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PUBLISHER'S COMMENTARY

People, Politics, Politicians & Public Issues

States' Rights, Preferred Medical Options And A Presidential Bid Converge

The New Mexico legislature, in a move that may have surprised Governor Bill Richardson, delivered a bill permitting the use of medical marijuana.  Richardson, a spoken advocate at the onset of his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, promised to sign the legislation.  Two major states which follow Iowa's caucuses, Texas and California ( February 5th - 3 weeks following Iowa ), already recognized the medical value of marijuana. 

While the more conservative state of Iowa doesn't presently recognize the medical value of marijuana ( Minnesota and Illinois have done so ), the politically strategic question will be how Governor Richardson's support will "play" in Iowa's Democratic caucuses. 

TII, speaking with the governor during his first campaign visit to Des Moines, was reminded that New Mexico, as with other Western states, feels strongly about states' rights; they also feel strongly about gun ownership - another states rights issue to many advocates.  While medical marijuana did not, during the Governor's visit, come up for discussion, the combination of a California Federal Appeals court decision against application of that state's law and the signing of legislation allowing the use of a maligned antidote for severe pain ( often associated with terminal illnesses - but also including persistent and debilitating ailments ) should draw the attention of voters from all states who may be concerned about the encroachments of the federal government upon individual rights during both current and prior administrations. 

While guns and gun ownership have not yet come "front and center" in either the Democratic or Republican contests, the dynamics of point/counter-point politics in contentious campaigns will likely begin to see this issue paired with the Bill Richardson's medical legislation from the West Coast to the East Coast, with a special focus on one point in-between - Iowa.  Should we not, according to TII contributor Carl Olsen, be able to determine our interests as an "an aging state population seeking the broadest set of options possible for extending quality in each life"? It should be our right to determine, not the federal government's - a contorted image of its former self which has been privatizing everything from "government oversight" and regulation to prisons with every effort being made to enhance the income and growth of the profiteers. 

Special acknowledgement: While conducting related world-wide-web research, a Google ( images ) search of "medical marijuana states" yielded graphics from Oregon NORML, http://ornorml.org/articles/read.php?ID=47.  The executive director, Madeline Martinez, granted permission for TII to reprint from the site for our feature including the contribution by TII subscriber Carl Olsen, the AP articles on Governor Richardson, the New Mexico legislature's passage of the most recent medical marijuana law and the reporting of a California Federal Appeals Court finding against a dying woman, involving use of medical marijuana.