Is it worth it?
May 3rd, 2008
From the NORML blog:
The medical records will show that he died due to complications associated with massive liver failure. He would have likely survived longer if he received a timely organ transplant but was denied access because he followed his physician’s recommendation, used medical cannabis during his treatments for liver disease, therefore testing positive for THC metabolites and rather than receive the gift of a potentially longer life—instead doctors at the University of Washington deferred to federal prohibition laws and mores, handing Tim a death sentence.
There are no pharmacological or physiological reasons why Tim Garon, or any medical marijuana patient, should logically be denied access to life-saving or life-enhancing organ transplants.
In my view, commonsense and humanity were completely lacking here on the part of the doctors who denied Tim and his family a chance at a continued life together.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:57 am
This is a travesty and a glaring example of medical marijuana user discrimination. Tim is a martyr.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Condolences to the family and friends of Timothy Garon. One would have thought and hoped that most caring physicians that are required to make life and death decisions as in this instance with Timothy Garon would default to state law where the use of medical marijuana has been approved. No matter what lame excuse these heartless hospital officials gave, they didn’t even have the fortitude to be honest about the “why”; the claim was made that the patient might not be able to stop using medical marijuana–this apparently justified their decision to just let this patient die, and made them all feel better about it. The truth as revealed in the original article in this thread by NORML, and we all know this, is that they nixed the transplant because of the federal laws in place that prohibit any use of marijuana, even if recommended by a physician. Timothy was a legal state medical marijuana patient and to disqualify him from this life saving transplant was nothing short of inhumane. The heroes that chose to ignore the Hippocratic Oath that they’ve sworn to uphold which was supposed to guide their medical decisions, and the lawmakers that allow circumstances like this to exist because they choose to continue to ignore the will of the people and the vast amount of research regarding both the medical effectiveness and relative safety of use of medical (or non-medical) marijuana have the blood of this patient directly on their hands. Politicians will blow in the wind, toward the direction of votes, but physicians of all people should know better. I guess the thrill of playing God with the lives of patients must be hard to beat. This will once again be used as the whipping stick that teaches the rest of the estimated 25 million plus users of marijuana that marijuana use is in fact harmful to your health. Yes, the federal government can finally proudly and boldly make this claim after 70 years of trying to prove it. If all marijuana users are coldly allowed to die, the government will no longer have a pot problem. They’ve finally figured it out. Pot doesn’t need to be eradicated, just its users. Enough is enough. When patients are literally sacrificed to promote the continuance of the proven failed war on drugs, especially the laws related to marijuana, there’s too much now at stake. Who’s life will be next on the chopping block? Anyone except family or friends of those that have the power to make these types of decisions, I’d bet. We can all help stop this stupidity by speaking out and letting these hospital officials know that they sold this patient out to the federal government propaganda, drug companies, and healthcare industry. Then, by letting our elected representatives know that a responsible reform of drug and marijuana laws is urgent; when drug policy causes more harm to individuals and society and death to patients than the use of the prohibited drug itself, that is a true definition of insanity. Hang on to your hats, friends. This one’s not going to go away. We honestly can’t afford to let it.