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CANNABIS CRAZINESS
Cannabis craziness
It's pretty much standard operating procedure for people who use drugs to be denied a place on coveted transplant lists. It happens all the time – and rightly so. So then why was it headline-making news when a 56-year-old died from hepatitis C after he was denied a spot on a liver transplant list because he was using marijuana?
Well, there's a catch to this story: MR G. was using marijuana all right, but it was marijuana that his doctor prescribed to him. That's right… G's physician, Dr. B.R., authorized MR G. to smoke pot to alleviate his nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite. He wasn't passing him a joint under the table, either. Washington is one of a handful of states that authorizes the use of medical marijuana.
The problem is, it's still prohibited under federal law. What a mess.
Tragic stories like this one highlight the need for some kind of resolution in this medical marijuana debate. The fact remains that federal and state laws butt heads on this issue, and I don't foresee it changing anytime soon.
But there's no federal law – or even a state law, for that matter – that regulates who does and doesn't qualify for a transplant. That decision is left up to each individual hospital. At the very least, is it too much to ask for each hospital to at least recognize the law of its own state?
Wherever you stand on the medical marijuana issue, this particularly odd wrinkle in the rules needs to change. Now. Because if a doctor with a patient IN NEED of a transplant is unaware of such a basic law about transplants, I think that speaks volumes.
DR. DOUGLASS M.D.
It's pretty much standard operating procedure for people who use drugs to be denied a place on coveted transplant lists. It happens all the time – and rightly so. So then why was it headline-making news when a 56-year-old died from hepatitis C after he was denied a spot on a liver transplant list because he was using marijuana?
Well, there's a catch to this story: MR G. was using marijuana all right, but it was marijuana that his doctor prescribed to him. That's right… G's physician, Dr. B.R., authorized MR G. to smoke pot to alleviate his nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite. He wasn't passing him a joint under the table, either. Washington is one of a handful of states that authorizes the use of medical marijuana.
The problem is, it's still prohibited under federal law. What a mess.
Tragic stories like this one highlight the need for some kind of resolution in this medical marijuana debate. The fact remains that federal and state laws butt heads on this issue, and I don't foresee it changing anytime soon.
But there's no federal law – or even a state law, for that matter – that regulates who does and doesn't qualify for a transplant. That decision is left up to each individual hospital. At the very least, is it too much to ask for each hospital to at least recognize the law of its own state?
Wherever you stand on the medical marijuana issue, this particularly odd wrinkle in the rules needs to change. Now. Because if a doctor with a patient IN NEED of a transplant is unaware of such a basic law about transplants, I think that speaks volumes.
DR. DOUGLASS M.D.
Hi ! There is another guy on this forum how calls him self R Glass, I dont know why (or should I say i didn`t) but I always read his name DR Glass.
LOL now its making sence I just know there got to be a DR Glass here some were,
or at least a DR DOUGLASS.
I come from Sweden we also have rigid burearycrac(z)y here aswell, and people die because of them rarely but it has occured, and thats make you so angry because it feels so stupid and senselessly wrong.
God bless you Dr (Dou)Glass
ca
LOL now its making sence I just know there got to be a DR Glass here some were,
or at least a DR DOUGLASS.
I come from Sweden we also have rigid burearycrac(z)y here aswell, and people die because of them rarely but it has occured, and thats make you so angry because it feels so stupid and senselessly wrong.
God bless you Dr (Dou)Glass
ca
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