cannabisnews.com: Compassion Goes Up in Smoke Compassion Goes Up in Smoke Posted by FoM on March 31, 2001 at 07:56:16 PT By Saul Issac Harrison Source: Los Angeles Times As the son of immigrants, I grew up hearing ugly stories about the old country. They made me a patriotic lover of the Stars and Stripes like my parents, even as they knew our beloved country was less than perfect. As an adolescent, the nature of our World War II enemies added in intensity to the excited tingle I had always felt when I saw our flag. Of course, I enlisted after my 17th birthday. Flags and tingles were common in the military. After the war I saw the flags less, but never without the tingle. Until the 1970s, which is when my country forced me to break the law to do the right thing. Chemotherapy saved my daughter's life. But it was accompanied by lots of vomiting, which could be decreased by inhaling marijuana. This was years before today's legal availability of the pill form of marijuana's active substance, Marinol. So, I did the right thing and broke the law. I got Susie marijuana. And I have never felt that tingle from seeing the flag again. Some might argue that I should have obeyed the law and let her tolerate the disagreeable side effects of her treatment. I disagreed then and I still do today. Fast forward to the 21st century. Marinol has two problems. First, it is expensive and second, it has a slow rate of absorption into the body. The gastrointestinal tract is a lot slower than the weed's rapid absorption through the lungs. That slow absorption of the pill means that those with chronic diseases who had inhaled the weed for nausea and diminished appetite before the pill was available may find Marinol to be useless. Indeed, if the Supreme Court justices who are considering the legality of California's medical marijuana law walked through a hospital's chemotherapy unit today, they would smell odors that document that even those recently diagnosed with cancer find inhalation of the weed to be more effective. Of course, the weed is expensive, but that's only because it's illegal. If it were legalized and classified with restricted medicines like morphine and cocaine, it would be dirt cheap--literally costing little more than the dirt in which it was grown. And it would be better quality and safer than the expensive illegal weed. And our jails would be less crowded. Shouldn't the Supreme Court consider those human truths while inspecting federal and state laws? If they feel obliged to designate cancer sufferers and their caretakers as criminals, I pray the justices append advice about answering children's inevitable question: Why is medical marijuana illegal while addictive and potentially lethal tobacco is OK if you are old enough? Will I ever feel that Stars and Stripes tingle again? Saul Issac Harrison, of Pacific Palisades, Is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan College of Medicine and an Adjunct Professor at UCLA.Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Author: Saul Issac HarrisonPublished: Saturday, March 31, 2001 Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles Times Address: Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053 Contact: letters latimes.com Website: http://www.latimes.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperativehttp://www.rxcbc.org/The Inside Dope http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9210.shtmlJustices Consider Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9205.shtmlCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on March 31, 2001 at 14:45:21 PT: Another Vet speaks. I stand with the Good Professor. I used to think our country could do no wrong - until I was witness to things that would turn the stomach of the stongest man, and make a Doubting Thomas out of a flag-waving robot. Those things led me to educate myself beyond the accepted and sanitized version of history I learned in school...with the result I view askance any government pronouncement, and wonder what they are not telling us.Compassion? When the entire pharmaceutical industry, and those doctors, pols, and bureaucrats aligned with it, are dependant upon the continuation (and promulgation!) of misery, I don't expect any changes.That is, until enough people say "No more!" and make it clear that they will hold their feet to the fire until justice is done.I love my country, and what it is supposed to stand for. But I trust my government half the distance that I can spit. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by ekim on March 31, 2001 at 08:02:11 PT: DEA Denies Marijuana Rescheduling Petition DEA Denies Marijuana Rescheduling Petition Just in Time for the Supreme Court Hearings; An Appeal By Petitioners Will Be Filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals. Posted by Richard Cowan on 2001-03-28 23:00:44 Source: www.marijuananews.com "The denial of the six year old petition was issued only one week before oral arguments in the United States Supreme Court case, United States v. Oakland Buyers' Cooperative and Jeffrey Jones, a separate proceeding in which the Court will determine the viability of the "medical necessity" defense for medical marijuana patients. Clearly, the timing of the DEA's decision was a calculated attempt to strengthen the government's position in the Supreme Court case with the DEA's conclusions on the petition." 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