Oregon’s 7-year-old medical marijuana patient stirs controversy

[sigmasix]

11. opiates aren't as effective

I have been fighting cancer for 10 years. The twice-a-day chemotherapy regime I have been using for the last 8 years takes my appetite, my energy, my humor and my health. When we tried using opiates to relieve the horrible side effects I found that my quality of life was spiraling down into an opiate dream world that robbed me of myself. I live in Michigan and we have a MM law. I find that one or two joints has a much more positive affect in releiving the worst parts of the sickness and pain, with the added bonus of being able to function without knodding-off all day. Opiates are physically addictive and damaging to the liver and other organs over long periods of use. I have been smoking 3 to 4 joints a day for over 5 years and have never had the serious emotional or intellectual side-effects that anti-MM crusaders claim exist. My short-term memory is shot, but we think it more likely to be caused by the chemotherapy, than the pot. My wife and daughters call it "chemo-brain" and we joke about it sometimes. I'm always suspicious of the anti-medical marijuana folks; they dont seem to be too offended by the notion that cancer sufferers must take poison into their bodies to live, but a little herb to give me an appetite and make me feel better is wrong, somehow.