MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGALIZED

We should trust a doctor's judgment and allow the medical use of marijuana.

I hope you believe, as I do, that a sick person's best ally in the fight
against illness is his or her doctor. State law, however, forbids patients
from following the advice of physicians when it comes to marijuana. There is
no medical exception to the laws which punish marijuana users.

A doctor, not the government, should determine what treatments are best for
patients with debilitating conditions, such as cancer, AIDS or chronic pain.

And if doctors inform some of their patients that marijuana may be
beneficial in the treatment of a serious condition, surely those patients
should not be subject to arrest and imprisonment for medical marijuana.

Regrettably, medical marijuana was not on the Kentucky legislature's agenda
this year. I hope that medical marijuana is not ignored next year. We should
trust a doctor's judgment and allow treatment decisions to be made in his or
her office, not by government officials.

Eric Newbury, Lexington