Pubdate: Sun, 25 Oct 1998 Source: Denver Post (CO) Section: Medical Contact: http://www.denverpost.com/ Copyright: 1998 The Denver Post Author: Bill Briggs, Denver Post Staff Writer DARLA WHITNEY, 43, HIGHLANDS RANCH One of the loudest arguments against medical marijuana is that it sends the wrong message to young people. But Tim Whitney is one young guy who was glad to hear that his mom was smoking pot - not because it gave him license to toke up, too, but because it gave her a fighting chance. "If it keeps you alive," Tim told her earlier this year, "do anything it takes." Darla Whitney, 43, was into her first rounds of chemotherapy last February when friends began sending her unsolicited "little gifts" - packages of marijuana. The legal drug that she was taking to fight breast cancer left her weak and queasy. A few puffs, she says, restored her appetite and renewed her spunk. Whitney's doctor approved and then she got that endorsement from her college-age son, a guy who doesn't drink or smoke. "I had no fears whatsoever that he would think, 'Oh, Mom is smoking marijuana so that means I can.'" She finished chemotherapy in July. An exam 10 days ago found her to be in good health with little chance of a recurrence. And while Whitney isn't smoking marijuana now, she backed Amendment 19 which sought to legalize medical marijuana. "It needs to be available to anybody," says Whitney, a Highlands Ranch resident. "Some of the women I had chemotherapy with were a lot older and may not have had an opportunity like I did. "They don't know who to ask. But they need to be able to get some without feeling guilty to help them through this." - --- Checked-by: Richard Lake