TG MISREPRESENTED SUPREME COURT RULING

I don't think the Telegram & Gazette represented the Supreme Court ruling
on medical marijuana very well to its readers.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Oakland Cannabis buyers club could not
legally dispense marijuana to members. The court stated that they were not
ruling on the individual use of marijuana as medicine, or on an
individual's right to a medical defense for marijuana law violations.

The T&G stated that a marijuana buzz may mask symptoms of an illness, but
on the contrary, the therapeutic "high" from marijuana helps sick people
deal with the pain and suffering of their serious illness. The "high" gives
the patient a boost to deal with life, their symptoms and their pain and
motivates them to get better. There is nothing bad about a "marijuana high"
that makes people feel better and get better.

Pot's psychotropic properties are one of its medical, lifesaving, valuable
properties and should not be feared, just because an ill person might feel
"high." What is the basis of this fear of feeling good?

The T&G also used the often repeated falsehood that medical marijuana is a
smokescreen for drug legalizers.

Let's put this falsehood to rest once and for all. There are no
prescription medicines available to people for recreational use. It's not
allowed under our drug laws and won't be allowed for marijuana either. Even
if marijuana is legal for prescription, it won't be legal for recreation.
So I don't know why you push the often repeated "drug legalizer theory" for
medical marijuana advocates.

KIM HANNA Worcester