MEDICAL MARIJUANA COMPASSIONATE CHOICE

I support, medical marijuana because I am at high risk for glaucoma,
and as a Libertarian I believe in certain individual rights and
freedoms, but mostly I support medical marijuana because my dying
mother once asked me to get her some. She was dying of cancer and
suffered constantly from nausea and vomiting. She told me she just
wanted a few days without the constant nausea.

Although I don't use marijuana, she knew I would probably be able to
find her some, but I was afraid of the consequences of breaking a law
I had no respect for . She slowly starved away and died suffering
terribly to the end, but I was a damned coward and did nothing to help
her.

She was a nurse in the Army during WWII and certainly understood pain
and suffering. Later, as a school nurse she understood the
implications of drug and chemical abuse, especially its effects on
youth, but she definitely believed the sick and terminally suffering
were entitled to compassionate medical choices. Addictive drugs were
of little lasting consequence to the dying if they could provide a
measure of comfort. At the end she was addicted to staggering levels
of legal morphine but she died not having the choice to try a bit of
marijuana to ease her nausea

I am sure she could not understand nor will I ever understand how
society and the good citizens of Montana were threatened by that frail
dying woman and her desire to have a few last days without vomiting.
Vote to give your loved ones that choice.

Jim Raths

Lavina