Pubdate: Wed, 05 Jul 2000
Source: Orange County Register (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Orange County Register
Contact:  P.O. Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711
Fax: (714) 565-3657
Website: http://www.ocregister.com/
Author: R.L. Root
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n904/a06.html

MARINOL WAS OF NO HELP TO STRICKEN MCWILLIAMS

Letter writer W. D. Allen Sr. should seek out more information before 
commenting on a subject he obviously is terribly misinformed about 
(McWilliams had option for alternative medicine, Letters, June 30).

Peter McWilliams' use of marijuana was not for the "ethical relief of 
pain." McWilliams used marijuana to suppress nausea brought about by taking 
the "cocktail" of prescription drugs necessary to sustain his life while 
suffering from AIDS and cancer.

Without marijuana he would vomit up his prescriptions within a short period 
of time after taking them, rendering them virtually ineffective.  The use 
of Marinol is effective about a third of the time, at best, but still would 
not help much in allowing his life-saving drugs to help keep down his 
"viral load".

Not that using Marinol even mattered, as McWilliams was also prohibited 
from using that drug so that his court-ordered weekly drug testing could 
determine if he was using marijuana.  When McWilliams was able to use 
marijuana as a medicine, he was able to take his prescriptions and keep 
them within his system without vomiting.
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