Decriminalizing drugs not worth the risk

A recent letter in a Bellingham paper advocating passage of Initiative 685
repeats the soothing mantra: Let doctors decide, not politicians. The
letter begins by talking about those who "braved the horrors of
chemotherapy" (makes it sound like Auschwitz) and ends with the elevation
of marijuana to the status of lifesaving medicine. Give me a break.
Tossing you cookies is not fatal.

I spent March through August of this year on chemotherapy. It can be
painful. It can cause nausea. It generally upsets your body, because the
drugs are necessarily powerful; but it’s not a horror that requires the use
of intoxicants to make it through. It’s bearable. Compazine suppresses
nausea and also can put you to sleep, which gets you past the pain. In
spite of it all, I did lose my lunch on one or two occasions (I found that
a big breakfast was better than a big lunch.) At no time did I ever feel
the "need" for marijuana.

I want everyone to realize that Initiative 685 will decriminalize other
drugs in Washington state, not just marijuana. It’s not that hard to find a
doctor who will write a prescription for anything you want; I’ve seen
friends do it in the past. Make up your own minds, but please don’t fall
for the baloney that marijuana is necessary as a cancer treatment, because
it just isn’t so.

Frank Lang

Bellingham