CTU
boss Helen Kelly is rightly angry at having to
ask for permission to gain access to cannabis oil for relief from her
cancer:
Terminally ill
Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president Helen Kelly plans to ask the government
for permission to legally access cannabis oil for cancer pain relief.
"I'm actually
going to write to Peter Dunne, who's got permission to give me cannabis oil,
and I'm going to ask him to do that," Kelly told TV3's The Nation on
Saturday.
Having exhausted
legal pain relief medicines, she was "brassed off" about having to go
onto the black market for cannabis oil because "you don't know what you're
getting".
I
agree. And in this kindy of a country there’s another issue here:
Ms Kelly says cannabis oil relieved pain, and while she was not sure
about its curative qualities, she was interested in research into them.
Ms Kelly says the new immunotherapy drug was not working "so yeah,
that's my lot really".
She has access to morphine but called it a horrible drug.
Ms Kelly, a non-smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer in February.
She says she believes in voluntary euthanasia “in the right
circumstances” and doesn’t think that vulnerable people could be at risk.
“You’re not more vulnerable than when you’re dying of a terrible illness
and you’re in pain, are you? And so ‘vulnerable people need protection’ could
mean that you support them to make choices about whether they want to keep on
living," she says.
"I've tried (cannabis oil). I'm not promoting it as a curative but
as a pain relief it's incredibly effective for me and it doesn't make me feel
sick, which morphine does."
After exhausting all legal pain reliefs Kelly resorted to the black
market for cannabis oil but says she didn't like putting people in that
position to help her.
"It just seems absolutely insane that I've got no idea what I'm
taking, how much I should take or how it's manufactured - it's crazy."
And this:
Prime Minister John Key has previously said he
wouldn't support a parliamentary debate on broadening
access to medicinal cannabis because there are alternatives available.
You arrogant
arse, Prime Minister.
Helen
Kelly and I are implacable ideological opponents, but we also have a shared
bond: we're human. I can’t say that for these tyrants in the Fortress of
Legislation who think democracy voted them dominion over our bodies even in our
deaths, and have the power of inflicting Helen's pain on her. Who the hell do
they think they are?
All the
best Helen. And 100 points for this line:
I think sometimes the law is an ass...here we are
going around imprisoning and convicting and carrying on about this drug while
the codgerati drink their chardonnay."
You can
be sure ‘codgerati’ will be seen in future posts.
To
every politician who has done - and continues to do - nothing on progressing
New Zealand’s most important human rights issue of the moment; euthanasia, (and
related, medicinal cannabis) - go to hell. Because fobbing off euthanasia to a select
committee hearing in the Never Never and chaired by the only parliamentarian
who trained for the seminary, thus can never change his mind against the sin of euthanasia, is not giving us a
debate, it’s giving us the finger. As is an unwillingness to even debate medicinal cannabis. And frankly, I find it offensive I have to
waste my precious time this summer writing a submission to this waste-of-time select
committee for a basic right and for simple humanity: noting this may well be
too late for Helen.
Signed:
Disgusted.
And signing off with (excuse the typo, it's Twitter):
No, while
I’m at it, people are becoming seriously ill on this new strain of synthetic poison in the country: for pity’s sake, just legalise safe cannabis for
recreational use.
This
Arrogance of Altruists who demand to run our lives are nothing but cruel
bastards.
