Marijuana Rx: The Patients' Fight for Medicinal Pot [Paperback]

Robert C. Randall (Author), Alice M. O'Leary (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 9, 1998

Part history, part biography, part expose, "Marijuana RX" recounts the legal battles, government "shell games, " public triumphs, and individual tragedies that have marked the long and ongoing struggle for legalization of this controversial drug for medicinal use.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Randall and his companion, O'Leary, cofounders of Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics (ACT) and coauthors of Marijuana, Medicine and the Law (1988), began their battle to make medicinal marijuana available in the 1970s after Randall, who has glaucoma, discovered that he actually saw better after smoking pot than he normally did. Told by his physician that he would be blind by the age of 30, he and O'Leary began growing the plant at home; in 1975, their apartment was raided and both were arrested. Narrated in Randall's voice, this memoir chronicles his personal battle to obtain the drug legally, which was granted in 1976 when he became the first U.S. citizen to have marijuana prescribed for a medical condition. Radicalized by this experience, Randall and O'Leary have devoted their lives to assisting others diagnosed with serious illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and AIDS. Research studies, described here, document the usefulness of marijuana in easing many symptoms, including the severe nausea resulting from chemotherapy. Although the authors don't set out the numerous court battles and political skirmishes with the greatest clarity, they provide examples of human tragedies that have occurred because people were unable to obtain marijuana. They blame uncaring government bureaucracy and the unthinking embrace of a "just say no" philosophy by both Republican and Democratic politicians for the fact that marijuana is not easily available for medicinal use. The authors scored a minor coup in getting Lyn Nofziger, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, to write a foreword. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Randall and O'Leary are the founders of Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics, a nonprofit organization working to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. Here they recount three decades of personal experiences that energize their activism. Randall was barely out of college when he was diagnosed with hereditary glaucoma. He noticed, however, that smoking marijuana significantly improved his vision, an observation that had been confirmed by scientific experiments in 1971. Drug use led to his arrest, but he defended himself with the revolutionary plea of medical necessity. In 1976, he became the first American legally entitled to government-grown marijuana. Cancer patients argued that the drug would bring them relief from chemotherapy, and the AIDS epidemic brought other claimants, including Randall himself. Slowly, in spite of official antidrug rhetoric, public opinion has begun to support the use of therapeutic marijuana. Libraries seeking a personalized and partisan account of the medical marijuana issue will find this a useful purchase.?Kathleen Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida Lib., St. Petersburg
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 498 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Pr; 1 edition (December 9, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560251662
• ISBN-13: 978-1560251668
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,537,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why the public needs to read this book!, January 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Marijuana Rx: The Patients' Fight for Medicinal Pot (Paperback)

In the war against drugs, the people that have been hurt and who suffort the most are patients..Glaucoma, MS, Auto immune dieases, HIV,AIDS, Cancer..too many to list!! Robert Randall and Alice O'Leary have written of the twenty + years of fighting the "demon", and the the DEA and the ill advised government agencies that control the destiny of millions of people. People that are dying, living in intracable, horrific pain.All in an flawed effort to Stop the "drugs" The "War on Drugs" has become the war on the least of us, the sick, the poor, the pain racked citizen's. Marijuana Rx The Patients Fight for Medical Pot gives us a rare look inside the lives of two people that found themselves up against the most powerful men in our government. The fight has taken them all over the world. It is brilliantly written, part fact, part personal history. All true and a guide for today! The fight Must be won!! Robert and Alice have found a way to tell their story that is concise, even humorous at times. A story of a man that has faced death and won, for now. A woman that has stood by him every step of the way. It should be required reading for every medical student in every university in this country! There is a time for each of us to stand and be counted. I will be counted. Read and understand the flawed and cruel policies of a govenment too embarassed to admit they are wrong. Medical use of marijuana is a shining tool that is helping chronically and terminally ill patients all over the world. It is time the Government of this country and the DEA stop trying to "pass the buck, denying hundreds of studies that Marjiuana Works. Robert and Alice tell a gripping story of the fight of their lives. It must be recongized and read. For all those namesless, faceless patients that are staking their lives on the use of "Pot".

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EYE OPENER!, May 6, 2000

By 

PHAT RYDER (WEST COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marijuana Rx: The Patients' Fight for Medicinal Pot (Paperback)

EVERYONE WHO IS AGAINST THE USE OF MARIJUANA SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. THIS HAS THE STRAIGHT FACTS AND IS A PAGE TURNER. IT DESCRIBES A COUPLES FIGHT FOR A RIGHT TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE. I FIRST STUDIED THE SUBJECT FOR A PROJECT IN MY HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASS. IT SEEMED LIKE A TOPIC TO ALMOST LAUGH AT, BUT I CAN SEE NOW THAT IT IS ONE OF THE MOST SERIOUS CASES IN HISTORY.