Letters | 5-3-15

Donate umbilical cord blood and save lives

This Mother’s Day, I’d like to thank all the mothers who have donated their baby’s umbilical cord blood to the Hawaii Cord Blood Bank, and all the expectant mothers who plan to donate.

Your compassion means that someone with a life-threatening disease may get a second chance at life. Donated cord blood that meets the requirements can be listed on the Be The Match Registry and made available to anyone who needs a blood stem cell transplant.

Cord blood, usually disposed of after birth, is rich in blood-forming cells and can be used to help treat more than 70 different diseases, including leukemia and other blood cancers. Cord blood donations are especially needed from African American and Asian communities, as patients within these communities have difficulty finding donor matches.

There is no cost to donate to a public cord blood bank such as the Hawaii Cord Blood Bank, and donation is safe for moms and babies. Cord blood is collected right after birth and does not change the labor or delivery process.

There is no greater gift than the gift of life. Since its inception in 1997, the Hawaii Cord Blood Bank has provided matches for 166 transplants, but more donations are needed to help save more lives. Visit hcbb.org and bethematch.org/cord to learn more.

Dr. Randal Wada

Honolulu

Ordnance workers should take company to court

Nancy Cook Lauer’s story in West Hawaii Today’s April 27 edition on ordnance workers left me very confused.

As I understand it, a contract consists of an offer and an acceptance. Once your offer is accepted by me, we have a contract that is enforceable in court. Once the workers signed the original employment contract there was no basis for “a former Environet employee who has since left the company” — which is totally immaterial — or anyone else to make the workers accept different contracts. They should go to court for back wages under their initial agreement.

So the company loses money. It is called capitalism.

Lanric Hyland

Kapaau

Medical marijuana and common sense

For the people who are putting a plan together for medical pot: I can’t believe you need to get consultants about different types of pot, and their breed and use. Have you ever tried the Internet? Everything and anything, with sources is listed under marijuana. There are about 300 different types.

And what is the deal about having to pay permit fees of $30,000 to $40,000 just to open the door, along with the cost of rules demanded? Try contacting the states who deal with that already, and we could save a lot of taxpayer dollars. Plus, the enforcement, with police presence is a waste of money. The owners know it would not be good to not follow the rules.

What would be considered a reasonable price for the medicine, counting in the yearly doctor visit, ($160 to $225 per visit), the cost of traveling to the dispensary, and the illegal tax of almost 35 percent proposed? How many uneducated clowns are needed to do a simple system that hospitals and pharmacies use for security?

This a joke, and all the people I know can get their pot for half the cost of any retail outlet prices. I don’t use, but I do like an intellegent plan that is useful. The way the considerations are leaning do nothing but create a cash cow that can corrupt officials, much like what happens now. How about some common sense?

What about the fact that medical prescriptions are not taxable, but a tax of more than seven times the rate for over-the-counter meds is being tossed around?

David A. Macdonald

Kailua-Kona