MEDICAL MARIJUANA A MEDICAL DECISION

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 him or her feel better, then it's working.
In the end, medical marijuana is a quality-of-life issue best left to
patients and their doctors ("Medical marijuana, pension pay on docket
in lame-duck session," Jan. 4).

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 health-care decisions. It's long past
time to let doctors decide what is right for their patients; sick
patients should not be jailed ("Split drug verdict for champion of
marijuana," Dec. 18), for daring to seek relief through medical marijuana.

Robert Sharpe,

Washington, D.C.

The writer is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy
(csdp.org).