MEDICINAL POT NOT ABOUT GETTING HIGH

To the Editor,

As the coordinator of The Mid-Island Compassion Club, I watch events
closely as they relate to patient access to medical marijuana.

I've noticed the alarming frequency with which patients have had to defend
their choice of pain relief medications.

People who suffer through the nausea and vomiting caused by the agonizing
pain that doesn't go away, brought on by whatever disease that afflicts
them, are not potheads, period.

Not only do they suffer from their symptoms, they also suffer the indignity
of explaining that it's not about getting high.

It's not about smoking "doobies" it's only about medicine.

Doctors were told by the college of physicians not to discuss marijuana
with their patients. Thank God some of them didn't listen to their orders.

I applaud those medical professionals who can see beyond the reefer madness
mentality of the past.

Mark Russell, coordinator, MICC