Pubdate: Mon, 15 Jul 2013
Source: Hartford Courant (CT)
Copyright: 2013 The Hartford Courant
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/IpIfHam4
Website: http://www.courant.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/183

FEDS SHOULD STOP FIGHTING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

To all appearances, Connecticut is well on the way to making medical 
marijuana available to people who are suffering from certain serious 
illnesses. Regulations have been drafted and will be voted on by a 
legislative committee next month. Physicians have thus far certified 
660 patients as eligible for the palliative substance. Proposals for 
production facilities have surfaced in Watertown and Middletown, with 
others on the way.

But there remains one nagging, unresolved issue: It is still a 
federal crime to use, cultivate, dispense or possess marijuana. 
Indeed, since 2009 the Justice Department has conducted more than 170 
aggressive raids in 9 medical marijuana states, according to the 
advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.

Connecticut officials think they have crafted a strict, tightly 
regulated law that will not draw the attention of federal 
authorities. We hope they are right. The better option is to end the 
disconnect between state and federal laws, so people with cancer, 
Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and other ailments can, if 
they choose, use marijuana to gain some measure of relief.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom