It's the wonder drug that works wonders. It's helped those near death and with no hope of survival ease their pain. It's helped cancer patients feel better, avoid painful side effects and maintain a healthy diet. And it's helped musician Melissa Etheridge.
It's marijuana. It works. And it's time to rethink its illegality.
In a touching, enlightening story on last night's "Dateline," Etheridge - now cancer-free - sat down with Stone Phillips to discuss her illness, Breast Cancer Awareness Month and how a "controversial drug" - marijuana - helped her overcome chemotherapy.
Faced with painful therapy, Etheridge - looking to avoid a mix of medications that offered unwanted side effects - turned to a natural, alternative treatment.
Etheridge: I decided instead of signing up for the drugs that - well, there's the drug that you take for the pain. But that constipates you. So, you have to take the constipation drug. But then that actually gives you diarrhea. So, you need a little diarrhea drug. Instead of taking five or six of the prescriptions, I decided to go a natural route and smoke marijuana.
Phillips: Medicinal marijuana.
Etheridge: Medicinal marijuana. Absolutely. Every doctor I talked to that I asked about it said that's the best thing to do. The doctors know.
Phillips: You spoke to your doctors about using marijuana?
Etheridge: Oh, yeah. From the surgeons to the oncologists to the radiation. Every single one was, "Oh, yeah. That's the best help for the effects of chemotherapy."
Not worried about federal prosecution, Etheridge used marijuana every day, stopping when the pain and symptoms ceased. When pressed by Phillips about the message using an illegal drug sends, Etheridge's answer was excellent:
Phillips: Do you worry at all that talking about this from a medicinal standpoint might encourage recreational use? That what somebody hears is, "This takes away pain. This is - this brings comfort."
Etheridge: Do I worry that it will be abused? Yeah. I mean, Vicodin is abused. Everything that brings pain relief is abused. Yeah. But does that mean because Vicodin is abused, do they keep it away from people? No. They prescribe it. Put the laws on it, prescribe it.
Taking away pain. Bringing comfort. And yet it's illegal. Meanwhile, two of the most dangerous substances on the planet - nicotine and alcohol - are not only legal, but their use is also encouraged, thanks in large part to billion-dollar advertising campaigns often geared toward younger audiences.
Why isn't marijuana legal? Could it be that the right - aided by the Christian Taliban - continues to wage war on the '60s and what they still see as the liberal counterculture? Could it be that some people care more about fetuses than they do about actual, suffering people? Or could it be that there's too much money to be made by Big Pharma in the medications that could be made irrelevant by a legalized, natural alternative?
And while the right takes a pass on alternative medicine, millions suffer and die needlessly. As I've said before, every time this government has had the opportunity to make things easier for those of us in need of health care - cheaper prescription drugs, universal health care, medicinal marijuana, stem-cell research - they've turned their back on the American people.
Clearly, the right's anti-drug is hypocrisy. The same pundits and politicians who decry marijuana use are the same hypocrites who drink to excess, smoke themselves to death and abuse prescription medication. Just ask Rush Limbaugh. And the same people who make fun of "stoned slackers" look the other way when one of their faith-based heroines, Ashley Smith, turns out to be a meth-head. The party of states' rights - unless you're Terri Schiavo - seems to have its head in the clouds on this one as well. What are they, stoned?
Think about the myriad positive outcomes if marijuana were not only legalized, but also regulated. No longer an illegal drug brought to market without proper supervision, it would no doubt be safer to use. Farmers in depressed areas - Appalachia, for instance - would prosper from a lucrative cash crop. Small-business owners would discover a new alternative with the corner marijuana café. Government coffers would swell with a new revenue stream from possible taxes. With fewer small-time violators behind bars, our already overcrowded prison system would again have room for the most deserving offenders. Plus, widely available, legal marijuana would only mean one thing: Prices would go down.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
When asked if she would be taking a larger part in the medicinal marijuana movement, Etheridge told Phillips, "Well, I guess I am now. Yes." For that, for those suffering, for those who have passed away and for those who have survived, we owe this survivor a debt of gratitude.