Bravo to letter writer Don Seibold for speaking out as a supporter of HB434. We can only hope our elected officials will demonstrate the same courage and vote "yes" when this bill comes before them.

In years past when this bill has come before the Judiciary Committee, one of the arguments against it has been that if we protect Alabama patients and physicians by passing this law the feds will swoop down on Alabama. However, on Feb. 25 during a press conference, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Justice Department will no longer conduct medical marijuana raids in states that have passed medical marijuana laws. So, that is one less excuse the judiciary committee will have this year. (2 of 2)

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People who are familiar with Mobile's history know that the Port City has seen seamier times, in particular when it comes to the early part of the 20th century, when local residents worked hard at ignoring Prohibition.

In fact, they actively flouted the law by importing illegal booze from South America.

Sometimes we talk about Mobile's rum-runners almost fondly, like they were pirates or outlaws. But at the time, the scandals of our past were often anything but funny.

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I support HB434, the state-level legalization of medical marijuana in Alabama. As a healthy young man, I will not be affected by this bill, but as an American I believe in the American dream, which is, of course, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

A 2004 poll administered by the Mobile Register/University of South Alabama found that 76 percent of Alabamians support allowing access to medical marijuana as recommended by a physician. Why is it that patients in Alabama are routinely forced to go into the black market, risking life, freedom and occupation in order to better their quality of life? Why is it that patients are regularly arrested and imprisoned, when the majority of Alabamians support medical marijuana?

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Dear Editor: Please support the medical marijuana bill before the Alabama Legislature.

As a Christian who helped re-legalize the relatively safe, God-given plant cannabis (kaneh bosm/marijuana) for sick citizens in Colorado, one reason I voted for President Barack Obama is because he said he'd stop the federal government from caging sick Americans in states which chose to allow it.

Now, since the federal government will no longer present a threat to those state's rights for using the plant, a sane argument to cage sick Americans for using cannabis doesn't exist. It will no longer contradict federal law. Further, I expect to see the rest of the United States follow suit.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo

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I respectfully request that The Star support HB434 in the Alabama House of Representatives and any companion bill that is introduced in the Alabama Senate. This bill would allow certain residents described in the bill to use marijuana under the conditions prescribed to deal with their medical situations.

In 1970, after 16-plus years in the military, I was medically discharged because of a condition that rendered me physically unfit for further service to our country. Before then, I underwent two surgeries to try to correct a condition in my lower spine, neither of which brought relief for the pain. So, for half or more of my life I've lived with chronic pain which has gotten worse over time.

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I write today concerning House Bill 434, which would provide protection for physicians who recommend and patients who use medical marijuana in Alabama.

I am a patient who suffers from constant chronic pain resulting from a near-fatal motor vehicle accident nearly 22 years ago. In 2005, I became unable to work and began taking morphine, which was prescribed by a pain-management doctor. This medicine was horribly addictive and completely destroyed my quality of life.

Medical marijuana is a natural alternative to narcotic pain medicine. It is a plant that has many medicinal purposes and very few side effects, none of which is as bad as the stuff constantly advertised on TV.

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I was Ms. Wheelchair Alabama 1996, and I carried the Olympic torch through Birmingham. I am a wife, mother, grandmother and medical marijuana user. I have suffered from multiple sclerosis since 1982.

Medical marijuana reduces muscle spasms so I can get good, restful sleep instead of being awakened often throughout the night. I can wake up aware of the world and not with a doped-up feeling that legal medications give me. Medical marijuana gives me a quality of life so I can enjoy my grandchildren while they are little.

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A bill that would remove criminal penalties for the possession and use of marijuana for people with certain medical conditions is being considered in the Alabama Legislature. Thirteen states already have similar laws, and a poll by the Mobile Press-Register and The University of South Alabama found that 75 percent of Alabamians support such a law.

What are the risks of enacting such a law? Have the states with medical marijuana laws seen increases in teen use of marijuana or increased use in adults? Have these states seen a jump in crime? Have they seen an increase in traffic accidents caused by intoxicated medical marijuana patients? Does the use of marijuana by seriously ill patients pose a threat to society? No.

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Dear Editor: I respectfully request that your newspaper support HB434 in the Alabama House of Representatives and any companion bill that is introduced in the Alabama Senate. This bill would change Alabama law to allow certain citizens described in the bill to use marijuana under the conditions prescribed in the bill to deal with their medical situations.

In 1970, after 16 plus years in the military, I was medically discharged because of a physical condition that rendered me physically unfit for further service to our country. Before then, I underwent two invasive surgeries to try to correct a condition in my lower spine, neither of which brought relief for the pain I suffered. So, for half or more of my life, I've lived with chronic pain which has gotten worse over time.

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I respectfully request that your newspaper support HB434 in the Alabama House of Representatives and any companion bill that is introduced in the Alabama Senate.

This bill would change Alabama law to allow certain citizens described in the bill to use marijuana under the conditions prescribed in the bill to deal with their medical situations.

In 1970, after 16-plus years in the military, I was medically discharged because of a physical condition that rendered me physically unfit for further service to our country. Before then, I underwent two invasive surgeries to try to correct a condition in my lower spine, neither of which brought relief for the pain I suffered. So, for half or more of my life I've lived with chronic pain which has gotten worse over time.

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I respectfully request The Birmingham News support HB434 in the Alabama House of Representatives and any companion bill that is introduced in the Alabama Senate. This bill would change Alabama law to allow certain citizens described in the bill to use marijuana under the conditions prescribed in the bill to deal with their medical conditions.

In 1970, after more than 16 years in the military, I was medically discharged because of a physical condition that rendered me physically unfit for further service to our country. Before then, I underwent two invasive surgeries to try to correct a condition in my lower spine, neither of which brought relief for the pain I suffered. So, for half or more of my life, I've lived with chronic pain that has gotten worse over time.

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FRANKLIN COUNTY - Results from the 2007 Alabama Pride Survey indicate a growing problem with substance abuse among students in Franklin County schools.

The Alabama Pride Survey is done statewide every spring, asking students about the prevalence of substance use, age of first use, where and when students use and other questions about behavioral patterns. Luanne Vickery, the system's intervention counselor, said the 2007 statistics for Franklin County revealed an alarming fact that the use of alcohol and drugs is increasing.

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Obama Should Reconsider Approach To Marijuana

When Barack Obama was campaigning before last year's election, the president spoke of his experiences with marijuana. In March, he told the Mail Tribune of Medford, Ore., "I think the basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate."

In his memoir - "Dreams of My Father" - Obama spoke of struggling with questions about race and identity in his youth. In those struggles, he said he turned to drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, to "push questions of who I was out of my mind."

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In the midst of our obsession with which team hat a generation of high school football players chose to wear on National Signing Day last week, a national hero was caught in a bong show.

Michael Phelps, whose medal count in last summer's Olympic Games is only surpassed by the number of commercial products he's been hawking ever since, attended a football game at the University of South Carolina last November. Afterward he went to a house party where he took at least one hit of marijuana from what is referred to as a "bong," or smoking device.

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Church Drama Portrays Life In An Uncompromising Way

Tonight, a Clanton church will present a drama that portrays the realities of drug abuse, family turmoil, life on the street, and the wholeness that results from an undying faith in God.

Hopewell Baptist Church located on Hopewell Drive will present "Broken But Not Destroyed" tonight at 7 in the church sanctuary.

The 15-scene drama begins with a pastor coming home to find his wife doing drugs. After the confrontation, she leaves and later returns to find her husband waiting but angry and frustrated.

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As the planning session broke up in elegant old Prince Hall downtown, the former gubernatorial candidate strode over and asked a visitor, "So, do you think we're batshit crazy?"

All Loretta Nall and the Alabamians for Compassionate Care want to do is persuade our monumentally intractable legislature, on the cusp of an election year, to disregard 70 years of social taboos and a federal pharmaceutical jihad to ordain that the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes shall be legal throughout the state.

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A 26-year-old Mobile woman was jailed Wednesday on drug charges and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.

[redacted] was arrested Wednesday at her home on Navco Road on warrants charging her with possession of a drug precursor, possession of drug paraphernalia and chemical endangerment of a child, according to Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lori Myles.

[redacted] remained at Mobile County Metro Jail on Wednesday evening.

Myles said [redacted] bought an unspecified amount of pseudoephedrine Jan. 16 at area drug stores, and deputies stopped her and found the drug in her possession as well as other equipment used assemble a methamphetamine lab.

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TUSCUMBIA - Drug activity in two north Alabama counties hasn't ended, but law enforcement officers point to hundreds of arrests in trying to curtail it.

Officers in drug task forces in Colbert and Lauderdale counties say they have completed two of their most productive years in arrests and drug seizures.

In Colbert County, the task force made 299 cases, which produced 96 felony arrests. The Lauderdale Drug Task Force made 766 cases, resulting in 430 felony arrests.

Lauderdale task force director Myron Crunk admits there are times when it seems the more you arrest, the more that are out there.

His unit has four agents who have completed a couple of large undercover operations, one which resulted in the arrest of 70 people.

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Increase Unlikely; Fewer Prisoners Is Answer, Chief Says

MONTGOMERY - State prisons aren't likely to receive a budget increase for the next budget year, so state prison Commissioner Richard Allen said Thursday he saw no reason Thursday to mention a dollar figure during legislative budget hearings.

The Department of Corrections received $363.85 million this fiscal year.

Allen said he presented a $477-million budget in August for fiscal 2010 to Gov. Bob Riley, but that was before the nation fell into a recession.

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As much as 65 percent of $1 bills in the Birmingham area could be contaminated with trace amounts of cocaine, according to a set of experiments conducted by forensic science students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The students tested different methods of measuring the amount of cocaine on money. They looked at 40 $1 bills - half collected from a Regions Bank and half from a Wachovia branch - and found that the more effective testing method revealed 65 percent had cocaine on them. Professor Elizabeth Gardner, who oversaw the research, said the figure matches tests other students conducted in her class with individual $1 bills collected from stores and restaurants around the Birmingham area.

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