cannabisnews.com: Fear and Pain Fear and Pain Posted by FoM on March 12, 2001 at 14:07:59 PT Editorial Source: Frederick News Post A bill that would have made marijuana a legal medicine to treat pain, nausea and other debilitating problems associated with cancer, AIDS, MS and other serious diseases has again failed in the General Assembly. We think the reasons it failed are worth taking a look at.First, marijuana carries as much emotional baggage in the public mind as issues like abortion, religion in schools and the death penalty. Its decriminalization and legalization have been subjects of debate for decades. Its use is linked in people's minds – including a sizable percentage of medical community professionals – with a whole range of physical, emotional and mental problems. But had there never been such a thing as marijuana, and had a large drug company recently synthesized THC, marijuana's active ingredient, we believe it would have been hailed as a highly effective analgesic and appetite stimulant that also had far fewer and less-severe side effects than morphine and other opiates currently is use to treat these conditions. And we think it would have been made available quickly because of its effectiveness and relatively innocuous side effects. We see another reason for the failure of this legislation. The bill would have allowed patients and their caregivers to grow and supply themselves with their own marijuana. Why, we wonder, would this predictably provocative method of supply be suggested in this legislation? Why didn't the bill's creators specify that it had to be supplied to patients like any other drug categorized as a dangerous, controlled substance? The grow-your-own provision has only tended to inflame an already skeptical public's fears that the drug would become more available to others, including kids, if handled this way. We think so too. This is a serious flaw in the way this legislation was written.We are not advocating the general legalization of marijuana. However, we believe the thousands of testimonials provided by cancer, AIDS and other seriously ill patients that marijuana provides needed relief without turning them into zombies as opiates often do. We think it should be available – strictly controlled and distributed – to those sufferers who want it. These desperate, unfortunate people don't deserve either to suffer needless pain and wasting away or to become lawbreakers in trying to find a little relief. Source: Frederick News Post (MD) Published: Monday, March 12, 2001Fax: 301-662-8299Copyright: 2001 Great Southern Printing & Manufacturing Co. Address: 200 East Patrick Street, PO Box 578, Frederick, MD 21705-0578 Website: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/ Contact: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/contact/Related Articles:Panel Kills Bill for Medical Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8885.shtmlCommittee Votes Down Marijuana Billhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8869.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by Gary Storck on March 13, 2001 at 10:18:39 PT Thanks FoM and Dr. Russo! At least I can post it here! I write a lot of LTEs, and some are better than others. I thought I rebutted their argument quite well this time. They just don't seem to understand that with the internet, local papers are now international, and that input from readers out of their physical area deserve to be heard too. Cannabisnews and all the great folks who post here certainly have inspired me to make my voice heard.And FoM, we miss ya in the chat! Stop on by! Drug Sense Chat (Saturday & Sunday Nights 7pm ET until ??? [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on March 13, 2001 at 09:03:14 PT Gary I'm sorry Gary,I think some people don't like us very much. I have gotten nasty letters from some small papers complaining but then I have gotten thanks from some of the best writers from large papers. Keep up the good work. You have always been an inspiration to me. I need to find time and get to the DrugSense Chat again soon but I have been so busy and I get too tired but I will try.PS: Here's a smile for you.Sound of Music?No One Toke Over the Line Sweet Jesus! LOL! FreedomToExhale [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on March 13, 2001 at 08:14:50 PT: Keep at it, Gary That kind of policy is common, but frustrating. Every once in a while a person can sneak one through as I did in the Washington Post in response to Joyce Nalepka. Everyone should keep on trying. If everyone had one letter to the editor for each cannabisnews.com chat response, the effort would reach critical mass very quickly. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Gary Storck on March 13, 2001 at 07:58:11 PT We think we know how you came upon our editorial.. I thought I had it nailed pretty good when I sent this LTE in response to this editorial:Dear Editor,Regarding your editorial, "Fear and Pain", 12 March 2001. Here in Wisconsin we are facing similar problems with a legislature that like Maryland's, apparently feels that sick and dying citizens deserve to be treated like criminals if they choose to try to ease their suffering or regain a little quality of life through the medicinal use of marijuana.Although you see the contradictions in current laws that allow drugs like morphine to be available for medical use, but not marijuana, you are wrong to criticize the cultivation provisions of the failed bill.Your position that it should be supplied like any other drug ignores the reality that the federal government holds a monopoly on legal supplies of medical marijuana, and has demonstrated it has no intention of sharing with more than the 8 patients who receive it as part of a program closed to new participants since 1991.Until the federal government changes it's cruel policies that withhold this medicine from sick, disabled and dying Americans, solutions like state laws that allow personal cultivation by patients and caregivers remain the only way to make sure patients get the medicine they need today. Gary StorckBut I got this response from the Frederick News Post:Gary,Thanks for writing, but we run letters from local writers on local issues. We think we know how you came upon our editorial, and that's fine, and your response is obviously not canned, but it's extremely unlikely yourletter would make it onto our letters page.Lee Permentereditorial page editor"We think we know how you came upon our editorial, and that's fine"?I wrote them back, asking them to reconsider, but I'm not holding my breath... Is My Medicine Legal Yet? [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by aocp on March 12, 2001 at 18:38:41 PT: Rant Why didn't the bill's creators specify that it had to be supplied to patients like any other drug categorized as a dangerous, controlled substance?I dunno ... it could be easily and cheaply supplied to anyone that could benefit from its therapeutic aid? Ya think? I won't even go into the "dangerous, controlled" BS, as it is hardly "dangerous" and "controlled" is laughable.The grow-your-own provision has only tended to inflame an already skeptical public's fears that the drug would become more available to others, including kids, if handled this way.That's because they don't have all the facts. Thanx to the net and sites like this one, lots are waking up. Whoops.We think so too.Sorry that you're misinformed as well. Educate yourself.This is a serious flaw in the way this legislation was written.Don't you worry. I believe the kinks are being worked out as more and more states get on board. Gosh, now we've even got states that don't need voter initiatives! Thank you, Gov. Johnson.Despite the sarcastic tone of my post, i believe this author is at least showing some form of compassion, as ill-informed as it may be. Good work to that. I just wonder how hard it is to take that next crucial step to asking, "Why?" 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