Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jan 2003
Source: Racine Journal Times, The (WI)
Copyright: 2003, The Racine Journal Times
Contact:  http://www.journaltimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1659
Author: Donald Lyons

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

I'm just a normal guy. I'm proud to be an activist for the many sick 
patients in America, for the sick and dying who are not able to make 
personal choices without going to jail. It's unreasonable that a great 
nation such as ours would play games with the marijuana debate!

Sick and dying people continue to be arrested. Why? Medical marijuana 
cooperatives are being trampled by federal agents with shackles and 
chainsaws. Marijuana has been around for thousands of years, yet the feds 
seek to eradicate it. It's less harmful and not as addictive as tobacco. We 
all know what alcohol has done to America. Recent national polls with 
marijuana in the news indicate 70 to 80 percent of the American public 
approves of people having legal access to marijuana.

The government says there simply isn't enough research to warrant 
decriminalization yet the feds repeatedly ignore its own findings by 
government commissioned research panels which argue that marijuana is 
relatively safe and has numerous medical applications. Just what the feds 
don't want to hear!

Even scientists today who seek to perform studies on marijuana face a 
daunting bureaucratic gauntlet. Why? Is the evidence that clear? That 
marijuana is a safe substance and is not potentially dangerous as believed? 
No fatal side effects -why then do the feds override the legal autonomy of 
so many states, which pass laws on reform of marijuana laws, if marijuana 
is so dangerous and has no medical value? Then why has the United States 
government been growing and giving it to sick and dying people for 24 
years? Is this not blatant hypocrisy on the part of the government?

Donald Lyons
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens