>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <003d01bf1f5d$aad6d9d0$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Let us have mercy >Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 19:56:14 -0700 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > >Pubdate: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 >Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) >Section: Voices >Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times >Contact: voices@latimes.com >Address: Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053 >Fax: (213) 237-7968 >Website: http://www.latimes.com/ >Forum: http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/ >Author: Ruth Barnett > >ESSAY: MARIJUANA: GOOD MEDICINE > >I am a cancer survivor who has firsthand knowledge of a treatment option >that should be freely available but is not: marijuana. > >Although I grew up in the decade that made marijuana famous, I never smoked >it. I never smoked anything; I didn't even know how to use a lighter. But >when I underwent chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, and the prescribed >anti-nausea medications didn't work, and my doctor refused to prescribe >marinol (the pills with the active ingredient from marijuana), I resorted to >the herb. A young man had to teach me what to do. Friends had to risk legal >repercussions to provide me with it. > > >I never smoked enough to get high - smoking was an exhausting challenge in >itself. But I got enough in me so I could force myself to drink liquids. >Before marijuana, I'd become dangerously dehydrated. I would use enough so >that I could finally sleep a few hours. Previously, I'd been awake nonstop >and so miserable I wished I'd just die. Unlike with the doctor's >pharmaceuticals, there were no side effects-like dopey drowsiness, >constipation or depression. > >Recently, a friend contacted me because a friend of hers also needed the >kind of help this herb can give, and her doctor also refused to prescribe >marinol. I am very angry that we must risk police action and jail time to >bring some relief to suffering. I am very angry that the doctors are so >afraid to even prescribe nonsmokable versions. I would have preferred the >pills or suppositories to smoking, myself. > >Every useful substance can be used for harm. But prejudice, tremendous fear >and lack of big profits for corporations has us by the throat when it comes >to this humble servant from God's pharmacy. Let us have mercy: Marijuana >isn't just for potheads. It is good medicine. > >[Sidebar: 'Prejudice, a tremendous fear and lack of big profits for >corporations has us by the throat when It comes to this humble servant from >God's pharmacy.'] > >Ruth Barnett lives in Santa Barbara > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: