The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act, a bill seeking to legalize medical marijuana in Alabama, passed out of committee this week to return to the floor for a possible vote.
While Alabama will probably not pass the bill any further this legislative session, it is no small feat the bill even made it out of committee.
While Alabama has always had a strong states' rights bend in its past, such arguments were often used as a means to justify intolerable acts like segregation and denying blacks the right to vote.
Now, we see an Alabama more focused on compassionate care and allowing those suffering from illnesses to maintain a dignity with their pain management.
Medical marijuana has been shown to cause fewer negative side effects than its corporate, prescription drug counterparts, making it a better choice for some patients.
Fourteen other states have legislation allowing for marijuana to be used medicinally.
No other Southern state has passed medical marijuana legislation.
To have Alabama seem to be leading the charge on this issue seems odd, but we are happy to see progressivism and new ways of thinking coming to a place not known for embracing change well.
The new legalized marijuana would be highly regulated and available only to those patients for whom it is deemed necessary due to "debilitating medical conditions" like AIDS, Alzheimer's, Crone's Disease, glaucoma and cancer.
Considering the pain and hardship sufferers of those ailments go through, allowing them medical marijuana to manage that pain seems to be the kind, humane thing to do.
The states that have legalized medical marijuana have not seen greatly increased crime rates or violence.
The streets aren't filled with drug-addled youths and spaced-out hippies and the fabric of society still contains the strong moral fibers that hold it together.
As far as habit-forming drugs go, marijuana is less habit forming than many prescription pain medications like Oxycontin.
Legalized medical marijuana simply offers another pain management option, an option that allows patients to homegrow their own medication.
The money saved from moving from expensive prescriptions to marijuana would no doubt prove a boon to insurance companies and these patients themselves.
The day for medical marijuana is not here yet, but we are confident that day is coming. A kinder, more enlightened Alabama is not far away.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Auburn Plainsman
Contact: The Auburn Plainsman
Copyright: 2010 The Auburn Plainsman
Website: State Debates Medical Marijuana
While Alabama will probably not pass the bill any further this legislative session, it is no small feat the bill even made it out of committee.
While Alabama has always had a strong states' rights bend in its past, such arguments were often used as a means to justify intolerable acts like segregation and denying blacks the right to vote.
Now, we see an Alabama more focused on compassionate care and allowing those suffering from illnesses to maintain a dignity with their pain management.
Medical marijuana has been shown to cause fewer negative side effects than its corporate, prescription drug counterparts, making it a better choice for some patients.
Fourteen other states have legislation allowing for marijuana to be used medicinally.
No other Southern state has passed medical marijuana legislation.
To have Alabama seem to be leading the charge on this issue seems odd, but we are happy to see progressivism and new ways of thinking coming to a place not known for embracing change well.
The new legalized marijuana would be highly regulated and available only to those patients for whom it is deemed necessary due to "debilitating medical conditions" like AIDS, Alzheimer's, Crone's Disease, glaucoma and cancer.
Considering the pain and hardship sufferers of those ailments go through, allowing them medical marijuana to manage that pain seems to be the kind, humane thing to do.
The states that have legalized medical marijuana have not seen greatly increased crime rates or violence.
The streets aren't filled with drug-addled youths and spaced-out hippies and the fabric of society still contains the strong moral fibers that hold it together.
As far as habit-forming drugs go, marijuana is less habit forming than many prescription pain medications like Oxycontin.
Legalized medical marijuana simply offers another pain management option, an option that allows patients to homegrow their own medication.
The money saved from moving from expensive prescriptions to marijuana would no doubt prove a boon to insurance companies and these patients themselves.
The day for medical marijuana is not here yet, but we are confident that day is coming. A kinder, more enlightened Alabama is not far away.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Auburn Plainsman
Contact: The Auburn Plainsman
Copyright: 2010 The Auburn Plainsman
Website: State Debates Medical Marijuana
