LET THE PATIENTS DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES

I'm bipartisan in my criticisms of politicians, depending on the
issue. Republican Rep. Leah Vukmir, chair of WI Assembly's health-care
committee, refuses to give a hearing to a bill legalizing medical
marijuana in our state. The current bill has several Democratic
sponsors and just one Republican. But again this year, such
legislation will likely not get an up-or-down vote by our elected
representatives.

My mother-in-law is in her final months of a several year battle with
lung cancer. Hospice workers have provided her morphine if needed.
Should she be denied morphine out of objection to the drug being legal
in general? What a lack of compassion that would be! When Lyn Nofziger
of the Reagan Administration provided marijuana to his daughter to
fight the side effects of chemotherapy, he wasn't arguing that
marijuana should be legal. But he understood the value of the plant in
fighting nausea and generating appetite.

We have become a very callous society in many ways. Pharmaceutical
companies do not want marijuana legal for medical usage, just as they
do not want many herbs on the market. I say, let those with glaucoma,
MS, AIDS, cancer, etc. make their own decisions. Shame on us when we
fail to show compassion! Where are the Republicans on less government
interference and not restricting patient choices on the issue of
medical marijuana?

It's bad when politicians have no notion of liberty and personal
responsibility. It's worse when it causes harm to people. The "war on
drugs" costs over $50 billion a year. It takes law enforcement away
from fighting rapists and child molesters. It encourages robberies as
addicts to hard drugs steal to pay for their illegal habits. It wastes
our tax dollars. When it prevents sick people from finding some
relief, then it is completely insane and inhumane.

Bernard Dalsey

Whitewater