PROPOSITION 215Timothy Daemon, At The Age Of 43 Is Just One Of

PROPOSITION 215Timothy Daemon, at the age of 43 is just one of the few individuals who suffer fromAIDS. He is constantly being monitored by hospitals at all times, and must take manydifferent painkillers each day to help relieve his pain. Timothy takes over twenty pills a dayand is also suffering from malnutrition because of AIDS wasting syndrome, which is a lackof appetite. There is no cure for Timothy or others like him with AIDS, so what can be doneto ease their suffering? Is there any way we can help poor Timothy and others like him intheir pain? There is, and its called Proposition 215. Proposition 215 deals with thelegalization of marijuana for medical usage only. Under current California State law, it is acrime to grow or possess marijuana, regardless of whether the marijuana is used to ease painor other symptoms associated with illness. Throughout the last two years proposition 215 has been a hot issue on the minds ofthe voters and California legislature. It has been passed t hrough both houses of the Californialegislature, but was vetoed by Governor Wilson (http://Vote96.ss.ca.gov.com). Despite allthe overwhelming support by many physicians, pharmacist, and voters prop. 215 still hasmuch opposition. The American Food and Drug Administration, James P. Fox, president ofCalifornia's District Attorneys Office and director of the National Drug Control Policy BarryMcCaffery are the strongest of the opposition. Barry McCaffery claims that the propositionwould make it easier for all people to get marijuana and it would add to the continuing drugproblem. He also stated that it would encourage kids to take marijuana because it makes itseem as if marijuana is a medicine and not bad for you ([emailprotected] pg. 1). Further more he expressed that it would create loopholes for drug dealers and users to avoid being arrested. Attorney General James P. Fox claims that anybody with an oral recommendation or written prescription bya physician can grow, posses, or smoke a s much marijuana as he or she pleases (http://Vote96.ss.ca.gov.com). The FDA claims that there are other alternatives that produce the same effect as marijuana and that marijuanais to damaging to the body ([emailprotected] pg.1). They now supply Marinol, a synthetic substitutefor marijuana that can cost $30,000 more a year than marijuana and is often less reliable and less effective([emailprotected] pg.1). Some of these arguments do make sense and need to be taken into consideration. I do believe thatit may encourage more children to use marijuana because it may seem to them as a form of medicine, whichit is not. It is a painkiller for terminally ill people. Also, the proposition specifically states that marijuanawould only be available to people with specific illnesses and they must have either a signature or verbalagreement from a physician and pharmacist. If a verbal agreement is given then the doctor can be put underoath in a court of law. The other arguments are simply preposte rous. Proposition 215 does not allowunlimited amounts of marijuana to be grown anywhere. It may only be grown for the patient's personal use. Police officers can still arrest anyone who tries to sell or grow too much marijuana. Today physicians are alsoallowed to prescribe powerful drugs like morphine and codeine, which are much more dangerous thanmarijuana. So it doesn't make any sense at all not to prescribe marijuana. I'm not saying they don't nave any good arguments. Yet with more pros than cons it's hard to see whymarijuana isn't available today for patients. In my opinion the government should do anything in their powerto try to help these patients. Marijuana is not magic, but often it is the only way to get relief. A HarvardUniversity survey found that almost one-half of cancer doctors surveyed would prescribe marijuana to someof their patients if it were legal ([emailprotected]). Marijuana isn't just for AIDS patients either.University doctors and researchers have found that marijuana is also effective in lowering internal eyepressure associated with glaucoma, slowing the onset of blindness. It can help cancer patients. Most havesevere reactions to the disease and chemotherapy, which commonly causes severe nausea and vomiting. Onein three patients discontinue treatment despite a 50% chance of improvement because of pain and suffering.When one in five Americans will have cancer, and 20 million may develop glaucoma, shouldn't ourgovernment