Medical Marijuana

Posted by Bob Lord

I’ve always supported medical marijuana. But I’ve never had any real life experiences to justify it. Until now.

Some months ago, a close friend of mine called to let me know he couldn’t make it to my daughter’s wedding. He would be traveling back to the mid-west to spend time with his own daughter, who’d been diagnosed with cancer. We spoke for a long while about her diagnosis and the outlook. He shared with me that it was pancreatic cancer. I didn’t mention that I understood pancreatic cancer to be perhaps the most deadly of all, but I sensed he knew that anyhow and also didn’t want it mentioned.

At some point, the conversation turned to his daughter’s treatment. I suggested he get her some pot. My friend is 15 years or so older than I am. He’s fairly liberal in his politics, but he’s definitely old school. He’d preceded the first of the pot smoking generations and never even considered trying it out. But he’s open minded, and was willing to try anything to help his daughter. So he asked me for more information. I explained how pot might alleviate pain and also make his daughter hungry. I recalled to him how a cancer doc once telling me that cancer victims ultimately die of starvation more than anything else, so maintaining an appetite is critical.

Well, last week he called with the bad news. When we spoke, however, he was effusive in his thanks for the pot suggestion. It had helped his daughter more than any traditional meds that were prescribed to her. That doesn’t undo the pain of seeing a friend lose a child, but it does make me that much more resolute in my belief that those who stand in the way of medical marijuana are not interested in the greater good.

I wonder what it will take for progressives to win this one small battle once and for all. It seems so ludicrous that it needs to be a battle at all.