Pubdate: Wed, 25 Nov 2009
Source: Post-Crescent, The (Appleton,  WI)
Copyright: 2009 The Post-Crescent
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/yqP960uk
Website: http://www.postcrescent.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1443
Referenced: The Assembly bill http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2009/data/AB-554.pdf
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - United States)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA'S TIME HAS COME

The tide is turning in favor of legalizing marijuana  for medicinal
use -- and it's about time.

Studies have shown that cancer patients and those with  other painful
diseases, such as AIDS, can benefit from  the substance, which
stimulates appetite, reduces  nausea and eases muscle spasms and pain.
These patients  shouldn't be criminalized for seeking relief for
maladies hard to fathom unless you've been there.

Thirteen states have legalized medical marijuana and a  dozen others,
including Wisconsin, are considering it.

Though the idea has been floated in our state  Legislature before,
state Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison,  and state Sen. Jon Erpenbach,
D-Waunakee, have  introduced a bill that may have a chance this time.

It has firm parameters, such as creating a maximum  amount of
marijuana a patient may have, and the backing  of Gov. Jim Doyle.

Doyle says he supports the bill as long as the users  have a doctor's
prescription. That safeguard, while not  infallible, should assuage
the fears that legalization  for this specific purpose would open the
floodgates to  wholesale legalization.

The American Medical Association, once an ally of  opponents to
legalizing medical marijuana, recently  reversed its policy that
claimed marijuana had no  benefits.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has made good on a  promise to halt
federal prosecutions of medical  marijuana use where permitted by state law.

It's time to adopt a law that simply allows the use of  small amounts
of marijuana to cope with the effects of  debilitating illness.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake