Pubdate: Fri, 24 Sep 2004
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright: 2004 Independent Media Institute
Contact:  http://www.alternet.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1451
Author: Montel Williams
Note: Montel Williams, an Emmy Award winning talk show host, has completed 
thirteen seasons of the nationally syndicated The Montel Williams Show. He 
is a retired, decorated naval officer, a motivational speaker, and the 
author of six books, including "Climbing Higher," on living with MS. He is 
also a member of The Creative Coalition's advisory board.
Note: Part of a larger collection of five minute statements.
Related: Montel Williams 21 September medical cannabis show is available as 
42 minute commercial free 'net videos.
Realvideo: http://drugpolicycentral.com/real/csa/montel.rm
Quicktime: http://cannabiscoalition.ca/temp/montel.mov
Windows Media Player: http://cannabiscoalition.ca/temp/montel.wmv
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Montel+Williams

LISTEN UP, MR. PRESIDENT

What Would You Say to George Bush If You Had Five Minutes With the
Man?

Montel William's Five Minutes

Mr. President: In the eyes of the public, I am an all-American tough guy, a 
former naval intelligence officer, a motivational speaker and a TV talk 
show host. I am beamed into the homes of millions of people around the 
globe each weekday. I urge individuals and family members to do better, to 
be better. But there is another side to my story.

For more than twenty years I have lived with a chronic, potentially 
debilitating disease called multiple sclerosis (MS). I have neuralgic pain 
in my feet and legs so severe that I have twice attempted suicide - the 
ultimate trauma to my kids and family, the ultimate sin against God. I have 
stayed awake for nights on end, rocked by violent spasms in my legs. 
Physicians have prescribed myriad painkillers and antispasmodic drugs - 
each more toxic than the next, each less effective than the other. I have 
taken Percocet, Vicodin, OxyContin, and a morphine drip, risking overdose 
to subdue the pain. Instead, I became spacey and dull. I could not 
function. Something had to give. Something did. I discovered medical 
marijuana, which is illegal everywhere in the country according to federal 
law, even though eight states have laws in effect that allow patients to 
use it without fear of arrest.

On many days, I live with pain that is a seven on a scale of one to ten, 
and with nerves so raw that if you brush against me in an elevator, I just 
want to scream. Medical marijuana brings that pain down to a three or four. 
But every day I am forced to make the choice between criminality and 
management of my symptoms.

Mr. President, I am not alone. Tens of thousands of Americans, your 
citizens, make this daily choice. They are people like me who suffer from 
pain and spasms from MS, wasting from AIDS and cancer, and from numerous 
other symptoms. Because of medical marijuana, those of us with chronic or 
life-threatening illnesses have emerged from the haze of narcotic-based or 
morphine-like painkillers and other toxic medications to continue being 
productive citizens.

For people like me who have been through the gamut of FDA-approved drugs 
with no relief, marijuana has given us our lives back. It allows us to 
sleep through the night, to gain weight and strength, to read a bedtime 
story to our child, to run an office. It offers us the liberty - the 
freedom to live with dignity - that is one of our inalienable rights as 
American citizens.

The states with strong medical marijuana laws have built-in safety measures 
to ensure that the drug is not opened up to recreational users. It must be 
recommended by a physician, and, in most cases, patients must register with 
a state or local health authority. There are also reasonable limits on how 
much of the drug an individual or a caretaker can possess.

Mr. President, I urge you to support legal access to medical marijuana 
across our great nation. I urge you to support legislation that would 
change marijuana from a Schedule I drug, a group that includes heroin, LSD, 
and Quaaludes, to a Schedule II drug, which includes drugs, like 
amphetamines and morphine, that are prescribed in extreme cases. As a 
Schedule II drug, marijuana could be prescribed by a physician - with all 
the checks and balances to keep patients like me safe.

That's all I ask of you. True compassion with all the conservative medical 
and legal boundaries in place. What better legacy to leave?
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake