Pubdate: Fri, 16 Mar 2007
Source: Albany Herald, The (GA)
Copyright: 2007 The Albany Herald Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.albanyherald.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1747
Author: Joshua Brown
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Elvy+Musikka
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA ENDORSED BY PATIENT

ALBANY -- Elvy Musikka, a widely known advocate of medical marijuana 
use, credits pot with restoring her vision.

Musikka said Thursday during a visit to Albany State University that 
the drug should be used as a medical treatment for illnesses because 
it helps to make the body function better and, in her case, restored 
lost eyesight.

"My left eye was messed up by a surgery when I was 14, and I never 
thought I would get it back," Musikka said. "At my last checkup, it 
was 20/100 (improved from 20/400), and I was totally thrilled because 
I never expected that as I got older, my sight would be getting 
better. But if you eat/ smoke marijuana, your whole system gets so 
much better."

Musikka claims that prohibiting the use of marijuana by keeping it 
illegal is blasphemous, and hopes that Christians across the nation 
will urge lawmakers to make the drug lawful to use.

"To arrest a patient for using the creator's work could not be 
described as anything except blatant blasphemy," she said. "We really 
need an overwhelming majority of us Christians to come together and 
remind ourselves that we cannot kill and we cannot steal and we 
cannot lie. With this prohibition we are doing all of the above."

Musikka, one of only five people enrolled in a federal program to use 
pot for medicinal purposes, said that she thought the doctor who 
prescribed the drug to her was crazy.

"I have been smoking it (medicinally) for 31 years," Musikka said. "I 
never smoked until a doctor said I should smoke it or I would go 
blind. I questioned his sanity."

Musikka was prescribed the drug to combat her glaucoma, she said.

On Wednesday, an appeals court ruled that a California woman could be 
prosecuted for breaching federal drug laws even if she uses marijuana 
because it is reportedly the only medicine keeping her alive.

But Musikka says that should be more impetus for U.S. residents to 
rise up and urge lawmakers to make the drug legal.

"That just shows that I really need every one of you to take an 
interest" in the fight to legalize marijuana, she said at Albany 
State University Thursday, where she spoke to students about the need.

Musikka helped establish a medical marijuana defense in Florida in 
1988, according to a news release from Albany State University. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake