La Crosse County Assistant District Attorney Todd Bjerke's claims that marijuana today is more potent than in the 1960s and '70s is plain, old reefer madness, "Drug arrests up 22 percent as trafficking, enforcement increase in region," (Jan. 22). The truth is that these claims have been repeatedly debunked. A report by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws found "the notion that pot has increased dramatically in potency is a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration myth based on biased government data." NORML found that "a careful examination of the government's data show that average marijuana potency increased modestly by a factor of two or so during the '70s, and has been more or less constant ever since." [continues 150 words]
I have to respectfully disagree with your article of Oct. 13 'Biskupic well prepared for Attorney General.' Unfortunately many Republicans, while campaigning for office, claim they will be responsive to the wishes of their constituents, but once in office, put the agenda of their party far ahead of the wishes of their constituents. Wisconsinites, by virtue of a Chamberlain Research poll conducted last February, overwhelmingly support legalizing access to medical marijuana, with 80.3 percent expressing support and only 16 percent in opposition. [continues 227 words]
Editor: While the legislature has promptly addressed the crisis of chronic wasting disease in deer by passing a law in special session that Gov. McCallum is reportedly ready to sign, it has turned a blind eye to the suffering of Wisconsinites chronically wasting away from illnesses like cancer and AIDS who could benefit by having legal access to medical marijuana. And cancer and AIDS represent just two subsets of the many illnesses that respond favorably to marijuana's medicinal properties. With the medical marijuana bill that was introduced in January bottled up in committee, thanks to the cynical manipulations of Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, the chances of the legislature acting to protect sick and dying Wisconsinites from arrest and jail if they choose to employ this therapy are, at this point, just about nil. [continues 214 words]
Editor: The state Legislature has turned a blind eye to the suffering of Wisconsinites chronically wasting away from illnesses like cancer and AIDS who could benefit by having legal access to medical marijuana. Cancer and AIDS represent just two subsets of the many illnesses that respond favorably to marijuana's medicinal properties. With the medical marijuana bill that was introduced in January bottled up in committee, thanks to the cynical manipulations of Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen, R-Waukesha, the chances of the Legislature acting to protect sick and dying Wisconsinites from arrest and jail if they choose to employ this therapy are, at this point, just about nil. [continues 174 words]
I was sorry to see The Capital Times did not cover the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin's convention that was held at the Alliant Center in Madison on April 13. Cap Times readers would have been interested in Republican New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson's well-spoken and sensible call for the legalization of marijuana and adoption of harm reduction strategies in dealing with other drug use. Another high point was Ed Thompson's impassioned support for allowing sick and dying Wisconsinites to use marijuana as medicine and lauding the work of his Buffalo County campaign director, Jacki Rickert, a well-known medical marijuana activist. [continues 125 words]
MADISON - Kudos to Dan Desmond for his April 6 Forum letter, "Let chronically ill decide on drug use," supporting the medical use of marijuana. A recently released poll conducted by Chamberlain Research Consultants of Madison found that over 80 percent of Wisconsinites support the legislature passing a law to give seriously and terminally ill patients legal access to marijuana with the support of their physicians. Clearly, state residents understand that making criminals out of sick and dying for using a beneficial herb to regain a little quality of life is not just cruel, but bad public policy. When are our elected representatives going to catch up with the people who elect them? Gary Storck [end]
Your article, "A Federal Case?" (2/22/02) reported doubts that there will be a federal investigation into the Capitol's caucus scandal, because, according to sources, federal authorities are too preoccupied with other matters. Interesting then, that the feds weren't too busy to leave a drug investigation to state authorities, such as the one of Jocko's bartenders. They were all minor players and definitely not kingpins who were singled out and prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and who now serving lengthy sentences in federal prisons at taxpayer expense. [continues 58 words]
Regarding your article, "Environmental policy may see broad changes" (3/4/02), about the Bush Administration's new plan that seeks to shift responsibility for pollution control and public-land use to local government and private interests. The article quotes EPA director Christie Whitman as saying, "The president's philosophy is that not all wisdom lies in Washington". While Whitman is certainly correct in opining that not all wisdom lies in Washington, it sure would be nice to see some consistency in the Administration's rhetoric, which usually is that all wisdom lies in Washington. [continues 228 words]
Your editorial of Jan. 31 "An Arrest in Tallahassee," made some good points about the arrest of Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter Noelle, accused of forging a prescription for Xanax. The existence of prescription drugs with a high abuse potential such as Xanax shows that even if all marijuana, coca and poppy plants were somehow wiped off the face of the Earth, there would still be plenty of other substances to abuse, whether they be prescription drugs or even common household products that can be inhaled. [continues 159 words]
Your editorial of Jan. 31 "An Arrest in Tallahassee," made some good points about the arrest of Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter Noelle, accused of forging a prescription for Xanax. The existence of prescription drugs with a high abuse potential such as Xanax shows that even if all marijuana, coca and poppy plants were somehow wiped off the face of the Earth, there would still be plenty of other substances to abuse, whether they be prescription drugs or even common household products that can be inhaled. [continues 158 words]
Medical marijuana is something a lot of people would not want to need, but if accident or illness were to strike, it is definitely something that most people would want to have available if they did need it. Sadly, as things now stand, if one is unfortunate enough to develop serious illnesses like cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, AIDS, arthritis, or suffer from chronic pain, and finds standard treatments do not provide relief, there are two options, risk arrest and jail, or go without and suffer. In a time of so many medical miracles, why is it be a crime to use a non-toxic and natural herb if it can help? [continues 221 words]
After reading your editorial criticizing federal authorities for lying in their propaganda efforts in Afghanistan, "Truth's a better weapon in the information war" (Jan. 7, 2002), I could not help but be struck by the similarities in federal tactics used in the failed war on drugs. In that case, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has been running an expensive, taxpayer-funded advertising campaign for several years now that attempts to curb drug use by engaging in the same types of hyperbole and misinformation used in the Afghan campaign. [continues 174 words]
There is really no doubt that marijuana has medicinal properties. Anyone who says it doesn't is, no pun intended, blowing smoke. So why is it illegal? Should the government really be in the business of promoting suffering? Simply put, every day that the medicinal use of marijuana remains illegal is another day that medicine is withheld from the sick and dying. We wouldn't wish unnecessary suffering on ourselves or family and friends. Why should this medicine be denied to any patient who can benefit? [continues 147 words]
I was at the State Capitol on December 11th and I witnessed what has become a very rare event in Wisconsin politics: Politicians working together to do something that would benefit some of the states most vulnerable people. It was at a press conference called by state Reps. Mark Pocan, D-Madison and Frank Boyle, D-Superior, who were announcing they, along with Rep. Rick Skindrud, R-Mt. Horeb, will introduce legislation that would legalize the medicinal use of marijuana for Wisconsin's sick and dying. Libertarian candidate for governor Ed Thompson also stopped by to express his support for the bill. [continues 160 words]
This is in regard to your Dec. 12 article, "Lawmakers introduce medical marijuana bill," The announcement by Democratic Reps. Mark Pocan and Frank Boyle, with the backing of Republican Rep. Rick Skindrud and the endorsement of Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Ed Thompson marked what has become a very rare event in Wisconsin politics -- politicians working together to do something that would genuinely benefit some of the state's most vulnerable people. What is needed now is a Senate co-sponsor and the cooperation of Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen in making sure the bill gets a fair hearing. While Jensen aide Steve Baas claims this legislation has little popular support, the fact is decades of polling have consistently found at least 65 to 75 percent of Americans support legalizing medical marijuana. Indeed, there are actually few issues that command this much popular support. [continues 167 words]
This is in regards to your article, "Ed Thompson backs medical marijuana bill," (Dec. 12) in which I was quoted. In attending the press conference to show support for this legislation I witnessed what has unfortunately become a very rare event in Wisconsin politics - politicians working together to do something that would benefit some of the states most vulnerable people. In a state grown weary of partisan politics and caucus scandals at the Capitol, the sight of Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians working together was itself medicinal. [continues 307 words]
David Broder's Nov. 11 Op-Ed column, "DEA Marijuana Madness," hit the nail on the head. Why take away sick and dying Californians' source of medical marijuana, especially during a time of national emergency? California voters passed their medical marijuana law five years ago. While campaigning for the presidency George Bush pledged to let states set their own policies on medical marijuana. It's time to end this wasteful war on marijuana. These attacks on some of our most vulnerable citizens demonstrate that George Bush's claims of being a "compassionate conservative" were just rhetoric. Keeping medicine from sick people is not compassion but infliction of pain. [continues 236 words]
Regarding your article "Ashcroft Targets Suicide Doctors" [Nov. 7]: Attorney General John Ashcroft's decision reversing the federal policy toward Oregon's assisted-suicide law and basing it on last May's unanimous Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana signals that the Bush Administration's so-called "compassionate conservatism" was just a ruse. Drug Enforcement Agency agents busting California medical marijuana clinics and federal policies that keep this medicine from sick and dying Americans intentionally inflicts needless suffering. If the sick and dying can't take it any more, now the federal government won't let doctors help them end it all. Certainly not compassionate, certainly not respecting states' rights and definitely just plain mean. It's time for the government to get out of doctor's offices and start using all its resources to protect us from terrorists, not making life harder for some of our most vulnerable citizens. Gary Storck, Madison, Wisc. [end]
Before Sept. 11, the Sun-Times was a strong voice against the granddaddy of attacks on the Constitution and Bill of Rights: the so-called war on drugs. Years of drug prohibition have created so many exemptions to our freedoms that the recently passed and perversely named U.S.A. Patriot Act is merely the bitter icing on the cake compared with what has come before it. And while the Sun-Times and the nation remain fixated on the new war, the old war continues with a new vengeance. The new administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Asa Hutchinson, has launched a chilling war against medical marijuana in California, where voters passed the state's medical marijuana law five years ago Nov. 5. An entry in the Congressional Record seems to indicate that several congressmen, including the maniacally anti-medical marijuana zealots Bob Barr (R-Ga.) and Mark Souder (R-Ind.), sent investigators from the General Accounting Office to the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center, triggering a raid by 30 armed DEA agents soon after their visit. [continues 106 words]
Last February's drug raid on the wrong house by the a SWAT team from the Waukesha County Metro Drug Enforcement Group was a terrifying experience for the victim, but thankfully no one was badly hurt, except the taxpayers of Waukesha County who will ultimately pay for the overzealous actions of the drug squad. The victim certainly deserves every cent she ends up receiving, and it is up to taxpayers to let elected officials know they are upset with all the waste and harm caused by the war on drugs by voting them out of office. [continues 176 words]
How did a peaceful campground owner become public enemy number one? No matter how you paint it, marijuana prohibition killed Tom Crosslin, the owner of the Rainbow Farm in Michigan, shot to death by the FBI after a four-day standoff for standing up for his rights. A hard worker who built a good life for himself and others through his farm, a generous supporter of the community he lived in, Crosslin found himself facing the loss of his home, life's work and freedom all because of a plant. In the end he paid the ultimate price. Another peaceful American is dead because of this senseless fraud, and undoubtedly he will not be the last. On Labor Day it was Tom Crosslin. Tomorrow it could be you or your neighbor. Who will lead us out of this bloody mess? Gary Storck, Madison, Wis. [end]
Editor, How did a peaceful campground owner become public enemy number one? No matter how you paint it, marijuana prohibition killed Tom Crosslin, the owner of the Rainbow Farm in Michigan, murdered by the FBI after a four-day standoff for standing up for his rights. A hard worker who built a good life for himself and others through his farm; a generous supporter of the community he lived in, Crosslin found himself facing the loss of his home, life's work and freedom all because of a plant. [continues 58 words]
Regarding the column by John Nichols, "Obey lays out his credo and lives it," of August 9. There is one issue that Rep. Obey will not lay out his credo on, and that is his stance on the federal medicinal marijuana bills, Hr 1344 and the new bipartisan version, HR 2592, both sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank, (D-MA). While Rep. Obey's office did meet with Wisconsin patients last April, his staff has not responded to letters and phone calls asking for his position on these bills and this issue. [continues 150 words]
While researching past attempts at passing legislation legalizing marijuana for medical use in Wisconsin, I came across your editorial of April 12, 2001, "Put the UW to work on the medicinal pot debate." Yes, on first glance, that suggestion seems like a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, it is extremely naive to believe the solution is that simple, though logic says it must be. Why? Well logic doesn't count when you consider the federal government's position on medical marijuana. Wisconsin passed a law in 1982, which set up a research program not unlike the one you suggest. [continues 674 words]
I wanted to respond to the article in USA Today about former congresswoman. Geraldine Ferraro's battle with the blood cancer myeloma and how her doctors believe thalidomide treatments have helped to lengthen her life ("Ferraro's treatment puts thalidomide in spotlight", Life, Wednesday). The article mentions that because of thalidomide's history of causing birth defects in children when used by pregnant women, the drug had been taken off the market. However, as the story explains, new medical uses were discovered and thalidomide is once again available. [continues 100 words]
If HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson is serious about the federal government's commitment to fighting AIDS, ("Thompson: U.S. dedicated to fighting AIDS epidemic", June 6), he would immediately move to reschedule marijuana so it can be prescribed by physicians. A study conducted by University of California-San Francisco researcher Dr. Donald Abrams that was released in July 2000, found that AIDS patients using medicinal marijuana thrived during a 21-day study, gaining weight and strength. The Institute of Medicine report, commissioned by former drug czar Barry McCaffrey and released in March 1999, declared marijuana is not only very beneficial in combating AIDS wasting syndrome, but also in battling the nausea caused by the medications used in treating AIDS. [continues 132 words]
Regarding the Wisconsin State Journal's recent story, "Supreme Court Nixes Medicinal Marijuana", 15 May 2001. Dr. Mark Andrew, president-elect of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin, is quoted as saying that research has not proven that the benefits of medical marijuana outweigh the risks of drug addiction or of cancer, and that there are other forms of marijuana such as pills and aerosols. The fact is the 1999 Institute of Medicine Report not only found smoked marijuana an effective therapy, but also concluded the addictive potential was very low. In contrast many conventional drugs in use today are addictive, from Valium to Prozac to opiates such as morphine and Oxycontin. Yet no one would suggest prohibiting their medical use. Furthermore, while a synthetic form of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) Marinol, exists, it is only one of many medicinal compounds found in the whole plant. [continues 110 words]
MADISON -- Regarding your article, "Woman says she euthanized cancer sufferer," May 16, the recent Supreme Court ruling against medical marijuana could trigger more suicides and assisted suicides by patients and caregivers if conventional treatments cannot ease their suffering. Marijuana has been shown to ease pain and combat the side effects of chemotherapy. Forcing terminally ill patients to break the law to regain a little quality of life is not just cruel but immoral. With the Supreme Court ruling that federal law prohibits the medical use of marijuana, even for those with a medical necessity for this therapy, the only option is for lawmakers to change the law. [continues 151 words]
When the drug war finally ends and people are asking, "How could we have let this happen in America?" how will the Journal-Sentinel look in the rearview mirror of history? As a daily reader, I see few articles questioning this set of failed policies that has caused so much harm at home and abroad. I see no editorials attacking cruel policies that have led to America's sick and dying, who find that marijuana therapy eases their suffering, being fair game for drug warriors. I see few letters to the editor questioning this monumental waste of taxpayer dollars, government resources and human lives and potential. I see an Editorial Board with its head buried in the sand, acting like the there is no problem. [continues 75 words]
I appreciated your insightful editorial of May 18, "What's so awful about pot for the gravely ill?" about the recent Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana and its impact on patients like Mondovi resident Jacki Rickert. Legislation was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year. HR 1344, the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act, currently has 11 co-sponsors, including Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. This bill would reschedule marijuana so physicians could prescribe it and allow individual states to set their own policies on medical marijuana. [continues 136 words]
The Supreme Court has ruled the manufacture and distribution of medical marijuana is illegal under federal law, based on the Controlled Substances Act, not scientific and medical evidence. It is clearly time for Congress to change this law, which was never intended to be the final word on medical marijuana when it was adopted in 1970. The ruling ignores 30-plus years of patient reports and scientific evidence, along with the 1999 federally-commissioned Institute of Medicine report, which leave no doubt of marijuana's extensive therapeutic properties. [continues 175 words]
Regarding your article about the parents of Genevieve Pauser reflecting on how she ended up involved with a murder, "'This can't be happening" (March 26). Mrs. Pauser speculates it was her daughter's marijuana use that led to her downfall. I would counter that it is failed drug policies that allow substances like marijuana to be available to children. Regulation of alcohol and tobacco helps keep these substances, arguably much more dangerous than marijuana, out of the hands of children. [continues 182 words]
So the Taliban have eliminated the opium poppy from Afghanistan [news story, Feb. 16]? They also have eliminated any vestige of freedom. Also recently eliminated, according to another report, were about 300 unarmed people systematically slaughtered by Taliban forces. The reign of the Taliban has been marked by widespread violence. Apparently that climate of fear made the near-destruction of the opium crop possible. Is that a model we want in the United States? The drug war has made it acceptable to demonize illegal drug users in much the same way the Taliban demonize their rivals, or the Nazis demonized Jews. No-knock drug raids by SWAT teams have claimed many victims. Our prisons are bursting with nonviolent offenders. We can continue escalating the war on drugs until we end up like Afghanistan, or pursue humane drug policies that protect our citizens and our Constitution. Gary Storck, Madison, Wis. [end]
It was nice to see 13 year old Renee Frank is interested enough in the goings ons in Madison to write a letter to the editor Feb. 6, "Ax drug-using firefighters". Unfortunately, despite the lack of DARE drug "misinformation" classes in Madison schools, she still has yet to grasp the larger forces at work here. Her letter fails to mention if she has given any thought as to why the cocaine the firefighters used is illegal but the alcohol they consumed was not. Does she know that legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco and even prescription drugs kill hundreds of thousands per year, while cocaine deaths are estimated to be in the low hundreds, and marijuana has never caused a death by overdose? [continues 203 words]
News reports about George W. Bush's inauguration note that the new president swore his oath of office on the same Bible George Washington used. If Washington used the Bible, it undoubtedly is printed on hemp paper. Hemp paper was the norm back in Washington's day, and no other paper would last more than 200 years. It seems very ironic that Bush--taking the reins of power of a federal government with an irrational obsession with suppressing every use of this beneficial herb, including paper, medicine, food, fuel and clothing--used a hemp-paper Bible to take his oath. [continues 150 words]
The new issue of Rolling Stone magazine contains an interview with President Clinton in which he states, "I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be." It is great to see that he feels this way, but disgusting that under his administration, nearly 700,000 Americans were arrested each year for marijuana possession. Even more disgusting is how members of his administration like drug czar Barry McCaffrey and Health and Human Services head Donna Shalala brutally suppressed the medicinal use of marijuana, arresting patients, thrreatening doctorsa and even asking the Supreme Court to rule against the ancient doctrine of medical necessity. [continues 53 words]
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up the issue of medical marijuana as requested by the Clinton-Gore administration, ["High Court to Rule on Medical Marijuana," Nov. 28], it will be interesting to see if the court will rule against the federal request and support not only the ancient doctrine of medical necessity but also the right to a quality of life. While much ado was made by Vice President Al Gore and his supporters during the election about what kind of Supreme Court justices each administration would appoint, the Clinton-Gore administration's request that put a hold on the distribution of medical marijuana to seriously ill patients in California-who have a medical necessity for marijuana and will suffer if this medicine is withheld -puts into serious question what kind of court Gore would seek to create. [continues 74 words]
Regarding your Oct. 6 news story, " 'Compassionate release' may come in time for Glancy to die in R.I.": If serious illness is a criterion for releasing federal prisoners, then it is time for federal authorities to release Rhode Island native and childhood cancer survivor Todd McCormick from a federal prison in California, where he has been in solitary confinement for several months. Todd is a medical marijuana patient and victim of the Clinton-Gore administration's failed "War on Drugs." Todd has a severe spinal condition, tumors, cancer and the pelvis of a nine-year-old. His co-defendant, the late author Peter Mcwilliams, an AIDS/cancer patient, choked to death on his own vomit last June, because a federal judge ordered him not to use the medical marijuana he needed to keep his AIDS medications down while on bail awaiting sentencing. [continues 96 words]
Regarding your October 12, 2000 editorial, ``The `Gore's a liar' lie'', in which you dismissed Gore's reputation for fabrications and embellishments as a political tactic by the Bush campaign. That may be mostly true, but no one can deny that Gore was lying when, in an MTV appearance a few weeks back, he stated his opposition to the medicinal use of marijuana to a woman who told him a member of her family was in jail for giving the drug to a cancer patient. Gore said, ``I don't agree that it's medically effective. Doctors have studied this question pretty extensively, and so far there is absolutely no evidence that it has the effect that some people say.'' [continues 181 words]
I was shocked at your August 27 story about the young men getting probation for their cruel "prank" that left an Amish man seriously injured and facing a long recovery. (After a 'prank' goes awry, 'beautiful people' find their lives in the balance An Amish family's slow comeback) What kind of justice system do we have in America where people who intentionally and violently harm a fellow human being get probation, yet non-violent drug offenders have jammed our prisons to the rafters? [continues 74 words]
In speeches at the Democratic Convention and again in La Crosse, Al Gore said, "It's just wrong to have life-and-death medical decisions made by bean-counters at HMOs, who don't have a license to practice medicine, and don't have a right to play God. It's time to take the medical decisions away from the HMOs and insurance companies and give them back to the doctors and the nurses and the health care professionals." Nice words, but coming from the #2 man in the Clinton Administration, which has been waging a brutal war on medicinal marijuana users for the last eight years, one can only wonder what gives the federal government the right to play God and make life and death decisions for patients who could find relief through medical marijuana. [continues 64 words]
The recent Argus-Leader recent article about the quadriplegic who uses marijuana to control muscle spasms and was arrested and jailed, and now faces trial, points up the need for medical marijuana legislation nationwide. That the Drug Enforcement Agency is considering penalizing the man's doctor for writing a note on his patient's behalf points up the cruelty of the ongoing suppression of medical marijuana by federal authorities. The doctor should be lauded for upholding his oath, instead of being threatened for showing compassion in trying to ease his patient's suffering. [continues 188 words]
Marijuana prohibition is not a trivial matter, as her comments seem to imply, but instead an extremely harmful malaise that has resulted in millions of arrests and jailings in North America alone. The cruel and immoral suppression of medical use has caused untold human suffering. Marijuana prohibition is a counterproductive fraud that will never work. It's time to get past it, and to get past the ignorant ponderings of reporters like Williamson, who unwittingly play into the hands of prohibitionist lies by propagating the myths used to justify this cruel attack on fellow humans who choose to employ this beneficial herb. Gary Storck Madison, Wis. (It's specially beneficial to the growers) [end]
At the urging of pharmaceutical industry lobbyists, the Food and Drug Administration is considering making a lot more prescription drugs available over the counter [news story, June 28]. All of these drugs have potentially lethal side effects and should be prescribed and monitored by a physician, but the pharmaceutical industry would have us think otherwise. Of course, their only motivation is profit, not the health of Americans. Already, more than 100,000 Americans die each year from side effects of legally prescribed medications. [continues 163 words]
This is in response to the Monday, June 26, Associated Press article, "Wausau-area patrol tops state in drug arrests." While the article cites the generic "drug arrests," the war against some substances is statistically a war against marijuana users. No doubt, the bulk of arrests and drug seizures were for small amounts of marijuana. The article quotes an officer as saying, "The secret is going beyond the traffic stop," and talks about three men arrested for possessing paraphernalia and a couple bags of pot who were stopped "for not having a working trunk latch." [continues 217 words]
As a result of a report released in March of 1999 by the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) that confirmed marijuana's medical utility, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said it was changing its rules in order to make marijuana more readily available for medical research on May 21 of 1999. This change in policy seemed to indicate that the federal government was finally acknowledging what scientists and physicians have long been saying about marijuana's medicinal properties. [continues 166 words]
I attended the recent listening session with Senator Russ Feingold at Madison East High School and came away with the feeling that he is not the progressive visionary he pretends to be. An East High student asked Sen. Feingold if in light of the fact that a proven harmful substance like tobacco is legal, why not consider legalizing marijuana, which unlike tobacco, has never killed anyone. Feingold's reply was that he would keep it illegal, citing the now debunked gateway theory. [continues 172 words]
Your editorial questioning the official version of the death of the Taycheedah inmate certainly points up major concerns about health care in our prison system. The editorial quoted State Sen. Judy Robson, a nurse, as stating, "It was unconscionable to allow somebody to die in such a miserable way." While Sen. Robson's comments are certainly right on target here, her concern over state residents health is actually very shallow. On the subject of legalizing marijuana for medical use, Robson's office stated last year that the issue is "too controversial" for her to consider sponsoring or co-sponsoring such legislation. Apparently Sen. Robson thinks it is okay that sick, disabled and dying state residents imprisoned in their own bodies by illness who can benefit from this therapy must either break the law and risk arrest and jail, or needlessly suffer, because she lacks the political courage to tackle "controversial" issues like medical marijuana. [continues 59 words]
Rob Zaleski hit the nail on the head with his column, ``Politicos should take dose of reality'' (Jan. 3), in which he suggests politicians take a walk in the shoes of the 40 million Americans who lack health insurance coverage. Let's extend this walk in another's shoes one step further. What if the reality was a serious illness and marijuana was the best medicine to ease the suffering or even save a life. Wouldn't they want all options available? Doesn't it seem logical that the people who elected these reality-challenged politicos deserve legal access? [continues 120 words]
Dave Zweifel' did a great job of pointing out the hypocrisy of Republican legislators at both the federal and state level, "3 bills show how GOP flip-flops on values", 12.6.99. A prime example of government intrusion into people's lives can be found in the prohibition of the medical use of marijuana. In Wisconsin, inaction on protecting sick, disabled and dying state residents from arrest and jail for using marijuana to ease their suffering is the fault of legislators from both parties. Despite the public's support for providing this medicine to sick people, Democratic legislators are for the most part too timid to act, while Republicans must adhere to the party's rigid prohibition against medical marijuana. [continues 104 words]
