I'm writing about, "Hundreds march for medical marijuana rights," that appeared Feb. 8. I'd like to add that the cannabis legalization issue, medical and otherwise, is not whether cannabis is completely safe for everybody, including children and adolescents. It is not.

The issue is freedom of choice for adults. Children have died from eating peanuts and peanut butter, but we don't cage peanut growers, sellers or consumers. And the voters of Colorado and Washington state have decided that we should not cage cannabis growers, sellers or consumers.

Tennessee adults have the freedom of choice of whether or not to consume legal alcohol. Shouldn't they have the same freedom of choice regarding legal cannabis?

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Tennesseans oppose legalizing marijuana generally but appear willing to allow medical marijuana use, according to a poll by MTSU. The poll also found:

Sixty-four percent of state residents oppose allowing gay couples to marry legally.

Fifty-two percent support forbidding the enforcement in Tennessee of federal firearms laws and leaving firearms regulated by state and local laws.

Additionally, the poll measured attitudes toward abortion, further restricting access to pseudoephedrine, allowing grocery stores to sell wine and repealing the new federal health care law, according to an MTSU news release.

[continues 809 words]

It's been 10 days since Philip Seymour Hoffman, possibly our era's finest actor, was found dead and alone in his apartment, a needle in his arm.

Before Hoffman, there was Cory Monteith. And Heath Ledger. Kurt Cobain. River Phoenix. Elvis.

They are our dead celebrities, the famous ones who die from addiction. We love them with a strange love, and mourn them with a strange grief.

We leave flowers outside the buildings where they died. We dim the lights on Broadway. We visit their graves. We easily forgive their drug use and excesses; after all, it's Hollywood. After all, they entertained us so.

[continues 730 words]

Addiction experts believe there are only three possible outcomes for an addict who doesn't escape the lure of drugs or alcohol: death, prison or a destroyed life. For far too many, including screen stars like Philip Seymour Hoffman, death is the intended or unintended result from an apparent overdose when they can't stay in recovery. Sadly, addiction doesn't discriminate. It doesn't just strike the rich and famous or thugs and bad guys. It invades and controls the lives of "average" people. Numerous research studies have demonstrated that, just as some people inherit genes that cause cancer and other diseases, addicts may inherit genes that make them more vulnerable to drugs or alcohol. Like many diseases, addiction is incurable. But it doesn't have to be fatal. Addiction is treatable. As my sister Sylvia and I wrote in a book we co-authored ("HOOKED BUT NOT HOPELESS: Escaping the Lure of Addiction"), many addicts survive to live a better life, and broken families are often healed. After admitting she was powerless over addiction and turning her disease over to God, Sylvia has been in recovery for more than four years following a 17-year battle with prescription drug abuse. She was hooked but not hopeless.

SHERRY HOPPE, President Emeritus Austin Peay State University

[end]

You can be sure of one thing. That those politicians have their windows open up in the state capital in Nashville, smelling that sweet smell of marijuana from Colorado. It will only smell like more easy money to them. Kind of like the lottery.

CHARLES WIDGER, Spring City, Tenn.

[end]

The governor's anti-meth bill will force many law-abiding citizens to see their doctors and get prescriptions before they can purchase safe, effective cold medicine.

If Gov. Bill Haslam's bill passes and you need more than 10 days of medicine that contains pseudoephedrine (the active ingredient in Sudafed and many other cold medicines), you'll have to take off work or hire a sitter; get a prescription; go to the pharmacy, get your medicine and go home ... all while miserable with a cold or flu.

[continues 123 words]

Allison Folsom brought her family all the way from Bristol to tote her "Moms for Medical Marijuana" sign Saturday.

The mother of two, infants Damon and Addie, said she doesn't smoke marijuana for fear of losing her job, but constantly suffers through chronic migraines, something she said would be completely relieved if she were able to smoke marijuana to fight the symptoms.

"I think it shouldn't even be a question," Folsom said. "What's out there is absolute misinformation. I wish people would look at the facts."

[continues 724 words]

NASHVILLE - State Rep. Mike Carter said he is continuing to explore introducing legislation amending Tennessee's strict anti-marijuana laws to allow possession of a cannabis-derived oil seemingly effective in treating a rare form of epilepsy.

"I am considering and looking at filing a bill that allows a parent to have cannabidiol oils in their possession for the use with a person of intractable seizures as determined by a doctor," the Ooltewah Republican and former judge said. "And you can't get high on it."

[continues 457 words]

WASHINGTON - Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is yet another victim of the war on drugs. Prohibition is not working. It is time to try something new.

Hoffman, 46, was found dead in the bathroom of his Manhattan apartment Sunday morning, apparently the victim of a heroin overdose. According to widely published reports, there was a syringe in his arm. Police found the place littered with small plastic bags stamped "Ace of Spades" or "Ace of Hearts" - brand names that street dealers use.

[continues 667 words]

BLUFF CITY, Tenn. - For local medical-marijuana activist Seth Green, the ability to fill his lungs with a full breath of air - without wincing in pain - outweighs the risk of landing in jail.

"I know what the consequences are from it," he said of smoking the weed, which is illegal in Tennessee. "I'd rather not have 60 to 80 seizures in a week's time."

For the last year, the 23-year-old has passed around petitions and spread the word of rallies for his cause in the hopes that Tennessee might one day green-light the weed's use as a medicine.

[continues 514 words]

Law Enforcement Often Arrives on Scene Before EMTs

As Boston celebrated its World Series victory last fall with a grand parade through downtown, a distraught young man burst through the crowd in search of police. But he didn't want Boston police. He wanted an officer from Quincy, a Boston suburb.

The man's girlfriend had overdosed on heroin. He had heard Quincy police carry naloxone, a drug that can reverse an opiate overdose instantly. Quincy officers, helping with security at the parade, administered the drug, reversed the overdose and saved the 20-year-old woman.

[continues 443 words]

But Tenn. GOP Lends No Support

NASHVILLE - Tennesseans who want to curb their nausea, seizures or chronic pain with marijuana are hoping a cultural shift makes the prospect of passing a state measure move from laughable to possible.

Past medical marijuana bills gained little traction, and House and Senate sponsors of the last bill, proposed in 2012, lost re-election bids.

But five states have joined the ranks of those offering medical marijuana since then, the most recent being New York, whose governor this month launched a policy by executive order. That brings the total to 21 states - including traditionally conservative Arizona - and the District of Columbia, all with different fee structures and possession limits.

[continues 562 words]

Shifting Attitudes Give Supporters Hope That Tennessee Is Ready to Pass a Bill

Tennesseans who want to curb their nausea, seizures or chronic pain with marijuana instead of medication are hoping a cultural shift makes the prospect of passing a state measure move from laughable to possible.

Past medical marijuana bills gained little traction, and House and Senate sponsors of the last bill, proposed in 2012, lost re-election bids.

But five states have joined the ranks of those offering medical marijuana since then, the most recent being New York, whose governor this month launched a policy by executive order. That brings the total to 21 states - including traditionally conservative Arizona - and the District of Columbia, all with different fee structures and possession limits.

[continues 860 words]

Some have dubbed 2014 as the year of marijuana legalization.

Voters in Colorado and Washington passed ballot initiatives that legalized the sale this year of recreational pot. A recent Gallup poll found for the first time that a clear majority of Americans -- 58 percent -- say marijuana should be legalized, and President Barack Obama was quoted this month in a New Yorker magazine article as saying, "I don't think [marijuana] is more dangerous than alcohol."

Twenty states and the District of Columbia now allow medical marijuana, and about 10 other states have medical marijuana laws in the works -- including Tennessee and Georgia.

[continues 1172 words]

You may have seen news reports regarding a new medical marijuana bill (HB 1385) that state Rep. Sherry Jones is introducing in the Tennessee General Assembly. It is a very strictly written law that gives relief to severely ill persons whose regular medications/drugs provide no relief to their pain and suffering. In the news reports children with seizures are used to support this bill - children with many conditions whose seizures are not controlled with any of the many life-threatening seizure drugs.

[continues 170 words]

Groups are said to be working on getting medical marijuana laws on the books in more states. You'll remember that's how it all started in Colorado: with medical marijuana. You know, just to be humane to those who are ill and need the "medication." Never mind that the drug in weed that can help folks ease the pain of some diseases can be found in a pill distributed by legal pharmacists. But few really thought that those pushing marijuana would stop at its "medical uses." It's all about complete legalization. Always has been. The Associated Press Employees help customers at the crowded sales counter inside Medicine Man marijuana retail store, which opened as a legal recreational

[continues 397 words]

When Ruth Marcus says "our kids will not be better off with another mind-altering legal substance" (Jan. 3 Viewpoint column, "Legal pot a bad idea whose time has come") she is dead wrong. They will be much better off. She can cite all the studies she wants about the effects of marijuana usage on teenagers. That still doesn't mean you can stop the usage of it, nor does it mean punishing kids for life is the right way to go.

[continues 218 words]

NASHVILLE - A Democratic legislator has filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would authorize prescription sales of marijuana for medicinal purposes in Tennessee under somewhat stringent regulations.

"It's just simply a matter of being rational and compassionate," said Rep. Sherry Jones, D-Nashville, sponsor of HB1385. "It would apply to only the most severely debilitated people ... children suffering a hundred [epileptic] seizures a day, people on chemotherapy, people with multiple sclerosis ... people with a plethora of diseases" who now must either leave the state to get marijuana or make their purchases illegally.

[continues 481 words]

In the wake of a Gallup poll that found more Americans are now in favor of legalizing marijuana than criminalizing it, we came across a statement from CALM (Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana), which offers only this: "We affirm the 2006 FDA finding and vast scientific evidence that marijuana causes harm. The normalization, expanded use, and increased availability of marijuana are detrimental to our youth, to public health, and to the safety of our society."

That offers nothing of use. You can be harmed by drinking too much water.

[continues 433 words]

Health Care Law Expands Coverage for Substance Abuse, Mental Illness

Editor's Note: This is the first in an occasional series on the 10 essential health benefits required by the Affordable Care Act.

Tennessee may be able to open another front in its war against rampant prescription drug abuse through a rule under the new federal health care law requiring health insurance plans to cover substance abuse treatment.

In what federal officials have called "one of the largest expansions of mental health and substance use disorder coverage in a generation," the Affordable Care Act will include care for mental illness and substance abuse among the 10 "essential health benefits" in insurance plans starting Jan. 1.

[continues 836 words]