Pubdate: Fri, 04 Dec 2009
Source: Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
Copyright: 2009 The Morning Call Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/DReo9M8z
Website: http://www.mcall.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/275
Author: Paul Carpenter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

IT IS TIME FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Not a single lawmaker from the Lehigh Valley had the  guts or the
integrity to join him.

John Ray Wilson, 36, of Franklin Township, N.J., has  multiple
sclerosis, an incurable disease. He has no  medical insurance, so the
only way he could ease some  of his agony was with a few marijuana
plants he grew in  his yard.

Now he faces the agony of 20 years in prison, and the  jury in his
trial, set to begin Dec. 14, will be  prevented by a so-called judge
from knowing the truth  about his reasons for having those pot plants.

(Marijuana -- less addictive than coffee or alcohol --  is widely
regarded as an effective way to lessen the  horrors of MS, glaucoma,
cancer and other ailments.)

I once lived in Kendall Park, N.J., and Franklin  Township was just
across Route 27 from my house. That  was before Wilson was born, but
the plight of somebody  in my old neighborhood struck a nerve.

I'm not the only one. Outrage over the ruling by  Somerset County
Judge Robert Reed galvanized the  public, and New Jersey is expected
to be the next state  to decriminalize possession of small amounts of
marijuana for valid medical purposes.

According to this week's Wall Street Journal, Reed has  prohibited
Wilson from explaining to a jury why he used  marijuana. The jury will
be left to infer he merely  wanted to party or to sell it for profit.
Motive is not  relevant in Reed's court.

That appalling lack of common sense and decency helped  move
legislation to let people use marijuana when it is  recommended by a
physician. The bill, said the WSJ, is  expected to pass the state
Assembly soon, and lame duck  Gov. Jon Corzine indicated he will sign
it by next  month.

That means in a few weeks, residents of the Lehigh  Valley region may
be just a bridge away from a place  with an enlightened attitude about
helping people who  are suffering from terrible illnesses.

According to a story on the front page of The Morning  Call on
Thursday, similar legislation "faces long odds  in Pennsylvania,"
where the power structure is  contaminated by hordes of Judge Reed
types.

A House committee, it was reported, held hearings on a  bill to allow
some people to buy marijuana for medical  use.

The measure was introduced by state Rep. Mark Cohen,  D-Philadelphia,
with six co-sponsors. Not a single  lawmaker from the Lehigh Valley
had the guts or the  integrity to join him as a co-sponsor.

"More than a dozen states," Thursday's story  observed, "have
legalized medical marijuana." Cohen's  measure, House Bill 1393,
would establish state  "compassion centers" to help ease the pain
and nausea  of various diseases, including the torment of
chemotherapy for cancer victims.

"A qualifying patient shall not be subject to arrest,  prosecution or
penalty in any manner," it says, "for  the medical use of marijuana,
provided that the patient  possesses a registry identification card
and no more  than six marijuana plants and one ounce of usable
marijuana."

Control freaks immediately opposed HB 1393. "More  lives stand to be
ruined [by marijuana]," state  Attorney General Tom Corbett was
quoted as saying,  oblivious to lives now being ruined by draconian
laws  that serve only to enrich drug dealers and the  government
officials they bribe.

A main force behind legalization of medical marijuana  is the
Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington.  In a drive to support
such legislation in Pennsylvania,  MPP cited five articles, including
my Aug. 16 column,  in which I recalled how I got stuck in a traffic
jam  outside the 1969 Woodstock music festival, where  marijuana was
everywhere and was ignored by police.

I contemplated what a disaster that would have been if  alcohol (which
triggers obnoxious and pugnacious  behavior), instead of marijuana
(which triggers gentle  amity), had been the drug of choice there.

I must confess I tried marijuana a couple of years  after Woodstock,
but I did not care for it. I'm also  not much of a boozer. I prefer to
get high in other  ways, such as skiing or riding a motorcycle through
  Monument Valley. Obviously, for most of us, marijuana  did not lead
to other drugs.

If I ever get MS or need chemotherapy, however, I shall  try it again,
legalization or no legalization -- and  Reed, Corbett and all the
other control freaks can go  to blazes.

Speaking of judicial depravity, Thursday's paper also  had an item
about a third judge in Luzerne County being  charged with corruption.
Previously, two other judges  were charged in a multimillion-dollar
scheme to take  bribes for putting innocent juveniles into commercial
jails.

The new charges are not what is most depraved. That  county is now
down to seven judges, prompting President  Judge Chester Muroski to
say, "Clearly this action  deals a severe blow to our already
shorthanded Luzerne  County Court."

He's worried about being shorthanded ? How about the  severe blow to
thousands of lives ruined by a corrupt  judiciary? Where does the
court system come up with  people harboring these kinds of
perversities? 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D