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PASS MARIJUANA LEGISLATION IN KENTUCKY

We are in the midst of a heroin epidemic started when we cracked down on the use of legal use of pain medicine as well as the illegal usage as by restricting a doctor's ability to prescribe pain medicines.

Forcing patients into the illegal market has resulted in soaring opioid use and overdose deaths with our legislators scrambling to get a hold on this self-created disaster.

Overdose deaths are still in the thousands here in Kentucky, and a drop of a single death brings stories of possibly getting a drop of two deaths if we only try harder.  Our lawmakers are ignoring legislation that can eliminate as much as 33 percent of these deaths.

The passage of a medical marijuana law creates a 25 percent drop in opioid overdose deaths ( deaths from heroin and pain medicines ) which grows to 33 percent by the sixth year after passage.  There is also a 5 percent drop in suicides.  Simply put, in Kentucky that would be 285 people who would still be with us.

Passage of a medical marijuana bill now more than ever should be a priority in the current General Assembly.

Thomas Vance, Alexandria, Ky.