Terminal Cancer Gran Jailed After Testing Positive For THC

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Grandmother with terminal cancer jailed for testing positive for THC

A terminally ill grandmother with cancer was thrown in jail and denied access to chemotherapy after she tested positive for THC. 

Angela Kastner was arrested by Sedgwick County cops, after they found traces of cannabis in her bloodstream due to a THC treatment Angela was undergoing to try and cure her cancer.

Even though the THC Angela was prescribed was a perfectly legal FDA-approved synthetic version of THC, the cops claimed that Angela was using it to “get high.”

Thefreethoughtproject.com reports: “I had … Marinol in my system that the doctors in Oklahoma gave me to fight cancer. I’ve been fighting cancer 5 years,” Kastner said.

That’s right. Kastner is taking Marinol to fend off nausea and help her have an appetite, just like millions of other cancer patients across the country.

According to her pharmacist, as KAKE reports, the amount of THC in her blood is not enough to make anyone high. In fact, according to the drug’s own insert on its safety, they only recommend not driving if you feel confused, dizzy, or drowsy.

Aside from the drug Kastner has been taking for 5 years, not causing impairment, there is no scientific evidence that THC in the blood stream equates to impaired driving.

As the Free Thought Project previously reported, no scientific basis exists to legitimize current THC testing for impaired driving. According to a study from auto club giant AAA’s safety foundation, a blood test threshold for THC — the chemical component of cannabis that makes people ‘high’ — is simply not scientifically possible.

As the study notes, determining actual impairment from THC consumption is quite different than for alcohol. Tolerance for the chemical would mean though a regular cannabis user might have high blood levels of THC, they are perfectly safe behind the wheel — while a relatively low THC blood level could be found in someone unfit to drive.

Because Kastner was a regular user of Marinol she was, more likely than not, entirely fit to drive — even if she’d just taken it.

However, none of this matters to those tasked with upholding the law. And, if the law says we have to throw grandmas in cages for having their legally prescribed medicine in their bloodstream, then, by golly, we are going to do just that.

“I miss my chemo tomorrow and I miss my doctor’s appointment tomorrow,” said Kastner, whose doctor is rightfully furious. Because she’s missing the chemo treatment, her doctor says she’ll have to restart her entire regimen.

“She’s all I’ve got,” Kastner’s niece, Crystal Fleming said to KAKE. “My dad passed away and she’s all I’ve got.”

As for Kastner, she says she wants people to know her story so no one else has to go through her pain.

“I feel sorry for the next cancer patient who has to go through anything I have had to go through. They shouldn’t have to do this at the end of their life.”

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