MEDICAL MARIJUANA FOES LACK PERSPECTIVE

I write today in response to Kirk Boyenga?s Thursday letter ?Put OK of
medical marijuana off for now?). Boyenga is troubled by the fact that
our legislators are working to allow certain types of medical patients
access to medical cannabis.

First, he would have us wait for the FDA to complete studies of
cannabis, and, secondly, we should hold off until the budget is fixed.

I would be very pleased if Boyenga could provide me with a rough idea
of exactly when the FDA is going to begin these studies, let alone
come to a conclusion. We have been asking for this testing for 40
years and absolutely nothing has been done. To use this as an excuse
to withhold needed medicine from people who are suffering every hour
of the day is a rather cruel blow.

As for the budget, if there has ever been a time when our state budget
was under control, I?'ve never heard of it. Asking suffering people to
live in pain until that mythical day is nonsense.

I believe it was Mark Twain who once said something to the effect that
he could be a real Spartan when it came to suffering someone else?s
pain; it was only his own that caused him grief. I would ask Boyenga
to put himself in the place of someone suffering constant pain to the
degree that the doctors prescribe drugs like morphine, Oxycontin and
other opiates that leave the patient a zombie, sitting and staring at
the walls for hours and days at a time.

I have a very hard time accepting the fact that I can obtain morphine,
a deadly drug that has killed many, but cannot use cannabis, a drug
that has never caused an overdose and can relieve my pain without
leaving me a vegetable.

Dennis M. Garland

Chatham