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Op-Ed: A Judge’s Plea for Pot

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May 17, 2012

Today, in a powerful and brave opinion piece in the New York Times, Judge Gustin L. Reichbach tells of how he relies on marijuana to tame the abysmal effects of chemotherapy and radiation, which in turn are meant to tame the cancer that ravages his body. Nausea and pain, he says, are constant companions of the treatment, and none of the drugs his doctors can prescribe him are any help. The only thing that helps is marijuana, which his doctors can’t prescribe – even when they, his doctors, know it is in his best interest – because lawmakers prohibit it.

Says Reichbach, “When palliative care is understood as a fundamental human and medical right, marijuana for medical use should be beyond controversy.” A brave and powerful plea to move past the politics and allow patients access to the medicine they need.

Read the entire piece here.

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