Pubdate: Sat, 10 Jan 2015
Source: Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, GA)
Copyright: 2015 Ledger-Enquirer
Contact:  http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/237
Author: Richard Hyatt
Note: Richard Hyatt is an independent correspondent

MEDICAL MARIJUANA DEBATE IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SHOULD BE FASCINATING

You're not going to see legislators rolling up big fat ones over the
next few weeks, but members of the General Assembly will be discussing
a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in a state that smokes
ribs instead of weed.

The brainchild of State Rep. Allen Peake, a Republican from Macon,
House Bill 1 would provide guidelines for growing, producing and
selling therapeutic cannabis, an oil extracted from marijuana plants.

Measures are in place in 23 states and, despite the controversy
surrounding such legislation, a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution
poll shows 84 percent of registered voters in Georgia favor its passage.

Last November, I wrote about Ava Wilson, a 7-year-old Columbus child
who used to endure hundreds of seizures a day. She's seizure free
today, but she had to move to Colorado to find help.

My column inspired an email from Columbus native Chris Mallory. After
getting degrees at Columbus State University, he moved to Colorado and
became a master grower for a small medical dispensary that grows and
sells medicinal marijuana.

"I have met with hundreds of patients who are suffering with
conditions ranging from MS to back trauma. Each has their own story as
to why cannabis is the proper medication for them. I have seen the
healing effects firsthand and continue to do so on a daily basis,"
Mallory wrote.

Families who have packed everything they own into a U-Haul and moved
across the country so their child could survive sadden him. Seventeen
of those displaced families are from Georgia.

To most of us, this is a misunderstood issue. Mallory faced that when
his family heard what he was doing.

"They thought I was growing dope in my closet," he
said.

When laws first changed in Colorado, it was a free-for-all. Stiff
regulations have helped. More than 150 stores were closed but Mallory
said there are more cannabis outlets in Denver than there are
Starbucks and McDonald's combined.

Mallory is following HB 1 with interest. He recognizes it is important
for reforms to begin at the local level, but he doesn't think a
person's right to medicine should be connected to anyone's political
agenda.

The upcoming debate will be fascinating. But while detractors paint
gloomy pictures of potheads and addicts, legislators must remember the
people that may be helped -- especially the children.

"We have the cure in our hands," Mallory said.

Richard Hyatt is an independent correspondent  
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