Omaha World-Herald: Sufferers tell how pot eases pain

[Heidi]

Published Sunday August 9, 2009

About 21 years have gone by since George McMahon landed in the University of Iowa hospital.

He was suffering from kidney failure, a fractured spine, nausea and extreme pain. Doctors had not yet discovered the root of his problems, a rare genetic disorder called nail-patella syndrome. But they told him one thing: He probably wouldn't live through the night.

That evening, McMahon smoked a joint — given to him by someone visiting an ailing cancer patient — with the thought “Why not?” Later that night, he was able to eat. Ten days later, he left the hospital.

Now 59, the north-central Iowa man is one of four remaining members of a federal program that provides them with marijuana cigarettes every month.

<snip>

This month, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy will hold the first of four public hearings to take arguments for and against allowing the use of marijuana as medicine. The board could make a recommendation to the Iowa Legislature based on the results. The last of the hearings will be Nov. 4 at Harrah's Casino & Hotel in Council Bluffs.

State Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, hopes the hearings give momentum to a bill he introduced this year that would have legalized medical marijuana. That bill stalled in committee. In 1993, a similar bill received unanimous approval in the Senate before dying in the House.

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[Chemisse]

1. Clearly we are moving in the right direction

But it is oh-so slow and people are suffering.

[TexasObserver]

2. Recommend

[jfkraus]

3. Big Pharma is against legalizing pot

...because you can grow it yourself. The next thing they'll do is genetically engineer and patent the DNA in some pot, then they "accidentally" release it into the environment and sue anybody who grows "their" pot.

[Heidi]

5. All the better reason to continue it. Fair and balanced, ya know. (nt)

[indepat]

4. Ain't that right white (please pardon the possible political incorrectness) of senior (GHWB)

to have closed the program to new patients in 1992 and shame, shame on WJC, junior, and now even BHO if he doesn't re-open the program to a flood of needy patients which might well include yours truly down the road as his progressive peripheral neuropathy seems to progress with alarming alacrity. :D

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended for common sense, compassion and logic.

Thanks for the thread, Heidi.:thumbsup:

[Wednesdays]

7. K&R

:kick: