Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jul 2003
Source: Oshkosh Northwestern (WI)
Copyright: 2003 Gannett Co., Inc.
Contact: 224 State Street Oshkosh, WI 54901
Website: http://www.wisinfo.com/northwestern/index.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2640
Author: Gary Storck

LIBERTIES SHOULD INCLUDE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Kudos to The Northwestern for your July 4 editorial, "Significance of
liberty cannot be overstated."

Today, we find the self-evident truths of the Declaration of
Independence increasingly under attack by a power-grabbing federal
government. As the declaration notes, "All men are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Yet Americans, who choose to use a medicinal plant, marijuana,
increasingly find themselves squarely in the crosshairs of a bloated
bureaucracy that is actively trying to revoke unalienable rights, like
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

As in the Declaration, for decades, medical marijuana supporters have,
"Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms," and as in the
Declaration, "Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by
repeated Injury."

Repeated injuries like patients terrorized at gunpoint by heavily
armed federal agents stealing their medicine and imprisoning them,
even in states that have legalized medical marijuana.

Repeated injuries like banning research and withholding information of
marijuana's medical uses, leaving generations of patients facing
horrible suffering and death.

The Declaration of Independence is a reminder that freedom isn't free,
and eternal vigilance is necessary to keep the lid on an
out-of-control federal government that is increasingly as abusive as
the earlier King George who sparked the nation's founders to write and
sign the Declaration of Independence 227 years ago.

Gary Storck Madison
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake