It wasn't until Travis Petta graduated high school that he started showing signs of Epilepsy. While struggling with the disease he lost his job at Food World and was forced to go on unemployment. He didn't have health insurance to acquire the expensive medication required to control Epilepsy, so he tried the only thing he could get his hands on - marijuana. Petta, age 20, says that he wakes up having a seizure every morning and goes to bed with one each night. Since he can't get the drug he really needs, marijuana has had to substitute.
"Marijuana helps my seizures, but it is not as effective as Clonazepam, which is what I really need," Petta says. "But I know other people out there need marijuana as much as I need Clonazepam. I truly need medication to stop my seizures and I can't hardly do anything without it."
Petta is one of many that have joined in the cause to have marijuana legalized in Alabama, especially for medical purposes.
One woman is leading this cause in Alabama, Loretta Nall. Nall is the Executive Director of Alabamians for Compassionate Care. The group was formed in 2004, but Nall took on the cause several years earlier. Nall got involved in drug policy in 2002 in response to a police raid on her home. Nall wrote a 'Letter to the Editor' to a Brimingham newspaper that she feels prompted police officers to raid her home.
"They said they found 87 hundredths of a gram of marijuana in an envelope addressed to me lying on top of my printer," Nall says. "And I may smoke, but I've never put my name on my weed and don't know anyone else that does."
In her 'Letter to the Editor,' Nall says that she pointed out that the laws against marijuana do more harm towards society than the drug itself ever will and that it should be legalized.
Nall went to court over the incident and after four and a half years won her case because the raid was a violation of the first amendment. But this was just the beginning of her fight.
Nall began working on legalization issues with the Drug Policy Alliance out of New York. The alliance was attempting to have a medicinal marijuana bill passed in Alabama and asked Nall if she would advocate for it. She happily obliged and soon formed Alabamians for Compassionate Care.
"We are a patient advocacy group," Nall says. "We help medical patients who are suffering from cancer, HIV Aids, Multiple Sclerosis, Epilepsy, any number of conditions that medical marijuana has been shown to be beneficial for. We educated them on how to talk to their elected officials and try to help us get our law passed."
Alabamians for Compassionate Care shares resources with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, the largest lobbying organization working to legalize marijuana, stop arrests of smokers, provide educational research and legal information. NORML doesn't have an Alabama chapter at the moment, but some Alabamians are pushing for one.
Petta has joined Nall in her cause and has even created his own Alabamians for Marijuana MySpace page.
"I am here to change Alabama and help change America," he says.
But there are some Alabamians that disagree with the cause.
Auburn resident Anthony Smith says he is completely against any kind of marijuana legalization.
"We have enough drug problems today," he says. "Too many young kids are smoking and drinking and using drugs. And I have small kids, and that's a main reason I don't think it should be legalized."
Auburn student Katie Cooper agrees and doesn't believe marijuana should be legalized for even medical purposes.
"The only way I could say that I think it would be a good idea would be if there is honest to God nothing else that will work," she says. "If there is anything else they could do, then I don't think so."
But even with opposing forces, Nall and those supporting her cause are working to get a bill passed that would help protect patients who use the drug for medical purposes, and doctors who recommend the use of medical marijuana, from arrest and prosecution under state law.
"I think if we're going to have a drug war we at least need to take the patients off of the battlefield first," Nall says. "There's no justification for somebody with a terminal illness fighting for their life and also having to fight to stay out of jail at the same time."
The bill was first introduced in 2004. Under the law, qualified patients would be able to grow 12 plants and have two and a half useable ounces of marijuana on them at all times. If they were found with the drug they'd have an ID card. The Department of Public Health would run the ID card program and anybody that qualified for the program would get a card.
Nall says that every year the bill has come up in the Judiciary Committee, and that for several years they've had a debate on it and assigned it to a sub-committee. But the bill has never passed through the committee.
This year, Rep. Patricia Todd from Birmingham sponsored the bill, but it was pulled.
The Judiciary Committee told Nall and others supporting the bill that they wouldn't pass the 2009 version, but that they would pass the 2006 version. But the 2006 version stipulated that patients had to acquire the drug from a pharmacy, and since marijuana is not an FDA approved drug, this was impossible.
Nall says that they will keep pushing the bill, but she's not sure if they will in 2010.
"That's an election year so nobody is going to want to do anything even remotely controversial when they're asking for the vote," she says.
"Rep. Todd has said that she will sponsor it again if we decide to bring it back in 2010. If we don't we'll still keep lobbying the legislature and different members of it , setting up meetings with patients as constituents, and bring it back in 2011."
Nall adds that she believes there is a possibility of the bill passing eventually. The supporters did a survey of the Judiciary Committee, and the rest of the house this year and found a lot of support it.
"We'll bring it back in 2011 and everybody will be off of a fresh election," she says. "I think the chances of bringing it back when everybody in the Legislature is new, or just got through an election and don't have to worry about it for four years, our chances will be pretty good by then."
Smith disagrees.
"This is a republican state, and I don't think republicans will allow that," he says. "With this being like a religious type state with a lot of churches, I don't think it will pass."
Petta says the he believes marijuana should be legalized in general, but his main goal is to have it legalized for medical purposes.
"My goal is to make it medical and to decriminalize it," he says. "Legalization is for the future, not now. I want to give patients what they need."
Nall is a supporter of full legalization, but she believes that is a battle that will be hard to win. Now, she is just hoping to at least bring Alabama on par with other states.
Many states have decriminalized marijuana possession, making it a civil fine. But Alabama's laws are harsher.
"We probably have the harshest law in all 50 states," Nall says. "In Alabama, the law is the first time you get caught it's a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,000 fine. The second time you get caught, no matter what it is, it's a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Thirty percent of our inmates in state prisons are there for nonviolent drug offenses and 50 percent of all drug arrests state-wide per year are for simple possession, not distribution or cultivation, but for simply possessing marijuana."
There is one aspect of the marijuana law that Alabama has the option to opt out of. If a resident in Alabama is caught with any amount of the drug they are automatically denied a Pell Grant to help with financial assistance for school.
Nall says she believes this law is ridiculous.
"Drug convictions are the only thing that will keep you from getting one," she says. "A child molester could get one, a rapist, a murderer, if they get out of prison and want to go to college they could get federal student aid. But some kid doing what teenage kids do can get caught with a joint and they're barred from receiving that."
Nall adds that she believes the drug laws in Alabama are a revolving door, but she will keep up the fight.
"They say it will destroy your life so they arrest you and give you all this extra baggage," she says. "Then it really does destroy your life, but it's not because of the pot it's because of the laws."
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Corner News
Author: Carla Merrill
Contact: The Corner News
Copyright: 2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company
Website: Medicinal or Illicit - Alabamians Debate Over Medicinal Marijuana
"Marijuana helps my seizures, but it is not as effective as Clonazepam, which is what I really need," Petta says. "But I know other people out there need marijuana as much as I need Clonazepam. I truly need medication to stop my seizures and I can't hardly do anything without it."
Petta is one of many that have joined in the cause to have marijuana legalized in Alabama, especially for medical purposes.
One woman is leading this cause in Alabama, Loretta Nall. Nall is the Executive Director of Alabamians for Compassionate Care. The group was formed in 2004, but Nall took on the cause several years earlier. Nall got involved in drug policy in 2002 in response to a police raid on her home. Nall wrote a 'Letter to the Editor' to a Brimingham newspaper that she feels prompted police officers to raid her home.
"They said they found 87 hundredths of a gram of marijuana in an envelope addressed to me lying on top of my printer," Nall says. "And I may smoke, but I've never put my name on my weed and don't know anyone else that does."
In her 'Letter to the Editor,' Nall says that she pointed out that the laws against marijuana do more harm towards society than the drug itself ever will and that it should be legalized.
Nall went to court over the incident and after four and a half years won her case because the raid was a violation of the first amendment. But this was just the beginning of her fight.
Nall began working on legalization issues with the Drug Policy Alliance out of New York. The alliance was attempting to have a medicinal marijuana bill passed in Alabama and asked Nall if she would advocate for it. She happily obliged and soon formed Alabamians for Compassionate Care.
"We are a patient advocacy group," Nall says. "We help medical patients who are suffering from cancer, HIV Aids, Multiple Sclerosis, Epilepsy, any number of conditions that medical marijuana has been shown to be beneficial for. We educated them on how to talk to their elected officials and try to help us get our law passed."
Alabamians for Compassionate Care shares resources with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, the largest lobbying organization working to legalize marijuana, stop arrests of smokers, provide educational research and legal information. NORML doesn't have an Alabama chapter at the moment, but some Alabamians are pushing for one.
Petta has joined Nall in her cause and has even created his own Alabamians for Marijuana MySpace page.
"I am here to change Alabama and help change America," he says.
But there are some Alabamians that disagree with the cause.
Auburn resident Anthony Smith says he is completely against any kind of marijuana legalization.
"We have enough drug problems today," he says. "Too many young kids are smoking and drinking and using drugs. And I have small kids, and that's a main reason I don't think it should be legalized."
Auburn student Katie Cooper agrees and doesn't believe marijuana should be legalized for even medical purposes.
"The only way I could say that I think it would be a good idea would be if there is honest to God nothing else that will work," she says. "If there is anything else they could do, then I don't think so."
But even with opposing forces, Nall and those supporting her cause are working to get a bill passed that would help protect patients who use the drug for medical purposes, and doctors who recommend the use of medical marijuana, from arrest and prosecution under state law.
"I think if we're going to have a drug war we at least need to take the patients off of the battlefield first," Nall says. "There's no justification for somebody with a terminal illness fighting for their life and also having to fight to stay out of jail at the same time."
The bill was first introduced in 2004. Under the law, qualified patients would be able to grow 12 plants and have two and a half useable ounces of marijuana on them at all times. If they were found with the drug they'd have an ID card. The Department of Public Health would run the ID card program and anybody that qualified for the program would get a card.
Nall says that every year the bill has come up in the Judiciary Committee, and that for several years they've had a debate on it and assigned it to a sub-committee. But the bill has never passed through the committee.
This year, Rep. Patricia Todd from Birmingham sponsored the bill, but it was pulled.
The Judiciary Committee told Nall and others supporting the bill that they wouldn't pass the 2009 version, but that they would pass the 2006 version. But the 2006 version stipulated that patients had to acquire the drug from a pharmacy, and since marijuana is not an FDA approved drug, this was impossible.
Nall says that they will keep pushing the bill, but she's not sure if they will in 2010.
"That's an election year so nobody is going to want to do anything even remotely controversial when they're asking for the vote," she says.
"Rep. Todd has said that she will sponsor it again if we decide to bring it back in 2010. If we don't we'll still keep lobbying the legislature and different members of it , setting up meetings with patients as constituents, and bring it back in 2011."
Nall adds that she believes there is a possibility of the bill passing eventually. The supporters did a survey of the Judiciary Committee, and the rest of the house this year and found a lot of support it.
"We'll bring it back in 2011 and everybody will be off of a fresh election," she says. "I think the chances of bringing it back when everybody in the Legislature is new, or just got through an election and don't have to worry about it for four years, our chances will be pretty good by then."
Smith disagrees.
"This is a republican state, and I don't think republicans will allow that," he says. "With this being like a religious type state with a lot of churches, I don't think it will pass."
Petta says the he believes marijuana should be legalized in general, but his main goal is to have it legalized for medical purposes.
"My goal is to make it medical and to decriminalize it," he says. "Legalization is for the future, not now. I want to give patients what they need."
Nall is a supporter of full legalization, but she believes that is a battle that will be hard to win. Now, she is just hoping to at least bring Alabama on par with other states.
Many states have decriminalized marijuana possession, making it a civil fine. But Alabama's laws are harsher.
"We probably have the harshest law in all 50 states," Nall says. "In Alabama, the law is the first time you get caught it's a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,000 fine. The second time you get caught, no matter what it is, it's a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Thirty percent of our inmates in state prisons are there for nonviolent drug offenses and 50 percent of all drug arrests state-wide per year are for simple possession, not distribution or cultivation, but for simply possessing marijuana."
There is one aspect of the marijuana law that Alabama has the option to opt out of. If a resident in Alabama is caught with any amount of the drug they are automatically denied a Pell Grant to help with financial assistance for school.
Nall says she believes this law is ridiculous.
"Drug convictions are the only thing that will keep you from getting one," she says. "A child molester could get one, a rapist, a murderer, if they get out of prison and want to go to college they could get federal student aid. But some kid doing what teenage kids do can get caught with a joint and they're barred from receiving that."
Nall adds that she believes the drug laws in Alabama are a revolving door, but she will keep up the fight.
"They say it will destroy your life so they arrest you and give you all this extra baggage," she says. "Then it really does destroy your life, but it's not because of the pot it's because of the laws."
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Corner News
Author: Carla Merrill
Contact: The Corner News
Copyright: 2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company
Website: Medicinal or Illicit - Alabamians Debate Over Medicinal Marijuana
