Pubdate: Thu, 14 Apr 2005
Source: Core Weekly (Madison, WI)
Copyright: 2005 Core Weekly
Contact:  http://www.coreweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3593
Author: Gary Storck
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

RAISING MEDICAL MARIJUANA FROM THE DARK AGES

Born with glaucoma, I stumbled upon marijuana as a way to save my eyesight 
at age 17 in 1972. In 1997, after surviving a life-threatening infection 
following my third open-heart surgery, I decided to dedicate the extra time 
I was given in this life to work to make medical marijuana legally 
available to patients who can benefit. That same year I met Jacki Rickert, 
a Mondovi, Wis. resident who had suffered for years from symptoms of 
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and other ailments. Jacki had led a 210-mile 
wheelchair "Journey for Justice" to lobby for a state medical cannabis law 
from Mondovi to the state Capitol, but the legislature would not listen.

Jacki and I began working together at both the state and federal levels and 
in 2000 founded, "Is My Medicine Legal YET?". IMMLY's website at 
www.immly.org lays out our efforts, including a poll we commissioned in 
February 2002 that not only found 80 percent support statewide among 
Wisconsinites for legal access to medical cannabis with a doctor's note, 
but also 92 percent in Dane County. I am also a co-founder of Wisconsin 
NORML and Madison NORML, and post on Madison NORML's new weblog at 
www.madisonnorml.org.

Cannabis is an ancient medicine utilized for more than 15,000 years by 
humans for medical purposes. It was a legal medicine in the United States 
up until 1937, when Congress voted to prohibit marijuana without debate and 
against the wishes of groups including the American Medical and American 
Bar Associations. Before 1937 pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and 
Parke-Davis, distributed cannabis in a wide variety of forms. Advertised 
uses included appetite stimulation, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory for 
rheumatism, migraine, dental pain, corn relief and more.

Despite federal prohibition, 11 states have now passed workable medical 
marijuana laws that allow patients or their designated caregivers to use, 
posses and cultivate marijuana for medical use. Anecdotal and clinical 
evidence demonstrates cannabis is useful for treating symptoms of a wide 
range of ailments including cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy, multiple 
sclerosis, chronic pain, ALS, arthritis and many more.

Recent scientific evidence is very promising; cannabis' powerful 
antioxidant and neuroprotectives properties can halt or slow the 
progression of diseases like multiple sclerosis, and block the formation of 
plaque in arteries, protecting the heart and brain from stroke.

As I write this, a ruling is expected any day from the U.S. Supreme Court 
in the blockbuster medical marijuana case, Raich v. Ashcroft. If affirmed, 
the case could mean the federal war on medical marijuana patients is over. 
If not, existing local and state medical cannabis laws, like Madison's 
Ordinance 23.20 and California's Prop 215, will still stand.

We hear a lot of talk out of Washington about freedom, liberty and 
democracy, but here in America today patients do not have the freedom under 
federal law to legally access this medicine even with their physician's 
recommendation. Generations of sick and dying Americans and their families 
have been forced to sneak around like criminals to help a loved one feed 
themselves, ease pain, sleep and get back a little quality of life. It is 
time to err on the side of life and allow patients to utilize this gentle 
therapy if they so choose.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom