As a pediatrician and a former pharmacist, I feel that it is necessary to provide some information to voters regarding Measure 5, which would legalize marijuana for "medical" use.

1. A plant cannot be used as a medicine because we cannot answer necessary questions, including whether it is useful for a given medical condition and what is a "dose" - child versus adult, condition, route of administration? Pharmaceutical medications containing THC already exist and can be prescribed by a health care provider.

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Medical marijuana needs to pass.

My son suffers from autoimmune disease to the point where he can no longer enjoy daily activities most of us take for granted like going for a walk because of his pain. My son experienced years of medical professionals more concerned about their liability insurance premiums going up than treating my son's pain.

Can you imagine what it was like to carry my son out of the emergency room without medication screaming in pain? This happened because the doctor thought he might be a user.

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FARGO, N.D. (AP) - A group pushing to legalize medical marijuana in North Dakota is making a last-minute advertising push thanks to a surprise donation from a national organization,

North Dakota Compassionate Care, which is sponsoring an initiated measure on the state's ballot, quickly organized the ad campaign after receiving $15,000 last week from Drug Policy Action, said group spokeswoman Anita Morgan. DPA is the political arm of a group that advocates for the overhaul of drug laws.

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Measure 5, medical marijuana is not good medicine and it's bad law.

Measure 5 supporters want you to believe the measure creates a process for marijuana use that is a safer alternative to traditional prescription medications. What they have not told you is there is not enough scientific evidence to prove the benefits outweigh the risks.

They also have not told you Measure 5 authorizes the use of marijuana for medical purposes without the oversight of your doctor, or any other medical professional for that matter. Under this proposal, people who claim to suffer from certain medical conditions can purchase their marijuana from a so-called "Compassionate Care Center" or "Designated Care Provider." Do not let the names fool you - compassionate care center staff and designated care providers are not required to have any medical or pharmaceutical training.

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My 54 year old daughter has multiple sclerosis and was diagnosed in 1987. She lives in Washington state where medical marijuana is legal. She has said for years that it is the only thing that helps her pain. Her MS is progressing and she had a real tough time.

I am asking North Dakota to approve to legalization of this wonderful, pain relieving medicine. Opiates are addictive, and are legal. Why isn't medical marijuana?

Bonnie Field

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(Measure 5 would allow medical marijuana in the state and give the Health Department the power to issue patient ID cards and regulate dispensaries.)

While the question of medical marijuana would once have been quite controversial, we think it no longer is, nor should it be. There are good questions raised by the North Dakota Medical Association about the consistency of dosages, but that problem can be addressed during the implementation of a program. Nearly half the country has already approved some form of medical marijuana, including Montana. There is growing evidence to show that the active ingredients in cannabis help reduce the symptoms of multiple diseases and with easing the side effects of chemotherapy and other treatments. Given the wide range of other states that have successfully implemented such programs, we believe it is time for North Dakota to do the same.

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I recently read with interest an article by Mike McFeely , (a WDAY host and Forum columnist) entitled "Medical marijuana a needed debate in North Dakota." At the end of his article he stated that North Dakota backers of medical marijuana would be wise to do some storytelling.

Shortly before marijuana was banned by The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, new technologies were developed that made hemp a potential competitor with the newly-founded synthetic fiber and plastics industries. Hemp's potential for producing paper also posed a threat to the timber industry. Evidence suggests that commercial interests having much to lose from hemp competition helped propagate reefer madness hysteria, and used their influence to lobby for marijuana prohibition.

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The parents of a North Dakota State College of Science student found dead of a gunshot after working as an undercover drug informant want the FBI to take over the investigation.

Andrew Sadek, a 20-year-old student at the Wahpeton community college, was a drug informant before he went missing in May 2014. About two months later, his body was found in the Red River near Wahpeton with a gunshot to his head.

His parents, Tammy and John Sadek, who live in Rogers, have said they believe their son was murdered, possibly because of his work as an informant. However, autopsy results offered no conclusion on whether someone killed him or whether he killed himself.

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Listen.

Do you hear it?

It's the sound of the system working-the system, that is, to prevent more young people from using illegal drugs.

Granted, the sound is not the satisfying purr of a smooth-running engine. Instead, it creaks and it clanks, and now and then it sputters to a stop.

But then it rumbles up-and make no mistake, it's continuing to advance. And that's vital to remember after reading stories such as Sunday's "We let them down"-a story that itself is a key sign of the drug-prevention system at work.

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It looks more and more likely there will be at least one ballot measure this fall regarding the legalizing of marijuana use in North Dakota.

There are two groups looking to have initiated measures related to marijuana use on the November ballot. One group is gathering signatures to allow medical marijuana use only and a second group gathering signatures wishes to allow legal use of marijuana by anyone over the age of 21. If signatures are gathered and it is passed by voters into law it also would allow adults 21 and older to grow marijuana and possess paraphernalia and would cap the sales tax.

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It's commendable that some Republican candidates support decriminalizing the relatively safe, extremely popular and God-given plant cannabis (marijuana), but it should be completely re-legalized ("Marijuana measure sponsors must resubmit petition after using old law," Page B3, Feb. 12).

Responsible adults should not be caged or punished in any way for using a substance that has proven safer than alcohol.

Colorado re-legalized cannabis, and every subsequent poll indicates voters continue supporting the end of cannabis prohibition. A sane or moral argument to perpetuate cannabis prohibition doesn't exist.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.

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BISMARCK - Backers of a proposed ballot measure to legalize marijuana in North Dakota made an error in their petition submitted Wednesday, and the state's chief law enforcement officer said their proposal to legalize pot-related synthetic drugs also is a big mistake.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and the head of the state Board of Pharmacy expressed concern Thursday that, in addition to legalizing natural marijuana, the measure would delete synthetic cannabinoids from the list of Schedule 1 drugs after several years of efforts to outlaw the substances.

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It doesn't take long for drug addiction to stop you from achieving your dreams. Rotting in jail for the self-harm caused by addiction will further prevent any future success.

Currently, we have a broken criminal justice system that preys upon minorities and the poor who cannot afford a lawyer.

The United States has the highest percentage of its citizens in jail. Those with a dissenting opinion might say that incarceration is a way to instantly take the addicts off the street and force them into drug rehabilitation. "

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(AP) - Marijuana companies in California and Colorado have tabbed prominent American Indian leaders from the Dakotas to help prod tribes across the nation into the pot business.

Tex Hall, the former chairman of the oil-rich Three Affiliated Tribes, and Robert Shepherd, former chairman of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate tribe in northeastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota, are trying to recruit and assist tribes in producing high-grade marijuana products.

"Those who want to get in early are the ones who will really succeed," said Shepherd, the tribal relations officer for Denver-based Monarch America Inc.

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North Dakota's Oil Rush Brings Cash and Promise to Reservation, Along With Drug-Fueled Crime

ON THE FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN RESERVATION - Tribal police Sgt. Dawn White is racing down a dusty two-lane road - siren blaring, police radio crackling - as she attempts to get to the latest 911 call on a reservation that is a blur of oil rigs and bright-orange gas flares.

"Move! C'mon, get out of the fricking way!" White yells as she hits 102 mph and weaves in and out of a line of slow-moving tractor-trailers that stretches for miles.

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A bill to legalize the sale and use of marijuana for "medical purposes" recently passed in my home state of Minnesota. Similar initiatives are under way in several other states, although passage is not likely for all.

But together with a similar law in California and recent legalization in Colorado following partial legalization or "decriminalization" in Washington and Oregon, there certainly seems to be a national tide to make cannabis use legal.

Social aspects of "mood-altering substances" are complex, to say the least. But what about economic ones? These certainly exist. Some libertarian economists, most notably Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, advocated legalization of marijuana use decades ago. So it is a legitimate topic for economic analysis.

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WILLISTON, N.D. - The blood-drenched man had survived a brutal attack: Beaten with brass knuckles, shocked with a stun gun, slashed with a razor blade, then dumped 40 miles away in Montana, he staggered to a farmhouse for help. His path eventually led authorities back to a quiet backyard in this oil boom town.

What they uncovered was a large-scale methamphetamine ring. The members of this violent gang were all relative newcomers to Williston.

They called themselves "The Family," the feds said, and were holed up in a few campers tucked behind a white-frame house. They had plenty of firepower, too: One of the men had 22 weapons.

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BISMARCK, N.D. - Once thought by North Dakotans to be only a big city drug, heroin sales and use are increasing in the state, authorities say. U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon called the spike in heroin use in North Dakota "new and disturbing." He said it's the result of the abuse of prescription painkillers, a growing population and drug trafficking operations that are primarily targeting the state's rich oil patch region.

"When you have an increased population with a lot of money, it's a more desirable market for drug dealers to move into," Purdon said. "They follow the money."

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Thanks for publishing Stan White's thoughtful letter: "A more rational view of a God-given plant" (March 15).

Some say that cannabis is no more dangerous than alcohol. I submit that cannabis is not even remotely as dangerous as alcohol. If we consume a 1.75-liter bottle of either whiskey, rum or vodka within an hour, we will almost certainly die as a result.

On the other hand, if we consume the world's most potent cannabis, the worst result would be a severe case of the munchies.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Ariz.

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Some doctors conveniently claim (Minnesota doctors' views on medical marijuana differ, Mar. 10, Forum) they "don't know the true risks," regarding cannabis (marijuana), however, there is a number of irrefutable facts to lead a rational person to accept the medical use of the God-given plant.

In more than 5,000 years of documented use, cannabis has not killed one single person, and it's safer than every pharmaceutical drug that it replaces. Cannabis is labeled a Schedule I substance alongside heroin for purely political, not scientific reasons.

Sick citizens should avoid doctors who accept the discredited political scandal regarding the plant and disregard the scientific knowledge, which is available.

Stan White

Dillon, Colorado

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