A PATIENT'S VIEW OF THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

As one of the patients who would benefit from the medical marijuana
bill now being considered by the state Legislature and Gov. Tim
Pawlenty, I am disheartened to see opponents of this modest, humane
bill saying things that are simply false.

Four years ago, I ruptured a disk in my neck, requiring multiple
surgeries to essentially rebuild my neck, with at least two more
surgeries coming. Some of my vertebrae have eight holes in them.

I get severe muscle spasms in my neck. The pain is constant and gets
so intense I almost can't describe it. I've been given an array of
narcotics and other drugs, but they help only a bit and often cause
severe nausea.

I rarely get a decent night's sleep. I've had to quit my work as a
photographer and often can't even go to church because of my
condition. My medication alone costs Minnesota taxpayers about $18,000
per year.

One medicine did help: Marijuana. It brought the pain down to a
bearable level, helped the nausea and eased the spasms. It made my
life tolerable.

But I don't want to be a lawbreaker. That's not who I am. I'm a
registered Republican and a born-again Christian. I don't want to make
nighttime purchases from criminal drug dealers and risk jail in order
to live with a little less agony.

That's why it is so sad to see law enforcement representatives
misleading the public about the medical marijuana bill. I want to be
on their side. I don't want to be a criminal.

In his April 27 column, "Marijuana is not an acceptable remedy,"
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom claimed that marijuana has been
"rejected" by the American Medical Association and other medical
organizations. He should know better.

The AMA's position, adopted in 2001, specifically supports the right
of physicians to freely discuss the benefits of medical marijuana with
patients and urges further research. Studies since then have continued
to show benefits, causing the American College of Physicians -- the
second largest doctors' group in the U.S. -- to state this February
that it "strongly urges protection from criminal or civil penalties
for patients who use medical marijuana as permitted under state laws."

The authors of a second column, published on duluthnewstribune.com
only, who laced inaccurate references to marijuana as being "toxic,"
should read ACP's position paper. The doctors' group cited
"marijuana's proven efficacy at treating certain symptoms and its
relatively low toxicity" as the reason for its stand. Groups like the
American Public Health Association, American Nurses Association and
American Academy of HIV medicine agree.

Opponents claim that there are other medications available to treat
the symptoms that marijuana relieves. I wish they could walk in my
shoes for just one day. I've tried those other medicines, drugs that
are far more addictive and dangerous than marijuana. They don't work
as well and often make me sicker.

I feel like I'm caught in some sort of culture war, when I'm just
trying to live in a little less pain. This isn't about politics, it's
about people suffering. That's what I was taught when I was growing
up: You take care of people in pain. That's what the Legislature and
Gov. Pawlenty should do.

K.K. Forss lives in Ely.