ALLOW SERIOUSLY ILL TO USE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Arresting the ill for trying to alleviate their afflictions should be
offensive to us all, regardless of political affiliations.

Numerous prestigious medical organizations support legal medical
marijuana access for the seriously ill, including the American Public
Health Association, the American Nurses Association, the Illinois
Nurses Association, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the Leukemia
and Lymphoma Society.

Studies have shown that marijuana relieves debilitating symptoms
including nausea, appetite loss and severe pain. It has been shown to
increase the chances that HIV/AIDs and hepatitis C patients will stay
on life-saving medications.

Despite the overwhelming practical argument for medicinal marijuana,
there is a strong philosophical argument for it as well.

What right does the government have to tell these sick adults what
substances they can use to heal themselves? All these patients ask is
to be left alone, to live and let live, and for the government to
allow consenting adults to make their own decisions.

Legislating lifestyle and micromanaging medicine is not the American
way. A significant policy change is long overdue.

Please support Senate Bill 1381, the Compassionate Use of Medical
Cannabis Pilot Program Act.

Kyle Kidwell, Normal

The writer is president, Illinois State University chapter, Young
Americans for Liberty.