Pubdate: Sat, 26 Jan 2002
Source: Marshfield News Herald(WI)
Contact: 
http://www.wisinfo.com/newsherald/contactus/readerservices/letter_to_editor.shtml
Website: http://www.wisinfo.com/newsherald/
Author: Gary Storck

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL SUPPORTED

Medical marijuana is something a lot of people would not want to need,
but if accident or illness were to strike, it is definitely something
that most people would want to have available if they did need it.

Sadly, as things now stand, if one is unfortunate enough to develop
serious illnesses like cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy,
AIDS, arthritis, or suffer from chronic pain, and finds standard
treatments do not provide relief, there are two options, risk arrest
and jail, or go without and suffer. In a time of so many medical
miracles, why is it be a crime to use a non-toxic and natural herb if
it can help?

The Wisconsin Legislature now has a bill, AB 715, before it that would
legalize access to medical marijuana under a physician's supervision.
Patterned after a law passed by Hawaii's Legislature in 2000 and
signed into law by Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano, this bill would go around
the federal constraints that have made Wisconsin's existing 20-year
old medical marijuana law merely symbolic. It's time to finish the job
lawmakers began in 1982, when they passed the first bill, signed into
law by then-Gov. Lee Sherman Dreyfus, that was intended to give
Wisconsin patients legal access to medical marijuana. Currently the
bill has been assigned to the Committee on Criminal Justice, chaired
by Rep. Scott Suder, (R-Abbotsford). Concerned citizens should contact
Rep. Suder at (715) 223-6964 in the district, in Madison at (608)
267-0280, or toll-free at (888) 534-0069 and ask him to schedule a
hearing at the earliest possible date available.

We can't get back the 20 years we've lost since that first bill was
signed into law, but the legislature and Gov. McCallum willing, we can
make sure that the next time someone needs medical marijuana to ease
their suffering, they can have it without committing a crime.

Gary Storck
- ---
MAP posted-by: S Heath(DPF of Florida)