MEDICAL MARIJUANA

I read recently that Rhode Island's House Committee on Health, Education
and Welfare voted against a bill to allow cancer patients to use marijuana
to ease their pain and help them to keep their food down ("All these
bills," news, April 4).

I've seen the pain of cancer first-hand, and I think the House has not
acted in the best interests of the people. My aunt died of lung cancer last
summer, and I lived with her for nearly three months before her death. Her
illness was made more painful by her difficulty digesting her food. She had
a poor appetite and often threw up the little food that she could eat. One
of her few pleasures was sitting at the family dinner table but sometimes
she could not eat with us because of her upset stomach.

Since her death, I've read that marijuana use helps cancer patients to keep
up their appetites and to digest their food. I believe my aunt suffered
unnecessarily because of laws that prevented her from gaining access to
marijuana. Once a drug becomes legally available, people become aware of
its usefulness. The people of Rhode Island and other states deserve better
for their loved ones.

MARY ELLEN HIGGINS

Wakefield