POT AS MEDICINE

Carroll's Proposal Deserves To Be Enacted

For the last three decades, researchers have studied whether
marijuana can be used to alleviate various disease symptoms -- such
as the nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy.

One who is convinced that pot holds legitimate treatment
possibilities is Assemblyman Michael P. Carroll, R-Morris Twp. He has
proposed a bill that would allow marijuana to be used for medical
purposes. Some may be surprised that a conservative such as Carroll
would advocate such a thing, but his libertarian streak is definitely
showing when he says, "This seems like a case when the law should get
out of the way."

Or more accurately, the law should change.

Carroll wants the state Department of Health to create a registry
card that would allow patients suffering from a "debilitating medical
condition" to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for their own use.

Twelve states allow medical use of marijuana and we think New Jersey
should join them. We see virtually no downside to allowing those
suffering from a variety of diseases to explore whether marijuana can
make their lives more bearable. The bad news is that this
legislation has failed in the past, as it generally falls victim to
opposition from those too stubborn to grasp the difference between
ill people using pot and teens experimenting with heroin.

Hopefully, such irrational views will not prevail this year.
Carroll's bill deserves to pass.