Unfettered Letters

High time to legalize medical marijuana

Medical marijuana slows the progression of glaucoma. It relieves nausea for chemotherapy patients. It helps with multiple sclerosis symptoms. Now the latest study shows that it kills brain cancer cells.

Tell me again: Why it is illegal? It should be legally available everywhere at least by prescription.

Rusty Baker
Nevada, Mo.

‘Drug war’ is lost cause

 “We are speaking of a plague that consumes an estimated $75 billion per year of public money, exacts an estimated $70 billion a year from consumers, is responsible for nearly 50 percent of the million Americans who are today in jail, occupies an estimated 50 percent of the trial time of our judiciary, and takes the time of 400,000 policemen — yet a plague for which no cure is at hand, nor in prospect.”
— William F. Buckley Jr. writing about the war on drugs

When one of the most conservative journalists in the United States declares the so-called war on drugs a huge drain on our nation’s resources and a lost cause, it has quit being a liberal issue and has become an American issue. We can no longer afford to muddle our way through a medical problem by pretending it is a legal problem.

Hopefully President Obama will use his common sense when it comes to the treatment of this disease.

Steven Addison
Kansas City

Pot: An economic stimulus plant

I am very disappointed that our recently elected champion of change and hustler of hope, President Obama, has dismissed as a joke the suggestion that legalizing marijuana might offer a boost to the economy.
 
The suggestion apparently came not from just a few crackpots but from several thousand of the 100,000 who submitted questions to his recent virtual town hall. A mainstream magazine, The Economist, recently offered the same opinion.
 
Most certainly the economy would get a boost. We could save about half of the $68 billion devoted to corrections institutions. We would no doubt tax and regulate the sale of those drugs, much as we do cigarettes and liquor, and collect income tax on the profits.
 
Let’s face it folks. We have lost the war on drugs. Every statistic points to this as a fact.
 
Are we going to continue our insanity — doing the same old thing expecting new results — or finally wake up, throw in the towel and set a new course?

Ron Platt
Overland Park

Support for medical marijuana

As a business owner, homeowner and taxpayer, I feel our taxes are needlessly wasted. Missouri’s law enforcement officers should spend their time focusing on real crime, not wasting resources on arresting and prosecuting marijuana users.

If Missourians have their doctors’ approval they should be able to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest. They should be able to rely on a safe supply of marijuana without having to resort to the dangerous criminal market.

Studies have shown that marijuana relieves debilitating symptoms including nausea, appetite loss and severe pain. The decision of what medicine is best for an illness should be left up to the patient and the doctor, not the government.

This is not a partisan issue. It is a compassion issue. Please show support for Missouri HB 277.

Chris Smith
Kansas City

Cold-medicine bill

Requiring prescriptions for cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine is a bad idea (2/17, Local, “Measure aimed at meth producers”). The fee to see a doctor here is $80. Most people can’t afford that just to get cold medicine.

There has to be a better way to control this.

Terry Baker
Nevada, Mo.

Bone-strengthening drugs help some

Kimberly K. Shara (2/8, Letters, “.‘Bone-strengthening’ drugs”) is out of line in lumping everyone with heart disease and bone disease into one class. I am a person who has never smoked or drank alcohol and cook mainly from scratch, which includes fresh and frozen vegetables and fruits. I do not frequent fast-food places.

I, and many others like me, am a product of my gene pool. You can’t control the genes you are born with.

I do agree that eating healthy and exercising moderately is the right way to go, but some of us need these bone-strengthening drugs to help slow the progression of what is happening to our bodies.

I, for one, thank God for those drugs to give some of us a better quality of life.

Janis Richardson
Belton

Legalize steroids

Many retired professional football players walk with a limp. Many former high school and college athletes willingly sacrificed future orthopedic health with the intense effort required for athletic glory. Old aches are now arthritis or artificial steel parts. However, even if we knew then what we know now, we would have competed even more intensely for the competitive glory of the game.

Steroids? If available, we’d have used them too, paying a higher price today. That’s the point: With or without chemical performance-enhancement, athletes willingly pay a price.

Should our government involve itself? Yes, simply legalize it all. Keeping it illegal is dumber than Prohibition. That didn’t work, and this isn’t working. Alcohol and tobacco are at least as harmful as athletic performance-enhancers. So stop wasting taxpayers’ money with your jock-sniffing, publicity-seeking hearings with these heroic athletic morons. Today the threat from people wanting to destroy America is proliferating, while our jobs, pensions, and 401(k)s are diminishing.

So forget A-Rod and protect us from jihad. Ignore Barry Bonds and restore my stocks and bonds.

Otto Rieke
Shawnee

Medicinal marijuana

Cliff Village, Mo., recently passed a medical marijuana ordinance that allows seriously ill patients to use marijuana pursuant to the recommendation of a doctor (2/10, A-1, “Burg lights fire by legalizing medicinal pot”).

A 2005 nationwide Gallup poll showed that 78 percent of adults support making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe to reduce pain and suffering. A 2004 AARP poll showed that 72 percent of adults age 45 and older think patients should be allowed to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if a physician recommends it.

National support includes the American Nurses Association, the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Missouri Speaker of the House Ron Richard (R-Joplin) should take note of what the public, medical community and at least 13 other states already seem to know and assign House Bill 277 to committee so it can be openly and honestly debated.

Kelly Maddy
President, Joplin NORML
Joplin, Mo.

‘Dental cripples’

As president of the Kansas Academy of General Dentistry, I can state that dentists have been very aware of osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) for several years (2/3, A-1, “Drugs create ‘dental cripples’.”). As an organization representing more than 35,000 dentists nationwide, the Academy of General Dentistry has published numerous articles in its peer-reviewed journal General Dentistry and other publications, making sure that dentists are aware of this issue and are receiving the latest research.

As with many things, prevention is the key. I hope patients understand that they should see their dentists regularly for preventative care. Patients should work with their physicians to ensure that they have a comprehensive oral exam by a dentist before initiating bisphosphonate therapy so that dental issues can be resolved.

Lastly, please understand that avoiding dental care because of a concern about ONJ is not an option. ONJ is not caused by dental procedures — it is the inability of the body to remodel bone. It can occur in areas of untreated dental infection.

Please keep your dentist current on any medications you are taking, and together we can be proactive, not reactive.

Ric Crowder, D.D.S.
President , Kansas Academy of General Dentistry
Lenexa

Prescription drug costs

I read George Will’s hand-wringing column about the imminent demise of Medicare (2/7, Opinion, “Obama willing, Congress weak on entitlements”). Maybe if our government were willing to curb corporate welfare for the prescription drug companies, we could save a few billion.

I was shocked to find that my Medicare Plan D cost for one of my prescriptions, for both my co-pay and Medicare, was $392 for a 90-day supply, and another was $265 for 90 days. I checked prices at a Canadian pharmacy and found their price was $110 for the former and $200 for the latter for the same product.

I have heard all the special pleading from pharmaceutical companies about the cost of research being high. But does this mean that the U.S. is footing the bill for it while other countries regulate prices? Maybe, but I think we have a case of what Will euphemizes as “political free speech”— i.e. bribery of Congress.

Drug companies enjoy a monopoly on patented prescription drugs. We should regulate their prices.

Carrol L. Fry
Maryville, Mo.