WE NEED A REAL DEBATE ON USING MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE

This November, Oregon voters will have the opportunity to correct the
biggest shortcoming in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. Many
voters don't realize that under the current law, patients must grow
their own cannabis -- or find someone to grow it for them for free.

Measure 74 would create a regulated medical cannabis dispensary
system. Such a system would give a much-needed supply option to
patients, such as myself, who are physically unable to grow a garden
and want access to a steady, safe supply. Patients will be able to
shop for and select from a wide variety of strains, extracts, edibles,
tinctures and solvents for their medical needs.

Unfortunately here in Oregon, a few law enforcement officials and
other rabid prohibitionists want to overthrow the OMMP. They want to
replace it with a taxpayer-financed, multimillion dollar boondoggle
program under which the state's Department of Human Services would
provide Marinol (an expensive pharmaceutical synthetic form of the
active ingredient in marijuana) to patients who would be forced to
requalify their medical conditions with a DHS-provided doctor, not
their own physician.

Perhaps the most egregious sin of these die-hard prohibitionists is
the production of a tri-fold handout that boldly states, "Marijuana is
the most dangerous drug." Lies like this are part of a continuing
national push to maintain the failed war against cannabis. The group
distributing this pamphlet, Protect Our Society, in 2008 received a
$50,000 donation from the organization Save Our Society =46rom Drugs,
an anti-drug group from Florida headed by longtime anti-=ADcannabis
zealot Cal=ADvina Fay. Oregonians deserve an honest public debate
about medical cannabis and the Oregon law.

Lies, such as the "marijuana is the most dangerous drug" banner on
this out-of-state anti-marijuana program handout, need to be broadly
exposed as the "reefer madness" fraud they are. We patients deserve to
have our voices heard! Prohibitionists have dodged public debate for
decades, while advances in medical research show cannabis has many
beneficial properties.

Meanwhile, Oregon's economy has more people questioning the
conventional drug war's "lock-'em-up" wisdom, which has given the
United States, the land of the free, the world's most imprisoned population.

For those who still scoff publicly at the idea of cannabis as
medicine, I offer the following challenge as a patient benefiting from
cannabis as medicine: I and many other patients throughout Oregon are
willing to publicly debate. In fact, we are eager to debate the issue.

Oregon voters should know medicinal cannabis is as old as human
civilization itself. If you search online for the medical uses of
cannabinoids, you will find more than 1 million entries. Marijuana is
one of the safest and most therapeutic substances known to man,
according to Drug Enforcement Administration administrative law judge
Francis Young's 1988 study of the cannabis issue. Judge Young's
logical, well-=ADstudied conclusion is echoed by tens of thousands of
patients in Oregon who swear by cannabis' medical efficacy and
participate in the state's program, and by more than 3,000 Oregon doctors.

When the voters do their research, they will find that there is no
longer any question about cannabis as a legitimate medicine. =46rom
now until November, the debate is about sick and dying patients
getting the medicine they need.

Oregonians accept death with dignity. Isn't it time we also embraced
life with dignity for those of us not on death's door? This November,
vote compassionately.

Vote yes on Measure 74.