Thought for the day
March 18, 1999
Here's something we can all agree on right? If a medical doctor prescribes a legal(note) medicine for their patient and the patient agrees with that decision, shouldn't the government keep their noses the hell out? Nope, not if the medicine is marijuana. Well, that might be changing.Today, despite the fact that years ago he said that there was "not a shred of scientific evidence" that smoking marijuana was useful or necessary, drug czar Barry McCaffrey released a report showing that, gee, golly, it looks like there actually IS evidence showing the benefits.
Of course smoking anything is bad for your lungs and body in general. And if you do it for decades, you're going to die! But terminal cancer and AIDS patients would love to live long enough to get cancer. Sadly, they won't. Marijuana won't change that. It does seem to relieve pain very effectively and it dramatically increases appetite and ability to keep food down. These are both very desirable side-effects for people wasting away from AIDS and cancer.
Unfortunately for these people, marijuana can be cultivated cheaply. So they don't need to spend thousands of dollars desperately seeking relief. Why would any drug company allow people to use something that is free? That just wouldn't be good for profits and who gives a shit about sick people when we haven't wrung every last penny out of them yet? Which lobbying group gives more to Congress, drug companies or cancer patients?
Bottom line? Republicans talk a lot about reducing government involvement in our lives. But when it comes right down to it they just mean they want to impose THEIR rules (like forced worship) on us. If you want to be free of from government rules, start by getting the government out of the doctor-patient relationship.
In California, as well as six other states, physician-prescribed marijuana is legal.
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