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US: Woman claims marijuana cured her cancer Scott Evans NWCN.com Friday 11 Nov 2011 Now, we look at the medical side of legislation that is meant to appeal to compassion. There are those that say marijuana is the only thing that helps them fight pain and disease. They say they should have the right to use the drug for medical purposes. So we asked the question, should a drug that is banned that is on the same level as heroin and meth be used for medical purposes? One person we talked with said "yes." She makes the bold claim that marijuana cured her cancer. "I was done, I was dying. There was nothing my doctors could do. They pretty much said they quit," said Tonya Myers. Tonya Myers was 17 when doctors told her she had cervical cancer. She spent the next 18 years fighting the disease. "My cancer after every pregnancy would spread. It went to my intestines, to my appendix, to my gallbladder," said Myers. From the beginning Myers turned to marijuana, or cannabis, to cure what she says western medicine could not. "God put the plant here,” Myers said. “I think he put it here for us to use properly.” She, like a growing movement in Idaho, wants to see the drug legalized. "Do you think this drug is harmful in any way?” asked NewsChannel 7. “No. Absolutely not," replied Myers. Myers says what's standing in the way of legalization are those who use the drug for recreational purposes. She says she uses a form of the plant that is not mind altering. "If I don't get my rights because they want to smoke a joint, I don't think that's fair," said Myers. Dr. Jim Morland with the Meridian Pain Center helps patients on daily basis with pain management and rehabilitation. "Marijuana is not like any other drug,” he said. “Every other drug has gone through a process through the FDA.” His problem with the drug is that there are just too many questions that need to be answered before it is open to the public. "If we study this medication, or study marijuana and find out it has medical purposes, that's fine,” Morland said. “Maybe in the future it would be appropriate to prove, but right now we don't have the information. It's not safe. It's not considered safe, and it's not considered effective, or it hasn't been proven to be safe and effective.” Even if Idaho passes a law making marijuana legal for medical purposes, Morland says he still wouldn't prescribe it. "Just because the Legislature has said it can be used as a medicine doesn't mean that it's been properly studied. It doesn't mean that it is safe or effective," said Morland. Myers says she and others have done those studies. She also agrees that marijuana needs to be treated like every other medicine. "You can't tax it and it needs to be through proper channels, it is a medicine,” said Myers. “If you need it, you need to go to the doctor.” Myers says she gets her marijuana from California and Oregon, states where she holds marijuana cards. She claims she has been cured of cancer and been tumor free going on nine months, but KTVB has no way of verifying her claims that marijuana is the reason she is cancer free. Right now there are two different groups working to legalize medical marijuana. A group called Compassionate Idaho is gathering signatures hoping to put an initiative on the November 2012 ballot. The other group is spear headed by state Rep. Tom Trail from Moscow. He plans to present new legislation in January. http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=133722843&fPath=%2Fnews%2Flocal&fDomain=10227
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