TURNING PATIENTS INTO CRIMINALS

I am dismayed at the Supreme Court's recent ruling to deny medicinal
marijuana patients their medicine.

It is irrational and cruel to turn patients who need medical marijuana into
criminals. Seventy-five percent of the American public understands and
agrees that marijuana should be legal for medical purposes - just like much
more powerful controlled substances such as morphine, methamphetamine and
cocaine.

Of course, marijuana is not completely safe. It does have carcinogens when
ingested in the smoked form, but most who ingest their medicine in this way
smoke only a few small puffs at a time to induce the relieving and
quick-acting effects. Saying that marijuana is comparable to
cigarette-smoking amounts of carcinogens is unrealistic. People addicted to
smokeable nicotine usually smoke several packs a day.

You must also understand that harmful chemicals surround us. At the office,
there are fumes from the copy machine. In our homes, there is radiation
from our televisions and microwaves. To say that people who are ill can't
smoke a plant to relieve symptoms of their respective health dilemmas is
ludicrous and inhumane. Besides, aren't we the land that accepts "the
tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to be free"?

Please respect the will of the people and the fundamental right of patients
to use whatever medicine helps them. Please support all efforts to make
medical marijuana legal in the United States. Don't be afraid to do your
own research and find out the real facts - our government is silencing
doctors in favor of medical marijuana, and people are dying in pain every
day because of these laws.

Let's be real Americans and understand what freedom and compassion really are.

Diane R. Fornbacher

Bensalem