Friday, May 02, 2008

Collateral Damage in the Drug War

Timothy Garon had advanced Hepatitis C and needed a liver transplant to survive.  Because he was very sick his doctor prescribed medical marijuana to him to alleviate nausea and abdominal pain and also to stimulate his appetite.

Now while waiting to see if he could get on the list for a transplant he was denied because he was a marijuana user.  A user with his doctor's blessing in accordance with Washington State Law.

Swedish Hospital in Seattle agreed to reconsider if he would avoid marijuana use for six months and enroll in a 60-day drug treatment program...but these same doctors also agreed that his liver disease was too advanced for him to last that long anyway.

He died yesterday.

3 comments:

Mr. Evil said...

Just another reason why Washington State is the worst run state in America. Perhaps the Governor could fix this as opposed to spending all her time figuring out how to fuck us over with more taxes. Worthless bitch.

Esther said...

That is so wrong. Wow. I don't know what to say.

Anonymous said...

While I fully understand Mr. Evil's position, I put it to you that we are better off than Texas.

The war on drugs has been an expensive failure. It's time we recognize that and stop flushing away our money. The case of Timothy Garon is another demonstration of how our arkane laws impact the wrong people.

Legalize the less harmful stuff and empty the jails of those who were convicted of possession. That solves two problems.

I'm no Librarian or Libertine or whatever Tracy is, but Ron Paul has the right take on this issue.