MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGAL FOR MEDICAL USE

I continually fail to understand why people who could benefit from the
medical use of marijuana, as described in your Feb. 7 article, "Legal pot
use in Mass. is not a dead issue," should be denied it.

Illegal use of drugs is a serious problem in this country and elsewhere. I
would never trivialize it, but it seems shameful that people who could be
helped by marijuana are denied it, apparently because of the specter of
its illegal use. Although it would be ideal if the benefits of marijuana
could be delivered in, for example, pill form (thereby preventing risks to
the respiratory system from smoking), if smoking marijuana legitimately
helps people with MS, or with cancer pain, or with any other such serious
condition, why on earth should they be denied the opportunity of legally
using it? The parallel I would draw is this: It is illegal to possess or
use narcotics without a prescription. That does not mean, however, that the
medical community is reluctant to use these substances; rather, they
constitute landmark discoveries in medicine.

Imagine having surgery and waking up to be told, "Sorry, we won't be
sending you home with Percocet because too many people abuse it. You'll
just have to endure the pain." Most of us would consider that barbaric. It
is equally barbaric to criminalize people who are seeking to alleviate
chronic pain or symptoms with a method that has been proven successful. If
medical marijuana is made available through the proper channels, it should
be monitored, tightly controlled and thoroughly tested for possible
undesirable effects. It should not simply be outlawed because of
preconceived notions about its recreational use.

Colleen O'Hanley