Pubdate: Fri, 14 Mar 2008
Source: Capital Times, The  (WI)
Copyright: 2008 The Capital Times
Contact:  http://www.madison.com/tct/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/73
Author: Gary Storck

GOP CONTROL MUST END FOR MEDICINAL POT TO PASS

Dear Editor: Thanks to Tyler Zellner for a great letter advocating legal
access to medical marijuana.

One point that needs clarification. There actually was medical
cannabis legislation in the Legislature this session. Assembly Bill
550, the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, was introduced last
September and named in honor of Rickert, a longtime Wisconsin medical
cannabis patient/activist.

Unfortunately, the bill, like other unfinished business, expired as of
Thursday and the Assembly's GOP leadership once again did not allow a
hearing or a vote in committee. This has happened nearly every session
dating back to when the Republicans gained control of the Assembly in
1993.

Two weeks ago, Michigan certified signatures for a ballot initiative
that will likely put this issue before its voters this November. Every
time this issue has gone to voters, it has passed.

Medical cannabis legislation is on the move in Illinois too, where a
state Senate committee passed legislation last week. Supporters in
Minnesota are also back to work after near success last session.

The American College of Family Physicians, the nation's second-largest
doctors' group, issued a position paper this year supporting medical
cannabis.

It is clear to me, as a longtime patient/activist for medical
cannabis, that the only way this legislation will make it through the
Legislature is if the Republican domination of the Assembly is ended.
Fortunately for suffering patients and their families, the GOP
majority has shrunk to just three.

Gov. Jim Doyle is on record stating he would sign a bill. It's now up
to voters this fall to put representatives in place who agree with the
80 percent of us who believe medical cannabis should be a legal option
for state residents.

Gary Storck,

Is My Medicine Legal YET?

Madison
- ---
MAP posted-by: Derek