Unfettered Letters

Ban intoxicated bus riders

Recently I was catching one of the buses from the Plaza to an appointment, when an unruly and belligerent passenger refused to leave the bus and walked over to a fellow passenger (a senior citizen) and started yelling, cussing, calling her names and threatening to hit her. The driver told him that the police were on their way. They hadn’t even been called upon.

What the driver should have done was call her supervisor, then the police. The passenger appeared to be under the influence of alcohol.

A week before that I was on a different bus when a teenager boarded who reeked of marijuana. The smell was so overwhelming that a group of us quickly departed.

To protect the public, bus drivers should refuse service to passengers who have been drinking or using drugs.

Diane Aliason
Kansas City

Medical marijuana in Missouri

qFor the second year in a row, House Speaker Rod Jetton has ignored repeated requests from patients, doctors, nurses and fellow Missourians to give medical cannabis legislation the attention it needs and deserves.

Like last year, Jetton waited until House committees are only hearing bills that have passed through the Senate to assign HB 1830 to the House Crime Prevention and Public Policy Committee, ensuring that it will not be scheduled for a hearing. This is unfortunate because this particular committee could have examined how medical cannabis legalization might enhance public welfare and address patients’ needs.

Legitimate medical cannabis patients must now live with the fear of being criminally persecuted, and doctors who would safely recommend this therapeutic herb are forced to remain silent for at least another year.

Shame on Jetton for abusing this bill as he has abused patients.

Jacqueline Patterson
Bolinas, Calif.

Legalizing medical marijuana would allow seriously ill patients to have safe access to cannabis. As a nurse I have seen how much difference cannabis can make to a patient. Believe it or not, doctors sometimes recommend it on the DL.

Polls have shown that a majority of people in the U.S. want medical cannabis to be available to seriously ill patients

John Schneider
Harrisonville

Prescription drug price markups

I read with great interest LaVerne Fieseler’s trouble with Medicare (5/7, Letters). As a pharmacist, I would question the physician’s price of Procrit: $1,280 per week. This drug can be purchased, by a wholesaler, for less than $600 per week. So why such a large markup for a life-sustaining drug?

While Medicare may not reimburse a truly fair amount, physicians have too long overcharged for medications they administer in their office.

Eric McKinnon
Shawnee

Pharmaceutical research

Your editorial “Authorship questions raise doubts” (4/18, Opinion) raised valid points about the need for transparency in pharmaceutical research. However, your editorial refers to articles published in The Journal of the American Medical Association that were false, misleading, and lacked context.

First, those who wrote the JAMA article apparently failed to check their accusations with the non-Merck authors of the papers themselves. Several of those authors publicly protested the allegations, calling any allegation of “ghostwriting” of their papers absolutely false.

Second, you ask “so what” that the JAMA articles were written by consultants hired by trial lawyers. The significance is that it is a one-sided account. Indeed, the company was given no opportunity to provide any input. In the litigation — where Merck was able to present its side — Merck won nine of the last 11 product liability cases.

Theodore V. H. Mayer
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, outside counsel for Merck & Co., Inc.
New York

Pasta looks like Papa

I don’t know whether Vytorin is any better than generics for treating high cholesterol (3/31, A-1, “Doubts cast on value of Vytorin, Zetia”), but I sure enjoy the commercials where a plate of food reminds you of a relative’s appearance.

Jim Dingwerth
Kansas City

Prescription drug dangers

The methadone incident involving nine St. Joseph teens (3/21, A-1, “St. Joseph girls ill after sharing methadone”) highlights an immediate danger. Intentional abuse of prescription drugs to get high is entrenched behavior, with one in five American teens admitting use, yet alarmingly they — and their parents — often underestimate the risks.

Our research shows that nearly one-third of teens believe there’s nothing wrong with occasional abuse of medicines, almost 40 percent think prescriptions are safer than illegal drugs, and many mistakenly believe pain medications are not addictive.

Fortunately, parents have real power in preventing this behavior. Kids who learn a lot about the risks of drug abuse from their parents are up to half as likely to use.

Parents can educate themselves on which products are abused; safeguard access by removing these from the home medicine cabinet; and communicate the real — and even deadly — risks of this behavior to their kids openly, honestly and often.

Stephen J. Pasierb
President and CEO, Partnership for a Drug-Free America
New York

Medical marijuana, Missouri

I was born with cerebral palsy and discovered early on that cannabis mitigated the most painful physical and emotional manifestations of my disorder. I later learned that cannabis can help stutterers speak more clearly and that decades ago, doctors discovered the herb's ability to alleviate muscle spasms, from which I also suffer.

A year ago my children and I reluctantly fled our home in Kansas City and headed for the sanctuary of California's Compassionate Use Act.

Although 12 states have enacted medical cannabis laws that protect patients against state penalties, patients in the remaining states risk losing their careers, their freedom and even their families because they use a natural, nontoxic medicine to treat illness rather than expensive and addictive pharmaceutical drugs.

Now that a bill to protect medical cannabis patients has been introduced in the General Assembly, Missouri has an opportunity to step up and do the right thing.

Patients all over the state are anxiously awaiting the assignment of House Bill 1830 to the Health and Public Policy Committee. Please contact House Speaker Rod Jetton and ask him to open his heart to Missouri medical cannabis patients so that they may stop living in pain, fear and misery.

Jacqueline Patterson
Bolinas, Calif.

'Fail first’ policy

A terrible practice is being applied to many local citizens with mental illness: “fail first.” In January, 36,000 additional Missourians were enrolled in managed care plans under Missouri HealthNet, many of which inflict “fail first” policies that require patients to be treated with medications on a list, often not the medications they currently use that work for them.
Psychiatrists have been forced to switch patients’ medications, resulting in deterioration of their conditions. Patients are being released from hospitals (where they went to get stabilized) and forced to change meds, with disastrous consequences.
This is not only inhumane; it is poor public policy. The minimal savings gained by shrinking the list of available drugs is more than offset by the cost of patients returning to the hospital in crisis, winding up in jail, or returning to a disabled state.
As concerned taxpayers and compassionate citizens, we should demand the state to require discontinuation of this terrible practice.
Susan Crain LewisPresident and CEOMental Health Association of the HeartlandKansas, City, Kan. 
Thank you, carriers
I think we all owe our newspaper delivery people a big tip for all their service during our difficult winter weather.
I am very dependent on my morning fix of coffee and a newspaper. I had one every morning. Thank you.
Carol Graham
Lawrence

‘Morning-after pill’

I see where the right-wing religionists are at it again in the Missouri legislature. Instead of trying to help the poor and homeless, or the many who don’t have health insurance, they are going after the morning-after pill.

Never ones to let science get in the way, they think that this pill is somehow about abortion.

For those who may give plausible consideration to these ideas, just know that next on their list will be the birth-control pill, with the ultimate diminishment of rights for women as their ultimate goal.

Once again we have a regrettable example of why it is important to separate religion and government. Our civil liberties may be in peril if the religious right gets more political power.

Steve Corey
Leawood

RU486 and ‘Plan B’

'As a registered nurse for 26 years and a consistent voter, I urge all Missouri legislators to vote against HB 1625 (2/18, Local, “Plan would reclassify pill; Missouri bill would protect pharmacies from lawsuits, punishment by state regulators”). There are more appropriate ways to protect pharmacies from lawsuits and punishment for refusing to sell or fill a prescription for RU486 and the “Plan B” pill than denying millions of Missouri women access to safe, reliable and legal contraception.

Many registered nurses cannot deliver blood products due to religious beliefs. These RNs are assigned to shifts or units where other RNs are available to provide the service. If unable to do this, health facilities simply do not hire these RNs.

All patients deserve access to safe, legal health-care procedures.

Likewise, all Missouri women deserve to receive all manner of legal birth control, including RU486 and Plan B. Please do not allow the religious or ethical views of a few to determine the healthcare and reproductive rights of the majority.

Renee Carlson
Lee’s Summit

As a pharmacist, I am upset that a layperson is projecting herself into a fray that should be pharmacist vs. his/her own conscience. Susan Klein may be a paid spokesperson for Missouri Right to Life, but she actually is a person who would deny others their basic rights.

The argument put forth that HB 1625 is to protect pharmacists is far from the truth.

In my close to 40 years in pharmacy, I have had calls from women who have been sexually assaulted and gone to an emergency room for help. Where are the Ms. Kleins to listen to their cries for help?

As an aside, I had a woman as a patient who was very much against abortion, truly a staunch conservative in all ways. Her granddaughter came to her to tell her she was pregnant, and to ask what she should do. The lady told me she offered her granddaughter the opportunity to have an abortion, but her granddaughter said no she would have the baby and give it away. Her grandmother was very proud of her granddaughter for her decision, but she did offer her the choice. That is what we are really discussing.

Herbert Simon
Overland Park

Drugs help many

It was with a sinking heart that I read the headline “Anti-wrinkle drugs are linked to deaths” and the article that followed. http://www.kansascity.com/439/story/485221.html

I don’t know the particulars behind the statement that “a few children who had been given the drugs for muscle spasms died.” Whatever the circumstances, the death of a child is always a tragedy and should be investigated. However, there is something much larger at stake here.

I have myself been injected first with Botox and later Mybloc every three months for 23 years to help me deal with a condition called spasmodic torticollis, which causes my neck to spasm and turn in an abnormal way.

These two wonderful drugs have enabled me to maintain my quality of life and pursue a full-time teaching career.

Skillful providers of the drugs and carefully maintained injection procedures have enabled thousands of patients like me to reap benefits for a variety of neurological conditions.

Constant testing and re-testing keeps the likelihood of a recipient developing botulism extremely rare.

I am not denying the fact that sometimes bad results have occurred. I imagine this could be true of many medical treatments. But I know many people who have been helped by these drugs.

Janelle Lazzo
Roeland Park

Idolizing drug users?

Well, now I’ve seen it all (1/25, Stargazing). Lil Wayne (aka Dwayne Michael Carter Jr) went and got himself arrested on three felony charges. Federal agents said they found cocaine and other illegal drugs on his tour bus in Yuma, Ariz., last Wednesday. Then, after posting bail, he’s greeted outside a bondsman’s office by — now hold on to your hat, folks — a throng of autograph seekers.

What is this world coming to when we idolize drug-using felons? I guess it’s OK to be a junkie if you’re rich and famous. Or is that infamous?

Joe Hoppenthaler
Parkville

Student drug testing

Missouri Sen. Matt Bartle recently filed an excessively broad bill requiring random drug tests for high school athletes for any controlled substance or steroids (1/23, Sports Daily, “Steroid testing hot topic; Other states have high school programs, and Missouri may join them”). Students testing positive would be banned for the current and following academic year — a lifetime sentence for juniors and seniors.

Students are already prohibited from engaging in criminal conduct. Missouri State High School Activities Association policies are already in place to stop criminal conduct and punish athletes. How can schools or MSHAA administer reliable tests? Will prosecutors bring criminal charges using test results? MSHAA has enough problems finding officials to properly call traveling in basketball games.

I suggest that Bartle amend his bill to require the same drug and steroid testing for Missouri’s legislators. If it’s good enough for the athletes, then it’s good enough for our elected officials. I might also add that, based upon the legislation that has arisen out of Jefferson City since Matt Blunt took office, drug testing would be appropriate for lawmakers. In the meantime, leave the kids alone and just say no to Senate Bill 736.

Bill Stahlhuth
Washington, Mo.

They need a boost

I would like to propose the following: Effective Jan. 1, performance enhancement drugs be administered to our current administration and be continued throughout the year.

I would not limit this program just to the administration, but to all elected officials, anyone holding elected office.

We should then monitor carefully this program on a judicious basis and by the end of the year have an impartial evaluation of the program. A comparison, if you will, of the previous year.

I am sure the electorate would be happy to accept the cost for this “PED Program.”

We desperately need some performance enhancing results from our politicians, and I truly believe if administered on an impartial basis, this might be the answer.

Alex Margiotta
Fairway

Steroids, salaries and stadiums

So Jason Whitlock tells us that the incentive for ballplayers to use performance-enhancing drugs is skyrocketing salaries (12/15, Sports Daily). The implication is that they are excessive. I think he is on to something.

From where does this money come? Why, much of it is confiscated from the taxpayer. I have always wondered why the business of sports must be supported by those who don’t care about sports. Why aren’t TV, radio, product endorsements and attendance receipts sufficient to cover costs? Why don’t owners finance their own stadiums, instead of stuffing their receipts into the pockets of players?

As Mr. Whitlock notes, with all this money available for salaries, it is no surprise that players seek to optimize their financial reward.

Here is where Mr. Whitlock must be held accountable. Whenever team owners decide that their stadiums aren’t as fancy as the stadiums of their competitors, they threaten to move to a more accommodating city if the local citizens don’t cough up the cash for new facilities. It then becomes a political issue where we find the sports scribes writing to persuade the public to approve expenditures for new facilities. With no major-league team in KC, maybe life would be less rewarding for them.

Robert Kobler
Bonner Springs

Drugs in baseball

I was appalled at the commentary by Joe Posnanski on the Mitchell Report (12/14, Sports Daily, “An obvious conclusion, an unsure aftermath”). The “don’t ask, don’t tell” philosophy he seems to favor is way off base.

Does he not realize the number of young athletes who read the sports page? How can he suggest that cheating is OK?

John R. Stack
Overland Park

On page D-6 of the Friday Star (12/14) is a quote from Dan Glass, Royals president: “The lifeblood of our game is its integrity, and restoring any integrity that might have been lost during this period in baseball should be everyone’s priority.” Later he says, “Our goal today must be to move forward under the current policies in place and regain the trust of our fans, reassuring them that this is a part of our past and not our future….”

The way the Royals are choosing to move forward into the past is by signing Jose Guillen to zillions of dollars. Mr. Guillen has already been suspended for 15 days for violating the league’s drug policy, reportedly for purchasing steroids and human growth hormone.

I don’t understand how this restores integrity.

I do not understand how Mr. Glass can possibly rationalize this as moving forward.

Doug Myler
Blue Springs

Drug testing for students

The De Soto School Board needs to educate itself on the downside of student drug testing (11/19, Local, “De Soto schools consider drug testing; Administrators favor random checks, but an expert doubts their value as a deterrent”).
Student involvement in after-school activities like sports has been shown to reduce drug use. Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests as a prerequisite will only discourage participation in extracurricular programs.
Drug testing may also compel marijuana users to switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive. This is one of the reasons the American Academy of Pediatrics opposes student drug testing.
Marijuana’s organic metabolites are fat-soluble and can linger for days. More-dangerous synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and prescription narcotics are water-soluble and exit the body quickly. If you think drug users don’t know this, think again. Anyone capable of running an Internet search can find out how to thwart a drug test.
The most commonly abused drug and the one most closely associated with violent behavior is almost impossible to detect with urinalysis. That drug is alcohol, and it takes far more student lives each year than all illegal drugs combined. Instead of wasting money on drug tests, schools should invest in reality-based drug education.
Robert Sharpe
Policy analyst
Common Sense for Drug Policy
Washington, D.C.

Compare pharmacy prices

My wife and I are in our late 70s and have significant pharmacy costs. Medicare helps us some, although it’s structured to give millions to the drug companies and punishes those with high drug costs who reach the “doughnut hole.”

Since we both have used at least $2,400 worth of medications, we’ve reached the point where we must now pay 100 percent of the next $2,900. Therefore, I surveyed five pharmacies to determine where we could get our next 90-day supply for the lowest cost. The differences in prices were amazing.

I surveyed two grocery pharmacies, where our medications would cost $2,668 and $2,087. A chain drugstore would charge $2,353; a mail-order pharmacy $1,773; a warehouse discount store pharmacy $1,568.

We found savings of $185, $138 and $130 on three different drugs.

By buying the cheapest drugs available, we can buy our 90-day supply for $1,362, a savings of $1,306 over the cost at the grocery pharmacy and $991 less than at the drugstore chain.

Perhaps others with significant drug costs should shop around.

R. Vance Hall
Overland Park

Afghanistan, poppies

On viewing the TV special about Afghanistan’s poppy production and the success of the Taliban in the south, it seems to me that paying the poor farmers there not to plant poppies could be a more effective move than all the military effort expended to curb the Taliban’s drug income.

It would be a huge step in limiting terrorism and a substantial boost to Hamid Karzai’s popularity, inasmuch as poppy growing is opposed by both secular and Islamic law.

I estimate that one-tenth of the outrageous $25 billion the U.S. spends per year on farm subsidies could help stem the flow of billions into Taliban coffers. Paying farmers in the south for two or three years could reduce military costs and deaths there.

Congress has for years talked about overhauling the bloated farm subsidy handouts. Now is a good time.

We need to keep a valuable ally like Karzai. Afghan farmers can also be weaned from poppies to crops they have traditionally grown.

Dave McGinty
Kansas City

COMBAT legacy

Let us remember one of the long-lasting legacies that Bill Waris left Jackson County is the Community Back Anti-Drug Tax (COMBAT).

Many years back, Waris and Albert Riederer put before the County Legislature the COMBAT proposal. This proposal was passed and has been a shining star for agencies working to prevent drug abuse, treat users, enforce the laws and prosecute the offenders.

This quarter-cent tax has brought recognition to Jackson County from across the county. We are the envy of those other communities that have not found a way to back the efforts of local community and governmental organizations.

Thank you, Bill Waris and Albert Riederer.

Alice Kitchen
Kansas City

Access to medications

As a pharmacist, I want to applaud Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri for working to preserve access to prescription drugs for low-income patients and families covered by Medicaid.

The government will pay pharmacies less than their cost for certain Medicaid prescriptions because of a new federal rule that includes $8.4 billion in funding cuts. No business can be expected to operate at a loss, and these cuts may force changes in pharmacy operations that will affect the patients that pharmacists are trained to serve.

On top of that, a recent appropriations bill contained a provision that may lead pharmacists to turn away Medicaid patients, whose prescriptions are not written on tamper-resistant paper, starting Oct. 1.

We need to fight fraud, but doctors and pharmacists were not given adequate time to prepare for this regulation, which applies to over 300 million prescriptions annually.

Fortunately, Rep. Emerson has taken a stand by supporting changes to these damaging policies. Her efforts on behalf of Medicaid patients will help ensure that they have access to prescriptions from their local pharmacy — prescriptions that will lower health-care costs by reducing the need for catastrophic care and emergency room visits.

Dennis Hunt
District pharmacy supervisor, Walgreens
Bridgeton, Mo.

Comparing health care

In response to Sally C. Pipes (of the Pacific Research Institute), whose Opinion piece “Government must ration treatment to hold down costs” appeared in the Sunday, Aug. 19, Star: Pipes claims that “100 new drugs were introduced in the U.S. from 1997 to 1999, (when) only 43 became available … in Canada.” She neglects to mention that the majority of new drugs sold in the U.S. are variations on older drugs designed merely to bypass patent expirations.

Ms. Pipes asserts, “Limited access to drugs (in Canada) hastens the deaths of the ill and the elderly,” despite the fact that Canadians live longer, on average, than Americans.

She says, “About 10 percent (of Canadians) are currently seeking primary-care physicians,” forgetting that 16 percent of Americans have no doctor at all.

She claims that it takes over four months to see a specialist in Canada but forgets that U.S. insurance companies repeatedly deny specialist treatment deemed necessary by primary-care doctors.

Ms. Pipes, I hope the cash your “think tank” receives from insurance and pharmaceutical companies is worth it.

Wayne Miller
Kansas City

Opium poppies

The U.S. State Department’s new program, to reduce the bumper opium poppy crop in Afghanistan and to stop funneling their profits to the Taliban and other terrorists, involves financial incentives and punishment.

We know that the financial incentives will not work. In the past, when Afghans got financial incentives to stop growing poppies, they took the money, laughed and went to the other side of the hill to plant more.

So we have to rely on the punishment. If it involves repeated applications of defoliants and sending opium growers, smugglers, and drug lords to Gitmo, that could work. I have big doubts about eliminating this big threat to America’s national security, but I’ll be watching for the actions our federal government and armed forces in the Afghan poppy fields.

Ray Parker
Overland Park

Anti-seizure meds

Oh, good grief! Lee Judge’s “Cartoon offends” (8/5, Letters). Offends whom? I’ve suffered and had to take pill for epilepsy since a brain injury in 1994. Yes, I’ve got brain damage — so what? I take what I call my “fish pills” faithfully every day. They keep me from flopping like a fish out of water. (Very embarrassing.)

What I find offensive is this administration and its Supreme Court. When I hear the term executive privilege, I think Dick Nixon, but that’s another letter.

David E. Allen
Kansas City

Cancer drug ad

Tuesday in The Star (8/7) we see a huge ad that covers almost a full page on both sides. The ad promotes a breast cancer drug and urges us to ask our doctors to prescribe this medication.

As a newly diagnosed breast cancer patient, I wonder how different things could be if the pharmaceutical companies used the billions they spend on TV and print advertising for research instead.

I believe if this happened many new drugs and possible cures could be found and we could actually let our doctors decide what medications to prescribe instead of our telling them what we think we need.

Anne Faubel
Leawood

OxyContin helps many

Why is the focus always on the abuse of the painkiller OxyContin (7/21, A-6, “OxyContin maker ordered to pay; Three Purdue company executives were also fined for downplaying the addiction risk”)?

The story tells about people’s lives being “changed forever” by addiction to the drug: “In 2002, the DEA said, the drug caused 146 deaths and contributed to another 318.” Those deaths are no doubt tragedies to the families who lost loved ones.

But how many people benefit greatly from this drug? There are many who use it responsibly, following our doctor’s orders, who can live “normal” lives because it is available. You probably don’t know who we are, since we can work, play and care for our families because our bodily pain is lessened.

Why doesn’t The Star write about us, instead of just telling its readers that 146 people have died from OxyContin abuse? It boils down to how many take OxyContin responsibly and how many abuse it. I’d bet it’s 1,000-to-1.

I take OxyContin responsibly every day to control my pain. It allows me to live a normal life, and I’m thankful for it.

D. Sokol
Lenexa

Poppies in Afghanistan

Afghanistan produced dramatically more opium in 2006, increasing its yield by nearly 50 percent from a year earlier and pushing global opium production to a record high. Opium production in Afghanistan increased from about 4,500 tons in 2005 to 6,700 tons in 2006.

Guess where the Taliban get money for continuing to attack and kill U.S. troops. The Taliban keep collecting huge drug profits because no one has had the guts over the last five years to stop Afghan farmers from growing poppies, and to stop drug lords and smugglers from funneling most of the profits to terrorists.

The leftists would say we were being cruel if we made the poor farmers starve on what little they could get from growing crops like corn or beans. The ones growing poppies and smuggling heroin wouldn't starve in Gitmo.

Ray Parker
Overland Park

Rules on cold meds

I recently went to a large retail chain to purchase medicine containing pseudoephedrine to treat a cold. I had already purchased some earlier this month to treat allergy symptoms.

When trying to check out, I was not able to purchase two boxes of medicine because of the restrictions on the amount of pseudoephedrine purchased within a month.

The pharmacy technician then loudly said that I had exceeded the limit and was not able to buy more. She also stated that I needed to watch how much I bought.

When I said that I took medicine for allergies and was prone to sinus problems, she loudly stated that I should see a doctor and stop buying so much cold medicine.

I understand this law and am happy to follow it. However, to those of you who work in this profession, it is not your right or responsibility to dictate when and for what reason I purchase medicine. You are not a doctor. To be frank, I feel that you are breaking privacy laws by discussing my purchases with other customers.

To those of you who have experienced this, please know your rights and demand that the pharmacy technicians follow the law -- just like they expect from you.

Aubrey Turner
Blue Springs

Crisis in Colombia

Thank you for providing some information about the ongoing crisis in Colombia (5/24, "Paramilitary group is linked to drugs").

But the article presents a few facts, and blurs or avoids many others. The paramilitary marauders in Colombia are not really “anti-guerrilla,” as described. If they were, then we would occasionally hear reports of the paramilitaries engaging in battles with the FARC rebels. The paramilitaries typically kill unarmed peasants, conveniently accusing them of being sympathetic to some revolutionary group. The “Paras” are simply death squads who clear farmers off the land so that someone else can develop the natural resources.

The article puts the situation in the past tense, quoting Salvatore Mancuso as saying, “Paramilitarism was state policy.” Nothing has changed. AUC paramilitary units still kill people every day in Colombia.

Mainly, the article failed to mention the U.S. connections. The paramilitary system was recommended and installed in Colombia in 1991 by the CIA, just as it had done in El Salvador and Guatemala. And currently, the U.S. underwrites the Colombian military, and the Colombia army, in turn, uses some of that money to guide and assist the paramilitaries.

Robert L. Thatch
Kansas City

Marijuana, cancer

Last month, Bloomberg news, CBS and others (not The Star) reported “Marijuana stops growth of lung cancer tumors in mice.” The findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting on April 17.

Additionally, a British study of nine brain-tumor patients last year found THC reduced growth of cancer cells, and other tests suggest it has potential in skin, breast and prostate cancer.

Scientists speculate that THC may activate biological pathways that halt cancer cell division or block development of blood vessels that feed tumors. Those suffering from these diseases deserve to be informed. Google it.

It’s ironic that cancer-causing tobacco is legal, whereas marijuana, now proven a cancer cure, is illegal. As a baby boomer, I thought that by now marijuana would be legal. Though I do not advocate drug use, our laws need to change. The state could reap tax dollars, help cancer patients and remove the criminal element from this God-given beneficial and life-saving substance.

Marc Miller
Kansas City

Arrests in drug case

In a great example of how to prevent senseless violence and idiotic crimes, several residents saw something this past Monday evening in Shawnee, picked up the phone and called the police (5/2, Local, “Public safety: Marijuana cache found in suitcase”).

All they saw was something suspicious, but they reported it anyhow, because they care about their neighborhood enough to act before something happens, instead of holding a news conference or a candlelight vigil, or forming another flaccid “We stand together” coalition after it happens.

They are good neighbors because they look out for one another, and they hold each other accountable instead of pointing fingers at the government or society.

Congratulations. Your concern took two criminals off the streets before their crimes turned into something worse.

Get proactive, Kansas City metro, not reactive.

Joe Quinn
Prairie Village

Medical marijuana

I am writing to encourage my fellow Missouri citizens to contact their state representative and request that they support House Bill 1138, which would enact legal protections for individuals who use marijuana medicinally with the advice of their physician. This legislation does not change current state laws regarding the recreational use of marijuana.

Marijuana has been shown to help with afflictions such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and glaucoma. It has also been shown to increase the appetite of those undergoing chemotherapy and those with HIV/AIDS.

Many health-care organizations support legal access to medical marijuana. Polls by the Pew Research Center and Gallup report that upward of 73 percent of Americans support the legalization of medical marijuana.

Twelve states have laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution. These laws have not led to widespread abuses by recreational users or an increased use by teenagers. Missourians deserve the same.

Bill Schreier
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Belton

Student drug testing

David Young’s letter (4/1, “Drug use in schools”) was definitely printed on the right day. It is foolish to believe that random student drug testing will decrease drug use by students. In fact, the opposite is probably true. It will probably lead to them doing more, and more dangerous drugs.

Students who don’t want to be tested or do use drugs will stop participating in after-school activities to avoid the testing. This will give them lots of free time after school for getting into trouble.

Those who do want to participate and yet still get high can switch from marijuana, which is detectable for up to a month, to more dangerous drugs, like meth, which are only detectable for a few days. They might also use prescription drugs, which are not detected on a standard drug test.

The way to reduce student drug use is not random drug testing, constantly telling them we don’t trust them. We must earn their trust, be honest with them and get them to stay in activities that keep them away from drugs. Check out www.drugpolicyalliance.org for lots of info about this and other problems with the so-called “war on drugs.”

Matthew Brown
Ionia, Mo.

Fed up with drug ads

What kind of culture do we live in where TV commercials and print ads tell us to go to our doctors for prescription drugs? In the world where I grew up, doctors prescribed drugs when they were needed, not when ailments were suggested to us in TV commercials.

Doctors know whether we need drugs in the first place, and they also have a lot better idea which brands to prescribe. The commercials would have us think that doctors are completely in the dark and don’t already know about these prescription drugs.

And then there are the disclaimers. What a mixed message. The commercials say we need drugs for problems we didn’t know we had with possible side effects that can negate the benefits of the drugs at the same time that they cure us.

The drug companies are recruiting us to ask for specific brands of drugs making us complicit players in business transactions, not medical solutions. It’s not going to get any better as time goes by, with the baby boomers getting into their upper years and legitimately needing more drugs.

David Welsh
Lake Lotawana

Drug testing OK

Wenonah Carmody and David Hughes (3/29, Letters) would have us believe that there is “injustice” at hand with the introduction of random drug testing in schools.

They write of extortion, treating young people with contempt, betrayal of trust, “trampling on constitutional rights” and treating students “like criminals.”

Mr. Hughes has more concern about a company making a profit performing the drug testing than finding the kids who are using drugs. He believes that educators who support this testing are not fit to be role models.

What does that matter if these kids are identified and helped by removing them from their addictions? Any parent who doesn’t care if their child is living life under the influence certainly is not fit to have custody of that child.

Should we surmise by the tone of these letters that these writers have little to no concern for their own children’s well-being and even less for any others?

Spending tax dollars to ensure the safety and welfare of the children attending these schools should be a priority. We see on a daily basis the result of drug activity. The last I heard, driving and involvement in extracurricular activities are privileges, not rights.

Matthew Hutson
Parkville

Drug use in schools

I would like to commend the Oak Grove School District for finding the courage to admit they have a problem with drug use, and for taking action to create change (3/28, A-1, “To park or to play, students will pay with drug testing”).
I’m the drug- and alcohol-prevention coordinator at Liberty High School, and my experience leads me to the conclusion that the drug-testing policy will have two major effects: 1) It will immediately discourage students from using drugs, 2) It will encourage and support those who are trying to remain drug-free.
Over the past 10 years, I’ve witnessed the drug- and alcohol-prevention program at my school get cut down to the point that it’s almost non-existent. Consequently, I’ve observed an overwhelming acceptance of drug use by the student body. The shift in attitudes about drug use is alarming.
Oak Grove is a shining example of how the educational system can use limited resources to counter the message of drug acceptance young people receive from their peers and the media on a daily basis. Their actions are truly front-page news.
David A. Young
Kansas City

High school drug testing

In response to the article about mandatory high school drug testing (3/24, A-1, “To park or to play, students will pay with drug testing”), it’s nice to know schools are teaching civics lessons by trampling on the constitutional rights of their students. Is it any wonder kids seem so apathetic toward civic involvement these days? They are treated more like criminals than future leaders.
Wenonah Carmody
Shawnee

I’m not surprised there is so little learning and so much anger in the schools. When you treat young people with contempt, you teach them to give it in return. A case in point is the Oak Grove school district, which is now trying to implement random drug testing for students. It is threatening to exclude the students from extracurricular activities unless they “consent” to that injustice. I don’t think “consent” is the proper word when given under threat.
Educators who support this are not fit as role models for young people. Unless extortion is a family value, this is a sorry example for our children. Parents who go along with it betray their children’s trust and should be ashamed. Do they not understand that drug testing is a for-profit industry that lobbies schools and industry with slick propaganda?
David Hughes
Kansas City

MS drug provides hope

In light of the recently published article about Tysabri, a drug which holds promising potential for those affected by multiple sclerosis, the Mid America Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society would like to offer these thoughts (3/11, A-19, “MS patients balance risk, reward with drug; For them, taking the promising Tysabri offsets the chance it could prove fatal”).

The article suggests the financial risks associated with the Tysabri therapy can be almost as debilitating as the disease it treats. It is true that the cost of therapies to treat multiple sclerosis can be astronomical. The average annual cost of living with MS exceeds $57,000.

MS doesn’t just affect the most affluent; it can affect anyone. In the KC area, there are 3,000 people living with MS. Our chapter provides resources, support and much-needed financial assistance. Someone shouldn’t have to choose between paying for medication and another life necessity such as food or rent.

In 2006, we launched our Care Management program. Led by social workers, this program helps individuals with MS live as independently as possible. We are here to help people make the most of their lives — and to ultimately to find a cure.

Tami Greenberg
Vice president, programs, Mid America Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Mission

End war on drugs

It goes without saying that the death of Belton resident Chris McBride is tragic (3/21, Local, “Four are charged in Belton slaying”). Given that Mr. McBride’s death appears to have been drug-related, no doubt some citizens will say that this only shows that we need tougher drug laws, more police and bigger prisons. As a concerned citizen of Belton, I am taking the opposite position.

If marijuana were legal and regulated, there would not be the exorbitant profits to be made from illegal sales, and there would not be the violence that took Mr. McBride’s life and left three children without a father.

This situation is no different than that which America faced during the period of Prohibition. America learned that the corruption and violence created from alcohol prohibition was more destructive than the consumption of the alcohol that is now a part of our society.

I am asking and encouraging my fellow citizens to support organizations that work towards drug law reform and to speak out in favor of such reforms.

Bill Schreier
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.LEAP.cc/)
Belton