WHY I SUPPORT DRUG USE

When Barry Busch was diagnosed with AIDS, doctors gave him eight years to
live. That was in 1998. When my mom Nancy was diagnosed with an aggressive,
malignant brain tumor, doctors told us that, if she survived the surgery
they urged us to schedule immediately, she had 12 to 16 months. That was in
January.

Sure, we're all inching toward death. But when you're handed a calendar
upon which it can be scheduled, everything changes. Mortality forces you to
trade future goals for present comfort, much of which is supposed to come
from the prescription medications you're given to ease the pain that
governs your life. This is the case whether you're still able to get around
with a cane (Busch) or are confined, after a life of traveling the globe,
to a bed, couch and wheelchair (my mom).

While they come from different backgrounds -- Busch, who also lost his
gallbladder to intestinal cancer, used to rehab houses in Upland, Pa.; my
mom, who bravely beat breast cancer more than a decade ago, ran a South
Jersey travel agency -- they've both found just one thing makes the pain
and suffering disappear without the side effects that accompany many of
those meds.

Problem is, it's illegal.

I'm talking about medical marijuana, which people need to stop mistakenly
looking at as a gateway drug that'll leave you slapping your forehead with
a Vans sneaker. There are legitimate medicinal benefits and as such, we
must demand our legislators support a law similar to those that have been
passed in at least 10 states allowing certain terminally ill patients to
possess, and use, the "illicit" drug that's less dangerous than
dime-a-dozen Vicodins. To not do so is the morally bankrupt equivalent of
withholding effective treatment from very sick people who will suffer
immensely as a result.

Last week, about 20 pro-legalization advocates rallied outside the local
Health and Human Services (HHS) office, across Sixth Street from
Independence Hall. They chose the location not only for symbolism, but
because HHS has done nothing but toe the war-on-drugs party line,
irresponsibly ignoring reams of medical evidence about marijuana's
legitimate benefits.

Sporting a white doctor's jacket emblazoned with a red cross, marijuana
leaf and Dr. Greenthumbs name tag, Busch declared that cannabis was the
lone drug that "gave him a real life." (Sitting feet away from a kitchen
table covered with prescription bottles a couple weeks earlier, my mom told
me none of those pills even come close to helping as much as one or two
puffs off a joint.)

Struggling for breath and shaking, Busch explained that his father refused
to take marijuana when suffering from Alzheimer's because of the legality.
And because of that, "I lost years of intelligent conversation with my
father." Those are the type of words that should drive anybody to examine
the issue, but the empty wheelchair sitting a few feet from Busch should
drive them to action.

It was brought there by James Miller, a New Jersey man whose wife Cheryl
died of multiple sclerosis in 2003. In the years leading up to her death,
Cheryl harangued politicians, even positioning her weakening body in their
Washington, D.C., doorways to humanize her legalization argument. Cheryl
hoped to force them past their paranoia of "soft on drugs" campaign
commercials. When I told James about my mom, it was met with the compassion
that only someone who's been through the hell of watching someone slowly
fade away could understand.

"What will it take? That's the question I've been asking for years," he
said. "When will we have our Rosa Parks? I think it'll take something like
that for this to get done."

Actually, the medical-marijuana movement needs droves of Parkses --
starting with you -- so politicians realize they'd be doing the will of the
people by publicly backing limited legalization. The time's never been better.

Back in June, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, himself battling a nasty disease,
told the Daily News he "may introduce legislation" in favor of medical
marijuana. And when I called Gov. Edward Rendell's office before the rally,
spokeswoman Kate Phillips said, "The governor's not opposed to the use of
medical marijuana in extreme cases when there are no other options
available for patients in extreme pain."

If you believe in the sanctity of life -- especially when there's little
time left -- get on the phone to lobby Rendell (717-787-2500), Specter
(215-597-7200) and every last elected official in Pennsylvania.

Tell them words are good, but only by backing them up with action can they
make lives better for a change.

Tell them it's high time they did the right thing.