Pubdate: Mon, 23 May 2005
Source: Newport Daily News, The (RI)
Copyright: 2005. The Newport Daily News.
Contact:  http://www.newportdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1808
Author: Joe Baker
Cited: American Civil Liberties Union www.aclu.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)

 From the Statehouse:

Marijuana Is Justified As Medicine

OK. Right up front, full disclosure: I have inhaled.

Considering I came of age in the 1960s, this shouldn't come as any
surprise. Those of my generation can understand. Those younger need to
know that the vast majority (and that is no exaggeration) of my peers
also inhaled. Pot was so prevalent in the late 1960s and early 1970s
that if a cop busted you and you had less than an ounce, he would just
confiscate it and send you on your way. And you can be sure that pot
would never see its way to the evidence room.

Now that my soul has been bared, let's move on to the subject of
medical marijuana. Last Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee
approved legislation that would make Rhode Island the 11th state in
the country to legalize marijuana use for patients suffering
debilitating medical problems, like cancer, epilepsy, multiple
sclerosis or AIDS. On Wednesday, the House Health, Education and
Welfare Committee heard two hours of testimony on its version of the
legislation, most of which supported the bill.

Let's get down to basics. Those of us fortunate enough to be healthy
cannot begin to imagine the pain and suffering of someone undergoing
chemotherapy. We may be able to intellectually understand, but can we
ever really know the side effects of the very powerful medication AIDS
patients must take in an attempt to control that deadly disease? Nor
is it easy to really feel the pain of MS patients whose joints lock up
daily, preventing them from leading a normal life.

If it were only Cheech and Chong admirers promoting medical use of
marijuana, opponents might have reason to be leery. But groups such as
the Rhode Island Medical Society, the Rhode Island Nurses Association,
the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Public
Health Association have endorsed the movement. When normally
conservative states like Arizona, Alaska and Montana adopt medical
marijuana laws by wide margins, you know support is not limited to
spaced-out potheads.

One argument opponents like to raise is that medical marijuana laws
will increase juveniles' accessibility to pot. Anyone reading the
police log in the paper knows there is no accessibility problem now.
It apparently isn't hard to find. So it's unlikely that legalizing
medical marijuana is going to increase the supply out there on the
streets.

Opponents also like to raise the specter of thousands of potheads
lining up to get access to legal weed. Again, accessibility isn't the
issue. And if the bill clearly defines the qualifying symptoms, it
will make it difficult for a doctor to prescribe marijuana for
patients or for the state Department of Health to certify the
patient's right of access to medical marijuana.

Steve Brown, of the American Civil Liberties Union, hit the nail on
the head when he told the House committee that providing comfort to
seriously ill patients was worth the possibility that a few people
might somehow skirt the law and get access to legal marijuana
illegally. That possibility doesn't stop doctors now from prescribing
very serious drugs (Valium, Percocet, Vicodin, OxyContin, to name a
few) with much more potent side effects.

Finally, despite the fact that marijuana has been widely used for more
than 30 years (really a lot longer, but it just wasn't publicly
recognized), there has been little scientific evidence that it is all
that harmful. Oh, sure, some opponents are going to dig out some
obscure studies showing that reefer madness is a reality. But
supporters can dig out their own studies to disprove that.

Given the lack of solid proof that marijuana is the evil weed
opponents make it out to be - and given a set of regulations for
allowing its medical use - denying its use to those in desperate
physical need hardly seems like the American thing to do. Where are
all those compassionate conservatives when you really need them? 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake