NURSE, EMT SUPPORTS MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL USE

Terrance P. Farley, first assistant prosecutor, director, Ocean County
Narcotics Strike Force, wrote numerous letters to newspapers in
retaliation to anyone who has written in defense of medical marijuana.
He starts his letters by choosing words that make him appear to be a
nice guy and that he holds nothing against them. then, as he continues
his letters, he chooses vicious words to demean and belittle, as to
make himself appear the smarter and more prestigious person.

Farley made critical remarks about wonderful people like respected
community leader Nelson Randolf, former Superior Court Judge Martin
Haines, letter writer Edward Decker, and Jim Miller, who lost his
precious wife Cheryl to multiple sclerosis.

When people from out of state write in defense of medical marijuana,
he attacks them and calls all pro-medical marijuana citizens,
"dope-smoking, drug-legalizing minions."

Farley uses many statistics to show that he has all of the information
on drugs being sold and used on the streets, and their repercussions,
but he has unreservedly lost the realm of the fact that we are talking
about medical marijuana. We also heard from Jim Miller and others
about the medicinal reasons why marijuana can and should be used for
acute and chronic medically ill persons, so I won't hash out all of
that again, no pun intended.

The main fact that it is not legal for medical purposes is because
it's cheap. Plain and simple, the bigwigs of our country can't make
money on something that only needs dirt, water, sun and seeds. As long
as there are soft-money payoffs, new marijuana laws will not be
considered or written. So, in light of that fact, it's irritating to
me that while Farley is writing letters against medical marijuana, the
real druggies are out in the broad daylight selling horrible things
like Oxycontin, GHB, ecstasy, crack cocaine, psychogenic mushrooms,
and an awful thing that is a mix of ecstasy and acid, a hallucinogenic
drug. It's that world of drugs that needs your immediate attention,
not medical marijuana. Actually, with all of the letters that he
wrote, one would think he got a high from seeing his name in the paper.

I'm not a druggie, or part of any formal group that is just looking
for a reason to get a high. I am a former emergency medical worker and
nurse who has seen the relentless pain and nausea that my patients had
suffered. I've lived in Ocean County since the early 1970s and, from
what I've seen with my own eyes, the so-called war on drugs is out of
hand more now than ever before. Writing letters, giving speeches and
handing out booklets is not enough. Instead of taking the time to
criticize people who think like me, why not take back the streets from
the true druggies and reevaluate why you think an ill person would
believe marijuana is just a high.

Michele Kirsch

Toms River