Pubdate: Wed, 20 Jul 2005
Source: Monitor, The (McAllen, TX)
Copyright: 2005 The Monitor
Contact:  http://www.themonitor.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1250
Author: Redford Givens
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

HYPOCRITICAL ON MEDICINAL POT

To the editor:

Re: "Down, but not out: Ruling against medical pot may help cause" 
(June 23). The most interesting aspect of the battle for legal 
medical marijuana is the utter hypocrisy of the Republican Party 
getting into a lather over Terri Schiavo while ignoring the plight of 
hundreds of thousands of seriously ill people who can benefit from marijuana.

Tragic as Terri Schiavo's case was, she was only one person -- a 
person now dead -- compared to hundreds of thousands of living 
patients who can get relief using cannabis. The GOP came down on the 
unpopular side of both issues.

In an ABC news poll, 78 percent of respondents did not want to be 
kept alive in Terri Schiavo's condition. Sixty percent opposed 
sending Schiavo's case to federal courts and 70 percent oppose 
congressional interference in how we die.

In an American Association of Retired Persons poll, 72 percent of 
respondents agreed adults should be allowed to legally use marijuana 
for medical purposes if a physician recommends it. A Time/CNN Poll 
showed 80 percent support for allowing adults to "legally use 
marijuana for medical purposes." A Gallup poll had 73 percent of 
respondents ready to "vote for making marijuana legally available for 
doctors to prescribe."

Despite overwhelming support for medical marijuana, even in red 
states, the GOP plods along in its reefer madness crusade against marijuana.

Redford Givens

San Francisco
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