Doctors should be the ones to decide

I believe that doctors and patients should make the decisions that will affect the patients’ quality and length of life, not politicians. The American people have stood up for this idea by passing medical marijuana initiatives in eight states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, Washington, Oregon and Nevada.

For patients who face cancer chemotherapy or daily AIDS-related drug cocktails, smoked marijuana can help ease pain and nausea and increase the appetite, making it possible for some who would otherwise drop out of treatment to continue. However, the federal government has threatened to arrest doctors and patients over medical marijuana, making this potentially life-saving therapy available only to those who are willing to risk being arrested and put in jail.

It is time the federal government allowed doctors and patients to make the important decisions about treatment with medical marijuana. A bill introduced in the U.S. House by Rep. Barney Frank, HR 2592, would do just that by acknowledging marijuana’s medical uses and removing the federal prohibition against prescribing marijuana to the seriously ill.

I implore people who love freedom to contact their members of Congress to sign on to the bill.

Lynnwood