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>>I believe strongly in the medicinal value of marijuana and believe it should be legal like other medical drugs - only when prescribed by a physician for a medical need. I don't smoke marijuana and I don't do drugs. I spent time with some special guys in South America fighting the drug war and I've seen it's effect on families here in the states. I know very well how damaging drugs are. But we have to separate medical need and usage from recreation usage. I don't even take anything stronger than tylenol after surgery. I took tylenol with codeine once and discovered I was allergic to codeine. I took oxycotin once after surgery and discovered I couldn't take it either so I am limited to tylenol, aspirin, or motrin for muscle aches and pains. I would never ever consider removing the legal right of others from taking a pain reliever or other drug to lesson their pain or cancer symptoms when prescribed by a physician.
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>>Those who use drugs illegally (or under the doctor's prescription) and risk the lives of others (drive drunk, drive under the influence, etc) deserve the punishment due under the law. But those who follow their physicians directions and take their medications (whatever it is) and do not risk the life of anyone else deserve that right.
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>You still haven't answered my question. Do you believe there is nothing, other than MM, that can be used to treat these conditions? I don't.

MM does more than manage pain. It increases appetite and decreases nausea and the other bi-products of cancer treatment with fewer side-effects than many other drugs. My mother does not use MM. She is left with the other drugs available and they are just as mind-altering (if not more) than MM. She chooses to sufffer (as you put it) so she knows she is alive and she does not like any of the other drugs available to her (she has tried many) because either the side-effects are too severe or they leave her virtually mind-dead.

Where do you think many prescription narcotics (oxycodone, codeine, thebaine, morphine, oxycodone, oxymorphone, nalbuphine, naloxone, naltrexone, and buprenorphine....) come from? How are they any different than marijuana? Are they ok because their source is overseas and not here in the U.S.? More than 500 tons of opium or equivalents in poppy straw concentrate are legally imported into the United States annually for legitimate medical use.

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/abuse/4-narc.htm