420
Founder
Medical marijuana ballot initiatives have passed in every state that has voted on them. So far, only two state legislatures -- Hawaii and Vermont -- have had the courage to stop arresting marijuana-using patients without an initiative from the voters. This is not a partisan issue, it is a compassion issue.
Many otherwise illegal substances, such as cocaine and morphine, can legally be prescribed by doctors. The same should be true for marijuana. Many of the legal alternatives proposed by opponents of medical marijuana are too expensive, too addictive and have too many side effects to be good medicine for all patients.
Chemotherapy patients who are too nauseated to eat or swallow a pill should not have to fear arrest if they -- and their doctors -- find that smoking marijuana is the most effective means of treating their symptoms.
Ultimately, the decision of what medicine is best for an illness should be left up to the patient and the doctor, not to the government.
When they have their doctors' approval, patients should be able to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest and imprisonment. They should also be able to rely on a safe supply of marijuana, without having to resort to the dangerous criminal market.
The state government should use tax money to prosecute violent crime, not punish medical marijuana users. The Florida's Legislature should enact laws that protect patients from arrest and imprisonment.
Joe Fiore
Source: Gainesville Sun, The (FL)
Copyright: 2005 The Gainesville Sun
Contact: voice@gvillesun.com
Website: https://www.sunone.com/
Many otherwise illegal substances, such as cocaine and morphine, can legally be prescribed by doctors. The same should be true for marijuana. Many of the legal alternatives proposed by opponents of medical marijuana are too expensive, too addictive and have too many side effects to be good medicine for all patients.
Chemotherapy patients who are too nauseated to eat or swallow a pill should not have to fear arrest if they -- and their doctors -- find that smoking marijuana is the most effective means of treating their symptoms.
Ultimately, the decision of what medicine is best for an illness should be left up to the patient and the doctor, not to the government.
When they have their doctors' approval, patients should be able to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest and imprisonment. They should also be able to rely on a safe supply of marijuana, without having to resort to the dangerous criminal market.
The state government should use tax money to prosecute violent crime, not punish medical marijuana users. The Florida's Legislature should enact laws that protect patients from arrest and imprisonment.
Joe Fiore
Source: Gainesville Sun, The (FL)
Copyright: 2005 The Gainesville Sun
Contact: voice@gvillesun.com
Website: https://www.sunone.com/
