Pubdate: Wed, 14 Feb 2007
Source: Flint Journal (MI)
Copyright: 2007 Flint Journal
Contact:  http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/836
Note: Prefers to print letters from people in the area of The Flint Journal
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n140/a02.html
Author: Melodee K. Hagensen, Journal Reader

POT VOTE ARTICLE A DISSERVICE

 From the tongue-in-cheek headline to the lack of investigation into 
the issue, Marjory Raymer's article, "Flint pot vote mostly 
symbolic," [Feb. 5, page A1] repeatedly dismissed scientific studies, 
political support of the issue and all consideration for the affected 
communities.

The "pot vote" is actually a medical marijuana initiative that will 
allow Flint's registered voters to decide if patients under a 
physician's care in Flint should be exempt from the provisions of the 
code making it a criminal offense.

Though the article extensively describes Charles Snyder's recent 
legal struggles, it includes almost no discussion of Snyder's 
lifelong struggles with nail patella syndrome. This genetic disease 
affects connective tissues and bones, impairs movement, makes walking 
difficult, causes great pain and often leads to osteoarthritis and 
glaucoma. Since Snyder's doctor has prescribed Oxycontin, an often 
addictive narcotic, his symptoms must be serious.

Apparently, Snyder had been avoiding the use of Oxycontin by using 
marijuana. As Snyder was busted with 12 plants and handed only a $500 
fine, it suggests that the judge involved in the case agreed that 
Snyder's use of marijuana is medicinal and that jailing patients is 
not in the best interest of anyone. This judge's opinion would be 
supported by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has supported an 
amendment that would permit the use of medical marijuana with a 
doctor's recommendation.

The article also ignored all of the science. Unlike Oxycontin users, 
marijuana users were found by a U.S. Institute of Medicine's report, 
Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, to be "less 
likely to (develop dependency) than users of other drugs (including 
alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be less 
severe than dependence on other drugs."

In Flint, where the jail has been overcrowded since its doors opened, 
the voters will decide Feb. 27 whether it is prudent to jail AIDS 
patients, cancer patients, multiple sclerosis patients and the scores 
of others attempting to remain lucid while their doctors legally 
prescribe heavy narcotics for their pain.

Melodee K. Hagensen

Flint 
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