change in position, kevin dietz

Since my post regarding medicinal marijuana I had the chance to sit down and have a long discussion with a close friend of mine who is currently going through chemo therapy. He was the kind of person who was always avidly opposed to using drugs of any kind, marijuana included. I figured because of his strong opposition to the use of drugs that he would only further my conviction that medicinal marijuana should not be legalized. When I asked his position on the topic he was a little torn. He explained to me that for the first part of his treatment he was sure that he would be able to make it through without the use of any drugs, legal or illegal. He continued to tell me about the extreme nausea that was a symptom of his treatment. He said he did his best to deal with it at first but eventually asked his doctor for something to help because he was having trouble keeping food down. His doctor prescribed him something to help with nausea but after trying three separate medications, some with little effect and others that only made it worse, he new he had to try something else. He had of course heard of medicinal marijuana so he brought it up to his doctor. Being that we live in MN where medicinal marijuana is not legal his doctor could not really help him. He was forced to take action himself and started asking people that he knew used marijuana recreationally. He eventually got connected with a few distributers and quickly found that marijuana did wonders for his nausea and also helped with any pain he was experiencing. Being that he had never had to associate with people in this industry, he quickly learned the amount of shady activity that comes with the trade. He was being grossly overpriced for marijuana of inconsistent quality. He was even once fooled into buying an empty bag. In my research I had heard of these sorts of problems occurring to patients who lived in states that medical marijuana was not aloud, but the seriousness of the issue never really hit me until I was able to hear it first hand from a friend. It really doesn't seem fair that a patient is unable to easily and legally obtain the drug that works best for them just because of where they happen to live. As I stated in my first response to medical marijuana there would be many issues to legalizing medical marijuana but I now think that helping these patients outweighs any potential problems that could arise.