MEDICAL MARIJUANA QUALITY OF LIFE ISSUE

Regarding your Nov. 19 editorial, 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.

Drug warriors waging war on non-corporate drugs contend that organic
marijuana is not an effective health intervention. Their prescribed
intervention for medical marijuana patients is handcuffs, jail cells
and criminal records. This heavy-handed approach suggests that drug
warriors should not be dictating healthcare decisions. It's long past
time to let doctors decide what is right for their patients; sick
patients should not be jailed for daring to seek relief from medical marijuana.

Robert Sharpe,

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy, Arlington, Va.