Pubdate: Thu, 15 Apr 2010
Source: Auburn Plainsman, The (Auburn U, AL Edu)
Copyright: 2010 The Auburn Plainsman
Contact:  http://www.theplainsman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1880
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

STATE DEBATES MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act, a bill  seeking to 
legalize medical marijuana in Alabama,  passed out of committee this 
week to return to the  floor for a possible vote.

While Alabama will probably not pass the bill any  further this 
legislative session, it is no small feat  the bill even made it out 
of committee.

While Alabama has always had a strong states' rights  bend in its 
past, such arguments were often used as a  means to justify 
intolerable acts like segregation and  denying blacks the right to vote.

Now, we see an Alabama more focused on compassionate  care and 
allowing those suffering from illnesses to  maintain a dignity with 
their pain management.

Medical marijuana has been shown to cause fewer  negative side 
effects than its corporate, prescription  drug counterparts, making 
it a better choice for some  patients.

Fourteen other states have legislation allowing for  marijuana to be 
used medicinally.

No other Southern state has passed medical marijuana legislation.

To have Alabama seem to be leading the charge on this  issue seems 
odd, but we are happy to see progressivism  and new ways of thinking 
coming to a place not known  for embracing change well.

The new legalized marijuana would be highly regulated  and available 
only to those patients for whom it is  deemed necessary due to 
"debilitating medical  conditions" like AIDS, Alzheimer's, Crone's 
Disease,  glaucoma and cancer.

Considering the pain and hardship sufferers of those  ailments go 
through, allowing them medical marijuana to  manage that pain seems 
to be the kind, humane thing to  do.

The states that have legalized medical marijuana have  not seen 
greatly increased crime rates or violence.

The streets aren't filled with drug-addled youths and  spaced-out 
hippies and the fabric of society still  contains the strong moral 
fibers that hold it together.

As far as habit-forming drugs go, marijuana is less  habit forming 
than many prescription pain medications  like Oxycontin.

Legalized medical marijuana simply offers another pain  management 
option, an option that allows patients to  homegrow their own medication.

The money saved from moving from expensive  prescriptions to 
marijuana would no doubt prove a boon  to insurance companies and 
these patients themselves.

The day for medical marijuana is not here yet, but we  are confident 
that day is coming. A kinder, more  enlightened Alabama is not far away.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom