A Judge’s Plea for Pot
THREE and a half years ago, on my 62nd birthday, doctors discovered a mass on my pancreas. It turned out to be Stage 3 pancreatic cancer. I was told I would be dead in four to six months. Today I am in that rare coterie of people who have survived this long with the disease. But I did not foresee that after having dedicated myself for 40 years to a life of the law, including more than two decades as a New York State judge, my quest for ameliorative and palliative care would lead me to marijuana.
My survival has demanded an enormous price, including months of chemotherapy, radiation hell and brutal surgery. For about a year, my cancer disappeared, only to return. About a month ago, I started a new and even more debilitating course of treatment. Every other week, after receiving an IV booster of chemotherapy drugs that takes three hours, I wear a pump that slowly injects more of the drugs over the next 48 hours.
Nausea and pain are constant companions. One struggles to eat enough to stave off the dramatic weight loss that is part of this disease. Eating, one of the great pleasures of life, has now become a daily battle, with each forkful a small victory. Every drug prescribed to treat one problem leads to one or two more drugs to offset its side effects. Pain medication leads to loss of appetite and constipation. Anti-nausea medication raises glucose levels, a serious problem for me with my pancreas so compromised. Sleep, which might bring respite from the miseries of the day, becomes increasingly elusive.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/opinion/a-judges-plea-for-medical-marijuana.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120517
Uncle Joe
(58,506 posts)Thanks for the thread, groovedaddy.
Jumping John
(930 posts)on the way home after chemo treatments in Galveston to counteract the nausea. This was when the University of Texas Medical Branch would provide indigent care for people who had no insurance. UTMB does not provide that care anymore.
Chemisse
(30,821 posts)A safe and effective drug is demonized because of egos and power struggles to keep the war against drugs alive for even the most insignificant substance.
It's simply unbelievable, as I expect it will be to people looking back on this era decades from now.