LET STATES DECIDE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Regarding the Dec. 8 guest editorial in The Sheboygan Press on medical
marijuana: While there have been studies showing that marijuana can
shrink cancerous tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative
drug.

If a doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing
chemotherapy and it helps them feel better, then it's working. In the
end, medical marijuana is a quality of life issue best left to
patients and their doctors.

Federal bureaucrats waging war on non-corporate drugs contend that
organic marijuana is not an effective health intervention.

The federal government's prescribed intervention for medical marijuana
patients is handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This
heavy-handed approach suggests that drug warriors are not well suited
to dictate health-care decisions.

It's long past time that Congress showed some leadership on the issue
and passed legislation reaffirming the Constitution's 10th Amendment
guarantee of states rights.

States that prefer to cage sick patients for daring to feel better can
continue to do so. The more enlightened states that have passed
compassionate-use legislation should not be stymied by a federal
government that really should have better things to do.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Arlington, Va.