Pubdate: Mon, 20 Sep 2010 Source: Daily Courier (Prescott, AZ) Copyright: 2010 Prescott Newspapers, Inc. Contact: http://www.dcourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4036 Author: Lora Lee Nye PROP. 203 IS WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING Editor: Proposition 203 - the Medical Marijuana Initiative - is an important Nov. 2 ballot decision. It allows for possession, growth, purchase and use of marijuana for approved cardholders with a debilitating medical condition. But is that what it is really for, or is it the first step in attempting to legalize marijuana in Arizona? The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) brought the initiative to Arizona. The MPP is a Washington, D.C.-based organization whose mission statement is to envision a nation where marijuana is legal. Prop. 203 proposes to allow terminally or seriously ill patients to use marijuana. Qualifying patients will register with the Arizona Department of Health, thereby becoming cardholders, and will obtain marijuana from nonprofit dispensaries or grow their own. In states that have approved medical marijuana, such as California, Montana and Colorado, most cardholders have more subjective illnesses such as "pain." In Colorado these patients are in their 20s to 40s. States with medical marijuana also have some of the nation's highest addiction rates. Prop. 203 is designed to prey on voters' sympathy for the terminally ill and those with debilitating illnesses, when it is nothing more than a vehicle to virtually decriminalize marijuana in Arizona by creating legal barriers for law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, state licensing entities, employers, schools and landlords. Voters should to take a serious look at Prop. 203 and say "no." Lora Lee Nye Prescott Valley - --- MAP posted-by: Matt