Medical marijuana legalization for terminally ill cancer patients

Medical Marijuana

To Governor Rick Perry:

In the state of Texas, the use of marijuana for medical reasons is illegal, but I would like you to reconsider this issue. I have a personal interest in this issue as I am terminally ill with colon cancer. By the time this issue is resolved in Texas, it will likely be too late for me, but being ill has made me wish to be proactive so that I can help others to alleviate their pain and suffering. Medical marijuana has proven to help cancer sufferers and other chronically or terminally ill people in a myriad of ways. I hope you will consider this information and, after reading this letter, promote the use of medical marijuana in the state of Texas so that people in my position will be happier and healthier in the future.

Medical marijuana has been proven to alleviate the symptoms of chemotherapy, including the crippling nausea. People with cancer often have to undergo chemotherapy, which is a very aggressive form of medical treatment which results in most patients losing their hair, quite a bit of weight, and having a plurality of other complications. Often, the side effects of the chemotherapy can be more traumatic to the body than the cancer itself. If medical marijuana usage can help patients who are undergoing this process, then it seems cruel to deny them this. Additionally, there has been research which proves that medical marijuana may even be able to prevent the spread of cancer throughout the body of the patients (McAllister 2007,-page 2921). Both breast and brain cancers have been retarded and treated through the use of medical marijuana.

Marijuana can also help people by stimulating hunger. AIDs patients and cancer patients can become easily malnourished. The symptoms of their conditions deter their hunger and make it difficult to eat. Research conducted at Columbia University were able to determine that medical marijuana and cannabis are able to increase hunger in AIDS patients and allow them to intake larger quantities of food without any negative effects on the body (Ellis 2009,-page 672). Many AIDS patients and other chronic conditions cause such problems with the dietary system that they wind up dying from a form of starvation long before the disease can kill them. Marijuana can help people feel hunger and allow them to eat and then digest food without repercussions.

Pain management is one of the most difficult aspects of chronic and terminal illness. There are many conditions, such as fibromyalgia, which are marked with constant pain. These conditions are so far incurable, making pain management medication the only thing which makes patients able to continue. It has been found that medical marijuana can be instrumental in helping these patients (Russo 2004,-page 32).

People with glaucoma have been successfully treated with medical marijuana. The substance has been proven to lower intraocular eye pressure. According to research that was conducted by the National Institute of Medicine, medical marijuana and its active ingredient THC has been show to decrease intraocular eye pressure by an average of 24% (Joy 1999).

Gastrointestinal illnesses can be alleviated and treated through medicinal marijuana as well. Other conditions, namely "spasticity, painful conditions, especially neurogenic pain, movement disorders, asthma and glaucoma" can be treated in this way (Grotenherman 2002,-page 124). It has also been found to relieve symptoms of multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injuries (Kogel 1995,-page 800).