Robert Sharpe, Policy Analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy, makes the point pretty clear in this letter to the Sheboygan Press:
While there have been studies showing that marijuana can shrink cancerous tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug.
If a doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy and it helps them feel better, then it’s working. In the end, medical marijuana is a quality of life issue best left to patients and their doctors.
Federal bureaucrats waging war on non-corporate drugs contend that organic marijuana is not an effective health intervention.
The federal government’s prescribed intervention for medical marijuana patients is handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This heavy-handed approach suggests that drug warriors are not well suited to dictate health-care decisions.
It’s long past time that Congress showed some leadership on the issue and passed legislation reaffirming the Constitution’s 10th Amendment guarantee of states rights.
States that prefer to cage sick patients for daring to feel better can continue to do so. The more enlightened states that have passed compassionate-use legislation should not be stymied by a federal government that really should have better things to do.
No doubt that these are issues that should be left to individuals and their doctors – but governments around the country would rather continue spending massive amounts of our money to throw these people in cages.