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10/15/&995 $8:89 5189493974 AGOGINO PAGE 82/85
"There's a crack in the door now, a crack hn the shell and [ think it's
going to spread."
'"It, is monstrous to S_LV this substance ca.m_ot be used as a l_nedic._ne by
people who are d_ng)' he added. "I cha|Ienge an}, federal official to
come and debate tile wisdom of this,"
Seeley has undergc_te eil_,ht suz_eries on his spine, two lung surgeries -
fncluding the remcrval of one lung- radiation e:a]d several bouts of
chemotherapy. He faces another surgery next month.
[nltia}Jy, the chevnotherap¥ affected him so terribly that he considered
stopping it altogether and letting the disease rim its courser Seeley
wrote in a brief to the cc_ur_.
[}ut at the suggestion of a doctor and severai cancer patients, he smoked
some rnamjuana before a bout of chemotherapy.
"The result was overvchetming," Seel_v _TOte. "_¥ithout smoking ......... :'::
maruumla, the plaintiffs suffering included hours of agony ending x_qth
minutes of helpJessb I/4ng in his vorrut and excrement.
"After smok/ng rnarijuana, the _'egimen of" d_e_noLherapy resulted in a
_[[d|y uncomfortable hour followed by a restful night's sleep."
A]though a ss_nthetic form of the drug is ava_/r_le_ it didn't work #br
hhn, Seelttv _._Tote hi Cou% docutt%ents.
"The relief%{_s not as effective and the side effects were much more
Doubling," he said.
The synthe_¢ form of marijuana takes two to four hours to take effect,
vs, five to ]0 minutes by smoking; Seeley sa/d. Additionel_}% even the
lowest dose of the _eclicine caused a debilitating h_% that: lasted abot_
14 hours, corn p_-ed to fou-r or five hours a_e£ smoking marijum1_a.
Last, it _s often impossible to .swallow the pills of the s_a_thetic form
whi}e he was racked by nausea from chemotherapy, he said.
Seeley, a former News Tribune colu_rnmst, filed his lawsuit Ja.st :::
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