Medical marijuana: Education needed

To the Editor:

Stop the reefer madness, Mr. Kaemingk, and let people educate
themselves with facts instead of uninformed and misguided propaganda.

Medical marijuana is not a gateway drug; alcohol is, as it lowers
inhibitions to make rational choices. Denny Kaemingk's editorial on
Oct. 9 gave absolutely no substantial reasoning as to why sick people
with MS, Parkinson's, glaucoma, cancer, fibromyalgia, etc., should not
have the right to ease ailments with medical marijuana, which has
absolutely no known side effects and is compatible with prescription
and non-prescription medicine, again without added side effects.

Prescription pain meds are extremely addictive and abused every day by
people of all professions and walks of life. Side effects of such pain
relievers have an extremely high addiction level and have dire
consequences that outweigh what they were intended to treat.

Mr. Kaemingk also mentioned the criminal ramifications if medical
marijuana is legalized.

First off, if it becomes legal to ever acquire medical marijuana, you
have to be established with a physician for at least six months, (thus
eliminating some people's "sudden" onset of conditions), then you will
need to register with the State Health Department to obtain a medical
card. No dispensaries will be allowed and patients will only be
allowed to have 1 ounce in their possession at any one time. A patient
can also grow no more than six plants and only medical marijuana card
owners can supply other card owners with the medical marijuana. If
such crimes as theft, assaults, etc., are committed against a legal
medical marijuana patient, then law enforcement needs to arrest those
people committing the crimes.

Mr. Kaemingk also makes note of the odor of marijuana. It's much less
offensive than smelling sewer backup at various businesses, hot
roofing tar, etc., and is not toxic to your health.

On a final note as to why a "yes" vote on Initiative Measure 13 is
needed, here are two excellent reasons: first, studies conducted of
schizophrenic patients using medical marijuana have demonstrated
significantly better performance on measures of processing speed,
verbal fluency, verbal learning and memory; and second, human oral
cancer cells are highly resistant to conventional cancer drugs but the
administration of THC (the active component of marijuana), resulted in
a rapid decline in cellular respiration in malignant cells.

Kim Miller, Mitchell