The Food and Drug Administration recently concluded that marijuana has no medicinal benefits. I don't think those pushing for the medical use of mary jane have ever claimed that it had curative powers. It does, however, enter into the quality of life issue. Those suffering the ravages of cancer, especially patients on chemotherapy, too often lose their appetites and waste away until they are only skeletal remnants of their previous selves. The main claim for its use is that it increases the appetite. It is difficult to see how anyone could say there is no carryover, at least to a more decent life, when by using it one can enjoy a meal instead of starving to death.

The FDA has become a political extension of the current administration and represents the skewed views of former Attorney General John Ashcroft, rather than the objective views of the scientific community. John was led more by Leviticus than the Constitution, but marijuana, so far as I know, was not a problem the ancient Jews had to deal with.

I have seen numerous members of my generation featured on news reports using hemp for the purpose listed above. The drugs of choice for our generation were tobacco and alcohol. Both were legal, and remain so today. Their combined effects have brought the scourge of cancer to many of the aforesaid generation, and will doubtless bring the same scourge to succeeding ones. It would seem to me that these legal drugs have helped build a case for medical marijuana.

I don't think it is true, but one of the touted benefits of marijuana is an increased libido. Since the group of which I am a part is dying at the rate of a thousand a day for one cause or another, I doubt if many would mind leaving this realm with satisfied smiles on their faces. Some of the more profitable drugs on the market today are designed to help solve the problem of erectile dysfunction. It seems like a double standard to allow a manufactured chemical, endorsed by Bob Dole, and yet to refuse the natural product chosen by the masses.

I gave up cigarettes almost six decades ago, and my alcoholic intake is now limited to a glass or three of wine in the evening. However, since everyone must die of something, cancer has become a common choice for the elderly. If I wind up with some form of it, and taking up smoking again would keep me from starving to death, I think I'd say, "Pass the roach."

Posted by Wes Randolph   |   Saturday, April 22, 2006