STATE SHOULD OK MEDICAL MARIJUANA

After reading David Magee's commentary (Jan. 12), I have to say
Tennessee is ready for medical marijuana.

There is no sensible reason for our state's criminal laws to interfere
with patients' and doctors' judgments about the best treatment option
for Tennesseans with severe illnesses. Numerous prestigious medical
organizations support legal medical marijuana access for the seriously
ill, including the American Public Health Association, the American
Nurses Association, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Last year, Rep. Jeanne Richardson and Sen. Beverly Marrero introduced
SB 209 and HB 368, legislation that would have legalized medical
marijuana in Tennessee.

In many studies, marijuana has been shown to help individuals
suffering from nausea caused by chemotherapy and AIDS wasting,
including patients who were unresponsive to all other treatments.
Medical marijuana has also been shown to have an incredibly wide
margin of safety, and, unlike aspirin, no one has ever died from an
overdose.

If cocaine and morphine can be prescribed by doctors, medical
marijuana should be also.

Ultimately, the decision of what medicine is best for an illness
should be left up to the patient and doctor, not the government. This
is a health care issue.

MARTHA GREGORY

Hixson