Medical Marijuana

Cannabis and Organ Transplants: Who is Worthy?, Source: http://www.iran-daily.com/File/File/121809Not long ago, I wrote a piece about a California man who is in dire need of an organ transplant but was denied admission to the program because he is a registered medical cannabis patient. California, for its part, has since introduced a bill that would end transplant denials for medical cannabis patients. That’s something, at least.

I wanted to explore the phenomenon of transplant candidacy rejection a bit. The available information on the subject is mixed. I found this post on the Stanford website stating that whether or not the organ failure was self-inflicted (as it would be considered in a drug addict) or it was an organ that failed on its own, it makes no difference in deciding who gets an organ, regardless of the behaviors of the person.

Cannabis and Organ Transplants: Who is Worthy?, Source: https://marijuanacannabis.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/oregon-medical-marijuana-patients.jpgHowever, the piece I recently wrote contradicts that sentiment when the patient was told by his doctor that his medical cannabis use automatically excluded him from the candidate list. There doesn’t seem to be a single over-arching set of rules. But, I’m sure the decision comes down to a handful of people, if not a single person, who, when doing an apples to apples comparison of two candidates for one organ, cannot help but use the information they have to make the choice.

If candidate A is not using medical cannabis, but candidate B is, and all else is equal, the personal opinions and bias of the decider absolutely comes into play, though they could never outright say that is the case. Not unlike a teacher who says their personal opinions of the child don’t affect their grades, in a direct way, perhaps this is true. However if one kid is a little shit all the time and another is pleasant and polite and tries hard, which one do you think the teacher is apt to be more lenient with? It’s an unconscious bias universal to humanity and it is nearly impossible to fully discount.

I can imagine the thinking behind denying medical cannabis patients goes along the lines of not wanting to waste an organ on a person who, by society’s standard, has already ruined their own life. So why should they deny a non-druggie an organ when they have shown they are more worthy?

I cannot honestly say I have a great solution or that I would not also be guilty of bias. For instance, if there was one healthy liver for transplant and two candidates, one who lived a healthy, productive life and one who was a lifelong drunk, in and out of prison on DUIs, I would likely want to give the organ to the former.

Cannabis and Organ Transplants: Who is Worthy?, Source: http://www.unitedpatientsgroup.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/medical-marijuana.jpgAnd, to me, that belies the need to take each decision on a case by case basis and strive to avoid any screen-out factors that don’t paint a full picture of the circumstance. Really, that is my point. Using cannabis as the sole reason to deny a transplant is highly prejudiced.

Furthermore, it places the moral authority to choose who has more value and who is more “worthy” of the organ on the shoulders of the doctors. That is a burden for which no person is worthy. Who is anyone to lay one life opposite another on the scales and choose who lives or dies? These are not cases where you are choosing to save a convicted death row murderer or a 10 year old girl who got into a car accident. Those decisions are no-brainers. This is as close to playing God as we can get and humans are not equipped for such responsibility.

As an interesting aside, there is some research that suggests cannabis might actually help people post-transplant as there is some indication that marijuana could lessen your body’s natural response to attack and reject the organ as a foreign entity.

I don’t pretend to have the answers for this quagmire, but I am certain that denying people purely because they are cannabis users is wrong.