cannabisnews.com: Some Subjects Deserve a Closer Look Some Subjects Deserve a Closer Look Posted by CN Staff on October 12, 2004 at 21:43:51 PT By John Gray Source: Troy Record Ed Dague is a brave man. I can recall many days at Channel 13 when he was in excruciating pain, pain so severe, he put his head down on the anchor desk. You never saw this at home; he hid that misery from you. Ed was all about doing his job well and not distracting you with his pain. Many days his co-workers quietly worried about him and wondered how he was able to come to work every day with arthritis taking hold of his body. It's the pain that eventually drove him from the anchor desk and robbed the Capital District of its smartest and most accomplished journalist. It's amazing he lasted as long as he did. As I said, he's a brave man.Tomorrow night at the State Museum in Albany, Ed Dague will do something even braver when he comes out in support of the medical use of marijuana. He will also admit publicly that he has used marijuana in the past to ease his pain.He dropped this little bombshell a few days ago during an interview on WGY radio. I called him at home to make sure he was not misquoted, that he meant what he said. He told me he did. He said it was time someone of his stature talked about this.I have never been in favor of legalizing marijuana. Like many, I consider it a gateway drug, and the last thing our children need is for the government to make it easier for them to get high and check out of reality.But the truth is, what Ed Dague is talking about is not "legalizing" marijuana. This is different. He is pushing for the availability of "medical" marijuana.Right now we have millions of people suffering from cancer, arthritis and a long list of other very painful diseases. Despite the size and success of our pharmaceutical industry, they do not make drugs to help everyone. For them, ingesting marijuana is the only relief. That doesn't always mean smoking it.Ed Dague told me his brother suffers from the same horrible condition as he does, only worse. He cannot smoke pot, so he crushes it up and eats it with other food.It's the only thing that helps him. Yet by today's standards and laws, he's a criminal.Think about that. You have someone in chronic pain who cannot find relief from any doctor, and if they do pursue the one thing on the planet that can help them, they are deemed a criminal.Montel Williams came to town over the summer to lobby for medical marijuana.He says we need to take another look at this issue and be honest with ourselves. This paper's editorial page endorsed Williams' message.Allowing doctors to prescribe it will not send a message that it's suddenly OK for everyone to use it. Just those who are sick and get a doctor's prescription.I know many people are uneasy about this topic. I also know many of those with reservations have a medicine cabinet filled with little orange bottles and a liquor cabinet lined with larger bottles that they turn to on the most stressful of days.Americans have no shortage of ways to kill our pain.I'm still opposed to legalizing marijuana. I don't want to see it sold on every corner store like cigarettes or beer. But if someone is in so much pain they can't get out of bed and this helps, maybe it's time to revisit the issue of medical marijuana.Politicians are chicken. They won't put their neck or name on the line, even if this is the right thing to do. Ed Dague is willing to do that. I have always had enormous respect for Ed, now I have even more.The State Museum is a wonderful place of discovery and education. When Ed takes the podium there tomorrow night and talks about this controversial issue, I hope people will really listen. He's the smartest man I've ever met. And I think he's right on this one.John Gray is the news anchor at Fox 23 News. His column runs every Wednesday. Source: Record, The (Troy, NY)Author: John GrayPublished: October 13, 2004Copyright: 2004 The RecordContact: newsroom troyrecord.comWebsite: http://www.troyrecord.com/Related Articles:Listen Up, Mr. President: Montel Williams http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19541.shtmlTranscript: Montel Williams on Medical Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19519.shtmlMarijuana: Illegal Drug or Medical Treatmenthttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19506.shtmlMontel Williams Pushes Pot -- for Medical Reliefhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18797.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #8 posted by FoM on October 14, 2004 at 09:34:23 PT Druid That is wonderful news! Thank you! I can't wait to see it! I agree about Kerry and Bush. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Druid on October 14, 2004 at 09:30:47 PT FoM Not a problem. I don't watch Mtv either but I know a few people who do and are looking forward to this. From what they say from the commercials and stuff is that Bush is pro-drug war and Kerry sees a need for a change. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on October 13, 2004 at 17:55:05 PT Thank You sukoi I have it posted now! [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on October 13, 2004 at 17:50:02 PT Thank You Druid! I wasn't able to be online almost all day because the satellite was down or I would have responded earlier. This time it wasn't my satellite that was down but the satellite in the sky. Would you do me a very big favor? Please remind us a couple of times about this show on MTV. I don't watch MTV so I could very easily miss it. I sure don't want to miss this show and I know others wouldn't want to miss it either. Thanks! If you can't that's ok. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by OverwhelmSam on October 13, 2004 at 15:03:21 PT Paul A little too intense for me, but I hear ya... [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by sukoi on October 13, 2004 at 14:59:20 PT A Good Editorial Feds should butt out of marijuana debate http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/current/op/david [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Druid on October 13, 2004 at 14:54:35 PT MTV asks the Candidates about Drug Laws http://www.mtv.com/onair/schedule/index.jhtml?date=20041018&time=21&submit=Go#Choose Or Lose: Drug Laws The war on drugs has been a hot-button issue in each of the last 9 presidential elections. But this year, it's been pushed to the shadows by the War on Terror. Yet illegal drugs have a far greater impact on the average American than terrorism -- drugs kill about 17,000 Americans per year, compared to the 35 U.S. citizens killed by terrorist in 2003. And drugs have a disproportionate impact on youth -- nearly three quarters of the nation's 23 million drug addicts are between the ages of 16 and 29 years old. In this Choose or Lose special, MTV reports how the War on Drugs has changed under the Bush administration, and examines how it might evolve under a potential Kerry administration. datetimeMon 10/1811:00 PMWed 10/208:30 PM [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by paulpeterson on October 13, 2004 at 05:20:20 PT Wonderful to see media people willing to come forw Until these media types were finally willing to come forward, there was no real hope that anyone could break through the drug-ads-warbuck-media-bucks-veto-block.Calls from people like the Marijuana Policy Project a few years ago for people to come forward and be honest about usage and support for this plant rarely saw any takers (perhaps other than this writer, a former attorney that jumped outa my "foxhole" and started running up the hill in support of an attack).Now, of course, there are some 2000 former drug warriors that have joined LEAP.cc, funded by Soros and friends (and thanks). Where for some thirty years there was only NORML, now there are groups fomenting in almost every state in the Union, and attack plans well into action in almost half of the states here.Now we're counting king-makers as our allies (that would be Daley and friends). And with Daley being an ally of the governor here, we shouldn't see much resistance, since the house and senate here are both run by Dem's.In short, now is the time to quicken the pace of reform. The passing of the devisive election will erode opportunities for progress. Get your boats in the water now, before the juggernaut of war is turned back on domestic policies. While the heat of the fires of hell of war burn, and the cameras pale on paler faces of policals, inroads can be made quicker-Blitzcrege to the bonfires now!I'm done now, thanks for listening-Good rant? [ Post Comment ] Post Comment