Today's Topic: Should marijuana be allowed to extend life for the dying?

Great topic. I think that the courts should defer to doctors. I believe that if a doctor recommends marijuana, if decision by that doctor should be respected.

Yes, it should be able to be legally prescribed. But, Audrey, I hate to tell you this, but the stuff really DOES grow on trees. Anyone that uses it for a recreational drug is not taking it from anyone that really needs it for medical purposes. Jail?? You have got to be kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel it should be available for doctors to prescribe to their patients in all states. This witchhunt of people who are abiding by state laws is ridiculous. What a waste of law enforcement time and money.

The short answer is yes, she should be allowed to smoke pot. The long answer is that the federal government cannot come to terms with the states regarding the regulation of marijuana for medicinal purposes. This is a travesty, for this woman.

I have reservations about the doctor's prognosis that pot is the only thing "keeping her alive," however. I'd get a second opinion.

I should be allowed as an analgesic for those who have chronic pain.

Marijuana should be legal. PERIOD. And to tell this woman that she can't use marijuana to ease her pain while she is dying is heinous, unfeeling and pretentious.
There are many medications I can't take because of side effects(if I take morphine, I can't sleep because I experience night terrors). The woman is dying, its not like she's gonna live long enough to become a drug dealer or ruin her life. The federal gov't(read: neo-cons& liquor or pharma lobby) didn't like the states thumbing their noses at the federal law stating that marijuana could not be used in medical situations and this woman is the test case.

As a nurse a cringe at this statement, "whose doctor says marijuana is the only thing keeping her alive."

If this woman is terminal (Hospice Medicare guidelines could be used to decide) there is no reason why she should be prosecuted. It would be cruel to her, and a waste of court time and money. Use of marijuana for the terminally ill is an issue that should be legislated by the state, not federal government.

I had a migraine every day for four years. They ran tests and prescribed every drug they could think of to control or alleviate the pain. The only thing that backed the pain off enough for me to become functional was marijuana. When I told my doctor this he said smoke it whenever I need to.

This shouldn't even be a debatable issue. Ther is an herb available that eases pain in some cases. It's a no brainer that itr should be legal. As to whether it should be totally legal, let that be for another day. Let's deal with this issue first.

As a nurse, I too am in agreement that it should be legalized, medical or not, but as long as the Pharmaceutical companies have legislature in their pockets, it won't happen. Too many patients have told me that "Marinol" the pill made from pot, just doens't work as well for both pain and appetite stimulation.

I think it sould be legalized with a prescription for people in a lot of pain. I dont, however think that just anyone should be allowed to smoke it.

there are thousands using illegal drugs and the court found this woman whose life is in danger to condemn..i wish we had better, sensible and yes humane judges. this is a murder sanctioned by law!!

As pointed out the stuff is readily available so one has to wonder why Ms. Raich, who evidently is terminal, seeks to make a legal case. I mean she could be happily smoking away like millions of other Americans and keep her mouth shut. She will not be without the weed, rest assured, despite any court ruling. That said anti weed laws make as much sense as prohibition did in the '20's and will probably end in the same way eventually.

As long as alcohol and tobacco are legal it is incredibly hypocritical for pot to be illegal. Willie Nelson had the best anecdote concerning pot being illegal. After spending just a few hours in drug rehab for "pot?" He quit, citing that it was just too weird having a person sitting there with a Marlboro hanging out of their mouth telling him that pot was going to ruin his life.

That may have contributed micheal, but I think the real reason for the first state law(Lousiana I think) is that the stuff promoted race mixing.

If Pot was only distributed through pharmaceutical companies then we might be allowed to use it. But since the paramedical lobbies have to protect the profits of their employers we will never see justice served. instead millions of effected patients will have to go in pain because wall street can't see a profit in it. That is the state of our medicine in this day and age.

People die of alcohol poisoning all the time but when have you heard of anyone dying of a pot overdose?

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." OK, where in the Constitution does it reserve the right to control the use of ANY drug to the Federal Government?

That being said, I agree that the main things driving the continued illegality of pot are 1. The fact that it can be grown almost anywhere (it is, after all, a weed); and 2. the resulting inability of the drug companies to make enormous profits from it.

Any policy that requires citizens to continue living in pain is inhuman. Millions of "enforcement" dollars have been wasted, with the only results being a lessening of the quality and raising of the cost of the pot we continue to smoke anyway.

"one has to wonder why Ms. Raich, who evidently is terminal, seeks to make a legal case". I have an answer. Maybe Ms Raich doesn't want to spend her remaining days as a criminal, wondering when our brave DEA agents will burst in on her.

There are to many "legitimate" people making a lot of money from the sale of controlled substances. If you try to open the door just a little, they will use their political force to shut you down.

Of course she should be able to use that drug or any other if that's the only thing that can help her. I know that we have to be a nation of laws, but when it comes to common sense, then nothing should be written in stone,

This is a crazy world! Did you know that George Washington smoked it for his illness's. That the Hemp Rope is the strongest rope made by, "OUR GVMT.", for holding our battleships, carriers, & others in port. That all our fore fathers used this as medicinal reasons for its use, It was ok to smoke it till our new form of genius's decided its a bad drug. Where did they leave their Brain's. MJ, could be the largest crop in U.S. History, & was grown in a Gvmt. Area in Illinois, back in the 70's, for studying it. All Comments were derived from;THE EMPEROR WEARS NO CLOTHES, by Jack Herer 1990. Legalize it, we could save the planet from global warming, all the properties can be used and has been for thousands of years!!!!

namaste

The only thing keeping her alive is pot? Maybe easing her pain and helping her not throw up.
It really makes me wonder what kind of lives these people live who have nothing better to do then go after people who know their numbers are almost up. I'm thinking maybe I want to move to that area. If that's their idea of high crime.. I wouldn't have to worry about rapists and killers.

Has she been prosecuted, or did she open a court case to be allowed to smoke the weed? Neither your article nor the CNN article actually say.

I honestly don't believe that marijuana is "the only thing keeping her alive". It may have greatly improved her quality of life, yes, but the only thing keeping her alive? I seriously doubt it.

Should a doctor be able to, without fear of retribution, prescribe anything s/he feels is appropriate for their patients? Yes, they should. Realistically, though, none of them can. Either they are changing their recommendations because of insurance issues or they are changing them because they fear that the DEA will come storming into their offices and drag them out in cuffs for actually prescribing amounts of meds that their patients honestly need to live a life with any quality. It happens every day, and it doesn't even usually have anything to do with illegal drugs.

Pain relief is given only very grudgingly in this country, and it comes at a huge price. You'll never see any pain meds on WalMart's $4 list. They are not provided on any patient assistance program. Even the ones that have been generic for ever are extremely high priced, and the pricing tiers are absurd. Did you know that 240 5 mgm. Percocet are about $60, but 120 10 mgm. Percocet are $160??? You're getting half as many tablets, and half as much tylenol, and paying triple....all because you don't want your liver or kidneys to shut down from all the acetaminophen. It probably costs the drug companies about $3 to produce either quantity, too, because there have been generics for all the ingredients for many, many years.

Further, no one but a pain clinic will prescribe a quantity anything close to that even once, much less on an ongoing basis, and their clients must go in once a month just to pick up their prescriptions and of course pay for an office visit each time. Pain control is not for the poor, folks.

Only if Big Pharma can...package it, label it and price it...and only if the government can tax it. That's the drill. It goes from illegal to panacea. Bookies are bad, but, Lotto is good...if you get my drift.

I've read that the laws against marijuana were initially formalized in an attempt to prosecute mexican nationals in this country (for deportation). Only later did it find its way into the social consciousness that it is evil.

Off the top of my head, I can think of NO unprocessed drug that should be banned. You should be able to chew coca leaves, whatever. It is sad to say that our country is pretty much under the control of Oil, Phamacy, and the military complex. Until those lobbiests are barred from congressional halls, the rich will keep sticking it to the middle class.

As a side note: I have never heard of anyone dying from POT, but I have heard of tens of thousands of people dying from pharmacutical concoctions.

I tend to want to ask the same question - is this really the only thing that is keeping her alive.? I question that . I assume that likely might be making her comfortable but not keeping her alive . Is seems silly to prosecute in this I am not sure what they have to gain by it all .

Anyone who is dying should have anything that helps them in any way, same with chronic, incurable conditions.

The feds put their egos and need for control above someone else's pain relief.

Funny that the fed gov leaves to states what they like--full funding of fed programs, etc--but when it comes to a compassionate state law they stick their snout right in where it doesn't belong.

Its has fewer side effects than most drugs given her. The Feds need to get real about this issue.

If Halliburton could get the exclusive rights to the production and sale of marijuana, it would be legalized immediately.

Angel Raich is a brave woman fighting a good fight. She wasn't happy with sitting on the sidelines and watching people suffer. She chose to make hers a test case exactly because she is THE poster child for the use of medical marijuana. And that's exactly why her case is being fought by our government. They can't afford to allow her to win if they want to continue to fund this losing and pointless so-called "war on drugs."

Since so many people speculated on why medical marijuana helped Angel Raich I thought I would include some exerpts about her from Jon Carroll's Mon Mar 19 column in the SF Examiner about her story:

"Angel Raich has been using medical marijuana since 1997 to cope with the pain of scoliosis, endometriosis, seizures and a serious wasting disease. She says marijuana is the only thing that relieves her pain. She uses marijuana every day, even though it is against federal law. Her doctor says that if she stops using marijuana, she will die in agony."

and about why her case is being tried:

"She is not fond of being a lawbreaker. She is not fond of waiting for the feds to confiscate her stash and bring her up for arraignment on felony charges. So she has sued the government, contesting the ban on medical marijuana. Her case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where her petition was denied."

Read the entire piece here.

Does our country really have the money to continue fighting a losing "war" on its own citizens? As Jon Carroll goes on to say:

The laws against marijuana are stupid. Everyone knows they're stupid, even the politicians who cravenly refuse to counteract them. The distinction between legal drugs and illegal drugs is meaningless; the law stands as written because powerful corporations want it that way. God forbid we should interrupt the cash flow at Merck or Seagram in order to make sick people feel better. Start doing that, and soon well people will want to feel better too, and society as we know it will collapse.

Of course, the illegality of marijuana has not stopped its considerable consumption in the United States; it's just raised the price of the product and sent the profits over to criminal enterprises even more loathsome than Merck and Seagram. The laws are not protecting society against marijuana; they're just turning cancer patients into criminals.

This is not new. I have typed these words, or ones very like them, before. This is the "hammering my tiny fists against the large iron door" part of the job.

I am sure our forefathers are rolling over in their graves as to the extent that the government has insinuated themselves into our lives...let this poor woman live out the rest of her days in some sort of comfort.

I'd like to know why a state can vote in this type of legislation and the Feds claim to suppercede. As a Californian that voted yes, I did so because pain and nausea is something no one should have to suffer day after day. Who are these self righteous idiots.

Donna, Dee and Carol pointed out the costs and reasons for disabled to get pain relief outside the mainstream. Judy, Wendy, Sallie, Timothy, Travis and many others say the same as I would: she is dying. Let her have some moments of peace.

Frankly, the time has come to legalize all drugs .... then regulate and tax the heck out of them like we do tobacco and alcohol to pay for the recovery programs and hold the production and distribution people to standards and individual and corporate taxes.

Ooops, sorry I got off topic.

I'm with you Anita. I also live in California and voted for legalization.

It's interesting how political conservatives say they are for "States rights" and want less government in our lives, yet what they actually do is the exact opposite: they inact all sorts of manipulative legistation to control our personal behavior. Why should our sick and dying be forced to take stronger meds - like vicodin and methadone - when medical marijuana can help them do without those harmful drugs? Woops, I forgot... big pharmaceutical companies that donate big bucks to the repubs so they will do their bidding. Silly me.

If we legalized marijuana as a controlled medication then it could be taxed and the proceeds from the tax could go to pay for a national health care plan so all Americans could benefit from a basic health insurance plan.

Legalizing medical marijuana would bring a halt to the hundreds of wo/men hours spent trying to bust people growing it in their homes, or gardens, bringing it in over our borders, etc. Then our jails would empty out and we could start focusing on our real problems instead of this ridiculous manufactured one.

There are so many people in our prisons who got there because they were smoking cannabis that's it's unbelieveable!

And just think what we could do by developing a new industry for our country. Hemp could be used in place of trees for paper for newspapers and magazines, for clothing, for bio-fuel. The list is endless.

This policy has made criminals out of the sick and dying and it's reprehensible. It's time for it to end. Let's hope our next leaders have some sense in their heads for a change.

I think pot should be legal anyway. And most definately for medical uses. It probably gives this lady an appitite so she can eat to stay alive. I would think that is what is ment it is keeping her alive. And also easing pain for her. It is just crazy that booze is legal and pot is prison time........something with this picture?? You all have a nice evening. maeanna, Peace!!

We have to be bombarded with drug ads everywhere - especially on television and lately even on Gather, I've seen some pop up...and they're just experimental - Cannabis has been around for many many years and is shown to be beneficial. It makes me sick to think that people would be proscecuted for using it. Well, they can drag me off to the slammer because in my opinion, Marijuana is medicinal and natural. God will have to be my lawyer. Salud.

Medical Marijuana should be available to any who's Doctor feels they would benefit from it. I have a cousin in Canada who is one of a small number of people 'licensed' to use pot without being prosecuted... she has MS and apparently it's the only thing keeping her from being wheelchair bound.
As for the comment about pot being the only thing keeping her alive, it may well be that the only way she can tolerate food is if she smokes pot; in which case it truly is keeping her alive!
When's the last time a pot smoker... started a brawl, was stopped for speeding, caused a traffic fatality... the stats are out there some where but in my experience it's usually alcohol that's more likely to be involved in the above situations... and alcohol is legal!

Legalize Marijuana please for the sake of so many. Salud.

When you see the ads on tv today for the side effects of simple medications- sometimes they seem worse than the actual condition it is treating- while these side effects are rare, they are awful, what known side effects does marijuana have that is not induced by amounts that most humans who actually use it carry? The only studies I have read about involved rats that were given quantities, scores of times over what an actual potsmoker would consume?

This is an example of retro-cranial inversion at its worst.

Marijuana is far less toxic than either nicotine or ethanol.

The only reason the Federal Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed was to put hemp farmers out of business.
This was done conspiratorially by Weyerhauser, W.R. Hearst and E.A. Dupont.
Up until that time, nearly ALL paper was made from hemp. (Both the frigging Constitution and Declaration of Independence are written on hemp paper.
Dupont had just discovered a way to bleach wood pulp to make lighter colored paper than was previously possible.
Weyerhauser owned LOTS of forests. Hearst needed cheap paper for his tabloids.
Additional trivia: The Dupont process for bleaching wood pulp helped to create one of the most persistent and toxic substances currently polluting our environment : Dioxins.

Rudolph Diesel intended for his newly invented engine to run on hemp oil.

Hemp is one of the easiest and cheapest ways that we can dig ourselves out of the "hole" of Global Warming.

It should be legalized and grown in abundance.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes; not really; yes.