Pubdate: Wed, 20 Feb 2008
Source: Daily Record, The (Parsippany, NJ)
Copyright: 2008 The Daily Record
Contact: http://www.dailyrecord.com/customerservice/forms/letters.htm#form
Website: http://www.dailyrecord.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/112
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

POT AS MEDICINE

Carroll's Proposal Deserves To Be Enacted

For the last three decades, researchers have studied  whether
marijuana can be used to alleviate various  disease symptoms -- such
as the nausea associated with  cancer chemotherapy.

One who is convinced that pot holds legitimate  treatment
possibilities is Assemblyman Michael P.  Carroll, R-Morris Twp. He has
proposed a bill that  would allow marijuana to be used for medical
purposes.  Some may be surprised that a conservative such as  Carroll
would advocate such a thing, but his  libertarian streak is definitely
showing when he says,  "This seems like a case when the law should get
out of  the way."

Or more accurately, the law should change.

Carroll wants the state Department of Health to create  a registry
card that would allow patients suffering  from a "debilitating medical
condition" to possess up  to an ounce of marijuana for their own use.

Twelve states allow medical use of marijuana and we  think New Jersey
should join them. We see virtually no  downside to allowing those
suffering from a variety of  diseases to explore whether marijuana can
make their  lives more bearable. The bad news is that this
legislation has failed in the past, as it generally  falls victim to
opposition from those too stubborn to  grasp the difference between
ill people using pot and  teens experimenting with heroin.

Hopefully, such irrational views will not prevail this  year.
Carroll's bill deserves to pass.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek