'HOPELESS' DOES NOT ADEQUATELY DESCRIBE LEGISLATURE

Having received a fair amount of feedback on the Associated Press
story ("Man seeks vote on marijuana") which appeared March 12 or
thereabouts in many South Dakota newspapers, it seems appropriate to
comment on my assessment (i.e., "hopeless") of the legislature with
respect to its attitude towards hemp and medical cannabis.

During the just-adjourned session, three South Dakotans, in testimony
to two different legislative committees, admitted to criminal activity
- -- using cannabis -- in order to gain relief from life-threatening
medical conditions. The committees shrugged, once more denying sick,
disabled, and dying people protection from arrest and prison for using
cannabis under a doctor's care.

One of these committees also heard testimony from advocates for
industrial hemp, who produced evidence that there is a market for hemp
and that 33 other nations, including Canada, allow hemp production and
manufacture. Canadian hemp is trucked past barely-surviving South
Dakota farms. Collective shrug from the committee, for the second year
in a row.

Several people, having seen some of the extensive news coverage of
these hearings, asked me, referring to the committee members: "What's
the matter with those people?" The most common adjective I heard was,
"absurd".

I looked up "absurd" and "absurdity" in my thesaurus. Among the
synonyms are: (for "absurd") nonsensical, preposterous, senseless,
inconsistent, incongruous, ridiculous, foolish, silly, without rhyme
or reason, farcical, ludicrous, asinine, inane, stupid, screwy;
unintelligible, and confused; (for "absurdity") imbecility, nonsense,
inconsistency, insanity, fatuity, stupidity, asininity, ludicrousness,
ridiculousness, comicality, blunder, muddle, bull, Irish bull,
sophism, bathos, travesty, parody, foolery, buffoonery, monkey shine,
doubletalk, twaddle, gibberish, poppycock, stuff and nonsense, folly,
and irrationality.

By stringing several of these synonyms together, one might arrive at a
nearly-satisfactory summary of legislative policy regarding hemp and
medical cannabis.

The committees were aware of the results of a scientific survey
conducted in early January, which showed that 81 percent of of South
Dakota voters want the law changed so that people do not have to fear
arrest and prison for using cannabis under a doctor's recommendation.
The survey also showed an 85 percent approval by voters for a change
in law to allow farmers to grow hemp.

They were aware that nine states now allow medical cannabis use. North
Dakota and Minnesota have removed state barriers to hemp production.
Other states are considering both medical cannabis and hemp production
as I write.

Yet they chose, asininely, to ignore the fact that hundreds, perhaps
thousands of South Dakotans have found that cannabis provides relief
from medical conditions which they cannot find from
government-approved remedies. In a dilemma, seriously-ill South
Dakotans commit criminal acts daily in order to feel better (sometimes
just to stay alive), knowing they face arrest and prison.

The legislators chose, confusedly, to give credence to the lobbyists
from the South Dakota Medical Association and Department of Health,
who said, farcically, that there was too little evidence of cannabis's
benefits, and that there were FDA-approved drugs which were better,
anyway. These would be the same FDA-approved drugs which kill 120,000
people per year from unexpected side-effects, administered under the
supervision of FDA-approved physicians. Cannabis has never killed
anyone. One of the reasons some doctors feel comfortable recommending
cannabis to patients is that -- while it doesn't work for everyone
with similar conditions -- if it doesn't work, at least it doesn't
cause any harm.

The committees chose, foolishly, to ignore the plight of South Dakota
farmers faced with a market glut, and the resultant unprofitability,
of grains and other oilseed plants. They chose to give credence to the
preposterous allegations by the Highway Patrol's lobbyist that
marijuana growers would "hide" their crops in hemp fields. This would
be roughly comparable to a car thief stealing only red Lamborghinis
and "hiding" them in one of the street-corner used car lots in Rapid
City.

In the face of overwhelming public support for a change in the
ludicrous laws regarding medical cannabis use and industrial hemp
production, the legislature covered its eyes and ears and went,
"LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA . . ." In crackerbarrels, some legislators
denigrated and insulted people who advocated for these issues. Some
said, "The messenger (meaning me, ignoring the dozen-or-so others who
actively promoted the bills) was the wrong messenger."

Yes, it's obvious that cannabis has harmful effects -- on lawmakers.
One only need look to the legislature for proof. It has been driven
nonsensical, preposterous, senseless, inconsistent, incongruous,
ridiculous, foolish, silly, without rhyme or reason, farcical,
ludicrous, asinine, inane, stupid, screwy; unintelligible, and
confused by it. And one would assume that not many legislators even
smoke it.

"Hopeless," I said about the legislature in the AP story. As with the
adjective, "absurd", in reference to this situation, "hopeless" seems
a little short on meaning for what I really wanted to say. That's why
we're going to take these issues to the ballot. Come November, 2002,
legislators will still be free to denigrate and insult the 70-or-more
percent of South Dakotans who will have voted "YES" for medical
cannabis and industrial hemp.