ALL DRUGS HAVE SIDE EFFECTS

Can we assume from John Stossel's column of March 26 that he is one
of the "adults" who freely ingests whatever he wants, feeling he's
still somehow responsible for his actions? Taking drugs makes people
act irresponsibly, causing accidents, harming families by depriving
them of coherent and responsibly working adults. It is in fact an
irresponsible act to use drugs.

His column discusses the medical use of marijuana. Since marijuana is
no stronger or dangerous than many prescription drugs on the market,
and helps people who are ill with cancer or glaucoma, this is not
unreasonable. But I myself have borderline glaucoma. My eye
professionals tried me on five different prescription eyedrops, all
of which caused severe enough side effects that they took me off of them.

When I asked my ophthalmologist what he thought of marijuana for
glaucoma he told me: "marijuana is another drug and there are no
drugs without side effects. Increased heart rate and mental
alterations are but two."

There is now a laser treatment for glaucoma that is 85 percent
successful. Much better than a drug that would make me apathetic to life.

I once ended up in the ER because I was taking something for acid
reflux and three nonprescription ibuprofen pills each day for
arthritis pain. This small amount of simple drugs was causing fluid
retention that indicated possible kidney problems. I was instructed
by the ER doctor to stop ingesting any kind of pill because I had
just gotten extremely lucky that I came in when I did. The lesson is
that there are no drugs in existence that don't have side effects.

I'm disappointed in John's attitude that adults should be free to
ingest whatever they want. We may not have found the answers yet, but
letting people make shipwrecks out of the lives around them sure isn't it.

Paula Coughlan

Elburn