Letter:
Sick People And Those Who Help Them Will Still Face Arrest And Possible
Imprisonment
Source: Hunts Post
Date: December 27 2006
Author: Don Barnard
Type: Letter
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REGARDLESS of the THC4MS trial outcome, sick people and those who help them
will still face arrest and possible imprisonment.
Pain and discomfort come in a range of unpleasant flavours - nausea, sickness,
throbbing, itching, aching, stabbing, stinging, pounding, piercing. But all
have one thing in common. Those who endure it want it to stop.
Why is there such pressure in favour of the use of synthetics or THC Marinol
(Dronabinol) and Nabilone rather than natural cannabis, to the extent that
researchers and sick people who wish to use the latter are forced to use the
former instead?
Most widely used analgesics today are essentially "folk remedies"
that have served for centuries: morphine and other opiates derive from the
opium poppy, and aspirin comes from willow bark. Although these treatments can
give relief, each has its limitations.
Aspirin and other non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen,
cannot ease the most severe types of discomfort. And even opiates, generally
the strongest medicines, do not work for everyone. Moreover, they can have
serious side effects, and patients tend to become tolerant to them, requiring
escalating doses to get any relief.
People living with a serious illness experiencing one or more of the
discomforts above who use cannabis regard the harmful effects as a calculated
risk. They do not give a hoot whether scientific evidence shows that cannabis
is not efficacious medicine , or that it is potentially harmful. What they hope
for is it might make them live as close to a healthy, productive life .
Why is there such determined resistance to the provision of natural cannabis
for therapeutic purposes?
DON BARNARD
Norfolk
http://www.huntspost.co.uk/