BE FREE TO USE

Regarding Robyn Chaky's op-ed "Pot's potential" (Sept. 23), while
there have been studies showing that marijuana can shrink cancerous
tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug.

If a doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing
chemotherapy and it helps them feel better, then it's working. In the
end, medical marijuana is a quality of life issue best left to
patients and their doctors.

Federal bureaucrats waging war on noncorporate drugs contend that
organic marijuana is not an effective health intervention. The
federal government's prescribed intervention for medical marijuana
patients is handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This
heavy-handed approach suggests that drug warriors are not well suited
to dictate health care decisions.

It's long past time that Congress showed some leadership on the issue
and passed legislation reaffirming the Constitution's Tenth Amendment
guarantee of states rights. States that prefer to cage sick patients
for daring to feel better can continue to do so. The more enlightened
states that have passed compassionate-use legislation should not be
stymied by the federal government.

Robert Sharpe
Policy Analyst
Common Sense for Drug Policy
Washington, D.C.