Pubdate: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT) Copyright: 2004 The Billings Gazette Contact: http://www.billingsgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515 Author: Adam Jones Cited: Office of National Drug Control Policy (www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov ) Cited: Initiative 148 ( www.montanacares.org/ ) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Initiative+148 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion) MEDICAL MARIJUANA OFFERS COMPASSION This letter is to voice my disgust at the federal government's abuse of our tax dollars by sending the Office of National Drug Control Policy's own Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns on a rampage of lies through our state. Mr. Burns was sent here as a result of the voter initiative brought about by the citizens of Montana concerning the protection of users of medical marijuana from federal agents like these. Mr. Burns made three stops in Montana during which he demonized those citizens by stating, "This is a con" and "... it's about the children." Well let me say, it is about the children, and the children have nothing to fear from a state that is compassionate for its own suffering people. Mr. Burns also stated "smoking this weed is not a medicine," well not according to the American Nurses Association and countless other reputable sources, whose medical opinion I trust far more than Mr. Scott Burns's. How does Mr. Burns respond to Ms. Teresa Michalski whose son, Travis, died last year due to Hodgkin's. When prescription medicines didn't help his nausea, his pain, or his appetite loss - but medical marijuana did. Simply put, I-148 is trying to protect the sick and dying from being caught up in our government's failed "war on drugs." I don't pay my federal tax dollars to be told how I should feel. Adam Jones Billings - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake