Medical marijuana jeopardizes liver transplant

[Clark]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-transplant-20111126,0,3264105.story

Medical marijuana jeopardizes liver transplant
A cancer patient is removed from the transplant list at Cedars-Sinai for using medical marijuana and for failing to show up for a drug test. He is hoping the hospital will reconsider.
By Anna Gorman

Norman Smith, who has been fighting cancer for two years, needs a new liver.

He was placed on the transplant list at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center last year but doctors removed him in February because he was using medical marijuana and failed to show up for a drug test.

...

There is no standard policy on transplants and the use of medical marijuana or other drugs, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages organ transplantation for the U.S. Instead, transplant centers make their own decisions on which patients are the best candidates for new organs.

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Smith is hopeful that he will get a transplant in time and that his fight will raise awareness for others with medical marijuana prescriptions. "That's why I am going through this challenge, at the very least to make it easier for the next guy," he said.