Medicinal Marijuana a Humanitarian Medical

Medicinal Marijuana

A Humanitarian Medical Bill: H.R. 2835: Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act

To Senator Bill Nelson:

The disconnect between our federal marijuana policy and emergent data on the substance is problematic and senseless. Every year, countless individuals are incarcerated or plunged into legal difficulty and financial debt for the use of cannabis, a substance with few proven negative medical consequences, with no connection to acts of real criminality and even with the demonstration of several curative, medicinal or therapeutic properties. This disconnect would invoke the honorable Democratic representative, Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts to introduce H.R. 2835: Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act to the 111th United States Senate. This legislative package represents a major step forward for the United States, which maintains an embarrassingly out-of-touch, misguided and even inhumane policy on marijuana.

Indeed, Senator Nelson, in spite of your sometimes strong liberal credentials as demonstrated by positions against Floridian offshore oil-drilling and a strong support of prescription drug coverage from seniors. However, there is a major inconsistency in your policy platform, within which you have shown yourself to be clearly in the wrong where medical marijuana and the decriminalization of marijuana are concerned. In a recent correspondence, you are on record as having stated that you "oppose legalizing this dangerous drug." (NORML Foundation, 1)

This is a position that reflect outdated, bad or fabricated data. The perception that marijuana is dangerous is not just inaccurate, it is also an assumption that has allowed undue suffering to countless Americans with real and otherwise untreatable health maladies. Indeed, as a member of the Hospice and palliative Nurses Association dealing with end of life cancer patients, I have come to see firsthand the lost opportunities to ease suffering and reduce pain that are a result of the current policy approach. Without question, a far greater share of evidence abounds to discredit your view of marijuana as 'dangerous' and to instead endorse this as a substance which the human body processes and uses in positive ways.

Accordingly, Goodwin (2010) would find that amongst patients with surgical and nerve-pain, marijuana was the only substance that helped to reduce physical anguish. Accordingly, Goodwin reports that "patients have repeatedly made claims that smoked cannabis helps to treat pain, but the issue for me had always been the lack of clinical research to support that claim,' said Dr. Mark Ware, director of clinical research at the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit of the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal. In this small but randomized, controlled trial, 'the pain reductions were modest, but significant,' he said. 'And it was in people for whom nothing else worked.' (Goodwin, 1)

This underscores an important point, beyond just the fact that marijuana should be viewed as a valid therapeutic substance. Namely, we can see that the subjects of the study cited above are not criminals and do not engage in any criminal acts beyond those which have been created by our misplaced marijuana laws. The policy which you have so aggressively supported is one which looks to compound the pain and suffering of those already enduring anguish that you or I couldn't possibly imagine. Your position is, on top of being irrational, inhumane.

I believe this based on my firsthand experience in witnessing those who are prematurely undergoing the end-of-life stages. A recent case in which I watched a patient endure the horrors of advanced stage pancreatic cancer highlighted this perception for me. In this case, it was quite clear to me that the both the physical pain and uncontrollable nausea caused by the chemotherapy treatment were taking their toll on the patient's very will to survive. Evidence largely suggests that the subject in question would have been given a well-established pain-management strategy otherwise lacking had marijuana been available. Unfortunately, this plentiful, profitable, easy-to-grow and highly accessible substance has been demonized and victimized by hostile propaganda even as dangerous and deadly substances such as tobacco, alcohol and antidepressants remain highly proliferated.

From the combination of my experience and my value system, I must implore you to reconsider your position on the subject. You needn't simply take my work on the matter. Please conduct some actual research through peer-reviewed medical journals and I am confident you will find overwhelming critical evidence to support my position. Further, please consider, as will be detailed in the fact sheet hereafter, that the your political concerns over the position are unfounded. Public support for the legalization of marijuana has never been higher, and is largely a product of the view that it has both beneficial therapeutic properties and that its negative health repercussions have been either greatly exaggerated or simply conjured to support a reigning political perspective.

Quite frankly, we are beyond this as a citizenry. The draconian policies which have arbitrarily identified this as a substance so dangerous as to justify governmental babysitting of the public are driven as much by economic motives as anything else. It is time to stop harassing cannabis users; to stop using prison and fines in order to transfer individual wealth to states and cities; time for the government to no longer stand between suffering individuals and their treatment. Once again, I must close with a focus on your characterization of marijuana as a 'dangerous drug.' Prominent colleagues of yours, including Frank and Senators Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul have taken this bold stance. This is your opportunity to learn more and make the right decision. If you desire any further education on the subject, do not hesitate to contact me. I am both part of your constituency and professionally education in such a way as to relieve you of your false pretenses.