Thursday, March 15, 2012

5 Rules

I have a wonderful, quirky, amazing friend.
I met him through business, but he, like most of my clients, has come to mean so much more to me.
I am not going to name him because I respect his privacy.
But the other day, he was in my office, and I mentioned someone who had treated me badly. He said, "Oh yes, Rule number 5."
I said, "What?"
He responded, "Rule number 5 -- Stay away from nasty people."
Later in the conversation he mentioned another "rule," so finally I asked about the rules. He offered to share all five with me, and they are so eloquent, simple and profound, that I will share them with you now:
Rule 1: Spend less than you earn.
Rule 2: Save the difference.
Rule 3: Outlast the bastards.
Rule 4: Live in the solution not the problem.
Rule 5: Stay away from nasty people.

Thank you, and you know who you are.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Medical Marijuana, Cannabis, Pot, Weed

I tried to think of every word for Medical Cannabis that I could for the title...I'm sure I missed some. This stuff is incredibly controversial here in Washington right now. And I have a pretty pragmatic view of the situation.
First of all, it has been legalized right?
Well, sort of. The Federal Government has not gone there, and this is what keeps the subject murky.
But yes, here in WA it's legal with a lot of strictures.
Every week, I get at least one call to help someone who has a "legal" cannabis co-operative as proscribed by the state of WA. They want a place to distribute the drug to patients.
Hmmmm, a place where you can distribute legal drugs to patients... does this sound like the definition of a PHARMACY to anyone but me????
I do not understand why we can sell heroin, morphine, sudafed, codeine, valium, percocet, etc, and so on over the counter at a pharmacy, but in order to sell medical cannabis, which is far less addictive and far less harmful to our society in general, we have to jump through all these hoops.
I just don't get it.
Do I believe the illegal trading of drugs is a good thing? NO. I am simply talking about the legal sale and use of a fairly harmless painkiller to patients under doctor's orders. Why do we have to reinvent the wheel to distribute this drug??? I don't get it. Seriously, it's legal, it's mild, and it's no worst for a person than alcohol, which is more than I can say for many prescription narcotics. Why is this not being sold in a PHARMACY?
Perhaps it's because the pharmaceutical companies don't like the competition? That's one theory I've heard. But what's to keep them from growing and selling? Nothing that I know of. Maybe it's because it's more like an herb than a chemical. To me, this is another reason to leave people alone.
I have a friend who had cancer, and this was the only thing that relieved her nausea after chemo. No side effects, and she could eat again.
OK, I've gone on enough.
And as my son would say:
I'm just sayin'...