cannabisnews.com: Court's Marijuana Ruling Was No Surprise





Court's Marijuana Ruling Was No Surprise
Posted by FoM on May 25, 2001 at 07:16:08 PT
By Shawn E. Glazer M.D.
Source: Rocky Mountain News
The Supreme Court's decision on May 14 that marijuana "has no currently accepted medical use" was no surprise. The members of the Supreme Court, like the rest of America, have spent decades under the thrall of propaganda against the "evil weed." Following the Supreme Court's ruling, Norma Anderson, state senator from Lakewood, said, "I'm going to assume our law will also be overturned. I will not shed any tears. In fact, I'm quite gleeful." I am continually saddened that politicians like Anderson place political posturing above the health and comfort of the sickest among us. 
As a physician I was initially taught about marijuana only in the category of drugs of abuse. It was lumped in with the far more dangerous drugs heroin and cocaine. Once leaving the classroom, my own patients began to open my eyes. One of the first to admit to me to using marijuana was an AIDS-infected, soft-spoken mother of two. She brewed tea from the flowers and used it to combat the nausea that came with the drugs she had to take to stay alive. Concerned about her well-being and the safety of her children I urged her to stop and gave her prescriptions for marinol, a synthetic derivative of marijuana, and different anti-nausea drugs. Over the next few months she lost weight and the "T-cell" count that reflected the health of her immune system dropped dramatically. She could no longer hold down the medications she needed to live. I felt I had violated medicine's primary rule of "First do no harm." I relented on my discouragement of marijuana use for her. As she began to improve, I began to research the issue on my own. There is evidence that marijuana can be helpful in a variety of ailments including glaucoma, the nausea and loss of appetite that people undergoing cancer and AIDs treatment suffer from, and muscle pain and spasms from diseases like multiple sclerosis. It has risks, certainly, but no more than many other commonly prescribed medications. The harmful effects of marijuana have been grossly overstated to the general public. It does not drive people mad or cause instant addiction. I have never once seen or read of a death due to pure marijuana overdose while I have seen patients die from overdoses of several different prescription and over-the-counter medications. Every day, doctors prescribe potentially addicting opiates such as codeine. In doing so they do not encourage drug abuse, alcoholism, or drunk driving. Similarly, as a society, we must distinguish between medical use and abuse of any substance. When an elected official such as Sen. Anderson says she is "quite gleeful" about the defeat of medical marijuana legalization, one wonders why. Would she be gleeful to watch patients face a choice between the risk of jail or taking medicine that decreases pain and prolongs lives? I pray she never has to make such a decision in her own life. We must look at who wins and who loses from keeping marijuana illegal. The winners include the pharmaceutical companies that synthesize less effective and more expensive medications. Also benefiting are law enforcement agencies, which seize property of marijuana users and keep the proceeds. The losers are the critically ill and their families. Some, like the young woman above, are fortunate not to run afoul of the law. Others are not so lucky. Activist Peter McWilliams suffered from both cancer and AIDS. He kept in decent health with the use of marijuana as an anti-nausea medicine -- that is until drug enforcers arrested him and stopped him from taking marijuana. Peter then choked to death on his own vomit. It is time as a society to make decisions on a higher level, decisions based on scientific research and respect for the individual. Like alcohol prohibition, marijuana prohibition has done more harm than good. Medical decisions belong in the laboratory and the exam room, not the courtroom. Shawn E. Glazer is a metro Denver family-practice physician. Complete Title: Speak Out: Court's Marijuana Ruling Was No SurpriseSource: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)Published: May 25, 2001Author: Shawn E. Glazer M.D.Copyright: 2001 Denver Publishing Co. Address: 400 W. Colfax, Denver, CO 80204Contact: letters denver-rmn.comWebsite: http://www.denver-rmn.comRelated Articles & Web Sites:OCBC Verus US Governmenthttp://www.freedomtoexhale.com/mj.htmPeter McWilliam's Memorial http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/Peterm.htmCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by lookinside on May 25, 2001 at 22:51:26 PT:
actually kap,
the mood i'm in, i'd like to inject every last one of theSTUPID, ARROGANT, SELF SERVING A**H***S with a combinationof HIV positive blood and cancer cells...and then DENY themany relief...that's the nicest thing i can think of at the moment...itstill wouldn't be enuff...(i'm actually a pretty non-violent guy, but sometimes i justget PISSED OFF!!!)
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on May 25, 2001 at 10:37:59 PT:
Just once...
Just once, I'd like to get an anti and a cancer patient together, in the same room. And then lock the door. I'd introduce the anti to the patient - fresh from chemo - and explain to the cancer patient that the reason why she has to suffer is because of the ignorance (and dare I say it? stupid stubborness) of the anti in not relenting and allowing her to use cannabis. Then I would hand the cancer patient a Marinol pill, explain that the anti feels it it is 'better' for her, That it doesn't 'send the wrong message to children', and ask the poor nauseous patient to try to keep it down.Immediately after she had swallowed the pill, I would then put the anti in a headlock, put that idiot's head directly underneath the cancer patient's mouth, face up, and wait for the inevitable regurgitation. So the anti would literally have a 'taste' of what it's like.Gross? Of course. Disgusting? You bet. But it's the only way, it seems, short of the antis getting cancer, to teach them what Hell they are putting innocent men, women and children through.I know what it's like to feel lower than whale manure by not being able to ameliorate real suffering. That awful helpless feeling is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life.I try, oh-so-very hard, not to hate the antis. But they make it so damn' easy.
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on May 25, 2001 at 08:46:36 PT:
"Quite gleeful" - MY GOD!!!!
What can I say?The blissfully, maliciously ignorant bitch.Antis. I am beginning to wonder at their propagation. Is it conventional, or do they do it via mitosis...like all bacteria? 
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Comment #1 posted by greenfox on May 25, 2001 at 07:39:01 PT
Fox out of hiding
Hey everyone! Is anyone here going to Hookahville XV this weekend? I am. If anyone else is comming (or WANTS to come,) I got extra tickets so let me know. It's gonna be a blast and it's also good to be able to meet some of you. LET ME KNOW!  -gf
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