Death By Malfeasance

December 16, 2014

Editor's Note: This opinion piece seemed a good one to share, especially in light of the tragic news of 3-year-old Chloe Grauer passing away after suffering a critical seizure. According to the report by Marijuana.com:

"Chloe, whose family appealed and pleaded for Tennessee’s CBD-bill, never got to try the one substance that could have saved her life and has proved to save the lives of many epileptic children all over the world."And as noted above, Chloe is not alone. Earlier this year, 7-year-old Lydia Schaeffer passed away while waiting for CBD in Wisconsin. Moreover, in July, three New York children waiting for CBD died in the span of one week."

How much more proof does the government need to prove that marijuana has not only many medical benefits, but life-saving medical benefits? They need to remove marijuana from the Schedule 1 drug classification … and do it sooner rather than later. And as a nation, all constituents need to work together to get marijuana to those patients who need it–in every state.

The Gross Negligence of the U.S. Government

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

-Edmund Burke

It is an unfortunate truth that many in this country know the feeling of hopelessness one gains from hearing the term “inoperable” or simply the word cancer. It has become a dark cloud looming over every choice made and every corner turned. The sad fact is that current shows more than 44% of people who died in 2009 in the U.S. had been diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life and these figures are increasing. Around 1,660,290 new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2014 and about 580,350 Americans are projected to die of cancer, almost 1,600 people a day. This is nearly 1 of every 4 deaths in the United States. Americans currently have the sixth highest cancer rate in the world. To put things in perspective, here are a few of the countries with lower: Korea (8th), Slovenia (11th), Serbia (25th) and Kazakhstan (42nd).

Cancer is a sad thing indeed, and no country in the world is exempt from its deadly grasp. There are however some who chose to seek out whatever means possible to fight this dangerous disease and stop at nothing to provide such means to the public. The United States is not one of these places. The DEA currently has cannabis listed as a Schedule I controlled substance, which implies it has no accepted medical value and a high potential for abuse.