This is a story about a son's love for his father and the medicinal relief supplied by marijuana.

Many years ago my father was diagnosed with cancer of the liver and pancreas. He was 79 and, other than the diagnosis, healthy and hardy.

His oncologist was a Chinese doctor in San Clemente, and one day I accompanied my father to an appointment. My father was a strong character and accepted that his death would come sooner or later. But the chemotherapy was causing nausea and headaches and loss of appetite. It was for these undesirable side effects that my father wanted to see his doctor.

When he asked what the good doctor could prescribe so that he could feel better, the doctor, quite seriously, told my father that he would find relief by smoking marijuana. In the early 1980s this was a revelation. The next question, an obvious one, was could the doctor prescribe the drug.

The doctor replied yes, he could prescribe it, but it would have to receive approval by the federal DEA and that would likely take months.

Then a surprising thing occurred. The doctor knew I was a teacher.

He looked at me and I knew exactly what he was going to say. "You are a high school teacher and I suppose you could find some marijuana for your father fairly quickly."

This was an unexpected assignment. I did not consider, until after the fact, the moral or legal implications. If marijuana could help my father feel better, I would try to find some, and I did.

And the drug had some positive effects. Of course it didn't cure my father's cancer, but his appetite improved, his headaches and nausea disappeared and, not least, his love of life and people returned. My parents' house, which had always smelled clean, now occasionally smelled like the Sports Arena after a rock concert, but that was a small price to pay.

This true story has a moral. From personal experience I think it is a terrible mistake for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to sue to overturn the initiative whereby the voters approved the medicinal use of marijuana. Instead of returning to the "Dark Ages," the board should sue the United States government to overturn its medieval policy on the use of medicinal marijuana. No young person will experiment or not experiment with marijuana because of anything the board does or doesn't do.

And perhaps no son or daughter will have to risk his or her career to help a dying parent find some relief.

Newshawk: Empower Activists www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Fri, 09 Dec 2005
Source: North County Times (Escondido, CA)
Copyright: 2005 North County Times
Contact: letters@nctimes.com
Website: http://www.nctimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1080
Note: Gives LTE priority to North San Diego County and Southwest Riverside County residents
Author: J. David Drielsma
Note: J. David Drielsma lives in Cardiff.
Cited: San Diego County Board of Supervisors
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/general/bos.html