If You Must Have a Failing Organ, Don't Go Taking Legal Pain Medication!

At least not the kind that gives you the munchies. If you do, they'll just let you die:

SEATTLE - Timothy Garon's face and arms are hauntingly skeletal, but the fluid building up in his abdomen makes the 56-year-old musician look eight months pregnant.

His liver, ravaged by hepatitis C, is failing. Without a new one, his doctors tell him, he will be dead in days.

But Garon has been refused a spot on the transplant list, largely because he has used marijuana, even though it was legally approved for medical reasons. […]

With the scarcity of donated organs, transplant committees like the one at the University of Washington Medical Center use tough standards, including whether the candidate has other serious health problems or is likely to drink or do drugs.

Whole outrage here; thanks to commenter "sage" for the tip. Drew Carey explains the benefits of a liberalized organ market here.