Pubdate: Tue, 10 Apr 2012
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2012 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Author: Laurel J. Sweet

DOC URGES BAY STATE TO DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA

Uptight Bay Staters need to "get a grip" on their hang-ups about weed,
according a doc who is a leading national advocate for the
legalization of medical marijuana.

Dr. Donald I. Abrams, chief of hematology/oncology at San Francisco
General Hospital and a cancer specialist at the University of
California San Francisco's Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, is
headed to Boston this week to lecture at the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute. But he took time out of his schedule yesterday to lecture
the commonwealth ahead of time, after learning local law enforcement
is balking at a citizen initiative to decriminalize medical pot.

"It's a flower. Get a grip. It's part of nature. It should be
available at sports events instead of alcohol. There'd be less
violence," Abrams told the Herald.

The Legislature's Joint Committee on Public Health will hold a hearing
today in the Gardner Auditorium on an initiative petition signed by
more than 80,700 voters to let people with cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and
other unspecified maladies possess pot.

Abrams is the featured speaker at Dana-Farber's 12th annual Lenny
Zakim Lecture tomorrow. While he's been invited to hold forth on the
use of natural supplements against cancer, he and Dana-Farber said
yesterday cannabis is not on the agenda. But Abrams said he hopes
someone asks. "Cannabis has been a natural medicine for thousands of
years," he said. "It's an analgesic, it's anti-inflammatory."
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