Pubdate: Sun, 09 Mar 2008
Source: Oshkosh Northwestern (WI)
Copyright: 2008 Gannett Co., Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenorthwestern.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2640
Author: Tyler Zellner

STATE SHOULD OK MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

I am writing today to the city of Oshkosh and friends regarding having
an open mind, compassion and embracing change. Former Representative
Gregg Underheim, proposed legislation that would have legalized
marijuana for medicinal purposes in Wisconsin in 2005. It did not pass.

After fighting prostate cancer himself Underheim met other patients
that had benefited greatly from its effects, especially those dealing
with chemotherapy.

There are two basic kinds of marijuana cannabis-sativa, and
cannabis-indica. Each of these are marijuana plants, and each has a
different composition with different effects that can be beneficial,
or bothersome for certain people and conditions. Many cannabis users
find that certain strains, or types of cannabis are better for their
conditions than others, comparable to how certain drugs people obtain
from their doctors work better for some than others.

A common argument against marijuana is that smoking is bad, and it is.
The truth is that marijuana is fat-soluble and can be consumed in less
harmful ways such as eating it. A drug called Marinol, which is a
synthetic form of marijuana, is already on the market although it
lacks many properties of the other organic plants. While the
recreational use of marijuana is controversial it is necessary that we
as citizens realize the medicinal benefits of this herb. It is cruel,
ignorant and unsympathetically intolerant that the people of the
United States as well as their government would deny people in pain
access to a medicine/plant/or herb that works.

Although there is no current legislation pending in Wisconsin, I
encourage everyone that reads this to imagine themselves having
chronic pain that will not go away, or being nauseated from
chemotherapy and ask yourself if you would want access to marijuana,
especially if your time was quickly running out?

Tyler Zellmer,

Oshkosh
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MAP posted-by: Derek