T
The420Guy
Guest
Newshawk: Sledhead
Pubdate: Mon, 14 Aug 2000
Source: Michigan Daily (MI)
Copyright: 2000 The Michigan Daily
Contact: daily.letters@umich.edu
Address: 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327
REEFER SANITY
Medical marijuana in Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor is very close to getting a local initiative that would legalize marijuana for medicinal
purposes on the ballot in November. With only a few days of petitioning left, the local
Libertarians spearheading this effort need students and local advocates of medical marijuana
to register to vote in Ann Arbor and sign the petition that would put this issue to a city-wide
vote.
This initiative is important for the large number of Ann Arbor residents who have found that
their use of marijuana is a relief from painful symptoms caused by a myriad of diseases.
Aside from lessening the symptoms of glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and some forms of
asthma, marijuana can be used help cancer and AIDS patients deal with the effects of
powerful drug cocktails and chemotherapy treatments. It relieves their pain, but, unlike
prescription painkillers that numb patients, marijuana allows them to live their lives normally.
This initiative would prevent the sick and debilitated from getting fined or thrown in jail by
local law enforcement. The libertarian's plan, if it gets on the ballot and passes by a majority
vote, would allow patients the right to use marijuana with a doctor's prescription and prevents
Ann Arbor police from arresting them.
University professor of psychiatry and neuroscience Stanley Watson, an investigator for the
National Academy of Sciences, recently agreed that marijuana merits more medical research
because of its potential in helping people with cancer and AIDS. Aside from an outright
endorsement of the natural plant, he recommends doctors prescribe prescription drugs
containing THC, (the active chemical in marijuana) he thinks that smoking poses respiratory
risk to patients, including lung cancer. He would prefer a vaporizer.
This is an invalid argument because marijuana has never received serious cancer study inside
the United States. A recent study in Spain found that marijuana was highly effective in
treating rats with cancerous tumors. Surveys of Rastafarian elders, who smoke cannabis in
large quantities as part of their religious ceremonies, showed abnormally low incidence of
cancer, even when compared against local control populations. Clearly more investigations
and studies must be made before claims that marijuana fights cancer can be substantiated,
but, on the other hand, claims that marijuana is carcinogenic are not clear either. This
argument is more a remnant of the fight against tobacco's carcinogenic potential than
marijuana's and should be abandoned until more research confirms or disproves it entirely.
It is also unthinkable to suggest that patients should pay exorbitant prices for synthetic THC
when it grows naturally and in abundance in a natural form. Pharmaceutical companies
should not be allowed to profit from outdated laws prohibiting medicinal use of marijuana.
This local initiative is Ann Arbor's chance to give freedom to these patients and send a
message that the future of medicine does not have to be tied to profit-driven pharmaceutical
companies.
So, if a petitioner on the street asks you if you're registered to vote in Ann Arbor, make sure
you can answer "yes." Then sign the petition to help these brave locals get the relief from pain
they deserve.
MAP posted-by: Don Beck
Pubdate: Mon, 14 Aug 2000
Source: Michigan Daily (MI)
Copyright: 2000 The Michigan Daily
Contact: daily.letters@umich.edu
Address: 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1327
REEFER SANITY
Medical marijuana in Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor is very close to getting a local initiative that would legalize marijuana for medicinal
purposes on the ballot in November. With only a few days of petitioning left, the local
Libertarians spearheading this effort need students and local advocates of medical marijuana
to register to vote in Ann Arbor and sign the petition that would put this issue to a city-wide
vote.
This initiative is important for the large number of Ann Arbor residents who have found that
their use of marijuana is a relief from painful symptoms caused by a myriad of diseases.
Aside from lessening the symptoms of glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and some forms of
asthma, marijuana can be used help cancer and AIDS patients deal with the effects of
powerful drug cocktails and chemotherapy treatments. It relieves their pain, but, unlike
prescription painkillers that numb patients, marijuana allows them to live their lives normally.
This initiative would prevent the sick and debilitated from getting fined or thrown in jail by
local law enforcement. The libertarian's plan, if it gets on the ballot and passes by a majority
vote, would allow patients the right to use marijuana with a doctor's prescription and prevents
Ann Arbor police from arresting them.
University professor of psychiatry and neuroscience Stanley Watson, an investigator for the
National Academy of Sciences, recently agreed that marijuana merits more medical research
because of its potential in helping people with cancer and AIDS. Aside from an outright
endorsement of the natural plant, he recommends doctors prescribe prescription drugs
containing THC, (the active chemical in marijuana) he thinks that smoking poses respiratory
risk to patients, including lung cancer. He would prefer a vaporizer.
This is an invalid argument because marijuana has never received serious cancer study inside
the United States. A recent study in Spain found that marijuana was highly effective in
treating rats with cancerous tumors. Surveys of Rastafarian elders, who smoke cannabis in
large quantities as part of their religious ceremonies, showed abnormally low incidence of
cancer, even when compared against local control populations. Clearly more investigations
and studies must be made before claims that marijuana fights cancer can be substantiated,
but, on the other hand, claims that marijuana is carcinogenic are not clear either. This
argument is more a remnant of the fight against tobacco's carcinogenic potential than
marijuana's and should be abandoned until more research confirms or disproves it entirely.
It is also unthinkable to suggest that patients should pay exorbitant prices for synthetic THC
when it grows naturally and in abundance in a natural form. Pharmaceutical companies
should not be allowed to profit from outdated laws prohibiting medicinal use of marijuana.
This local initiative is Ann Arbor's chance to give freedom to these patients and send a
message that the future of medicine does not have to be tied to profit-driven pharmaceutical
companies.
So, if a petitioner on the street asks you if you're registered to vote in Ann Arbor, make sure
you can answer "yes." Then sign the petition to help these brave locals get the relief from pain
they deserve.
MAP posted-by: Don Beck