Pubdate: Tue, 20 Mar 2012
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Copyright: 2012 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://host.madison.com/wsj/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/506
Author: Gary Storck

FINISH WHAT DREYFUS BEGAN 30 YEARS AGO

The passing of Joyce Dreyfus, widow of former Gov. Lee Sherman 
Dreyfus, reminds me of a time when Wisconsin elected representatives 
from both parties worked together for the common good.

An example was the 1982 passage of the Therapeutic Cannabis Research 
Act, which passed the Assembly 77-19 and the Senate 32-1. Among those 
voting in support were Tommy Thompson, William Bablitch, Lynn 
Adelman, Tom Loftus, Tim Cullen, Michael Ellis and Scott McCallum. 
Gov. Dreyfus signed the bill into law on April 15, 1982. It remains 
state law today.

While the act's language assumed federal authorities would provide 
medical cannabis supplies, that never happened. More than 32 states 
passed similar laws. Despite the lack of medicine, the fact remains 
that in 1982 bipartisan majorities in both houses overwhelmingly 
passed a medical cannabis law and Gov. Dreyfus signed it into law, 
placing Wisconsin officially on record in support of medical cannabis use.

Today 16 states and Washington, D.C., have medical cannabis laws, and 
millions of American patients - seniors, veterans, the sick, disabled 
and dying - are getting their medicine. Wisconsin needs to complete 
what Dreyfus started and make it happen here.

- - Gary Storck, Madison, co-founder, Is My Medicine Legal Yet?
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom