News judgment isn’t responsible
Lane Kiffin’s departure from Tennessee’s sports scene gets front-page headlines in Wednesday’s Times Free Press, in addition to most of the first page of the sports section. All-in-all, approximately a full page of coverage.
The most destructive earthquake to hit the country of Haiti in over 200 years with untold numbers either missing, displaced or dead, gets four short paragraphs on page A10.
What is wrong with this picture?
I would have thought your newspaper would be more responsible with the news you report.
DON GRANT
Lookout Mountain, Ga.
State should OK medical marijuana
After reading David Magee’s commentary (Jan. 12), I have to say Tennessee is ready for medical marijuana.
There is no sensible reason for our state’s criminal laws to interfere with patients’ and doctors’ judgments about the best treatment option for Tennesseans with severe illnesses. Numerous prestigious medical organizations support legal medical marijuana access for the seriously ill, including the American Public Health Association, the American Nurses Association, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Last year, Rep. Jeanne Richardson and Sen. Beverly Marrero introduced SB 209 and HB 368, legislation that would have legalized medical marijuana in Tennessee.
In many studies, marijuana has been shown to help individuals suffering from nausea caused by chemotherapy and AIDS wasting, including patients who were unresponsive to all other treatments. Medical marijuana has also been shown to have an incredibly wide margin of safety, and, unlike aspirin, no one has ever died from an overdose.
If cocaine and morphine can be prescribed by doctors, medical marijuana should be also.
Ultimately, the decision of what medicine is best for an illness should be left up to the patient and doctor, not the government. This is a health care issue.
MARTHA GREGORY
Hixson