cannabisnews.com: Med. Marijuana Users Speak Out In Washington Post





Med. Marijuana Users Speak Out In Washington Post
Posted by FoM on January 13, 2000 at 19:01:46 PT
DrugSense FOCUS Alert #153 January 13, 2000 
Source: MapInc.
"Pain or Prison," an oped piece written by three medical marijuana patients and published in the Washington Post needs little introduction. The trio makes their case clearly and convincingly.What's remarkable about the piece is that it was printed in the Post, a newspaper which has offered little support for medical marijuana in the past. Please write a letter to the newspaper to applaud editors for highlighting these important viewpoints. 
Please also suggest that far from being controversial, the question of medical marijuana has a simple answer, as long as the issue is studied with a little compassion and common sense.Thanks for your effort and support. WRITE A LETTER TODAYIt's not what others do it's what YOU do PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.)Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list (sent let mapinc.org) if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to MGreer mapinc.org Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness.CONTACT INFOSource: Washington Post (DC) Contact: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm Note: For best results write your letter off line so you can spell check etc. then paste it into the LTE window at the address above. Newshawk: Jo-D and Tom-E Pubdate: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 Source: Washington Post (DC) Copyright: 2000 The Washington Post Company Page: A19 Address: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071 Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Authors: Greg Scott, Barbara Douglass and Jim Harden Note: Greg Scott lives in Florida, Barbara Douglas in Iowa and Jim Harden in Virginia.Also: The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) worked with these three patients to write and submit this in early December, when the federal government's new medical marijuana research guidelines formally took effect. Had MPP paid for an advertisement this size, it would have cost $7,800. http://www.mpp.org/ PAIN OR PRISON?Last March the three of us received our 15 minutes of fame. The National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (IOM) featured our medical case histories in its landmark report, "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base." IOM included us as three living examples to illustrate its conclusion that "there are some limited circumstances in which we recommend smoking marijuana for medical uses." One of us, Greg, smokes marijuana to treat nausea and appetite loss caused by AIDS. Barbara uses it to treat pain and muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis. Jim needs it to treat nausea from liver disease and the pain and spasms caused by reflex sympathetic dystrophy. Each of us has experienced tremendous suffering. We know what it's like to be overcome by nausea so severe that one has to leave the dinner table to vomit. We've felt pain more agonizing than we'd ever imagined possible. We've been unable to walk, whether from muscle spasms or from being literally on our deathbeds. Marijuana has helped us. It is not a cure, but it greatly reduces our suffering, permits us to move around and enables us to eat. There is one major difference among us: Barbara is one of eight patients in the entire nation who have permission to use medicinal marijuana through a federal "compassionate use" program, which has been closed to all new applicants since 1992. Greg and Jim are not so fortunate - we risk spending a year in federal prison every time we light a marijuana cigarette.IOM recognized that we - and countless others like us - should not be punished for using marijuana to alleviate suffering. The report recommended that the federal government open a compassionate-use program to give seriously ill people immediate legal access to the substance.IOM's findings gave us hope. Soon, we thought, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would change federal policy so that thousands of patients nationwide would be able to stop worrying about being arrested.But we were mistaken. HHS's new medicinal marijuana research guidelines took effect last month, and to our shock, they explicitly rejected IOM's recommendation to allow individual patients to apply for permission to use medicinal marijuana. When the federal government commissioned the IOM report in 1997, the stated purpose was to receive guidance on what to do about medicinal marijuana. Was it too much to expect the HHS would implement IOM's recommendations?Moreover, HHS's new research guidelines place a much greater burden on medicinal marijuana researchers than on drug companies that develop and study newly synthesized pharmaceuticals. It is simply too difficult for researchers to conduct the kinds of studies needed to obtain FDA approval of marijuana as a prescription medicine. This isn't just our opinion. A statement urging HHS to modify its new guidelines was signed by a range of organizations including the AIDS Action Council, the National Association of People With AIDS, the California Pharmacists Association and the National Black Police Association. The coalition argues that "many of the new guidelines would still be too cumbersome to enable research to move forward as expeditiously as possible" and that patients who are already using medicinal marijuana should not have to live in fear of being arrested. We hope HHS takes heed. Our lives depend on it. Greg Scott lives in Florida, Barbara Douglas in Iowa and Jim Harden in Virginia.SAMPLE LETTER (sent)To the Editor of the Washington Post: Thank you for printing "Pain or Prison" (Jan. 12), written by three medical marijuana patients. The title sums up the utterly cruel (and utterly absurd) position in which marijuana prohibition places people like the authors. Why should anyone be forced to face such a horrible choice?The authors, citing the federal government's own study, demolish the myth that marijuana can't be medicine. So why are the vast majority of Americans who find relief with marijuana denied legal access? The drug warriors tell us that medical marijuana patients must suffer so a "mixed message" won't be sent to young people. If, the drug warriors reason, young people realize that marijuana can have some positive applications, their little minds will be so confused they will become unable to just say no. Aside from the insulting view of our children's intellectual capabilities, this view places a crushing burden on the youngsters. It's been many years since my youth, but if I realized then that sick people were being persecuted and denied appropriate medicine on the pretext that I was being protected somehow, I would have felt awful. It might have even been enough to drive me to drugs. Stephen YoungIMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone numberPlease note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm Prepared by Stephen Young Focus Alert Specialisthttp://home.att.net/~theyoungfamily DrugSense FOCUS Alert #153 January 13, 2000 http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0144.htmlCannabis News Related Articles & Web Site:Pain or Prisonhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4275.shtml IOM Reporthttp://www.drugsense.org/iom_report/Cannabis News Medical Marijuana Archives:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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