COMPASSION FOR THOSE WHO NEED MEDICAL MARIJUANA

My wife is disabled. She is 58 years old, as am I. At one time, she
was a wonderful teacher, sales associate for a large telecom and
later a vibrant pharmacy technician and caregiver for her disabled
father and mother-in-law. She has fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue
syndrome. She has seizures. They don't know why, but they are
documented in a hospital study as not caused by epilepsy.

She can no longer drive nor would I want her to. She wears a morphine
patch to get through the day, along with various other drugs. Many
days are spent in bed, not because she wants it that way. Sometimes,
the pain cannot be fought through, and the best way is not to resist,
but other days it is the nausea that forces her to lie down.

The way Maryland law is now written she would have to go on the
street to buy marijuana to help with the nausea and pain, and if
caught, she could spend time in jail. Imagine if she had a seizure.
And then basically defend herself with a doctors note! Does this
sound like a reasonable course of action for anyone? Especially for
someone married in a stable relationship for 20 years, owns a house,
disabled and is 58 years old.

Please. I implore you. Think of the people that are suffering while
you hem and haw about this vital issue ("Go slow on marijuana," Jan.
3). To say that more study needs to be done is preposterous. This is
a natural, beneficial herb that I would certainly rather see my wife
on then morphine. It is known to help in pain relief, increase
appetite, decrease nausea, relax muscles and is proven through
centuries of use. Studies have shown that cannabis can relieve muscle
pain and spasticity in patients suffering from multiple sclerosis and
can control tremors.

We as a caring people must allow others who suffer to benefit from
something natural known to help them. We fast track artificial drugs
without knowing the side effects only to find out later that some of
them are not beneficial at all. My wife has taken some of them. Yet
to deny her and others with similar needs when the facts are known is
just cruel and uncaring. Hopefully, we can come together to help the
people who need without the undue hardship they are now facing.

What's required is what politics, in general, lacks: compassion.

Don Selig, Baltimore