Pubdate: Mon, 12 May 2003
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2003 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Contact:  http://www.sunspot.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Erin Hildebrandt
Note: Erin Hildebrandt lives in Smithsburg.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

IS MARIJUANA MEDICINE?

GOV. ROBERT L. Ehrlich Jr. has the power to protect the sick and dying in 
Maryland from going to prison for taking their medicine. To some, the bill 
legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, which has passed the General 
Assembly and is before Governor Ehrlich, may seem like just another piece 
of legislation.

But for me its impact will be profoundly personal.

I'm a small-town wife and stay-at-home mother of five who felt compelled to 
step beyond my ordinary life of hugging my children, finger-painting, 
baking cookies and visiting playgrounds and testify before state House and 
Senate committees on behalf of myself and the many Maryland residents who 
are forced to live in fear of a prison sentence just for trying to feel 
healthier.

Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that frequently leads 
to obstruction, used to leave me too sick to even get out of bed other than 
to go to the bathroom or the doctor's office.

I was prescribed dozens of dangerous drugs such as Demerol and even endured 
useless surgical treatments.

I spent more hours in hospital emergency rooms than I care to remember.

I eventually discovered that marijuana was not only safe, it was also the 
only effective medicine I had ever tried.

Medical marijuana literally gave me my life back.

But I also felt tremendous fear of using it because this herbal remedy also 
is illegal.

I was left with a terrible choice: suffer and burden my family by being 
bedridden or risk arrest and jail to take the medicine that let me live.

The medical marijuana bill was named for Darrell Putman, a terminally ill 
cancer patient from Howard County who was forced to fear arrest, 
prosecution and imprisonment for using medical marijuana.

Mr. Putman's widow has now taken up the fight where he was forced to leave 
off. He died in 1999 waiting for our legislators to prioritize compassion 
over politics. How many more have to die before Maryland agrees to honor 
one simple plea: Stop incarcerating patients?

As a mother, I am as concerned as any other parent about the message I send 
my kids, as well as reducing the chances that they might ever abuse any drugs.

To this end, I have been honest with my kids about why I have taken 
marijuana and explained that marijuana, as any other drug, can be abused. 
They have no trouble understanding that it's not OK to abuse marijuana, 
just as it's not OK to abuse Demerol. What they can't understand is why 
anyone would want to put their mom in jail for taking medicine.

I applaud those Maryland leaders who are working to end this continuing 
travesty of justice, and I believe this legislation is a step in the right 
direction.

However, simply making it legal for a person to present the whole truth in 
court, after suffering the very real damage of arrest and prosecution, is 
not enough. It is only the very least we can do.

The continuing campaign by John P. Walters, director of the Office of 
National Drug Control Policy, against this modest first step toward 
protecting the sick and vulnerable is embarrassing and offensive. I dare 
Mr. Walters to walk in my shoes for just one day.

Those of us who need medical marijuana are not criminals. Jailing ill 
patients helps no one, hurts many and puts an even greater strain on an 
already stretched state budget. We can do better. I implore Governor 
Ehrlich to protect the weakest and most vulnerable of our citizens by 
signing the medical marijuana bill into law. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake