newjerseynewsroom.com

Share this Twitter Myspace Digg Del.icio.us Reddit Slashdot Furl Yahoo Technorati Newsvine Facebook Export PDF Print E-mail

Ms. Angelini, your argument, as I understand it, is essentially that patients with severe terminal illness should be denied an effective medicine (in many cases, the only effective medicine) because you believe it will make it easier for teenagers to access that drug. Well, let's consider that a little more deeply. First of all, you acknowledge that illicit use of painkillers is a problem among our youth. This is absolutely true. The opiates are extremely addictive and dangerous, but legal. They are also ineffective for many of the patients to whom they are prescribed. I know personally a patient with muscular dystrophy who previously had to sell his opiate prescriptions -- which made his condition much worse -- illegally in order to afford marijuana. And guess what? The marijuana was not only an effective medicine, but it has zero side effects and is not addictive. Who the hell are you to deny sick patients medical treatment? You are absolutely unqualified to make these sort of decisions. If you want to have a voice in the medical community, then you should return to school and get a degree in medicine. Until then, let the experts do their jobs. From another angle, to think that marijuana will be more readily available to teens is pretty far-fetched. Why? Because the markets are already saturated. Your high schools are flooded with marijuana already because kids like to smoke pot. The law has never stopped anyone from doing it. It has simply criminalized them and created artificial consequences for an otherwise harmless behavior. The facts about the plant (it's not really a drug per se, though it does contain very many) are that it is one of the most versatile on the planet and has been used by humans for thousands of years without consequence. Its demonization is a recent phenomenon perpetuated by racist and greedy politicos who are motivated by corporate interests. If you truly want to represent your community then you will do some research (and perhaps consult a logic text for how to establish a valid argument) before you continue your crusade against terminally ill patients. See you next Tuesday, Ian.