Pubdate: Wed, 16 Feb 2000
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
Copyright: 2000 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Contact: letters@starbulletin.com
Address: P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802
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Author: Leila Fujimori

DOCTOR, PATIENT SPOUSE ALL BACK MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE

Two Bills Are In The State Legislature For Legalizing Pot For Medical
Purposes

HONOLULU - Doctors prescribed the strongest painkillers to Lynn Foster after
cancer of the stomach spread to her bones. She was so drugged, she couldn't
communicate, said Scott Foster, her husband. So they turned to marijuana.
With marijuana, Foster could reduce his wife's prescription of intravenous
drugs.

"It was a synergy with the marijuana and the IV drugs -- she was always
sharp mentally," Foster said, noting he hopes the drug's high cost will be
lowered by legalization. "It gave us another four months when her quality of
life was good." Lynn Foster died in 1995.

Now Scott Foster supports two bills in the state Legislature for the
legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. He attended a panel
discussion sponsored by the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, featuring a
Washington physician who helped get an initiative to pass in 1998 permitting
the medical use of marijuana.

Rob Killian, whose Seattle practice has mostly HIV-positive patients, said
he doesn't like the idea of his patients smoking anything. But "when
somebody is throwing up or is acutely nauseated, instant relief is
preferred," he said. Smoking marijuana gets it into the bloodstream
immediately, whereas drugs in pill form take time to absorb, and drugs by
injection may be difficult to administer.

Killian has spoken with the chairmen of the Senate and House Judiciary
committees and expects support for legislation favoring the right of
patients suffering from a terminal or debilitating disease to use marijuana
medicinally.

Brian Issell, professor of medicine at the University of Hawaii's Cancer
Research Center of Hawaii and John A. Burns School of Medicine, said he
wants "to see research centers do careful, tedious studies" before
legislation is passed. He said studies are needed to provide evidence on who
can be helped by marijuana.

Forum attendees questioned Issell as to why other illegal drugs are allowed
for medical treatment and commented that no study would be able to foresee
who could be helped by the drug.

Issell said a national study would be necessary to test a group large enough
to get valid results. Studies that have been done, he said, have selected
only those experiencing a beneficial effect.

Cynthia Linet, 61, didn't wait for legalization. Linet, a Hilo attorney who
suffered from non-Hodgkins lymphoma, said she used marijuana for loss of
appetite, nausea and anxiety. As a "health nut," Linet said it was
frightening when her legs went numb.

The marijuana relieved her anxiety and helped with loss of appetite. She
only used small amounts of the drug for 25 weeks during which she underwent
chemotherapy. "When it was over, I stopped using it," Linet said. "I had no
desire for it, but I was glad it was there."