RHODE ISLAND MAKES CRIMINALS OUT OF SUFFERERS OF DISEASE

Rhonda O'Donnell's July 21 letter "I'm waiting (in pain) for pot to be
legalized" strikes a chord with many of us with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). It
took me a while (about two years) to finally throw caution to the wind and
try marijuana regardless of what the law dictates.

The excruciating pains in my legs, as well as other common MS symptoms, are
far less severe and even tolerable when I use marijuana. If my being able
to enjoy the quality of life I had before MS means I am a criminal, then so
be it. There are too many people, like Rhonda, that are courageously
enduring pain everyday while waiting for marijuana to be legalized for
medicinal use in Rhode Island.

There are legal drugs available, I know. But having to succumb to the side
effects and potential addictions to these chemicals of limited
effectiveness is absurd when there is a much more effective and safer
alternative.

If it were not for marijuana's historically bad reputation, there would be
little fuss over it. So in the meantime Rhode Islanders with various
diseases can legally indulge on prescribed chemicals, and alcohol and
nicotine, while lawmakers decide if they may one day "allow" us to legally
suffer less than we already have been.

DAVID W. SCZUROSKI

North Providence