SWIMMING IN A SEA OF MEDICAL HYPOCRISY

A recent story in the Chronicle, titled "Pending study,
drug-manufacturing facility could come to Bozeman," discusses the
possibility of LigoCyte opening a facility in our town. The article
discusses how the new plant "has enormous potential in leading the way
to more affordable medical treatments ... while boosting our economy
in a sustainable way." The article also mentions the potential for
200-300 jobs making a product that has "promising results" as a
vaccine for "stomach flu."

Meanwhile, the Montana Legislature is trying to either repeal medical
marijuana or reduce the amount of patients from 28,000 to under 2,000,
thus killing at least 10,000 jobs, turning 26,000 patients into
criminals, and putting money into the hands of black-market drug
dealers. And throughout all of this, not one of the 28,000 people
ingesting medical cannabis in Montana has died or overdosed. I haven't
read one story involving a fatal car accident due to cannabis use or
one story involving stoners beating someone almost to death behind a
bar.

Some headlines I have read in the last week, however, are, "Marijuana
Inhalation Associated with Spontaneous Tumor Regression, Study Says"
from the official journal of the International Society for Pediatric
Neurosurgery in Canada, and "Cannabinoids for Treatment of Chronic
Non-Cancer Pain" from the British Journal of Pharmacology, which
states that inhaled cannabis and ingested cannabinoids are both linked
with "significant analgesic effects" in treating chronic pain.

My only solace in this sea of hypocrisy and blatant disregard for the
truth (not to mention the well-being of Montanans) is that the
Chronicle's online poll said 83 percent of us think the Legislature is
doing a poor job. Amen.

Dan Bradner

Bozeman