PATIENT DECIDED TO BYPASS MARIJUANA OPTION

The question of using marijuana to treat the effects of chemotherapy
remains controversial. Dan Wheeler did not use marijuana, but his
reasoning is complex.

Reactions to chemotherapy differ, and while Dan was nauseated, he
could hold down food. Other patients constantly vomit, unable to get
nutrition from the things they eat.

Dan knew that if he felt bad enough marijuana was an option. People
offered to get it for him. "For me, it was a personal choice. I don't
think there is anything immoral about it. It's just a choice I've
always made." Pausing, he continued: "I think other people should be
allowed the option." He knows of a man with bone cancer and he said
smoking marijuana was the only thing that would help him eat and dull the pain.

"I see no reason why it can't be regulated as a prescription drug in
Connecticut. People are afraid of what it means [as a step] toward
legalization, but people are suffering and they don't seem to care about that.

"The human factor isn't looked into nearly as much as it should be.
They're not allowing people to make the choice for themselves, or if
they are, they're forcing them to do it illegally. They're forcing
them to endanger themselves, because you never know what it's laced
with. "It takes such audacity, telling someone you don't know not
only how it's best for them to live, but, in cases of terminal
illnesses, how it's best for them to die & and that's suffering and pain."