MARIJUANA BROUGHT RELIEF TO MY DYING FATHER

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.