MARIJUANA SERVES MEDICINAL PURPOSE

Do we really get to vote on marijuana questions in November?

I think it should be legalized, but I know that will not happen for
a long time. I would fight very hard to legalize it for people with
medical problems.

My brother passed away this past June from leukemia, which he had
for 18 months. He smoked pot. After his first round of chemo, he lost
a lot of weight and he had four to six weeks at home before he went
back for more chemo. When he went back to the hospital for more chemo,
the nurse decided to check his weight (they estimate how much weight
he should have gained while being home).

Thank God she did this because he had gained about 30 lbs. being
home, thanks to smoking pot. The mixture of chemo goes by the weight
of the person, so the hospital had to have the lab redo his chemo.
You need to gain weight because you lose so much during chemo. If he
hadn't smoked pot, he would not have gained as much and he would have
been very fragile before the next round. Chemo takes such a toll on
the body that he would have gotten much sicker without the weight
gain.

Family and friends would illegally buy pot for him, myself included.
We knew it was illegal to buy but we were helping my brother and so
what if I got caught? I would have done it again and again for my
brother. I respect the laws but not this one! I would buy for anyone
who needed it to get through the chemo.

I've seen first-hand how much it helped my brother. His doctors knew
he smoked pot. They told him that if it were legal, they would tell
their patients to smoke it. About 50 percent of patients with
leukemia smoke it. I feel badly for the other 50 that don't just
because it's illegal.

What would it take for this to pass, to have the people that stop it
from passing have one of their family members or themselves be
seriously ill? Would they let their family member suffer instead of
helping?

Power to the people who are trying to get this law passed! If I can
help in any way, I will.

Michele Peloquin