U.S. SHOULD ALLOW MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Some seem surprised that I advocate the legislation that is
supportive of medical marijuana. Let me make it clear that I do not
advocate the legalization of marijuana or any other controlled substances.

This marks the 25th year since I first publicly supported medical
marijuana and the reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule 1
drug to a Schedule 2 drug (Class I -- no medicinal value; Class II --
medicinal value).

I find it almost unbelievable that our federal government would
continue to let its citizens suffer from various diseases when the
properties contained in marijuana would alleviate that suffering.
Frankly, I don't know how those in the federal government and the
Drug Enforcement Administration can sleep at night when they choose
to ignore mounting evidence that marijuana relieves suffering from
many diseases.

I know about the nausea that comes with most regimens of
chemotherapy. In 1972 I was diagnosed with lymphocytic lymphoma in
stage IV. The nausea is not just an upset stomach that can be quieted
by chewing Pepto-Bismol tablets. It is horrible and in some instances
can cause you to be unable to eat or digest food and become immobile
for a time.

While I was undergoing chemotherapy, some medicines worked and some
did not. The same thing is true today. Opponents of medical
marijuana, who say there are plenty of drugs to alleviate suffering,
tout the latest drug -- Marinol. Shame on them.

Over the past few months, I have been talking with a young lady who
has stage IV liver cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. She is
unable to hold down much food and is terribly ill with nausea. One
day she was excited because the doctor was going to prescribe Marinol
for her. It contains THC, a component in the marijuana plant. A week
after she started taking Marinol, she was still so ill she could not
hold back vomiting. She has since commenced acupuncture, which helps,
but she is still nauseated. Why would anyone deny this wonderful
woman the right to use a drug to relieve her suffering?

For 15 years, I visited cancer patients in hospitals in Topeka and
Wichita. Some patients said they resorted to marijuana to relieve
their nausea. It is not right that they should be subject to
incarceration because marijuana was their last resort for relief.

The states cannot violate federal law, but they do have the right to
determine state penalties for violations of law. Twelve states have
sent a message to the federal government by passing medical marijuana
laws. Kansas can add to that message.

DEA administrative law judges have ruled against the DEA position.
The New England Journal of Medicine in 1997 called the federal ban on
medical use of marijuana "misguided, heavy-handed and inhumane."

By passing Senate Bill 556, the Legislature would send a message to
the federal government and the DEA that they must allow appropriate
research of the marijuana plant and place marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug.