Pubdate: Sat, 11 Oct 2003
Source: Marshfield News-Herald, The (WI)
Copyright: 2003 Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2236
Author:  Gary Storck

EIGHT STATES LEGALIZED MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Editor: Your editorial of Oct. 9, "Drug makers are killing golden goose," 
about pharmaceutical corporations trying to block the importation of 
lower-priced prescription drugs from Canada, raises other issues about 
Canadian medical care.

An appeals court decision in Canada just found federal medical marijuana 
regulations unconstitutional because they forced people with serious 
illnesses to turn to the black market, in violation of their right to life, 
liberty and security of the person. The court made it easier for medical 
users to obtain a safe and reliable supply of the drug by allowing licensed 
growers to produce plants for more than one patient and also removed a 
requirement that patients need a second medical specialist to support their 
application.

The high cost of conventional pharmaceuticals and the illegality of medical 
marijuana have shattered America's claim to having the best health care in 
the world.

The Wisconsin Legislature will soon take up the issue of medical marijuana. 
Now is the time to call your state assembly representative and state 
senator and ask them to support this legislation. Over 80 percent of 
Wisconsinites support medical marijuana. Passage of this law would not only 
give patients new options in the treatment of hundreds of medical 
conditions but also give us the same rights now enjoyed by Canadians, other 
Western nations, as well as residents of the eight states where patients 
and their caregivers are allowed to possess and cultivate medical 
marijuana: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and 
Washington. A call to your representatives takes only a minute. Call them 
today, and keep calling until they accept the will of the people they 
represent and restore our right to use marijuana as medicine.

Gary Storck

Director of Communications

Is My Medicine Legal YET?
Madison
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman