Safer alternative for pain sufferers - Editorial by Chris Butts

Safer alternative for pain sufferers

A medical marijuana bill (HB 207) is before the Alabama Legislature. Each year, it seems we have a bill introduced that could drastically transform Alabama patients' lives. It gets moved to a committee, where it sits ignored throughout the legislative session and dies.... See More

Almost 30 percent of the country has adopted medical marijuana legislation giving residents the option of using marijuana as medicine under their doctor's care.

People hear the word "marijuana" and immediately get images in their heads of a group of hippies dancing in a circle smoking pot. That is not what this bill is about.

As a chronic pain sufferer, I am prescribed the legal equivalent of heroin (OxyContin). This product is very addictive and comes with a multitude of possible side effects, including death. Marijuana has proved to be a safe and useful alternative to my prescribed medications.

Wherever you stand on the issue of drugs, it makes no sense to allow Alabamians who could benefit from this medicine to suffer or become addicted to the narcotic pain prescriptions being handed out freely.

Chris Butts

Cullman