THE SICK AND SUFFERING NEED MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Editor, Times-Dispatch: When I came home from the Army in 1970, I
tried smoking marijuana. When I got married I stopped. Now, as a
56-year old, I am told by my eye doctor to smoke more marijuana.

I have glaucoma, an eye disease characterized by increased pressure in
the eyeball. It is very painful, and is a leading cause of blindness.
Because of heart problems I am not able to take the medicines normally
used for glaucoma. Most glaucoma medicines would be heart medicines if
they weren't dropped into the eyes.

During the 1970s the police in California were trying to find a way to
identify people who were smoking marijuana. They had people smoke
marijuana and then they ran tests on the test subjects' eyes. They
found that the intra-ocular pressure was lower after smoking
marijuana. They also noticed the eyes turned red. This was unfortunate
for the government, as it always wanted marijuana testing to result in
something negative.

Marijuana is looking like the best medicine we have for pain relief
and nausea. Recently it has been found that THC, the main ingredient
in marijuana, appears to be better than any prescription medication
for Alzheimer's disease. It stops the formation of the plaques
associated with Alzheimer's almost completely, as compared to 7
percent to 9 percent with prescription medicines. God's medicine;
isn't He amazing?

Back in the early 1970s Virginia was one of the first states to allow
marijuana to be used as medicine for glaucoma and cancer. Until
recently the law was hardly ever used in court. The law doesn't
protect anyone from being arrested. All the law does is allow a
defendant to use a defense of medical necessity. A medical-marijuana
user still has to pay a lawyer tons of money to defend him or her in
court. Eleven other states allow marijuana to be used as medicine and
those states protect the suffering person from arrest. That patient
will not be arrested and have to post bail or pay a lawyer and is able
to use the money to pay doctors instead. I believe it is time for
Virginia to come into the 21st century and make the law work for sick
and dying Virginians.

J. D. Hardin

Locust Grove