LETTER: “What attitudes will prevail towards opiates after marijuana legalization?”
The most alarming trend is the suggestion that marijuana works better than opiods for pain. This just isn’t true and there has been research showing that marijuana can make pain worse for people.
Opiods should be legalized before marijuana. At the very least doctors should be more open to prescribing them to people who complain of severe pain. Doctors have a tendency to only prescribe opiods to people with pain that is visible such as on an x-Ray. There are some horrific states of pain people can be stuck with which can only be controlled with opiods but these people are being routinely refused access.
Marijuana advocates have been known to preach marijuana to people with pain issues as though it will help everyone and as though opiods are unnecessary. It is as if there is something wrong if a person says marijuana doesn’t help but opiods do. They must be an “addict” or something. The doctors do the same thing with, only offering seizure medicines and antidepressants that have pain relief as a minor side effect.
People with pain should have the right to choose the medication they find what helps them the most.
EDITOR: Marijuana is not a cure all. But it has been proven effective with many maladies.
