MARIJUANA MAKES CHEMOTHERAPY BEARABLE

I am saddened by your March 9 editorial stance against the use of marijuana
for medical purposes. I went through cancer chemotherapy last year and was
given state-of-the-art, anti-emetic medications. It stopped the vomiting,
but didn't work as well on the nausea.

A friend who saw how I was suffering offered me a joint. I scoffed,
remembering high school fumblings with a drug that did nothing more than
make me giggly. To my amazement, it worked. After smoking it, I ate my first
solid food in two weeks. I was a happy criminal for the rest of my
treatment.

If, God forbid, my cancer comes back, I hope to have access to marijuana
again. I will not go through chemotherapy again without it.

I don't wish cancer on anyone, but opponents of the medical use of marijuana
need to walk a mile in a chemotherapy patient's shoes before condemning his
or her decision to smoke marijuana.

Catharine Honeyman, Midway Island