Pubdate: Thu, 23 Apr 2009
Source: Daily Collegian (PA Edu)
Copyright: 2009 Collegian Inc.
Contact:  http://www.collegian.psu.edu/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/543
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATES SHOULD REFOCUS

Protesters rallying in Harrisburg Monday for the legalization of 
medicinal marijuana have a great goal in mind, even if their approach 
is slightly misguided

Twelve states have already passed bills legalizing it, and 
Pennsylvania would be smart to add itself to that list. Marijuana can 
be an effective substitute for habit-forming painkillers with 
horrific side effects.

As it stands, pharmaceutical companies and the groups that lobby for 
them have way too much power in this country. While this makes the 
legalization of marijuana a bit more difficult, it's also more incentive.

For that to happen, the legalization movement needs a change in 
image. When people think of protesters for this cause, they don't 
think of 55-year-old construction workers with torn labrums or 
80-year-old grandmothers with glaucoma, which is a shame, because 
those are the sorts of people who need this the most.

Instead, they think of the advocates who view the movement as a 
stepping stone toward complete legalization of marijuana, the 
stereotypical tie-dyed dorm room bong hitter or the burnout behind 
the high school gym. This perception undermines entirely what is 
otherwise a worthy cause.

Many of these sorts of protesters, including some of those who 
rallied in Harrisburg Monday, need to change their approach to make 
any progress on the issue.

Comparing marijuana with alcohol and tobacco, as people so often do, 
is weak. Sure, marijuana isn't addictive and doesn't kill nearly as 
many people as do cigarettes and alcohol, but comparing a potentially 
medicinal drugs with those intended for recreational use is faulty.

The stronger comparison is with prescription drugs used for purposes 
similar to the painkilling properties of marijuana.

Regardless of one's opinion on recreational marijuana use, it's 
necessary to look at the medicinal marijuana use issue not as a means 
to that end, but as an end in itself.

Don't worry about the intent of pain-free college kids rallying for 
medicinal marijuana legalization. Instead, worry about the people in 
pain whom legalization could actually help. Or worry about who it 
would hurt: absolutely no one.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom