Pubdate: Sun, 01 Dec 2013
Source: Sunday News (PA)
Copyright: 2013 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.lancasteronline.com/sunnews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1102
Author: Mark B. Cohen
Note: Mark B. Cohen, a Democrat, has represented the 202nd District 
in the state House since 1974. He is the senior member of the 
Pennsylvania General Assembly.

MAKING THE CASE FOR MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

As time goes on, citizens and governmental officials throughout our 
country increasingly recognize the necessity of expanding options for 
health care. In my many years in the Legislature, for instance, I 
have been active in establishing and maintaining the regulation and 
growth of the chiropractic profession, facilitating organ and tissue 
transplants, and establishing and expanding subsidized prescriptions 
for senior citizens.

The cultural wars of the 1960s have long been over. The legalization 
of marijuana, when prescribed by a physician for a bona fide medical 
purpose, would not only improve health care, but it would increase 
state revenue by at least $25 million a year. Legalization of 
marijuana for medicinal purposes would also reduce criminal 
prosecutions, as well as weaken the existing criminal networks 
selling marijuana.

It is an idea that is now law in 20 states (Alaska, Arizona, 
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, 
Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, 
New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) plus 
Washington, D.C., and Portland, Maine.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder informed the governors of 
Washington and Colorado at the end of August that the Department of 
Justice would allow the states to create a structure that would 
regulate and implement the ballot initiatives that legalized the use 
of marijuana for adults.

Holder further stated that the department would take a "trust but 
verify approach" to the state laws. That is the strongest invitation 
yet for states to get involved with the legalization of medical marijuana.

I have been greatly impressed by the depth and breadth of support for 
medical marijuana.

In a statewide poll conducted in May by Franklin & Marshall College, 
82 percent of respondents said they favor legalizing marijuana for 
medicinal purposes - up from 76 percent in 2009. Support for the 
recreational use of marijuana also has increased as reflected in a 
poll conducted by the Pew Research Center released in April. A 
majority of Americans now say marijuana should be made legal and far 
fewer view it as a gateway to harder drugs. Support for legalization 
jumped seven points in two years and 20 points since the 2002 General 
Social Survey.

The political landscape for legalization of marijuana has changed and 
is continuing to evolve.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) stated in March that people 
shouldn't go to jail for nonviolent drug crimes such as marijuana 
possession. Wide majorities of Democrats and Republicans agree that 
government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they are worth.

Republican interest for the legalization of marijuana in Pennsylvania 
is growing.

In fact, my legislation - House Bill 1181 - recently received the 
support of Rep. Jim Cox, R-Berks. I have also had calls from other 
Republican members who have expressed interest in the initiative. 
Many of them have been contacted by families of children with seizure 
disorders desperately looking for legally available marijuana to 
treat their children.

Some people are migrating to Colorado for the "medical marijuana 
miracle," where it has been reported that children using 
cannabis-infused oil have had a 90 percent to 100 percent reduction 
in their seizures.

With Pennsylvania in need of popular money-generating ideas, this is 
the time for medical marijuana legalization. We need to move forward 
with progressive public policy that would improve human capital, as 
well as the health and fiscal policy within the commonwealth, reduce 
criminal prosecutions and weaken the existing criminal networks 
selling marijuana.

My legislation, House Bill 1181, would attempt to do that by limiting 
the legal sale of marijuana to people who have the recommendation of 
a medical doctor through a distribution network composed of a limited 
number of compassion centers throughout Pennsylvania.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom