WAR ON PATIENT

Revision Of Marijuana Laws Needed

Everyday law enforcement officers fight a battle with people in their
own communities. Everyday the U.S. government wages a war on its
citizens. Everyday people are arrested for the possession of drugs.

Everyday many of these same people, these U.S. citizens, live with a
sickness that puts them in large amounts of pain. Everyday they live
with a disease that slowly kills them. In some cases, marijuana can be
issued to patients to help ease the suffering they endure. But it's not
always that simple.

Under current state law, a patient can still be arrested for possession
of marijuana and still may not be acquitted of possession, even if they
have a doctor's approval. On Feb. 27, a bill lessening the penalties for
carrying marijuana for medical purposes was presented to the Criminal
Jurisprudence Committee of the Texas House of Representatives.

Just lessening the penalties?

What good is a bill that still allows people using marijuana for medical
purposes to be arrested and not carry a guarantee that they will not
face any additional penalties? The bill needs to go much, much further.

It is time government officials, both in Texas and nation-wide, need to
drop the pre-conceived notion that marijuana is a bad and immoral
substance. Laws need to be passed protecting those who are sick from
being prosecuted for using medication their doctors prescribed for them.

Who receives marijuana for medical purposes and under what circumstances
they are allowed to use it are issues that need to be examined closely.
But these people are still in pain, and something needs to be done to
help lessen the pain and take away the penalties that may be involved.

If this means a complete legalization of marijuana, then so be it.

This is America's war on drugs. It is more than a battle on a controlled
substance. It is a way of killing some Americans' hopes of a painless
future. But this is what happens to people in the United States.

Everyday.