LET'S TURN A NEW LEAF ON MEDICAL USE OF POT

It appears that former U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro's testimony before a
U.S. Senate committee detailing her battle with blood cancer and to lobby
for more funding to fight this disease was successful. Legislation
authorizing additional funding will be added, and that is good.

While patients are benefitting from advances in cancer treatment, therapies
such as chemotherapy still wreak havoc on them, and many stop treatment
because they cannot handle the violent retching and conventional
medications often fail to stem the nausea.

The government has known for decades that marijuana is a treatment for
nausea. Generations of cancer patients have been forced to break the law to
stop vomiting.

When you hear cancer patients describe what their days are like, and how it
feels to go through intense nausea, to watch themselves waste away because
they cannot keep food down, you can understand why every option must be
available, including marijuana.

What if Geraldine Ferraro had found marijuana effective in treating her
cancer, and testified that marijuana helped her get her through the fight?
Would the senators consider changing the cruel status quo that withholds
this tool from the sick and dying, denying them a chance to regain a little
quality of life as they endure cancer treatment?

Ferraro's former colleague in the House, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), has
introduced a state's rights medical marijuana bill, HR 1344, that would
reschedule cannabis so physicians could prescribe it, and it now has 17
co-sponsors. The House and Senate should move to pass this bill as soon as
possible.

Gary Storck,
Madison, Wis.