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MEDICAL MARIJUANA
In her editorial opposing medical marijuana, Karel Ares starts out by telling the tragic tale of a young man stricken with cancer, who died from a lung infection “caused by smoking marijuana.” [See “Medical marijuana is bad for Illinois,” IT, June 11]. The fact is, marijuana does not cause lung infections. However, anti-cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation and drugs such as Methotrexate suppress the body’s immune system. The marijuana certainly did not kill this young man. It is likely that he died as a result of the mainstream treatments he was given.
She disingenuously ignores the fact that marijuana’s effects have been the subject of thousands of studies over the last several decades. She also ignores the fact that doctors prescribe drugs every day for “off-label” uses. How much training does it take to tell a patient that smoking a bowl will relieve the extreme nausea caused by cancer treatments? A physician needs no corporate drug company to research this drug; (s)he can easily find the relevant information.
The laws are laughingly ineffective.
It’s harder for an adult to obtain than for teenagers. You can’t control an illegal substance. All of the negative effects are caused by the drug’s illegality. For instance “it leads to harder drugs.” Of course it does! The same people who sell pot also sell harder drugs.
Marijuana is safer than overthe-counter medications such as aspirin and naproxin sodium. Acetaminophen (tylenol) causes liver damage including, if overused, cirrhosis. There are very few medications that are safer than cannabis. It should be regulated by the government, where its purity can be established, it can be taxed and, unlike illicit marijuana, can be kept out of the hands of kids.
Steve McGrew Springfield
PREVENTION FIRST
What a strange and backward point of view this group has [See “Medical marijuana is bad for Illinois”]. As it relates to this article, correlation does not equal causation.
Marijuana didn’t kill that man, an “unexplained lung infection” did. Thousands of years of “medical research” has proven marijuana is safe. Aren’t there more important issues the executive director of Prevention First should be worried about? Perhaps violence and alcohol abuse among teens and families are topics too large for them to handle? I can’t believe my tax money funds this organization.
Wake up people.
Jason Urquidez Lockport
MORE THAN A RESCUE
It is a joy to report the good deed executed by Throop and Son Tree Service when they rescued an exhausted stray cat from the top of a tulip tree on the campus of Benedictine University at Springfield this past week. Earl Throop, Sr., and Earl Throop, Jr., were in the middle of a packed schedule when they brought hope to students, employees and one terrified feline on campus.
The cat had weathered three days and two thunderstorms in the treetop several stories from the ground, and its cries were growing weaker along with its strength. Despite their busy schedule and the potential for mauling from a frightened cat, Earl Sr. and Jr. lifted the spirits of everyone as they took great care lifting the extremely grateful cat from the flimsy limb it had been clinging to.
The event was a happy reminder of how humans share God’s grace with one another in ways big and small — sharing everything from our skills and willingness to a simple “Let’s give it a shot” delivered with a smile — and how at every turn we have the opportunity to grow our hearts into each other’s in order to better the world through kindness and compassion, one deed at a time.
Joanna Beth Tweedy Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Benedictine University at Springfield
