Pubdate: Sun, 17 Feb 2008
Source: Wichita Eagle (KS)
Copyright: 2008 The Wichita Eagle
Contact:  http://www.wichitaeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/680
Author: Robert T. Stephen
Note: Robert T. Stephan, a Lenexa attorney, was Kansas attorney 
general from 1979 to 1995. This was adapted from his testimony last 
week to a Senate committee.
Referenced: Senate Bill 556 http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2008/556.pdf
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

U.S. SHOULD ALLOW MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Some seem surprised that I advocate the legislation that is 
supportive of medical marijuana. Let me make it clear that I do not 
advocate the legalization of marijuana or any other controlled substances.

This marks the 25th year since I first publicly supported medical 
marijuana and the reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule 1 
drug to a Schedule 2 drug (Class I -- no medicinal value; Class II -- 
medicinal value).

I find it almost unbelievable that our federal government would 
continue to let its citizens suffer from various diseases when the 
properties contained in marijuana would alleviate that suffering. 
Frankly, I don't know how those in the federal government and the 
Drug Enforcement Administration can sleep at night when they choose 
to ignore mounting evidence that marijuana relieves suffering from 
many diseases.

I know about the nausea that comes with most regimens of 
chemotherapy. In 1972 I was diagnosed with lymphocytic lymphoma in 
stage IV. The nausea is not just an upset stomach that can be quieted 
by chewing Pepto-Bismol tablets. It is horrible and in some instances 
can cause you to be unable to eat or digest food and become immobile 
for a time.

While I was undergoing chemotherapy, some medicines worked and some 
did not. The same thing is true today. Opponents of medical 
marijuana, who say there are plenty of drugs to alleviate suffering, 
tout the latest drug -- Marinol. Shame on them.

Over the past few months, I have been talking with a young lady who 
has stage IV liver cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. She is 
unable to hold down much food and is terribly ill with nausea. One 
day she was excited because the doctor was going to prescribe Marinol 
for her. It contains THC, a component in the marijuana plant. A week 
after she started taking Marinol, she was still so ill she could not 
hold back vomiting. She has since commenced acupuncture, which helps, 
but she is still nauseated. Why would anyone deny this wonderful 
woman the right to use a drug to relieve her suffering?

For 15 years, I visited cancer patients in hospitals in Topeka and 
Wichita. Some patients said they resorted to marijuana to relieve 
their nausea. It is not right that they should be subject to 
incarceration because marijuana was their last resort for relief.

The states cannot violate federal law, but they do have the right to 
determine state penalties for violations of law. Twelve states have 
sent a message to the federal government by passing medical marijuana 
laws. Kansas can add to that message.

DEA administrative law judges have ruled against the DEA position. 
The New England Journal of Medicine in 1997 called the federal ban on 
medical use of marijuana "misguided, heavy-handed and inhumane."

By passing Senate Bill 556, the Legislature would send a message to 
the federal government and the DEA that they must allow appropriate 
research of the marijuana plant and place marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug.
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