ILLEGAL, NOT EVIL

Michael T. Dugan, Deschutes County district attorney, recently
submitted a piece to the Bulletin outlining why marijuana should not
be used medically. He objects to the procedural elements of Ballot
Measure 67, but offers nothing to argue that marijuana itself has no
medical value to certain patients.

Dugan writes that a patient must show that they are suffering from
"severe pain " or " severe nausea," (quotation marks his). He then
minimizes the very real agonies with which some people are forced to
live by using illustrations from his own life. (" I stubbed my toe
last week and had a great deal of severe pain," and " My wife had the
flu last month and it made me nauseous.")

Funny, funny stuff. To those of us who have had to live through the
interminable hell-on-earth of caring for a loved one whose whole day
is spent in pleading for relief, Dugan's humor is not appreciated.
True suffers do not need to be mocked.

By the way, just because a substance is illegal, that does not
automatically make the substance evil or of no legitimate medical use.
For instance, cocaine is an illegal substance but not a lot of people
are aware that it is given to certain patients for certain conditions.
Regulating the control and distribution of marijuana is one thing, but
denying its medical potential because of its legal status is another.

Ann Penny, Bend, Or

Checked-by: Patrick Henry