important to have clean cannabis but how can a transplant patient avoid all molds? If a transplant patient cooks with cannabis I would think it would destroy mold.Excerpt: Though doctors agree that smoking marijuana is out of the question after an organ transplant, as the drugs used to acclimate a patient's body to their new organ can sometimes cause a fatal infection if mixed with common molds found growing on marijuana or tobacco plants, there is no evidence to suggest that smoking marijuana before the transplant surgery would carry any negative side effects. 
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